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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:55:08 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:55:08 -0700 |
| commit | 6aa8f159140cc4edfe676250006f80c61854d1be (patch) | |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19179-8.txt b/19179-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..badeefd --- /dev/null +++ b/19179-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,23626 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Kelly Miller's History of the World War for +Human Rights, by Kelly Miller + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights + +Author: Kelly Miller + +Release Date: July 17, 2007 [EBook #19179] +[This file was first posted on September 4, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KELLY MILLER'S HISTORY OF WORLD WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Graeme Mackreth, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: KELLY MILLER, A.M., LL.D. + +Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington +D.C.] + + + + +KELLY MILLER'S HISTORY + +OF + +The World War + +FOR + +Human Rights + +An Intensely Human and Brilliant Account of the World War; Why America +Entered the Conflict; What the Allies Fought For; And a Thrilling +Account of the Important Part Taken by the Negro in the Tragic Defeat of +Germany; The Downfall of Autocracy, and Complete Victory for the Cause +of Righteousness and Freedom. + +INCLUDING + +A Wonderful Array of Striking Pictures Made from Recent Official +Photographs, Illustrating and Describing the New and Awful Devices Used +in the Horrible Methods of Modern Warfare, together with Remarkable +Pictures of the Negro in Action in Both Army and Navy. + +BY + +KELLY MILLER, A.M., LL.D. + +The Well-Known and Popular Author of "Race Adjustment," "Out of the +House of Bondage" and "The Disgrace of Democracy." + +ALSO + +Important Contribution by JOHN J. PERSHING, the Famous General, +FREDERICK DRINKER, the Noted War Correspondent, and E.A. ALLEN, Author +of "The History of Civilization." + + + Copyright, 1919 + By + A. JENKINS + + Copyright, 1919 + By + O. KELLER + + + + +THE NEGRO'S PART IN THE WAR + +BY PROFESSOR KELLY MILLER, THE WELL-KNOWN THINKER AND WRITER. + + +This treatise will set forth the black man's part in the world's war +with the logical sequence of facts and the brilliant power of statement +for which the author is famous. The mere announcement that the author of +"Race Adjustment," "Out of the House of Bondage," and "The Disgrace of +Democracy" is to present a history of the Negro in the great world +conflict, is sufficient to arouse expectancy among the wide circle of +readers who eagerly await anything that flows from his pen. + +In this treatise, Professor Miller will trace briefly, but with +consuming interest, the relation of the Negro to the great wars of the +past. He will point out the never-failing fount of loyalty and +patriotism which characterizes the black man's nature, and will show +that the Negro has never been a hireling, but has always been +characterized by that moral energy which actuates all true heroism. + +The conduct of the Negro in the present struggle will be set forth with +a brilliant and pointed pen. The idea of three hundred thousand American +Negroes crossing three thousand miles of sea to fight against autocracy +of the German crown constitutes the most interesting chapter in the +history of this modern crusade against an unholy cause. The valor and +heroism of the Afro-American contingent were second to none according to +the unanimous testimony of those who were in command of this high +enterprise. + +The story of Negro officers in command of troops of their own color will +prove the wisdom of a policy entered upon with much distrust and +misgiving. It is just here that Professor Miller reaches the high-water +mark. Here is a story never told before, because the world has never +before witnessed Negro officers in large numbers participating in the +directive side of war waged on the high level of modern science and +system. + +Professor Miller's treatise carries its own prophecy. He logically +enough forecasts the future of the race in glowing colors as the result +of his loyal and patriotic conduct in this great world epoch. + +The author wisely queries: "When, hereafter, the Negro asks for his +rights as an American citizen, where can the American be found with the +heart or the hardihood to say him, Nay?" + +The work will be profusely illustrated. + +PUBLISHERS. +March 27, 1919. + + + + +GENERAL PREFACE + + +While the underlying causes of the greatest war in all history must be +traced far back into the centuries, the one great object of the conflict +which was precipitated by the assassination of the Archduke Francis +Ferdinand of Austria, in Bosnia, at the end of June, 1914, is the +ultimate determination as to whether imperialism as exemplified in the +government of Germany shall rule the world, or whether democracy shall +reign. + +Whenever men or nations disregard those principles which society has +laid down for their conduct in modern civilized life, and obligation and +duty are forgotten in the desire for self-advancement, conflict results. + +Since the days of Athens and Sparta the world's greatest wars have in +the main been conflicts of ideals--democracy being arrayed against +oligarchy--men fighting for individual rights as against militarism and +military domination. + +In the World War, which terminated with the signing of the armistice, +November 11, 1918, which painted the green fields of France and Belgium +red with blood, and swept nations into the most significant and bitter +struggle in all history, the fight was against the Imperial Government +of Germany, by men and nations who claim that humanity the world over +has rights that must be observed. + +Germany has brought upon herself the destruction of her government by +ruthlessly trampling upon her neighbors and assuming that "might is +right." + +The Imperial Government, led by the House of Hohenzollern, was suffering +from an exaggerated ego. Her trouble was psychological. The men who +study the strange workings and twists of the human mind which land some +men in the institutions for the criminal insane, agree that when any man +becomes obsessed with an idea and "rides a hobby" to the exclusion of +all else, he loses his balance and develops an obliquity of view which +makes him a dangerous creature. + +Germany was obsessed with the spirit of militarism and almost everything +else had been sacrificed to this idol. The very first appearance of +Germans in history is as a warlike people. The earliest German +literature is of folk-tales about war heroes, and these stories tell of +the manly virtues of the heroes. + +It is true that there are many scientists, poets, and musicians among +the Germans, but their warlike side must never be forgotten. The entire +race is imbued with the military spirit, the influence reaching to every +phase of national life. All that was best in the nation was raised to +its highest efficiency through military training, but in the +accomplishment of its purposes the House of Hohenzollern, which is +responsible for the development of the national fighting arm, neglected +much and produced millions of creatures who are but human machines, +taught to obey orders without consideration as to the effect their acts +might produce, whether right or wrong. + +In their criticisms of the Prussian militarism the world democracies +defined militarism as an arrogant, or exclusive, professional military +spirit, developed by training and environment until it became despotic, +and assumed superiority over rational motives and deliberations. + +This attitude was reflected in the conduct of the Kaiser, who, as +illustrative of the point, is quoted at the dedication of the monument +to Prince Frederick Charles at Frankfurt-on-the-Oder in 1891, as having +said, "We would rather sacrifice our eighteen army corps and our +forty-two millions inhabitants on the field of battle than surrender a +single stone of what my father and Prince Charles Frederick gained." + +His speeches were filled with similar bombastic and extravagant +expressions which were the subject of international comment for many +years. Other countries besides Germany have maintained great armies, but +their maintenance has been but an incidental part of the general +business of the nation and there was no submerging of the spirit which +seeks and demands appropriate public ideals in government and action. So +that while other elements have always tended to produce friction between +neighboring countries, it was adamant, stubborn, military Prussianism +which asserted itself in the middle of 1914 and set the world afire. + +Enough is known at this writing to show that the cost in lives, money, +morals and weakening of humanity as a whole, is staggering, and yet the +whole truth can not be realized for years to come. In our own great +struggle, which had for its object the liberation of the Negro, the +scars which our country received have not yet been entirely eliminated. +Portions of the country devastated by the soldiers still bear the marks +of the invasion, but what was lost in money and material things was made +up by the welding together of the two sections of the country. The Union +was made a concrete, humanitarian body of citizens. The battle was for +the right and liberty triumphed. And by the defeat of Germany liberty +again triumphs and the world is made a safe place in which to live. + +And just as America fought for liberty in the stirring days of 1776, and +her peoples fought one another in the trying days of 1861-65, so America +was drawn into the World's War that the principles of liberty, for which +she has ever stood, might be perpetuated throughout the world, and that +an international peace might be established, which has for its purposes +the ending of such convulsions as have shaken the world since August, +1914, since the first shots were fired in fair Belgium by German +invaders. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + +CIVILIZATION AT ISSUE--THE GERMAN EMPIRE--CHARACTER OF WILLIAM II--THE +GREAT CONSPIRACY--THE WAR BY YEARS--UNITED STATES IN THE WAR--TWO +HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES OF BATTLE--THE DOWNFALL OF TURKEY--THE +DEMOCRATIC CLOSE OF THE WAR 17 + + +CHAPTER II + +GEN. PERSHING'S OWN STORY + +ORGANIZATION OF HIS GENERAL STAFF--TRAINING IN FRANCE--IN THE AISNE +OFFENSIVE--AT CHATEAU THIERRY--THE ST MIHEIL SALIENT--MEUSE-ARGONNE, +FIRST PHASE--THE BATTLE IN THE FOREST--SUMMARY 49 + + +CHAPTER III + +PRESIDENT WILSON'S REVIEW OF THE WAR + +TROOP MOVEMENT DURING THE YEAR--TRIBUTE TO AMERICAN SOLDIERS--SPLENDID +SPIRIT OF THE NATION--RESUME THE WORK OF PEACE--OUTLINE OF WORK IN +PARIS--SUPPORT OF NATION URGED 79 + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE FLASH THAT SET THE WORLD AFLAME + +TEUTON FIND IN A MURDER THE EXCUSE FOR WAR--GERMANY INSPIRED BY +AMBITIONS FOR WORLD CONTROL--THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL SUPREMACY A +FACTOR--THE UNDERLYING MOTIVES 89 + + +CHAPTER V + +WHY AMERICA ENTERED THE WAR + +THE IRON HAND OF PRUSSIANISM--THE ARROGANT HOHENZOLLERN +ATTITUDE--SECRETARY LANE TELLS WHY WE FIGHT--BROKEN PLEDGES--LAWS +VIOLATED--PRUSSIANISM THE CHILD OF BARBARITY--GERMANY'S PLANS FOR A +WORLD EMPIRE 97 + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE THINGS THAT MADE MEN MAD + +GERMANY'S BARBARITY--THE DEVASTATION OF BELGIUM--HUMAN FIENDS--FIREBRAND +AND TORCH--RAPE AND PILLAGE--THE SACKING OF LOUVAIN--WANTON +DESTRUCTION--OFFICIAL PROOF 113 + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SLINKING SUBMARINE + +A VORACIOUS SEA MONSTER--THE RUTHLESS DESTRUCTIVE POLICY OF +GERMANY--STARVATION OF NATIONS THE GOAL--HOW THE SUBMARINES +OPERATE--SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES 135 + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THWARTING THE U-BOAT + +NETS TO ENTANGLE THE SEA SHARKS OF WAR--"CHASERS" OR "SKIMMING DISH" +BOATS--"BLIMPS" AND SEAPLANES--HUNTING THE SUBMARINE WITH "LANCE" BOMB +AND GUN--A SAILOR'S DESCRIPTION 154 + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE EYES OF BATTLE + +AEROPLANES AND AIRSHIPS--THEY SPY THE MOVEMENTS OF FORCESON LAND OR +SEA--LEAD DISASTROUS BOMB ATTACKS--VALUABLE IN "SPOTTING" +SUBMARINES--THE BOMBARDMENT AT MESSINES RIDGE 170 + + +CHAPTER X + +WAR'S STRANGE DEVICES + +CHEMISTRY A DEMON OF DESTRUCTION--POISON GAS BOMBS--GAS MASKS--HAND +GRENADES--MORTARS--"TANKS"--FEUDAL "BATTERING RAMS"--STEEL +HELMETS--STRANGE BULLETS--MOTOR PLOWS--REAL DOGS OF WAR 185 + + +CHAPTER XI + +WONDERFUL WAR WEAPONS + +THE TERRIBLE RAPID-FIRE GUN--ARMORED AUTOMOBILES AND AUTOMOBILE +ARTILLERY--HOWITZERS--MOUNTED FORTS--ARMORED TRAINS--OBSERVATION +TOWERS--WIRELESS APPARATUS--THE ARMY PANTRY 205 + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WORLD'S ARMIES + +THE EFFICIENT GERMAN ORGANIZATION--THE LANDWEHR AND LANDSTURM--GENERAL +FORMS OF MILITARY ORGANIZATION--THE BRAVE FRENCH TROOPS--THE PICTURESQUE +ITALIAN SOLDIERY--THE PEACE AND WAR STRENGTH--AVAILABLE FIGHTING +MEN--FORTIFICATIONS 224 + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE WORLD'S NAVIES + +GERMANY'S SEA STRENGTH--GREAT BRITAIN'S IMMENSE WAR FLEET--IMMENSE +FIGHTING CRAFT--THE UNITED STATES' NEW BATTLE CRUISERS--THE FASTEST AND +BIGGEST OCEAN FIGHTING SHIPS--THE PICTURESQUE MARINES: THE SOLDIERS OF +THE SEA 243 + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE NATIONS AT WAR + +UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENTS--HOW THE WAR FLAMES SPREAD--A SCORE OF +COUNTRIES INVOLVED--THE POINTS OF CONTACT--PICTURESQUE AND RUGGED +BULGARIA, ROUMANIA, SERVIA, GREECE, ITALY AND HISTORIC SOUTHEAST EUROPE + 259 + + +CHAPTER XV + +MODERN WAR METHODS + +INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE AS AGAINST MASS MOVEMENTS--TRENCH WARFARE A GAME +OF HIDE AND SEEK--RATS AND DISEASE--SURGERY'S TRIUMPHS--CHANGED +TACTICS--ITALIAN MOUNTAIN FIGHTING 281 + + +CHAPTER XVI + +WOMAN AND THE WAR + +SHE HAS WON "HER PLACE IN THE SUN"--RICH AND POOR IN THE MUNITIONS +FACTORIES--NURSE AND AMBULANCE DRIVER--KHAKI AND TROUSERS--ORGANIZER AND +FARMER--HEROES IN THE STRESS OF CIRCUMSTANCES--DYING MEN'S WORK FOR +MEN--EVEN A "BOBBIE" 298 + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE TERRIBLE PRICE + +A NATION OF MEN DESTROYED--MILLIONS IN SHIPPING AND COMMERCE +DESTROYED--WORLD'S MAPS CHANGED--BILLIONS IN MONEY--IMMENSE +DEBTS--NATION'S WEALTH--THE UNITED STATES A GREAT PROVIDER 316 + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE WORLD RULERS AT WAR + +WOODROW WILSON, THE CHAMPION OF DEMOCRACY--THE EGOTISTICAL KAISER--THE +GERMAN CROWN PRINCE--BRITAIN'S MONARCH--CONSTANTINE WHO QUIT RATHER THAN +FIGHT GERMANY--PRESIDENT POINCARE--AND OTHER NATIONAL HEADS 328 + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE WAR'S WHO'S WHO + +STRIKING FIGURES IN THE CONFLICT--JOFFRE, THE HERO OF MARNE--NIVELLE, +THE FRENCH COMMANDER--SIR DOUGLAS HAIG--THE KAISER'S +CHANCELLOR--VENIZELOS--"BLACK JACK" PERSHING 344 + + +CHAPTER XX + +CHEMISTRY IN THE WAR + +SUBSTITUTES FOR COTTON--NITRATES PRODUCED FROM AIR--YEAST A REAL +SUBSTITUTE FOR BEEF--SEAWEED MADE TO GIVE UP POTASH--A GANGRENE +PREVENTATIVE--SODA MADE OUT OF SALT WATER--AMERICA CHEMICALLY +INDEPENDENT 361 + + +CHAPTER XXI + +OUR NEIGHBORING ALLY + +CANADA'S RECRUITING--RAISE 33,000 TROOPS IN TWO MONTHS--FIRST +EXPEDITIONARY FORCE TO CROSS ATLANTIC--BRAVERY AT YPRES AND +LENS--MEETING DIFFICULT PROBLEMS--QUEBEC AROUSED BY CONSCRIPTION 371 + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE HEROIC ANZAC + +FORCES THAT STIRRED THE WORLD IN THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN--FAMOUS AS +SAPPERS--THE BLASTING OF MESSINES RIDGE--TWO YEARS TUNNELLING--30,000 +GERMANS BLOWN TO ATOMS--1,000,000 POUNDS OF EXPLOSIVES USED--TROOPS THAT +WERE TRANSPORTED 11,000 MILES 390 + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +AMERICA STEPS IN + +PRESIDENT WILSON'S FAMOUS MESSAGE TO CONGRESS--THE WAR RESOLUTION--APRIL +6, 1917, SEES THE UNITED STATES AT WAR--REVIEW OF THE NEGOTIATIONS +BETWEEN GERMANY AND AMERICA--THE U-BOAT RESTRICTED ZONE ANNOUNCEMENT OF +GERMANY--PREMIER LLOYD GEORGE ON AMERICA IN THE CONFLICT 399 + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +UNCLE SAM TAKES HOLD + +MAKES WORLD'S BIGGEST WAR LOAN--SEIZE GERMAN SHIPS--INTRIGUE +EXPOSED--GENERAL PERSHING AND STAFF IN EUROPE--THE NAVY ON DUTY IN NORTH +SEA--FIRST UNITED STATES TROOPS REACH FRANCE--GERMANY'S ATTEMPTS TO SINK +TROOP SHIPS THWARTED BY NAVY'S GUNS 427 + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A GERMAN CRISIS + +THE DOWNFALL OF BETHMANN-HOLLWEG--THE CROWN PRINCE IN THE LIME +LIGHT--HOLLWEG'S UNIQUE CAREER--DR. GEORG MICHAELIS APPOINTED +CHANCELLOR--THE KAISER AND HOW HE GETS HIS IMMENSE POWER 444 + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +UNCLE SAM AND THE NEUTRALS + +PRESIDENT WILSON PUTS EMBARGO ON FOOD SHIPMENTS--SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES +FURNISHING SUPPLIES TO GERMANY INSPIRES ORDER--THE DIFFICULT POSITION OF +NORWAY, DENMARK, HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 452 + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE ACTIONS OF THE WAR + +FROM BOSNIA TO FLANDERS--MARNE THE TURNING POINT OF THE CONFLICT--THE +CONQUESTS OF SERVIA AND RUMANIA--THE FALL OF BAGDAD--RUSSIA'S WOMEN +SOLDIERS--AMERICA'S CONSCRIPTS 463 + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +AMERICAN FORCES BECOME FACTOR + +UNITED STATES SOLDIERS INSPIRED ALLIED TROOPS--RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT +COLLAPSES--ITALIAN ARMY FAILS--ALLIED WAR COUNCIL FORMED--FOCH COMMANDS +ALLIED ARMIES--PERSHING OFFERS AMERICAN TROOPS--UNDER FIRE--U-BOAT BASES +RAIDED BY BRITISH 473 + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +AMERICANS TURN WAR'S TIDE + +BRILLIANT AMERICAN FIGHTING STOPS HUN ADVANCE--FRENCH AND BRITISH +INSPIRED--FAMOUS MARINES LEAD IN PICTURESQUE ATTACK--HALT GERMANS AT +CHATEAU-THIERRY--USED OPEN STYLE FIGHTING--THOUSANDS OF GERMANS +SLAIN--UNITED STATES TROOPS IN SIBERIA--NEW CONSCRIPTION BILL +PASSED--ALLIED SUCCESSES ON ALL FRONTS 489 + + +CHAPTER XXX + +VICTORY--PEACE + +THE GERMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSES--FOCH'S STRATEGY WINS--AMERICAN INSPIRATION +A BIG FACTOR--BULGARIA, TURKEY AND AUSTRIA QUIT WAR--MONARCHS +FALL--KAISER ABDICATES AND FLEES GERMANY--ARMISTICE SIGNED--NOVEMBER 11, +PEACE 497 + + +THE NEGRO IN THE WORLD WAR 507 + + +[Illustration: WOUNDED AMERICAN SOLDIERS ENTERTAINING THEMSELVES. + +During the period of convalescence the wounded were well cared for. They +earned and deserved the best possible treatment and care.] + +[Illustration: FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, CHEERS NEGRO VETERANS. + +The 369th Colored Infantry acclaimed by thousands upon their return from +France. Their record is one of the bravest of any organization in the +war.] + +[Illustration: ONE OF THE WOUNDED AND HIS MOTHER. + +A member of the famous 369th Colored Infantry, who was wounded in the +fighting, and his proud mother. He sacrificed a leg for the cause of +righteousness and World Peace.] + +[Illustration: CHEERFULLY DOING THE WORK REQUIRED. + +Transporting tan bark, to be used in connection with tanning leather. No +slackers. The colored women did willingly and efficiently their part in +helping win the war.] + +[Illustration: NEGRO SOLDIERS LOOKING FOR THE ENEMY. + +Negro troops from many parts of the world were engaged in the war. It +has been estimated that as many as 700,000 Negro soldiers were in the +French Army alone.] + +[Illustration: ENTERTAINING CONVALESCENT AMERICAN SOLDIERS AT AUTHEIL. + +Negro musicians were in great demand in France. This picture shows +Lieut. Europe's noted colored band.] + +[Illustration: THE BAND IN La BOURBOULE, FRANCE. + +The arrival of the colored musicians created great excitement. This band +heralded the coming of soldiers to rest up.] + +[Illustration: A SNIPER AT WORK. + +This papier-maché camouflage, made to imitate a dead horse, furnished +good protection for the sharpshooter.] + +[Illustration: SENEGALIANS ON THE SOMME FRONT.] + +[Illustration: FRENCH ZOUAVES TAKEN PRISONERS BY GERMANS. + +They were formerly artists in a Paris cafe-concert.] + +[Illustration: WOUNDED COLORED SOLDIERS ON THE MACEDONIAN FRONT. + +They were with the ambulance X.A., and the major surgeon is distributing +cigarettes.] + +[Illustration: Private Henry Johnson + +Private Needham Roberts + +Of the New York National Guards (now the 369th) who have been decorated +by the French for routing 24 Germans and preventing the carrying out of +a well-developed plan to assail one of the most important points of +resistance on the American front. They have been awarded the War Cross +by the French.] + +[Illustration: COLORED SOLDIERS BUILDING ROADS "OVER THERE."] + +[Illustration: COLORED SOLDIERS IN THE TRENCHES "OVER THERE." + +(Note the tin hats.)] + +[Illustration: HOTEL BOOKER T. WASHINGTON "OVER THERE." + +The Negro Soldiers are surely fighting for Democracy. It is coming to +them by leaps and bounds.] + +[Illustration: COLORED SOLDIERS LEAVING AN AMERICAN PORT FOR "OVER +THERE." + +(See them dancing on the right.)] + +The Late Major Walker, of the First Colored Battalion, District of +Columbia National Guard + +[Illustration: + +The late Major James E. Walker was born in Virginia, September 7, 1874. +He was educated in the public schools of Washington, D.C., and was +graduated from the M. Street High School in 1893, and the Miner Normal +School in 1894. For twenty-four years he was in the public school +service, and since 1899 was supervising principal. In 1896 he was made +Lieutenant in the First Separate Battalion of the National Guard of the +District of Columbia. In 1909 he was made Captain and in 1912, through +competitive examination, was commissioned Major. His command was called +out to guard the White House, and while on this duty Major Walker's +health became impaired. He was sent to the U.S. Hospital at Fort Bayard, +New Mexico, for treatment, where he died April 4, 1918.] + +[Illustration: THE FIGHTING U.S.A. MARINE BRIGADE IN BELLEAU WOOD. + +Here the Germans were not only stopped in their march toward Paris, but +"knocked out." The furious and fast fighting of the Marines proved their +superiority. The Hun was badly beaten. The soldier applying the bayonet +is an American Negro.] + +[Illustration: AFRICAN TROOPS IN FRANCE. THEY FOUGHT FOR THE ALLIES. + +A war dance, relieving the monotony and for the benefit of British and +French troops. These colored soldiers gave a good account of +themselves.] + +[Illustration: KAMERAD! KAMERAD! + +Three colored Canadians imitating the Germans, whom they captured in +this dugout near the Canal du Nord, as they put up their hands and +shouted "Kamerad"!] + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTORY. + +CIVILIZATION AT ISSUE--THE GERMAN EMPIRE--CHARACTER OF WILLIAM II--THE +GREAT CONSPIRACY--THE WAR BY YEARS--UNITED STATES IN THE WAR--TWO +HUNDRED FIFTY MILES OF BATTLE--THE DOWNFALL OF TURKEY--THE DEMOCRATIC +CLOSE OF THE WAR. + + +The World War, terminated by the signing of the armistice November 11, +1918, was attended with more far-reaching changes than any war known to +history, and is destined to so profoundly influence civilization that we +see in it the beginning of a new age. Somewhat similar wars in the past +were the campaigns of Alexander; the wars that overthrew the Roman +Empire and the Napoleonic wars of a previous century; but this one war +surpasses them all, measured by any scale that can be applied to +military operations. It was truly a World War, thus in a class by +itself. Beginning in Central Europe, twenty-eight nations--nearly all of +the important nations of the world--with a total population of about +1,600,000,000--or eleven-twelfths of the human race--became involved. It +cost 10,000,000 human lives, 17,000,000 more suffered bodily injury; the +money cost was about $200,000,000,000, but who can measure the cost in +untold suffering caused by ruined homes and wrecked lives that attended +it? Or who can measure the property loss, considering that the fairest +provinces of Europe were swept with the bezom of destruction? + +Rightly to judge the real significance of such a world struggle, we must +consider conditions that made it possible; study the issue involved +stripped of all misleading statements; review its course and weigh the +nature of the profound changes--geographical, political and +economic--that resulted. We shall find that this war was the +culmination of century-old causes; that two rival theories of +government--impossible to longer co-exist--met in deadly conflict; and +that civilization itself was the stake at issue. We shall see that +beyond the wreck of empires and troubled days of reconstruction now upon +us--through it all approaches a wonderful new age. Autocracy has +crumbled; a higher form of democracy will arise and in peaceful days to +come the nations of the world will rapidly advance in all that +constitutes national well-being. + + +THE GERMAN STATES. + +The early history of Germany is a confused panorama of a thousand years, +during which time Central Europe was a country of numerous separate +states, many of them at times coming together as a more or less closely +knit confederacy under the lead of a powerful state, only to fall apart +into a mass of confused units at a later date. It is interesting to +learn that among the Teutonic knights of that early time, none was more +noted than Count Thassilo Von Zollern who founded the house of +Hohenzollern, that played such an ambitious role in European history, +the house whose downfall was one of the dramatic results of the war. + + +THE RISE OF PRUSSIA. + +At its height the German Empire consisted of a union of twenty-five +Germanic states of various grades and the Reichland of Alsace-Lorraine +under the leadership of Prussia, by far the most important state of the +Empire. The foundation of Prussia's greatness was laid by Frederick the +Great in 1763 when he tore Silesia from Austria in an entirely +unprovoked war. He wished to enlarge the bounds of Prussia, he coveted +Silesia, so he took it. In that deed of spoliation we see manifested the +spirit that has animated official Germany since that date. Not only is +the House of Hohenzollern descended from the Robber Knights of old, but +the same is true of the military caste of Germany generally. Recent +centuries have cast only a thin veneer of modern thought over +essentially medieval conceptions of national rights and duties. + + +THE DAYS OF BISMARCK. + +For a century after the reign of Frederick, Prussia remained the most +prominent Germanic state in Europe. Then we come to the days of +Bismarck. He is regarded as a remarkable statesman. He himself delighted +to be known as the man of "Blood and Iron." Judging from his acts his +one motive in life was to advance the power and influence of Prussia. In +the decade 1860-1870 he instigated three wars,--with Denmark in 1864, +with Austria in 1866, with France in 1870,--not one of which was +justifiable. The war with France was occasioned by deliberately changing +the wording of a telegram--in itself friendly--from the King of Prussia +to Napoleon III, knowing it would result in war. All were short wars, +all resulted in victory for Prussia and consequent increase in +territory. Under the glamour of the great victory over France in 1871 +came the formation of the German Empire. + + +THE GERMAN EMPIRE. + +Thus there suddenly arose in Central Europe, in the place of the weak +confederation of earlier years, one empire of great actual strength, +generously endowed as regards territory, and at the head of that empire +was a state that alone of modern states most resembles Rome of early +centuries, that ruled the Mediterranean world, imposing on the conquered +people of that section her language, her laws and her customs. Like her +great prototype, we now know that official Prussia regarded all she had +accomplished to the formation of the empire as simply a station reached +in a career of progress which was to end in a World empire as greatly +surpassing that of Rome in her palmy days as the world of the twentieth +century surpasses the known world of Roman times. + + +DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMPIRE. + +The empire enjoyed a brief span of national life. In less than fifty +years it ceased to exist, a republic of an uncertain nature takes its +place. To outward appearances the development of the empire was a +brilliant one. A colonial empire was established--mostly in +Africa--nearly five times as great in area as the home empire; she had +large possessions in the Pacific and had gained a foothold in China. The +rich potash and iron deposits of Alsace increased her wealth and +marvelously built up her industries and she became one of the greatest +manufacturing nations of modern times. Her population doubled, her +foreign trade increased four fold, her shipping grew by leaps and +bounds. Her army became so perfected that it was acknowledged to be the +greatest military machine the world had ever seen; she was building a +navy that threatened the supremacy of England on the sea. + + +BUILT ON A FOUNDATION OF SAND. + +In spite of this brilliant development, the empire rested on a +foundation of sand. You will never understand the World War unless you +grasp this thought and its justification. The government was autocratic, +though under the form of a constitutional government. The entire +military class in Germany held to theories of government, of national +rights and wrongs that belonged to the middle ages. Theories of +state-craft which the world long since outgrew were proclaimed and +taught, and enforced by every means at command of the government, the +military class, the professors, scientists and theologians of Germany. +Education and religion were state controlled. As a consequence, every +German child from his cradle to his grave was under the influence of +state officials and never allowed to forget reverence for the kaiser, +the glorious military record of Germany, German supremacy in every +department of culture. Such a government was hopelessly behind modern +ideas. + + +WILLIAM II. + +William II was the third emperor of Germany,--also the last. His reign +began, in pomp and ceremony, June 15, 1888, it ended in the darkness and +gloom of night, shortly before the signing of the armistice, November +11, 1918. Other reigns have been longer in duration; none surpassed his +in deeds. When his reign began he said he would lead his people to +"shining days." He did so; but "shining days" ended in despairing night. + +Personally, William II was an able man, but he was not well balanced. In +the early days of his reign, Bismarck confided to a friend that it would +some day be necessary for Germany to confine William II in an insane +asylum. We must remember his lineage, his long line of ancestors dating +back to the Robber Knights of the Middle Ages, all used to the exercise +of autocratic power. Medieval conceptions were his by inheritance. He +believed he was divinely commissioned to rule Germany; he said so in his +speeches. He believed he was a man of destiny who was to advance Germany +to the zenith of earthly greatness; he himself, not someone else, +asserted this. He asserted that while Napoleon failed in his great +scheme of conquest, he, by God's help, would succeed. Every prominent +military leader in Germany applauded such beliefs. He said that when he +contemplated the paintings of his ancestors, and the military chiefs of +Germany, who advanced the insignificant Mark of Brandenburg to the rank +of the most powerful state in Europe, they seemed to reproach him for +not being active in similar work. But we now know that he was not idle. + + +ACTIVITIES IN WHICH HE WAS INTERESTED. + +One year after the accession of William II he paid a spectacular visit +to "his friend" (as he called him) Abdul Hamid, Sultan of Turkey, the +head of one of the most cruel, licentious, incompetent, blood-thirsty +governments that ever cursed the world; greeted him with a kiss, put on +a Turkish uniform (fez and all), and assured the Mohammedan world that +he was henceforth their friend. The ignorant Turks actually supposed he +had become a Mohammedan and native papers spoke of him as "His Islamic +Holiness." In the light of history, the meaning of all this is so clear +that he who runs may read, and the wayfaring man, though a fool, need +not err therein. This visit was repeated in 1898. For more than twenty +years every effort was made to extend German influence in Turkey, +because that country with its minerals, its oils, its wonderfully strong +strategical location was vital to the success of a vast scheme of +conquest official Germany with William II as leader was contemplating. + + +PAN-GERMANISM. + +Two years after his accession, there was organized the Pan-Germanic +League. This League soon attracted to its ranks the entire class of +Prussian Junkers, virtually all the military class, and a galaxy of +writers and speakers. The purpose of the league was to foster in the +minds of German people the idea that it was their privilege, right and +duty to extend the power, influence and political dominance of Germany +to all parts of the world, peacefully if possible, otherwise by the +sword. This doctrine was taught openly and boldly in Germany in books +and pamphlets and by means of lectures with such frankness and fullness +of details that the world at large laughed at it as an exuberant dream +of fanatics. Intellectual, military, and official Germany was in +earnest. Her generals wrote books illustrated with maps showing the +stages of world conquest; her professors patiently explained how +necessary all this was to Germany's future; while her theologians +pointed out it was God's will. But the world at large, except uneasy +France, slept on. + + +OUTWORKINGS OF THE PLOT. + +It was this vision that fired the imagination of William II. He was to +be the Augustus of this greater Roman Empire; over virtually all the +earth the House of Hohenzollern was to exercise despotic sway. Then +began preparation for the World's War. With characteristic German +thoroughness and patience the plans were laid. Thoroughness, since they +embraced every conceivable means that would enhance their prospect of +victory, her military leaders, scientists and statesmen were all busy. +Patience, since they realized there was much to do. Many years were +needed and Germany refused to be hurried. She carefully attended to +every means calculated to increase the commerce and industry of the +empire, but with it all--underlying it all--were activities devoted to +preparation for world conquest. Building for world empire, Germany could +afford to take time. + + +PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED. + +Time was needed to solve the military problems involved. A nation +aspiring to territory extending from Hamburg to Bagdad must firmly +control the Balkan States. That meant that Austria must become, in +effect, a German province; Serbia must be crushed; Bulgaria must become +an ally; and Turkey must be brought under control. In 1913, two of these +desired results were attained. Turkey was to a surprising degree under +the military and economic control of Germany. Austria had become such a +close ally that she might almost be styled a vassal of Germany. She +faithfully carried out the wishes of Germany in 1908 when she annexed +the Serbian states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a step she felt safe in +taking since (the Kaiser's own words) behind her was the "shining sword +of Germany." It were tedious to enlarge on this point. Let it suffice to +say that in 1914 Germany felt herself ready for the conflict. Enormous +supplies of guns, of a caliber before unthought of, and apparently +inexhaustible supplies of ammunition had been prepared; strategic +railroads had been built by which armies and supplies could be hurried +to desired points; the Kiel Canal had been completed; her navy had +assumed threatening proportions; her army, greatly enlarged, was in +perfect readiness. + + +THE REAL CAUSES OF THE WAR. + +The real cause of the war is now disclosed. It is not necessary to +discuss other possible causes. The pistol shot at Serajevo was the +occasion, not the cause of the war. The simple fact is that on one +pretext or another war would have come anyway, simply because Germany +was ready. In 1913 the speakers of the Pan-German League were going to +and fro in Germany making public speeches on all possible occasions, +warning the people to be ready, telling them "There was the smell of +blood in the air," that the wrath of God was about to be visited upon +the nations that would hem Germany in. We now know from official sources +that Germany was eager for war in the fateful days of July 1914, when +France and England were almost begging for peace. All this is made +exceedingly clear in the secret memoirs of Prince Lichnowski, German +ambassador to England, the published statements of the premier of +Bavaria, also those of the Prince of Monaco, and the records of the +Potsdam council over which the Kaiser presided, secretly convened one +week after the murder of the Prince. There were present the generals, +diplomats and bankers of Germany. + + +DECISION FOR WAR. + +The matter of possible war was carefully considered. To the earnest +question of the emperor, all present assured him that the interests they +represented were ready, with the exception of the financiers who desired +two weeks' time in which to make financial arrangements for the coming +storm. This was given them, and the council adjourned. The emperor, to +divert suspicion, hurried off on a yachting trip while the financiers +immediately commenced disposing of their foreign securities. The stock +markets of London, Paris, and New York during that interval of time bear +eloquent testimony to the truth of these assertions. Two weeks and three +days after the council adjourned, Austria sent her ultimatum to Serbia. +The truth of these statements is vouched for by Henry Morgenthau, +American ambassador to Turkey. + +Thus were unleashed the dogs of war. For four long years they rioted in +blood. To advance dynastic ambitions and national greed, millions of +Armenian Christians were tortured, outraged and murdered; hapless +Belgians were ravished and put to the sword, their cities made charnal +heaps; millions of men--the fairest sons of many lands--gave up their +lives, and anguished hearts sobbed out their grief in desolated homes, +while generations to come will feel the crushing financial burdens this +struggle has entailed with its heritage of woe. + +We must now gain a general view of the events of the war. Every +well-informed man or woman feels the necessity of such outline +knowledge. It was not only the greatest war in history, but it was our +war. Our liberties were threatened. Rivers and hamlets of France are +invested with new interest. There, our American boys are sleeping; they +died that our Republic might live. We may regard the annals of other +wars with languid interest; those of this war grip our hearts, our +breath comes quicker as we read; we experience a glow of patriotic +pride. We shall let each year of the war tell its story. Of necessity we +can only record the main events, the peaks of each year's achievements. + + +EVENTS OF 1914. + +A state of war was declared to exist in Germany, July 31, 1914. Four +days later Germany had mobilized five large armies with full supplies on +the extended line from Metz northward along the eastern boundary of +France--a distance of about 130 miles. That mobilization was a wonderful +exhibition of military efficiency. From Verdun to Paris, slightly +southwest, is also about 130 miles. + +The German plan of campaign may be crudely stated as follows: Regard +that extended line as a flail ready to fall, hinged near Verdun, moved +in a circle until the northern tip, under command of Von Kluck, should +fall with all the energy Germany could put into the blow on Paris. In +the meantime, the other armies would crush back, outflank, defeat, and +capture the small British and hastily mobilized French armies that +confronted them along the entire line. It was believed that a short +campaign would crush France, over-awe Great Britain, and end the war in +the West. It was thought that six weeks would be ample to accomplish +this result. + + +BELGIAN RESISTANCE. + +Germany expected that at the most a day or so would see Belgian +resistance broken and the dash on Paris begun. It was not safe to start +such a forward rush with Belgium unconquered. This was the first of +many, many mistakes made by Germany. It required two weeks to break down +this resistance. Thus the northern end of the flail was held and +movement along the entire line was slowed down or suspended. The +unexpected delay saved France. Let us remember this when we read the +story of Belgium's martyrdom, a story written in blood. Then began the +fulfillment of the threat of William II to the Prince of Monaco "the +world will see what it never dreamed of." And truly the world never +dreamed of the terrible scenes that attended the sack of Louvain (August +26). Not until after the situation in Belgium had been given a bloody +setting did the first dash on Paris begin (August 23). + + +RETREAT TO THE MARNE. + +We are now approaching the "Miracle of the Marne." The line of German +armies along the eastern frontier of France were confronted by the +forces of France, hastily mobilized during the delay occasioned by the +heroic but pathetically futile resistance of Belgium. The first English +army had also assumed a position before the menacing rush of the German +forces. The only thing the Allies could do was to retreat. This +movement, directed by General Joffre, was a remarkably able one. His +plan was to give ground before the advance without risking a decisive +battle until he could rearrange his forces and gain a favorable +position. Only with difficulty was the retreat saved from becoming a +great disaster when the British army was defeated at Mons-Charleroi +(August 21-3). Apparently, the German forces were carrying everything +before them as the retreat continued. The flail, swinging from Metz to +Belgium, was falling with crushing effect along the entire front, the +movement being very rapid at the western but slow at the eastern end. It +was centered at Verdun because it was not safe to leave that fortress +unconquered in the rear. + + +THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE. + +The Marne is a small river in France, gently coursing from the +water-shed south of Verdun to the Seine near Paris, its general course +convex to the north. It will hereafter rank as one of the storied rivers +of history, the scene of mighty battles, where the red tide of German +success ebbed in its flow. The night of September 4, the German armies +were in position along this river in an irregularly curved line slightly +convex to the south from a point only twenty-five miles east of Paris to +Verdun, one hundred and twenty-five miles, slightly to the northeast. +The evening of that day, General Joffre issued orders for a general +attack all along the line. His message to the French Senate was couched +in words of deep meaning,--he had made, he said, the best disposition +possible. France could only await in hope the outcome. The battle that +began the next day continued for one week and ended with a victory for +the Allies as the German armies were forced back everywhere, a varying +distance, to a line of defense prepared back of the Aisne River, to the +north and east. This was a marvelous result. Just as the world was +waiting with bated breath to hear of the fall of Paris, it heard +instead, that the German army was in retreat. It was truly a miracle. +Why not see in it proof that a Power infinitely greater than that of man +was directing events? + + +THE MAGNITUDE OF THE BATTLE. + +The battle front covered a distance of about 125 miles. The forces +engaged numbered about 1,500,000 men. Thus this battle far exceeds in +magnitude the battle of Mukden, previously considered the greatest +battle of modern times; while the great battle of Waterloo was an +insignificant skirmish in comparison. It is of further interest to learn +that Allied success was largely the result of the use of flying machines +for scouting purposes, which enabled General Joffre to take instant +advantage of tactical mistakes of General Von Kluck. The results were +commensurate with the immensity of the struggle. Paris was saved; the +first period of the war in the west was ended; Germany was rudely +awakened from her dream of easy conquest. + + +THE BATTLE OF TANNENBERG. + +The success of the Allies in the west was in a measure offset by +Teutonic victories in the east. When the invasion of Belgium began, +Russia made immediate efforts to counteract by invasion of East Prussia. +She was successful to the extent of drawing to that section a number of +army corps that would otherwise have taken part in the Marne campaign. +These movements culminated in the battle of Tannenberg, commencing +August 26, 1914. Tannenberg is nearly one hundred miles southeast of +Konigsburg. This was the battle that gave General Von Hindenburg his +fame. He was a native of East Prussia, and acquainted with the country, +but had lived in retirement for some years. Appointed to command, he +made such a skillful disposition of his troops that the Russian army was +virtually annihilated, less than one corps escaped by headlong flight. +According to German authority, 70,000 Russians were captured. General +Von Hindenburg was acclaimed the greatest soldier of the day, and was +immediately appointed field marshal in command of all the German forces +in the east. + + +EVENTS OF 1915. + +The year 1915 was one of meager results, the advantages remaining on the +side of the Central Powers, with this understanding, however: The Allies +were growing stronger because Great Britain was making rapid progress in +marshaling her resources for war. On the west front, the long, irregular +line of trenches, from Switzerland on the south to Ostend on the North +Sea, marking the German retreat after the battle of the Marne, remained +without substantial change. Do not understand there were no battles +along that extended line. Almost daily there were conflicts that in +former wars would have been given a place among the world's great +battles. They are scarcely worth mentioning in the annals of this war. +Back and forth across that narrow line surged the red tide without +decisive changes in position. There were attacks and counter-attacks of +the most sanguinary nature near Calais. The first instance of the use of +gas in war occurred in these battles, at the second battle of Ypres, +April 23, 1915. + + +ON THE EAST FRONT. + +In spite of the great reverse at Tannenberg, Russia was not defeated. +Her armies in Galicia (Northeastern Hungary) were winning important +battles. A determined effort was made in 1915 by Germany to crush Russia +and thus retire her from the war. For days at a time, on the railroads +of East Germany, double headed trains were passing every fifteen +minutes, loaded with troops and munitions withdrawn from the western +front which accounts for the comparative quiet in that section, which in +turn gave Great Britain time to prepare in earnest. And so it was that +during a large part of 1915 Russia had to withstand the shock of war. +Russian soldiers were brave; her generals able, but the whole official +life was more or less corrupt. + +The poison of German propaganda was at work. Her ammunition was totally +insufficient. Immense supplies made in France according to +specifications furnished by high officials in Russia did not fit the +guns they were intended to serve. There were already signs of the +approaching utter collapse of Russia as a world power, then more than a +year distant in time. In spite of these drawbacks we read of brilliant +but futile efforts of her poorly equipped army to stem the tide of +Teutonic success that soon began. + +Before the close of the year Poland was entirely overrun by German +forces. It seemed for a time as if Petrograd itself must fall. In short, +it was thought that Russia was crushed. Then it was that the Kaiser +wrote to his sister, the Queen of Greece, "having crushed Russia, the +rest of Europe will soon tremble before me." But when 1915 ended a line +of trenches from Riga on the north to Czernowitz on the south still +guarded the frontiers of Russia. + + +THE DARDANELLES CAMPAIGN. + +This campaign began in December, 1914, and continued during 1915. It was +an effort on the part of the Allies to force the Dardanelles, capture +Constantinople, and inflict a crushing blow on Turkey. This effort was a +dismal failure for the Allies, but had all the effect of a decisive +victory for Turkey and her allies. The fact that the attack was failing +had considerable to do with inducing Bulgaria to enter the war on the +side of Germany. The immediate result of this step on the part of +Bulgaria was the complete crushing of Serbia (October 6-December 2), +and this in turn made possible full and free railroad transportation +between Germany on the north and Turkey on the south. The net result was +to greatly strengthen the Teutonic allies. The conduct of Turkey in the +war was marked by most atrocious treatment of the Armenians. Belgium on +the north, Armenia on the south, are blood-stained chapters in the +annals of war. + + +EVENTS OF 1916. + +Apparently believing that Russia was so badly crippled that she could +not again peril Austria-Hungary or wrest Poland from the grasp of +Germany, the latter country gathered her available resources for a +decisive, crushing blow in France. We have several times mentioned +Verdun. It is well to study its location on the map, about 130 miles +slightly north of east of Paris. It is a city of great historic +interest, beautifully located in the Meuse valley with its approach +defended by low-lying ranges of hills through which lead numerous +defiles. At this city, more than a thousand years ago, was concluded the +celebrated treaty of Verdun that settled the disputes between the +grandsons of Charlemagne, and this constitutes a landmark in the early +history of France. + +It was Verdun that held back the southern end of the flail wherewith +France was to be crushed in 1914; in the battle of the Marne it held the +eastern or left wing of the long German line, which could not advance +and leave Verdun unsubdued in the rear. The German Crown Prince was in +command near Verdun. His ideal was Napoleon. His private library +contained nearly everything ever written about that great general. He +was exceedingly anxious to pose as the conqueror of France. To +strengthen his dynasty, the Kaiser was also anxious that his son should +take a prominent part. Accordingly it was planned to gather an enormous +army under his command, overwhelm Verdun and smash through to Paris. +Thus Prince Wilhelm would be enrolled among the great commanders of +history. Von Hindenburg was opposed to this plan, he wanted to finish up +his work so happily begun in Russia. But the Crown Prince had his way; +and immense supplies of guns, ammunition, and men were withdrawn from +the eastern front and massed at Verdun. + + +THE GREAT BATTLE OF VERDUN. + +The annals of history record no battle approaching in duration, +artillery fire, and awful sacrifice than the battle that enveloped +Verdun for six months, beginning February 21, 1916. Other battles have +been fought along more extended fronts and thus engaged larger numbers +of troops; but none ever presented in a more acute form the issue of +national life or death. The stand of the heroic Greeks at Thermopylae +denying passage to the hosts of Persia was not more vital to the cause +of civilization than this storied defense of Verdun. The reflective +writer can but notice that in every campaign of the war, when further +success of the German armies meant victory, it was as if an unseen Power +decreed "thus far and no further." It was so at Verdun. The French +soldier, calmly going to death, chanting "They shall not pass," did not +die in vain. + + +THE BATTLE ITSELF. + +The French were taken somewhat by surprise as they had not expected such +an early attack or that its fury would break at Verdun. Of course it was +known that a great force was being assembled, but no one dreamed of the +enormous concentration of guns of all kinds that were made. They +literally cumbered the ground and the shells assembled were in keeping. +The German generals were so confident of success that foreign +correspondents were invited to be present to witness the resistless +onslaught. The evening before the attack began there was a banquet at +the German headquarters, the Kaiser and all his notable generals (but +not Von Hindenburg) were present. The toast was "After four days, +Verdun; then Paris." They estimated that it would take possibly three +weeks to accomplish their ends. Evidently among the uninvited and unseen +guests were Defeat and Death. + +The attack that commenced the next day lasted with but slight +interruptions until October. It is interesting to remark that more shot +and shell were used in this battle than the total used during the four +years of the Civil War in America on both sides. Verdun itself was +reduced to ruins. Considerable portions of the fortified area to the +north of Verdun were captured, including the important forts Douamont +and Vaux, but the entire attack failed. The minor successes achieved +were won with an appalling loss of life and were easily retaken by the +French later in the fall. Verdun was renamed by the German soldiers as +"The Grave," and such it truly was to the hopes of victory and peace +that inspired the toast at the Verdun banquet. + + +CONQUEST OF ROUMANIA. + +Roumania is one of the Balkan States. Her entry into the second Balkan +war in 1913 was one of the decisive factors against Bulgaria. After the +entry of Bulgaria into the World War in 1915 the pressure became very +strong on Roumania by Russia to come into the war on the side of the +Allies. The summer of 1916 Russia had reorganized her forces, and the +war in the west was going against Germany at Verdun and along the Somme. +This was deemed an opportune time for Roumania to enter the war and so, +with no principles at stake, Roumania declared war on Austria, August +27, 1916. The response of Germany and Bulgaria to this new menace was +prompt and decisive. Before the end of the year Roumania was crushed, +the capital city, Bucharest, was taken. Roumania was not at all prepared +to wage war on the scale this war had assumed, but the immediate cause +of her easy conquest was the failure of Russia to keep her promises of +assistance. Russia, undermined by German intrigue, with traitors at +court, was already tottering to her fall. + + +EVENTS OF 1917. + +The year 1917 witnessed startling changes in the grouping of the +belligerent powers. The three largest republics in the world--China, +Brazil, and the United States,--were drawn into the war on the side of +the Entente Allies. Other small nations, members of the Pan-American +Union, joined with the United States in this action. Other South +American nations showed their sympathy with the United States by +severing diplomatic relations with Germany. In Europe, Greece made a +formal declaration of war July 2, 1917. Thus all of the Balkan States +were finally involved. To complete the record, we must note that Siam in +Asia and Liberia in Africa also joined the Entente Allies. Never before +in history had there been such an alignment of nations for purposes of +war. It was significant of one thing,--growing resentment against what +had long been recognized as the criminal ambitions of Germany to +dominate the world. + + +THE UNITED STATES IN WAR. + +April 6, 1917, will hereafter be one of the most important dates in the +annals of this republic. Then it was that Congress in a joint resolution +declared a state of war existed between the United States and Germany, +and authorized the President to employ the naval and military power of +our country to carry on the war and pledged all our resources to that +end. We can now see that the hidden currents of national destiny were +tending in an irresistible way to war on the part of the United States. +Every consideration of national safety and every principle that we hold +dear, demanded that we should respond to the call of the President to +arms. Then commenced the wonderful preparations for war on the part of +the United States. Official Germany in conversation with Minister +Gerard, before the rupture of diplomatic relations, laughed to scorn the +thought that the United States could render any military aid worth +considering to her allies. Germany in the fall of 1917 was not laughing. + + +THE COLLAPSE OF RUSSIA. + +The collapse of Russia was the second great event of 1917. It was the +result of a long train of causes. Let it suffice to say that treachery +in high places backed by German propaganda, had undermined the +government. March 15, 1917, the storm broke. The utter overthrow of +autocratic rule in Russia was one of those explosive outbreaks, but few +of which have occurred in history. In a single day the old order of +government passed away never to return in Russia. It was a revolution as +thoroughgoing as its prototype, the French revolution of 1789, and it +soon developed equal scenes of horror. After some months of struggle, +the government of Russia passed under the control of the Bolsheviki and +anarchy followed, outdoing the scenes of the French commune. The +immediate effect on the war was to retire Russia from the conflict, thus +releasing a large army and its supplies for service elsewhere. + + +THE ITALIAN REVERSE. + +Having achieved such signal successes in the east, Russia and Roumania +being both disposed of, the German leaders planned a campaign designed +to crush Italy. In the summer of 1917 the Italian front was along the +Isonza River in Austrian territory. The test of Italian endurance was at +hand. A great force of Austrians and Germans was assembled along the +river. As was usual in all Teutonic drives, endeavors were made by +propaganda work to break down the morale of the Italian troops. This +effort consisted in spreading fearsome accounts of the crushing nature +of the blow about to fall, the folly of further resistance, and the +advantages to be gained by accepting the generous terms of peace their +true friends--their former allies--were ready to grant. This effort had +an effect, but Italy was not Russia. + +The drive began October 24th. It was a very pronounced Teutonic success, +though the great object of the drive was not achieved. In three weeks' +time the Italians were forced back from the Isonza to the Piava River +line; nearly 200,000 soldiers had been captured, together with immense +supplies of all kinds. But yet Italy was not crushed, the German forces +were firmly held along the Piava. We should reflect that in the World +War millions were engaged and the loss of one or even two hundred +thousand men did not mean the end of the war. + + +EVENTS OF 1918. + +The Allies could only hope to defend their position on the west front +against the impending offensive on the part of Germany, for which +preparations on a vast scale were being made, until reinforcements from +the United States could reach them sufficient to enable them to take the +offensive in their turn. Germany hastened its preparations through the +winter months of 1917-18, for they knew they must win a decisive victory +to crush the armies of France and England before the United States could +give efficient assistance. It was a race between America and Germany, +and America won. With the assistance of the British and French merchant +marine and such shipping as could be procured at home the American +forces were landed in France in the most astonishing numbers ever +recorded. The fears of Germany, the hopes of the Allies were alike +exceeded by the forces sent across the ocean. The first of July, 1918, +there were one million American soldiers in France. They came just in +time to avert disaster. + + +GERMAN OFFENSIVE IN 1918. + +The initiative was with Germany, and the German command selected the +British army in position along the Scarpe River, north of Cambria, to +the Oise River--a distance of sixty miles--as the object of the first +drive. The assault began the morning of March 21, 1918. Along the entire +front the artillery fire that opened the drive was on the scale never +before approached in war. More than one million men, the choicest troops +of Germany, were ready to assault the British lines and they came on, +wave after wave, and Germany came perilously near success in her efforts +to break through the British lines. The British were driven back beyond +the lines of the battle of the Somme in 1916, important towns were +captured, but their lines still held. The first phase of the great +battle--known in history as the battle of Picardy--was a defeat to +German hopes. + + +WHEN THE AMERICANS CAME. + +From the opening of the great offense of March 21, 1918, to the signing +of the armistice, November 11, 1918, there were few days when there were +not battles raging at several places along the west front extending +from near Metz in a prolonged sweep, west to Rheims, thence in an +irregular curved line convex toward Paris curving to the North Sea near +Dixmude approximately 250 miles in length. There were days and weeks +when battles of great intensity raged at certain sections, then died +away in that vicinity to break in fury elsewhere. Organized efforts on a +large scale in certain directions were called drives. Until July the +initiative was with Germany, that is to say the Allies were on the +defensive. They were waiting for reinforcements from America. Germany +was making desperate efforts to win a decisive victory and force peace +on their terms before effective aid could arrive. + + +TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES OF BATTLE. + +At this point try to realize what these statements imply. We do not +grasp their meaning. A battle front of two hundred and fifty miles! And +along that line at least ten million men were facing each other with +other millions in reserve. Trench lines were strung along most of the +front. Not simply one line of trenches, but several, with connecting +trenches, the opposing lines being at places only a few hundred yards +apart. As the struggle continued, however, it became more and more a war +in the open. + +This series of struggles are undoubtedly the greatest exertion of +military power in the history of the world. Never before had such masses +of munitions been used; never before had scientific knowledge been so +drawn on in the service of war. Thousands of airplanes were patrolling +the air, sometimes scouting, sometimes dropping bombs on hostile troops +or on hostile stores, sometimes flying low, firing their machine guns +into the faces of marching troops. Thousands upon thousands of great +guns were sending enormous projectiles, which made great pits wherever +they fell. Swarms of machine guns were pouring their bullets like water +from a hose upon charging soldiers. It was an inferno such as Dante +never dreamed of. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of history of which we +have heard--all put together,--were exceeded day after day in the summer +of 1918 when Germany was making her last desperate effort. Thus for +weeks the red tide of war ebbed and flowed, while civilization trembled +in the balance. + + +UNIFIED COMMAND. + +It was clearly seen by the Allied leaders that appointing a +generalissimo to command all their forces was a necessity. This command +was given to General Ferdinand Foch, who had won fame in the battle of +the Marne and who was recognized as one of the greatest strategists of +the day. Events soon demonstrated the wisdom of this step. No general +ever commanded such armies as he. Napoleon, Von Moltke, Grant and Lee +were great generals, but everything connected with this war was on a +scale never before approached, and we can say that the qualities of +leadership displayed by Marshal Foch were necessarily on a higher plane +of action--and we can say this without in the least detracting from the +just fame of other Allied commanders--as Pershing, Haig, Allenby, Diaz +and others. When the war opened, Germany had much to say about her +unconquerable army; her generals were supposed to be superior in a +military way to any others. The war showed that other soldiers were just +as brave, other generals just as able. The fetish of German military +invincibility was early overthrown. + + +AMERICAN ASSISTANCE. + +No American can read the story of the part America took in the war +without experiencing a glow of patriotic feeling. Every Allied nation +can say the same thing. We came late into the struggle, but no nation in +history ever made such wonderful preparation for war as did our country +in the eighteen months that elapsed from the declaration of war to the +signing of the armistice. Our preparations in France, representing only +a part of our total effort, were on such an enormous scale, that neutral +nations--as Sweden and Spain--sent trusted officials to investigate if +it were possibly true that America was making such colossal +preparations; could it be that men by the hundreds of thousands were +disembarking on European soil every week? Were such forces drilled? Were +supplies sent them? It was almost unbelievable. Surely, it must be +American brag. They came, they saw, they departed convinced but in +bewildered wonderment. It was the slowly growing realization of what +this preparation meant that spurred Germany on during the early summer +of 1918. But it was too late. Already the handwriting of defeat was +outlining in letters of fire on the wall. + + +AGAIN THE MARNE. + +May 27, 1918, the Germans opened a drive towards Paris. It resulted in a +deep bulge in the line from Rheims west to Soissons, once more the +German line in that section had reached the Marne. It was a time of +great anxiety in the Allied world. The German tide was rolling on about +seven miles a day toward Paris about fifty miles distant to the +southwest. The German commanders felt sure of success and were talking +about the "strong German peace" they would enforce. The war minister +assured the Reichstag that they must exact at least $50,000,000,000 as +indemnity, while their economic writers devised an elaborate plan +whereby all the trade of the world was to pay tribute to Germany. It +was another case of "Thus far and no farther." + + +CHATEAU THIERRY. + +Chateau Thierry was a thriving city, about 6,000 in population, on the +Marne River, approximately 50 miles northeast of Paris. It is in a +fertile valley. There amid fields of ripening wheat the advancing troops +of Germany were suddenly confronted by American marines, hurried to the +scene of action in motor driven vehicles of all descriptions from Paris. +The forces that faced them, bent on forcing a passage to Paris were +composed of the best Prussian guards and shock troops. They felt +perfectly confident they could drive the Americans back. But the +amateurs went into the battle (the afternoon of June 2) as calmly as if +going to drill on the parade ground. Instead of being driven from the +field they repulsed the seasoned veterans of Germany. It was at a cruel +loss to themselves, 1,600 dead, 2,500 wounded out of 8,000 that came +from Paris on that journey of victory and death; but they never +faltered. This was not a battle of great dimensions but it is among the +most important battles of the war. It saved Paris; but that is not all. +When the news of that battle was flashed up and down the west front, not +an Allied force but was thrilled, enthused, given new courage; the +message that the Americans had stopped the Germans at Chateau Thierry, +electrified Paris. Strong men wept as they realized that the forces of +the Great Republic, able and brave, stood between France and the +ravening wolf of Germany. + + +OTHER VICTORIES. + +In the limited space at our command we can only give a general +description of the remaining weeks of warfare in which American forces +participated. Before advancing at Chateau Thierry the Germans had +fortified their position in Belleau Woods which they had previously +occupied. In the black recesses of this woods they established nest +after nest of machine guns and in the jungle of matted underbrush, of +vines, of heavy foliage they had placed themselves in a position they +believed impregnable. The battle of Chateau Thierry was not rendered +secure until the Germans were driven from Belleau Woods. And so for the +next three weeks the battle of Belleau Woods raged. Fighting day after +day without relief, without sleep, often without water, and for days +without hot rations, the marines met and defeated the best divisions +Germany could throw into the line. According to official decree in +France the name of that woods is now "Woods of the American Brigade." In +September, came the wonderful work of reducing the St. Mihiel salient to +the south and to the east of Verdun, a German wedge that had withstood +every effort to drive it back for four years. We can only mention the +series of battles that took place in the Forest of the Argonne. When the +armistice was declared American forces had fought their way to Sedan. +That was the place that witnessed the deep humiliation of France in the +war of 1870 with which the German Empire began. Germany was only saved +from a deeper humiliation near Sedan in this war that ended that empire, +by the prompt signing of the armistice. + + +THE DOWNFALL OF TURKEY. + +We must notice even in a hurried review of the war the downfall of +Turkey, the release of ancient Mesopotamia, Palestine, and large parts +of Asia Minor, and freeing the ancient Christian nation of Armenia from +the dreadful despotism of Turkish misrule. It is impossible to go into +the details of the successive movements leading to this happy result. +The forces of Great Britain, under command of General Maud, later +General Allenby, must be given the credit. We must not forget that +Mesopotamia was the cradle land of early civilization. There are the +plains of Shinar, there are the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh. Now, that +Turkish rule has been overthrown, we may look to see that entire country +once more a scene of smiling fertility. + +And consider the case of Palestine, the land of Biblical history, the +home of Abraham, and the scene of Old Testament activities; finally +there is the land forever hallowed by the ministrations of Jesus of +Nazareth. It was the goal of the religious wars of the Crusades. For +more than six centuries it groaned under Turkish misrule. The tide of +British success began in 1917. In December of that year (9th) Jerusalem +was taken by the British forces under command of General Allenby. During +1918 all Palestine was freed. September 20, 1918, Nazareth, the boyhood +home of Jesus, was taken. The future of Palestine with its wealth of +Biblical history is a wonderful theme for contemplation. Given the +blessings of a twentieth century government there is no reason why +Palestine should not once more become a land "flowing with milk and +honey." + + +THE APPROACHING END. + +The ending of the war was almost as dramatically sudden as its +beginning. As late as July 15, 1918, according to statements of German +leaders, they still believed they were to be successful; less than four +months later at Senlis, France, their representatives signed an +armistice, the terms of which were the most drastic and humiliating ever +inflicted on a prominent nation; while the Kaiser and Crown Prince had +fled for safety to Holland, a nation they had asserted existed only by +the long sufferance of Germany. Before the fatal day (November 11, +1918) of the armistice--like the falling of a house of cards--had +occurred a succession of abject surrenders, as one by one of the nations +composing the Teutonic Alliance had fallen before the crushing blows of +the Entente forces. + +The middle of July the great German offensive was held. It was expected +by the German leaders that, as in the past, there would now ensue a +period of comparative quiet along the west front during which Germany +could rearrange her forces, perhaps to open an attack elsewhere. Marshal +Foch--ably seconded by General Pershing and General Haig--thought +differently. There were one million American soldiers on the fighting +line, other millions were coming, Great Britain had thrown into France +her reserve army held in England to meet unforeseen emergencies. Then +was the time to begin a counter-attack. Accordingly, just as a German +official was explaining to the Reichstag that General Foch had no +reserves to withstand a fresh onslaught that Germany would soon +begin,--the blow fell. A great counter-attack was initiated by the +French and Americans along the Marne-Aisne front July 18, 1918. + + +THE ALLIES TAKE THE INITIATIVE. + +From that day to the signing of the armistice the initiative remained +with General Foch. Up and down the long line, now here, now there; the +British and Belgians on the north, the French and Americans on the +south, first one, then the other, then together, the Allies drove +forward with hammer blows on the yielding German armies. That subtle +force, so hard to define, the morale of the invaders, was broken down. +Their confidence was gone. They knew they were defeated. The one hope of +their leaders was to get safely back to Germany, and soon a general +retreat was in progress. But to remove armies aggregating several +million men, with guns and supplies, from a contracted area, in the face +of a victorious and aggressive enemy, without the retreat degenerating +into a rout is almost impossible; it requires generalship of highest +order. Day by day the remorseless jaws of the Allied military machine, +hinged to the north of the Aisne,--British and Belgian forces on the +north, French in the center, Americans on the south and east,--were +closing, and when the American forces fought their way through the +Argonne to Sedan (forty miles northeast of Rheims) the case was +hopeless. Only the armistice saved Germany from the humiliation of a +surrender, on a scale vastly greater than the surrender of the French +armies near that same point in 1870. + + +THE COLLAPSE OF THE TEUTONIC ALLIES. + +With Germany herself falling, it is not strange that the nations leagued +with her also went down to defeat. They had been almost forced into the +war by Germany; not one of them could carry on a war when deprived of +counsel and help from Germany. Only the threat of force kept Austria in +the war. As the counter-attack in France gained in force, as the retreat +continued, it was recognized on all hands that the end was approaching. +The will to war--the morale--was completely broken down; and so on every +side the Allied forces gained great victories with surprising ease. + +Bulgaria was the first nation to surrender. This was the conclusion of a +succession of great victories beginning September 16, 1918, ending by +the surrender ten days later. The case with Turkey was hopeless after +Bulgaria fell. No reinforcements or supplies could reach them from +Germany. The English forces under General Allenby were carrying +everything before them. Turkey surrendered October 31, 1918. +Austria-Hungary was the third power to surrender. This came as the +culmination of one of the greatest drives of the war. + + +GREAT ITALIAN VICTORY. + +In 1917--as we have seen,--Italy suffered a great reverse, losing +200,000 soldiers and immense supplies. In August, 1918, Austria renewed +the attack. In his proclamation to his soldiers, the Austrian commander +bade them remember "the white bread, the fat cattle, the wine" and +supplies they had won the year before. Surely as great rewards awaited +them this time, and learned professors assured them and the entire +nation that they belonged to a "conquering superior race" and so could +be confident of further victory. The drive was a "hunger offensive" on +the part of hard-pressed Austria. It was a dismal failure. It is +interesting to know that American airplanes, piloted by Americans, +rendered great assistance in repulsing this attack. Then came the +counter-attack. In this drive American forces assisted. The drive began +October 27th; it was attended by a series of most astonishing victories. +The drive culminated in the abject surrender of Austria, November 3, +1918. The victories can only be explained by the fact that the morale of +the Austrian troops had completely broken down, more than 500,000 +prisoners being taken, together with enormous supplies. + + +THE GERMAN ARMISTICE. + +With their armies perilously near rout on the western front, with a +great military disaster confronting them, with everyone of her allies +forced to surrender, with revolution threatening at home, there was +nothing left for Germany to do but to make the best terms possible. +Their commissioners met General Foch at Senlis and the drastic +armistice terms were signed at 5 o'clock, Paris time, the morning of +November 11, 1918, and the last shots in the war were fired at 11 +o'clock, that forenoon, Paris time. The war had lasted (from the date of +the declaration of war on Serbia) four years, three months and thirteen +days. On subsequent pages we shall consider more in detail this +skeletonized story, study the enormous political, geographic and +economic changes it has necessitated, and mentally view the new age in +history at hand. + +[Illustration: PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON. + +President Wilson's latest photograph.] + +[Illustration: GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING. + +This is the latest and best photograph of General Pershing.] + +[Illustration: MARSHAL FERDINAND FOCH. + +This is the latest photograph of Marshal Ferdinand Foch, Supreme +Commander of the Allied Armies, as he appears since the termination of +the war. A comparison of this photograph with earlier ones shows the +effect of the war on the famous general.] + +[Illustration: Showing the actual drafting by the Allied +Plenipotentiaries of the armistice terms which ended the great world +war. Left side of table from left to right: second man, General di +Robilant; Italian Foreign Minister Sonnino; Italian Premier Orlando; +Colonel Edward H. House; General Tasker H. Bliss; next man unknown; +Greek Premier Venizelos, and Serbian Minister Vesnitch. Right side of +the table from left to right: Admiral Wemyss (with back turned); General +Sir Henry Wilson; Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig; General Sackville +West; Andrew Bonar Law; British Premier Lloyd George; French Premier +Georges Clemenceau, and French Foreign Minister, Stephen Pichon.] + +[Illustration: SENLIS, FRANCE, WHERE THE ARMISTICE WAS SIGNED. + +Amid the ruins wrought by the Huns the envoys of Germany signed the +truce terms that victoriously ended the struggle for democracy.] + +[Illustration: FAMOUS FIGHTERS--"THE BLACK WATCH." + +Some of the best fighters in the British Army, resting by the roadside +after having driven the Germans back in the "Fight of the Woods," near +Rheims.] + +[Illustration: CLERKS IN NAVY DEPARTMENT. + +Washington, D.C.] + +[Illustration: FIRST COLORED BATTALION, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, NATIONAL +GUARD. + +On Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., Parading the National Capital +before going to France.] + +[Illustration: SERGT. HENRY JOHNSON, OF ALBANY, N.Y., THE OUTSTANDING +HERO. + +Single-handed he routed 36 Huns, killing 4 of them and wounding the +remainder. When his ammunition ran out he used a bolo knife. Sergt. +Johnson, of the 369th Colored Infantry (old 15th of N.Y.), was the first +man in his regiment to win the French War Cross.] + +[Illustration: GROUP OF 369TH COLORED INFANTRY WITH THEIR WAR CROSSES. + +One hundred and sixty-nine men of this regiment (old 15th N.Y.) won +valor medals. They were nicknamed "Hell Fighters." Top--Fred Rogers. +Lower row--George Chapman, Lawrence McVey, Isaac Freeman. Upper row--Wm. +Bunn, Herbert Mills, Hugh Hamilton, Clarence Johnson.] + +[Illustration: COL. HAYWARD AND GROUP OF REAL FIGHTERS. + +All winners of the Croix de Guerre. When a French general gave orders to +retire, Col. Hayward replied: "My men never retire: they go forward or +die, and we are going through here or hell. We don't go back."] + +[Illustration: LIEUTENANT ROBERT S. CAMPBELL, U.S. ARMY. + +The first man in the 92nd American Division (Negroes) to receive the +distinguished service cross for bravery in the fighting in the Argonne. +He was a member of Co. I, 368th Infantry.] + +[Illustration: GUARDING THE FLAG. + +The flag of the old 15th (decorated by the French) and Old Glory.] + +[Illustration: AT THE Y.M.C.A. ON FRENCH FRONT. + +This group of soldiers is being served at a "Y" tent.] + +[Illustration: NEGRO SOLDIERS ON THE MARCH IN FRANCE. + +Along this beautiful stream it was tramp, tramp, tramp the soldiers were +marching on to do their duty and help bring the victory which meant +"World Peace."] + +[Illustration: HOME AGAIN. OH, HOW JOYFUL! + +Back from France, and what a grand reception awaited them! Conquering +heroes on the battlefield and the warmth and enthusiasm over their +homecoming are beyond words to describe.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +GENERAL PERSHING'S OWN STORY OF THE VICTORIOUS AMERICAN ARMY + +ORGANIZATION OF HIS GENERAL STAFF--TRAINING IN FRANCE--IN THE AISNE +OFFENSIVE--AT CHATEAU THIERRY--THE ST. MIHIEL SALIENT--MEUSE-ARGONNE, +FIRST PHASE--THE BATTLE IN THE FOREST--SUMMARY. + + +This is a brief summary of the organization and operations of the +American Expeditionary Force from May 26, 1917, until the signing of the +armistice, November 11, 1918. Immediately upon receiving my orders I +selected a small staff and proceeded to Europe in order to become +familiar with conditions at the earliest possible moment. + +The warmth of our reception in England and France was only equaled by +the readiness of the commanders in chief of the veteran armies of the +Allies and their staffs to place their experience at our disposal. In +consultation with them the most effective means of co-operation of +effort was considered. With French and British armies at their maximum +strength, and all efforts to dispossess the enemy from his firmly +intrenched positions in Belgium and France failed, it was necessary to +plan for an American force adequate to turn the scale in favor of the +Allies. Taking account of the strength of the Central Powers at that +time, the immensity of the problem which confronted us could hardly be +over-estimated. The first requisite being an organization that could +give intelligent direction to effort, the formation of a General Staff +occupied my early attention. + + +ORGANIZATION OF GENERAL STAFF. + +A well organized General Staff through which the commander exercises his +functions is essential to a successful modern army. However capable our +division, our battalion, and our companies as such, success would be +impossible without thoroughly co-ordinated endeavor. A General Staff +broadly organized and trained for war had not hitherto existed in our +army. Under the Commander-in-Chief, this staff must carry out the policy +and direct the details of administration, supply, preparation, and +operations of the army as a whole, with all special branches and bureaus +subject to its control. As models to aid us we had the veteran French +General Staff and the experience of the British who had similarly formed +an organization to meet the demands of a great army. By selecting from +each the features best adapted to our basic organization, and fortified +by our own early experience in the war, the development of our great +General Staff system was completed. + +The General Staff is naturally divided into five groups, each with its +chief who is an assistant to the Chief of the General Staff. G.1 is in +charge of organization and equipment of troops, replacements, tonnage, +priority of overseas shipment, the auxiliary welfare association and +cognate subjects; G.2 has censorship, enemy intelligence, gathering and +disseminating information, preparation of maps, and all similar +subjects; G.3 is charged with all strategic studies and plans, movement +of troops, and the supervision of combat operations; G.4 co-ordinates +important questions of supply, construction, transport arrangements for +combat, and of the operations of the service of supply, and of +hospitalization and the evacuation of the sick and wounded; G.5 +supervises the various schools and has general direction and +co-ordination of education and training. + +The first Chief of Staff was Colonel (now Major-General) James G. +Harbord, who was succeeded in May, 1918, by Major-General James W. +McAndrew. To these officers, to the deputy Chief of Staff, and to the +assistant Chiefs of Staff, who, as heads of sections, aided them, great +credit is due for the results obtained not only in perfecting the +General Staff organization but in applying correct principles to the +multiplicity of problems that have arisen. + + +ORGANIZATION OF THE FORCES. + +After a thorough consideration of Allied organizations it was decided +that our combat division should consist of four regiments of infantry of +3,000 men, with three battalions to a regiment and four companies of 250 +men each to a battalion, and of an artillery brigade of three regiments, +a machine gun battalion, an engineer regiment, a trench-mortar battery, +a signal battalion, wagon trains, and the headquarters staffs and +military police. These, with medical and other units, made a total of +over 28,000 men, or practically double the size of a French or German +division. Each corps would normally consist of six divisions--four +combat and one depot and one replacement division--and also two +regiments of cavalry, and each army of from three to five corps. With +four divisions fully trained, a corps could take over an American sector +with two divisions in line and two in reserve, with the depot and +replacement divisions prepared to fill the gaps in the ranks. + +Our purpose was to prepare an integral American force which should be +able to take the offensive in every respect. Accordingly, the +development of a self-reliant infantry by thorough drill in the use of +the rifle and in the tactics of open warfare was always uppermost. The +plan of training after arrival in France allowed a division one month +for acclimatization and instruction in small units from battalions down, +a second month in quiet trench sectors by battalions, and a third month +after it came out of the trenches when it should be trained as a +complete division in war of movement. + + +SCHOOLS OF INSTRUCTION. + +Very early a system of schools was outlined and started, which should +have the advantage of instruction by officers direct from the front. At +the great school center at Langres, one of the first to be organized, +was the staff school, where the principles of general staff work, as +laid down in our own organization, were taught to carefully selected +officers. Men in the ranks, who had shown qualities of leadership, were +sent to the school of candidates for commissions. A school of the line +taught younger officers the principles of leadership, tactics, and the +use of the different weapons. In the artillery school, at Saumur, young +officers were taught the fundamental principles of modern artillery; +while at Issoudun an immense plant was built for training cadets in +aviation. These and other schools, with their well-considered +curriculums for training in every branch of our organization, were +co-ordinated in a manner best to develop an efficient army out of +willing and industrious young men, many of whom had not before known +even the rudiments of military technique. Both Marshal Haig and General +Petain placed officers and men at our disposal for instructional +purposes, and we are deeply indebted for the opportunities given to +profit by their veteran experience. + + +AMERICAN ZONE. + +The eventual place the American army should take on the western front +was to a large extent influenced by the vital question of communication +and supply. The northern ports of France were crowded by the British +armies' shipping and supplies while the southern ports, though +otherwise at our service, had not adequate port facilities for our +purposes and these we should have to build. The already overtaxed +railway system behind the active front in northern France would not be +available for us as lines of supply and those leading from the southern +ports of northeastern France would be unequal to our needs without much +new construction. Practically all warehouses, supply depots and +regulating stations must be provided by fresh constructions. While +France offered us such material as she had to spare after a drain of +three years, enormous quantities of material had to be brought across +the Atlantic. + + +VAST PREPARATIONS NECESSARY. + +With such a problem any temporization or lack of definiteness in making +plans might cause failure even with victory within our grasp. Moreover, +broad plans commensurate with our national purpose and resources would +bring conviction of our power to every soldier in the front line, to the +nations associated with us in the war, and to the enemy. The tonnage for +material for necessary construction for the supply of an army of three +and perhaps four million men would require a mammoth program of +shipbuilding at home, and miles of dock construction in France, with a +corresponding large project for additional railways and for storage +depots. + +All these considerations led to the inevitable conclusion that if we +were to handle and supply the great forces deemed essential to win the +war we must utilize the southern ports of France--Bordeaux, La Pallice, +St. Nazaire, and Brest--and the comparatively unused railway systems +leading therefrom to the northeast. Generally speaking, then, this would +contemplate the use of our forces against the enemy somewhere in that +direction, but the great depots of supply must be centrally located, +preferably in the area included by Tours, Bourges, and Chateauroux, so +that our armies could be supplied with equal facility wherever they +might be serving on the western front. + + +SKILLED HELP. + +To build up such a system there were talented men in the Regular Army, +but more experts were necessary than the army could furnish. Thanks to +the patriotic spirit of our people at home, there came from civil life +men trained for every sort of work involved in building and managing the +organization necessary to handle and transport such an army and keep it +supplied. With such assistance the construction and general development +of our plans have kept pace with the growth of the forces, and the +Service of Supply is now able to discharge from ships and move 45,000 +tons daily, besides transporting troops and material in the conduct of +active operations. + + +WORK OF THE DEPARTMENTS. + +As to organization, all the administrative and supply services, except +the Adjutant General's, Inspector General's, and Judge Advocates +General's Departments which remain at general headquarters, have been +transferred to the headquarters of the services of supplies at Tours +under a commanding general responsible to the commander-in-chief for +supply of the armies. The Chief Quartermaster, Chief Surgeon, Chief +Signal Officer, Chief of Ordnance, Chief of Air Service, Chief of +Chemical Warfare, the general purchasing agent in all that pertains to +questions of procurement and supply, the Provost Marshal General in the +maintenance of order in general, the Director General of Transportation +in all that affects such matters, and the Chief Engineer in all matters +of administration and supply, are subordinate to the Commanding General +of the Service of Supply, who, assisted by a staff especially organized +for the purpose, is charged with the administrative co-ordination of all +these services. + + +TRANSPORTATION AND ENGINEER'S DEPARTMENT. + +The transportation department under the Service of Supply directs the +operation, maintenance, and construction of railways, the operation of +terminals, the unloading of ships, and transportation of material to +warehouses or to the front. Its functions make necessary the most +intimate relationship between our organization and that of the French, +with the practical result that our transportation department has been +able to improve materially the operations of railways generally. +Constantly laboring under a shortage of rolling stock, the +transportation department has nevertheless been able by efficient +management to meet every emergency. + +The Engineer Corps is charged with all construction, including light +railways and roads. It has planned and constructed the many projects +required, the most important of which are the new wharves at Bordeaux +and Nantes, and the immense storage depots at La Pallice, Montoir, and +Gievres, besides innumerable hospitals and barracks in various ports of +France. These projects have all been carried on by phases keeping pace +with our needs. The Forestry Service under the Engineer Corps has cut +the greater part of the timber and railway ties required. + + +PURCHASES IN EUROPE. + +To meet the shortage of supplies from America, due to lack of shipping, +the representatives of the different supply departments were constantly +in search of available material and supplies in Europe. In order to +co-ordinate these purchases and to prevent competition between our +departments, a general purchasing agency was created early in our +experience to co-ordinate our purchases and, if possible, induce our +Allies to apply the principle among the Allied armies. While there was +no authority for the general use of appropriations, this was met by +grouping the purchasing representatives of the different departments +under one control, charged with the duty of consolidating requisitions +and purchases. Our efforts to extend the principle have been signally +successful, and all purchases for the Allied armies are now on an +equitable and co-operative basis. Indeed, it may be said that the work +of this bureau has been thoroughly efficient and business-like. + + +ARTILLERY, AIRPLANES AND TANKS. + +Our entry into the war found us with few of the auxiliaries necessary +for its conduct in the modern sense. Among our most important +deficiencies in material were artillery, aviation, and tanks. In order +to meet our requirements as rapidly as possible, we accepted the offer +of the French Government to provide us with the necessary artillery +equipment of seventy-fives, one fifty-five millimeter howitzers, and +one-fifty-five GPF guns from their own factories for thirty divisions. +The wisdom of this course is fully demonstrated by the fact that, +although we soon began the manufacture of these classes of guns at home, +there were no guns of the calibers mentioned manufactured in America on +our front at the date the armistice was signed. The only guns of these +types produced at home thus far received in France are 109 seventy-five +millimeter guns. + +In aviation we were in the same situation, and here again the French +Government came to our aid until our own aviation program should be +under way. We obtained from the French the necessary planes for +training our personnel, and they have provided us with a total of 2,676 +pursuit, observation, and bombing planes. The first airplanes received +from home arrived in May, and altogether we have received 1,379. The +first American squadron completely equipped by American production, +including airplanes, crossed the German lines on August 7, 1918. As to +tanks, we were also compelled to rely upon the French. Here, however, we +were less fortunate, for the reason that the French production could +barely meet the requirements of their own armies. + + +OUR OBLIGATIONS TO FRANCE. + +It should be fully realized that the French Government has always taken +a most liberal attitude and has been most anxious to give us every +possible assistance in meeting our deficiencies in these as well as in +other respects. Our dependence upon France for artillery, aviation, and +tanks was, of course, due to the fact that our industries had not been +exclusively devoted to military production. All credit is due our own +manufacturers for their efforts to meet our requirements, as at the time +the armistice was signed we were able to look forward to the early +supply of practically all our necessities from our own factories. + + +CAMP WELFARE WORK. + +The welfare of the troops touches my responsibility as +Commander-in-Chief to the mothers and fathers and kindred of the men who +came to France in the impressionable period of youth. They could not +have the privilege accorded European soldiers during their periods of +leave of visiting their families and renewing their home ties. Fully +realizing that the standard of conduct that should be established for +them must have a permanent influence in their lives and on the +character of their future citizenship, the Red Cross, the Young Men's +Christian Association, Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army, and the +Jewish Welfare Board, as auxiliaries in this work, were encouraged in +every possible way. The fact that our soldiers, in a land of different +customs and language, have borne themselves in a manner in keeping with +the cause for which they fought, is due not only to the efforts in their +behalf but much more to other high ideals, their discipline, and their +innate sense of self-respect. It should be recorded, however, that the +members of these welfare societies have been untiring in their desire to +be of real service to our officers and men. The patriotic devotion of +these representative men and women has given a new significance to the +Golden Rule, and we owe to them a debt of gratitude that can never be +repaid. + + +COMBAT OPERATIONS. + +During our periods of training in the trenches some of our divisions had +engaged the enemy in local combats, the most important of which was +Seicheprey by the Twenty-sixth on April 20, in the Toul sector, but none +had participated in action as a unit. The First Division, which had +passed through the preliminary stages of training, had gone to the +trenches for its first period of instruction at the end of October and +by March 21, when the German offensive in Picardy began, we had four +divisions with experience in the trenches, all of which were equal to +any demands of battle action. The crisis which this offensive developed +was such that our occupation of an American sector must be postponed. + + +TROOPS PLACED UNDER MARSHAL FOCH. + +On March 28 I placed at the disposal of Marshal Foch who had been agreed +upon as Commander-in-Chief of the Allied armies, all of our forces to +be used as he might decide. At his request the First Division was +transferred from the Toul sector to a position in reserve at Chaumont en +Vexin. As German superiority in numbers required prompt action, an +agreement was reached at the Abbeville conference of the Allied premiers +and commanders and myself on May 2 by which British shipping was to +transport ten American divisions to the British army area, where they +were to be trained and equipped, and additional British shipping was to +be provided for as many divisions as possible for use elsewhere. + + +THE CANTIGNY OPERATIONS. + +On April 26 the First Division had gone into the line in the Montdidier +salient on the Picardy battlefront. Tactics had been suddenly +revolutionized to those of open warfare, and our men, confident of the +results of their training, were eager for the test. On the morning of +May 28 this division attacked the commanding German position in its +front, taking with splendid dash the town of Cantigny and all other +objectives, which were organized and held steadfastly against vicious +counter-attacks and galling artillery fire. Although local, this +brilliant action had an electrical effect, as it demonstrated our +fighting qualities under extreme battle conditions, and also that the +enemy's troops were not altogether invincible. + + +THE GERMAN AISNE OFFENSIVE. + +The Germans' Aisne offensive, which began on May 27, had advanced +rapidly toward the River Marne and Paris, and the Allies faced a crisis +equally as grave as that of the Picardy offensive in March. Again every +available man was placed at Marshal Foch's disposal, and the Third +Division, which had just come from its preliminary training in the +trenches, was hurried to the Marne. Its motorized machine gun battalion +preceded the other units and successfully held the bridgehead at the +Marne, opposite Chateau-Thierry. The Second Division, in reserve near +Montdidier, was sent by motor trucks and other available transport to +check the progress of the enemy toward Paris. The Division attacked and +retook the town and railroad station at Bouresches and sturdily held its +ground against the enemy's best guard divisions. In the battle of +Belleau Wood, which followed, our men proved their superiority and +gained a strong tactical position, with far greater loss to the enemy +than to ourselves. On July 1, before the Second was relieved, it +captured the village of Vaux with most splendid precision. + +Meanwhile our Second Corps, under Maj. Gen. George W. Read, had been +organized for the command of our divisions with the British, which were +held back in training areas or assigned to second-line defenses. Five of +the ten divisions were withdrawn from the British area in June, three to +relieve divisions in Lorraine and the Vosges and two to the Paris area +to join the group of American divisions which stood between the city and +any farther advance of the enemy in that direction. + + +OPERATIONS NEAR RHEIMS. + +The great June-July troop movement from the States was well under way, +and, although these troops were to be given some preliminary training +before being put into action, their very presence warranted the use of +all the older divisions in the confidence that we did not lack reserves. +Elements of the Forty-second Division were in the line east of Rheims +against the German offensive of July 15, and held their ground +unflinchingly. On the right flank of this offensive four companies of +the Twenty-eighth Division were in position in face of the advancing +waves of the German infantry. The Third Division was holding the bank of +the Marne from the bend east of the mouth of the Surmelin to the west of +Mezy, opposite Chateau-Thierry, where a large force of German infantry +sought to force a passage under support of powerful artillery +concentrations and under cover of smoke screens. A single regiment of +the Third wrote one of the most brilliant pages in our military annals +on this occasion. It prevented the crossing at certain points on its +front while, on either flank, the Germans, who had gained a footing, +pressed forward. Our men, firing in three directions, met the German +attacks with counter-attacks at critical points and succeeded in +throwing two German divisions into complete confusion, capturing 600 +prisoners. + + +BEGINNING OF THE COUNTER ATTACK. + +The great force of the German Chateau-Thierry offensive established the +deep Marne salient, but the enemy was taking chances, and the +vulnerability of this pocket to attack might be turned to his +disadvantage. Seizing this opportunity to support my conviction, every +division with any sort of training was made available for use in a +counter offensive. The place of honor in the thrust toward Soissons on +July 18 was given to our First and Second Divisions in company with +chosen French divisions. Without the usual brief warning of a +preliminary bombardment, the massed French and American artillery, +firing by the map, laid down its rolling barrage at dawn while the +infantry began its charge. The tactical handling of our troops under +these trying conditions was excellent throughout the action. The enemy +brought up large numbers of reserves and made a stubborn defense both +with machine guns and artillery, but through five days' fighting the +First Division continued to advance until it had gained the heights +above Soissons and captured the village of Berzy-le-sec. The Second +Division took Beau Repaire farm and Vierzy in a very rapid advance and +reached a position in front of Tigny at the end of its second day. These +two divisions captured 7,000 prisoners and over 100 pieces of artillery. + + +THE SOISSONS ATTACK. + +The Twenty-sixth Division, which, with a French division, was under +command of our First Corps, acted as a pivot of the movement toward +Soissons. On the 18th it took the village of Torcy, while the Third +Division was crossing the Marne in pursuit of the retiring enemy. The +Twenty-sixth attacked again on the 21st, and the enemy withdrew past the +Chateau-Thierry-Soissons road. The Third Division, continuing its +progress, took the heights of Mont St. Pere and the villages of +Charteves and Jaulgonne in the face of both machine gun and artillery +fire. + +On the 24th, after the Germans had fallen back from Trugny and Epieds, +our Forty-second Division, which had been brought over from the +Champagne, relieved the Twenty-sixth and, fighting its way through the +Foret de Fere, overwhelmed the nest of machine guns in its path. By the +27th it had reached the Ourcq, whence the Third and Fourth Divisions +were already advancing, while the French divisions with which we were +co-operating were moving forward at other points. + +The Third Division had made its advance into Roncheres Wood on the 29th +and was relieved for rest by a brigade of the Thirty-second. The +Forty-second and Thirty-second undertook the task of conquering the +heights beyond Cierges, the Forty-second capturing Sergy and the +Thirty-second capturing Hill 230, both American divisions joining in +the pursuit of the enemy to the Vesle, and thus the operation of +reducing the salient was finished. Meanwhile the Forty-second was +relieved by the Fourth at Chery-Chartreuve, and the Thirty-second by the +Twenty-eighth, while the Seventy-seventh Division took up a position on +the Vesle. The operations of these divisions on the Vesle were under the +Third Corps, Maj. Gen. Robert L. Bullard, commanding. + + +BATTLE OF ST. MIHIEL. + +With the reduction of the Marne salient we could look forward to the +concentration of our divisions in our own zone. In view of the +forthcoming operation against the St. Mihiel salient, which had long +been planned as our first offensive action on a large scale, the First +Army was organized on August 10 under my personal command. While +American units had held different divisional and corps sectors along the +western front, there had not been up to this time, for obvious reasons, +a distinct American sector; but, in view of the important parts the +American forces were now to play, it was necessary to take over a +permanent portion of the line. Accordingly, on August 30, the line +beginning at Port sur Seille, east of the Moselle and extending to the +west through St. Mihiel, thence north to a point opposite Verdun, was +placed under my command. The American sector was afterwards extended +across the Meuse to the western edge of the Argonne Forest, and included +the Second Colonial French, which held the point of the salient, and the +Seventeenth French Corps, which occupied the heights above Verdun. + + +PREPARATION FOR THE ATTACK. + +The preparation for a complicated operation against the formidable +defenses in front of us included the assembling of divisions and of +corps and army artillery, transport, aircraft, tanks, ambulances, the +location of hospitals, and the molding together of all of the elements +of a great modern army with its own railheads, supplied directly by our +own Service of Supply. The concentration for this operation, which was +to be a surprise, involved the movement, mostly at night, of +approximately 600,000 troops, and required for its success the most +careful attention to every detail. + +The French were generous in giving us assistance in corps and army +artillery, with its personnel, and we were confident from the start of +our superiority over the enemy in guns of all calibers. Our heavy guns +were able to reach Metz and to interfere seriously with German rail +movements. The French Independent Air Force was placed under my command +which, together with the British bombing squadrons and our air forces, +gave us the largest assembly of aviation that had ever been engaged in +one operation on the western front. + + +LOCATION OF THE TROOPS. + +From Les Eparges around the nose of the salient at St. Mihiel to the +Moselle River the line was roughly forty miles long and situated on +commanding ground greatly strengthened by artificial defenses. Our First +Corps (Eighty-second, Ninetieth, Fifth, and Second Divisions), under +command of Maj. Gen. Hunter Liggett, restrung its right on +Pont-a-Mouson, with its left joining our Third Corps (the Eighty-ninth, +Forty-second, and First Divisions), under Maj. Gen. Joseph T. Dickman, +in line to Xivray, were to swing in toward Vigneulles on the pivot of +the Moselle River for the initial assault. From Xivray to Mouilly the +Second Colonial French Corps was in line in the center and our Fifth +Corps, under command of Maj. Gen. George H. Cameron, with our +Twenty-sixth Division and a French division at the western base of the +salient, were to attack three difficult hills--Les Eparges, Combres, and +Amaramthe. Our First Corps had in reserve the Seventy-eighth Division, +our Fourth Corps the Third Division, and our First Army the Thirty-fifth +and Ninety-first Divisions, with the Eightieth and Thirty-third +available. It should be understood that our corps organizations are very +elastic, and that we have at no time had permanent assignments of +divisions to corps. + + +MOVEMENT OF THE TROOPS. + +After four hours' artillery preparation, the seven American divisions in +the front line advanced at 5 A.M. on September 12, assisted by a limited +number of tanks manned partly by Americans and partly by the French. +These divisions, accompanied by groups of wire cutters and others armed +with bangalore torpedoes, went through the successive bands of barbed +wire that protected the enemy's front line and support trenches, in +irresistible waves on schedule time, breaking down all defense of an +enemy demoralized by the great volume of our artillery fire and our +sudden approach out of the fog. + +Our First Corps advanced to Thiaucourt, while our Fourth Corps curved +back to the southwest through Nonsard. The Second Colonial French Corps +made the slight advance required of it on very difficult ground, and the +Fifth Corps took its three ridges and repulsed a counter-attack. A rapid +march brought reserve regiments of a division of the Fifth Corps into +Vigneulles in the early morning, where it linked up with patrols of our +Fourth Corps, closing the salient and forming a new line west of +Thiaucourt to Vigneulles and beyond Fresnes-en-Woevre. At the cost of +only 7,000 casualties, mostly light, we had taken 16,000 prisoners and +443 guns, a great quantity of material, released the inhabitants of many +villages from enemy domination, and established our lines in a position +to threaten Metz. This signal success of the American First Army in its +first offensive was of prime importance. The Allies found they had a +formidable army to aid them, and the enemy learned finally that he had +one to reckon with. + + +PREPARATION FOR THE ARGONNE OFFENSIVE. + +On the day after we had taken the St. Mihiel salient, much of our corps +and army artillery which had operated at St. Mihiel and our divisions in +reserve at other points, were already on the move toward the area back +of the line between the Meuse River and the western edge of the forest +of Argonne. With the exception of St. Mihiel, the old German front line +from Switzerland to the east of Rheims was still intact. In the general +attack all along the line, the operation assigned the American army as +the hinge of this Allied offensive was directed toward the important +railroad communications of the German armies through Mezieres and Sedan. +The enemy must hold fast to this part of his lines or the withdrawal of +his forces with four years' accumulation of plants and material would be +dangerously imperiled. + +The German army had as yet shown no demoralization and, while the mass +of its troops had suffered in morale, its first-class divisions and +notably its machine gun defense were exhibiting remarkable tactical +efficiency as well as courage. The German General Staff was fully aware +of the consequences of a success on the Meuse-Argonne line. Certain that +he would do everything in his power to oppose us, the action was planned +with as much secrecy as possible and was undertaken with the +determination to use all our divisions in forcing a decision. We +expected to draw the best German divisions to our front and to consume +them while the enemy was held under grave apprehension lest our attack +should break his line, which it was our firm purpose to do. + + +LINE OF BATTLE. + +Our right flank was protected by the Meuse, while our left embraced the +Argonne Forest, whose ravines, hills, and elaborate defense screened by +dense thickets had been generally considered impregnable. Our order of +battle from right to left was the Third Corps from the Meuse to +Malancourt, with the Thirty-third, Eightieth, and Fourth Divisions in +line, and the Third Division as corps reserve; the Fifth Corps from +Malancourt to Vauquois, with Seventy-ninth, Eighty-seventh, and +Ninety-first Divisions in line, and the Thirty-second in corps reserve; +and the First Corps, from Vauquois to Vienne le Chateau, with +Thirty-fifth, Twenty-eighth, and Seventy-seventh Divisions in line, and +the Ninety-second in corps reserve. The army reserve consisted of the +First, Twenty-ninth, and Eighty-second Divisions. + + +BATTLE OPERATIONS. + +On the night of September 25 our troops quietly took the place of the +French who thinly held the line in this sector which had long been +inactive. In the attack, which began on the 26th, we drove through the +barbed wire entanglements and the sea of shell craters across No Man's +Land, mastering all the first line defenses. Continuing on the 27th and +28th, against machine guns and artillery of an increasing number of +enemy reserve divisions, we penetrated to a depth of from three to seven +miles, and took the village of Montfaucon and its commanding hill and +Exermont, Gercourt, Cuisy, Septsarges, Malancourt, Ivoiry, Epinionville, +Charpentry, Very, and other villages. East of the Meuse one of our +divisions, which was with the Second Colonial French Corps, captured +Marcheville and Rieville, giving further protection to the flank of our +main body. We had taken 10,000 prisoners, we had gained our point of +forcing the battle into the open and were prepared for the enemy's +reaction, which was bound to come, as he had good roads and ample +railroad facilities for bringing up his artillery and reserves. + + +GREAT DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME. + +In the chill rain of dark nights our engineers had to build new roads +across spongy, shell-torn areas, repair broken roads beyond No Man's +Land, and build bridges. Our gunners, with no thought of sleep, put +their shoulders to wheels and dragropes to bring their guns through the +mire in support of the infantry, now under the increasing fire of the +enemy's artillery. Our attack had taken the enemy by surprise, but, +quickly recovering himself, he began to fire counter-attacks in strong +force, supported by heavy bombardments, with large quantities of gas. +From September 28 until October 4 we maintained the offensive against +patches of woods defended by snipers and continuous lines of machine +guns, and pushed forward our guns and transports, seizing strategical +points in preparation for further attacks. + + +OTHER UNITS WITH ALLIES. + +Other divisions attached to the Allied armies were doing their part. It +was the fortune of our Second Corps, composed of the Twenty-seventh and +Thirtieth Divisions, which had remained with the British, to have a +place of honor in co-operation with the Australian Corps on September +29 and October 1 in the assault on the Hindenburg Line where the St. +Quentin Canal passes through a tunnel under a ridge. The Thirtieth +Division speedily broke through the main line of defense for all its +objectives, while the Twenty-seventh pushed on impetuously through the +main line until some of its elements reached Gouy. In the midst of the +maze of trenches and shell craters and under cross-fire from machine +guns the other elements fought desperately against odds. In this and in +later actions, from October 6 to October 19, our Second Corps captured +over 6,000 prisoners and advanced over 13 miles. The spirit and +aggressiveness of these divisions have been highly praised by the +British army commander under whom they served. + + +OPERATIONS NEAR RHEIMS. + +On October 2-9 our Second and Thirty-sixth Divisions were sent to assist +the French in an important attack against the old German positions +before Rheims. The Second conquered the complicated defense works on +their front against a persistent defense worthy of the grimmest period +of trench warfare and attacked the strongly held wooded hill of Blanc +Mont, which they captured in a second assault, sweeping over it with +consummate dash and skill. This division then repulsed strong +counter-attacks before the village and cemetery of Ste. Etienne and took +the town, forcing the Germans to fall back from before Rheims and yield +positions they had held since September, 1914. On October 9 the +Thirty-sixth Division relieved the Second and, in its first experience +under fire, withstood very severe artillery bombardment and rapidly took +up the pursuit of the enemy, now retiring behind the Aisne. + + +RESULTS OF AMERICAN OPERATIONS. + +The Allied progress elsewhere cheered the efforts of our men in this +crucial contest as the German command threw in more and more +first-class troops to stop our advance. We made steady headway in the +almost impenetrable and strongly held Argonne Forest, for, despite this +reinforcement, it was our army that was doing the driving. Our aircraft +was increasing in skill and numbers and forcing the issue, and our +infantry and artillery were improving rapidly with each new experience. +The replacements fresh from home were put into exhausted divisions with +little time for training, but they had the advantage of serving beside +men who knew their business and who had almost become veterans +overnight. The enemy had taken every advantage of the terrain, which +especially favored the defense by a prodigal use of machine guns manned +by highly trained veterans and by using his artillery at short ranges. +In the face of such strong frontal positions we should have been unable +to accomplish any progress according to previously accepted standards, +but I had every confidence in our aggressive tactics and the courage of +our troops. + + +PROGRESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES. + +On October 4 the attack was renewed all along our front. The Third Corps +tilting to the left followed the Brieulles-Cunel road; our Fifth Corps +took Gesnes, while the First Corps advanced for over two miles along the +irregular valley of the Aire River and in the wooded hills of the +Argonne that bordered the river, used by the enemy with all his art and +weapons of defense. This sort of fighting continued against an enemy +striving to hold every foot of ground and whose very strong +counter-attacks challenged us at every point. On the 7th the First Corps +captured Chatel-Chehery and continued along the river to Cornay. On the +east of Meuse sector one of the two divisions co-operating with the +French captured Consenvoye and the Haumont Woods. On the 9th the Fifth +Corps, in its progress up the Aire, took Fleville, and the Third Corps, +which had continuous fighting against odds, was working its way through +Brieulles and Cunel. On the 10th we had cleared the Argonne Forest of +the enemy. + + +FORMATION OF SECOND ARMY. + +It was now necessary to constitute a second army, and on October 9 the +immediate command of the First Army was turned over to Lieut. Gen. +Hunter Liggett. The command of the Second Army, whose divisions occupied +a sector in the Woevre, was given to Lieut. Gen. Robert L. Bullard, who +had been commander of the First Division and then of the Third Corps. +Major General Dickman was transferred to the command of the First Corps, +while the Fifth Corps was placed under Maj. Gen. Charles P. Summerall, +who had recently commanded the First Division. Maj. Gen. John L. Hines, +who had gone rapidly up from regimental to division commander, was +assigned to the Third Corps. These four officers had been in France from +the early days of the expedition and had learned their lessons in the +school of practical warfare. + +Our constant pressure against the enemy brought day by day more +prisoners, mostly survivors from machine gun nests captured in fighting +at close quarters. On October 18 there was very fierce fighting in the +Caures Woods east of the Meuse and in the Ormont Woods. On the 14th the +First Corps took St. Juvin, and the Fifth Corps, in hand-to-hand +encounters, entered the formidable Kriemhilde Line, where the enemy had +hoped to check us indefinitely. Later the Fifth Corps penetrated further +the Kriemhilde Line, and the First Corps took Champigneulles and the +important town of Grandpre. Our dogged offensive was wearing down the +enemy, who continued desperately to throw his best troops against us, +thus weakening his line in front of our Allies and making their advance +less difficult. + + +AMERICANS IN BELGIUM. + +Meanwhile we were not only able to continue the battle, but our +Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first Divisions were hastily withdrawn from +our front and dispatched to help the French army in Belgium. Detraining +in the neighborhood of Ypres, these divisions advanced by rapid stages +to the fighting line and were assigned to adjacent French corps. On +October 31, in continuation of the Flanders offensive, they attacked and +methodically broke down all enemy resistance. On November 3 the +Thirty-seventh had completed its mission in dividing the enemy across +the Escaut River and firmly established itself along the east bank +included in the division zone of action. By a clever flanking movement, +troops of the Ninety-first Division captured Spitaals Bosschen, a +difficult wood extending across the central part of the division sector, +reached the Escaut, and penetrated into the town of Audenarde. These +divisions received high commendation from their corps commanders for +their dash and energy. + + +REGROUPING FOR FINAL ASSAULT. + +On the 23d the Third and Fifth Corps pushed northward to the level of +Bantheville. While we continued to press forward and throw back the +enemy's violent counter-attacks with great loss to him, a regrouping of +our forces was under way for the final assault. Evidence of loss of +morale by the enemy gave our men more confidence in attack and more +fortitude in enduring the fatigue of incessant effort and the hardships +of very inclement weather. + +With comparatively well-rested divisions, the final advance in the +Meuse-Argonne front was begun on November 1. Our increased artillery +force acquitted itself magnificently in support of the advance, and the +enemy broke before the determined infantry, which, by its persistent +fighting of the past weeks and the dash of this attack, had overcome his +will to resist. The Third Corps took Aincreville, Doulcon, and +Andevanne, and the Fifth Corps took Landres et St. Georges and pressed +through successive lines of resistance to Bayonville and Chennery. On +the 2d the First Corps joined in the movement, which now became an +impetuous onslaught that could not be stayed. + + +SUCCESSFUL ACCOMPLISHMENT. + +On the 3d advance troops surged forward in pursuit, some by motor +trucks, while the artillery pressed along the country roads close +behind. The First Corps reached Authe and Chatillon-Sur-Bar, the Fifth +Corps, Fosse and Nouart, and the Third Corps Halles, penetrating the +enemy's line to a depth of twelve miles. Our large caliber guns had +advanced and were skillfully brought into position to fire upon the +important lines at Montmedy, Longuyon, and Conflans. Our Third Corps +crossed the Meuse on the 5th and the other corps, in the full confidence +that the day was theirs, eagerly cleared the way of machine guns as they +swept northward, maintaining complete co-ordination throughout. On the +6th, a division of the First Corps reached a point on the Meuse opposite +Sedan, twenty-five miles from our line of departure. The strategical +goal which was our highest hope was gained. We had cut the enemy's main +line of communications and nothing but surrender or an armistice could +save his army from complete disaster. + + +TROOPS ENGAGED. + +In all forty enemy divisions had been used against us an the +Meuse-Argonne battle. Between September 26 and November 6 we took +26,059 prisoners and 468 guns on this front. Our divisions engaged were +the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, +Twenty-ninth, Thirty-second, Thirty-third, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-seventh, +Forty-second, Seventy-seventh, Seventy-eighth, Seventy-ninth, Eightieth, +Eighty-second, Eighty-ninth, Ninetieth, and Ninety-first. Many of our +divisions remained in line for a length of time that required nerves of +steel, while others were sent in again after only a few days of rest. +The First, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Forty-second, Seventy-seventh, +Eightieth, Eighty-ninth, and Ninetieth were in the line twice. Although +some of the divisions were fighting their first battle, they soon became +equal to the best. + + +OPERATIONS EAST OF THE MEUSE. + +On the three days preceding November 10, the Third, the Second Colonial, +and the Seventeenth French Corps fought a difficult struggle through the +Meuse Hills south of Stenay and forced the enemy into the plain. +Meanwhile, my plans for further use of the American forces contemplated +an advance between the Meuse and the Moselle in the direction of Longwy +by the First Army, while, at the same time, the Second Army should +assure the offensive toward the rich iron fields of Briey. These +operations were to be followed by an offensive toward Chateau-Salins +east of the Moselle, thus isolating Metz. Accordingly, attacks on the +American front had been ordered and that of the Second Army was in +progress on the morning of November 11, when instructions were received +that hostilities should cease at 11 o'clock A.M. + +At this moment the line of the American sector, from right to left, +began at Port-Sur-Seille, thence across the Moselle to Vandieres and +through the Woevre to Bezonvaux, in the foothills of the Meuse, thence +along to the foothills and through the northern edge of the Woevre +forests to the Meuse at Mouzay, thence along the Meuse connecting with +the French under Sedan. + + +RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES. + +Co-operation among the Allies has at all times been most cordial. A far +greater effort has been put forth by the Allied armies and staffs to +assist us than could have been expected. The French Government and army +have always stood ready to furnish us with supplies, equipment, and +transportation, and to aid us in every way. In the towns and hamlets +wherever our troops have been stationed or billeted the French people +have everywhere received them more as relatives and intimate friends +than as soldiers of a foreign army. For these things words are quite +inadequate to express our gratitude. There can be no doubt that the +relations growing out of our associations here assure a permanent +friendship between the two peoples. Although we have not been so +intimately associated with the people of Great Britain, yet their troops +and ours when thrown together have always warmly fraternized. The +reception of those of our forces who have passed through England and of +those who have been stationed there has always been enthusiastic. +Altogether it has been deeply impressed upon us that the ties of +language and blood bring the British and ourselves together completely +and inseparably. + + +STRENGTH. + +There are in Europe altogether, including a regiment and some sanitary +units with the Italian army and the organizations at Murmansk, also +including those en route from the States, approximately 2,053,347 men, +less our losses. Of this total, there are in France 1,338,169 combatant +troops. Forty divisions have arrived, of which the infantry personnel of +ten have been used as replacements, leaving 30 divisions now in France +organized into three armies of three corps each. + +The losses of the Americans up to November 18 are: Killed and wounded, +36,145; died of disease, 14,811; deaths unclassified, 2,204; wounded, +179,625; prisoners, 2,163; missing, 1,160. We have captured about 44,000 +prisoners and 1,400 guns, howitzers and trench mortars. + + +WARM APPRECIATION. + +The duties of the General Staff, as well as those of the army and corps +staffs, have been very ably performed. Especially is this true when we +consider the new and difficult problems with which they have been +confronted. This body of officers, both as individuals and as an +organization, have, I believe, no superiors in professional ability, in +efficiency, or in loyalty. + +Nothing that we have in France better reflects the efficiency and +devotion to duty of Americans in general than the Service of Supply, +whose personnel is thoroughly imbued with a patriotic desire to do its +full duty. They have at all times fully appreciated their responsibility +to the rest of the army and the results produced have been most +gratifying. + + +SPECIAL WORK OF DEPARTMENTS. + +Our Medical Corps is especially entitled to praise for the general +effectiveness of its work both in hospital and at the front. Embracing +men of high professional attainments, and splendid women devoted to +their calling and untiring in their efforts, this department has made a +new record for medical and sanitary proficiency. + +The Quartermaster Department has had difficult and various tasks, but +it has more than met all demands that have been made upon it. Its +management and its personnel have been exceptionally efficient and +deserve every possible commendation. + + +SPLENDID TECHNICAL SERVICE. + +As to the more technical services, the able personnel of the Ordnance +Department in France has splendidly fulfilled its functions, both in +procurement and in forwarding the immense quantities of ordnance +required. The officers and men and the young women of the Signal Corps +have performed their duties with a large conception of the problem and +with a devoted and patriotic spirit to which the perfection of our +communications daily testify. While the Engineer Corps has been referred +to in another part of this report, it should be further stated that the +work has required large vision and high professional skill, and great +credit is due their personnel for the high proficiency that they have +constantly maintained. + +Our aviators have no equals in daring or in fighting ability and have +left a record of courageous deeds that will ever remain a brilliant page +in the annals of our army. While the Tank Corps has had limited +opportunities its personnel has responded gallantly on every possible +occasion and has shown courage of the highest order. + +The Adjutant General's Department has been directed with a systematic +thoroughness and excellence that surpassed any previous work of its +kind. The Inspector General's Department has risen to the highest +standards and throughout has ably assisted commanders in the enforcement +of discipline. The able personnel of the Judge Advocate General's +Department has solved with judgment and wisdom the multitude of +difficult legal problems, many of them involving questions of great +international importance. + + +TRIBUTE TO THE PERSONNEL OF THE VARIOUS BRANCHES. + +It would be impossible in this brief preliminary report to do justice to +the personnel of all the different branches of this organization which I +shall cover in detail in a later report. + +The navy in European waters has at all times most cordially aided the +army, and it is most gratifying to report that there has never before +been such perfect co-operation between these two branches of the +service. + +As to Americans in Europe not in the military services, it is the +greatest pleasure to say that, both in official and in private life, +they are intensely patriotic and loyal, and have been invariably +sympathetic and helpful to the army. + +Finally, I pay the supreme tribute to our officers and soldiers of the +line. When I think of their heroism, their patience under hardships, +their unflinching spirit of offensive action, I am filled with emotion +which I am unable to express. Their deeds are immortal, and they have +earned the eternal gratitude of our country. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PRESIDENT WILSON'S REVIEW OF THE WAR. + +TROOP MOVEMENT DURING THE YEAR--TRIBUTE TO AMERICAN SOLDIERS--SPLENDID +SPIRIT OF THE NATION--RESUME THE WORK OF PEACE--OUTLINE OF WORK IN +PARIS--SUPPORT OF NATION URGED. + + +On December 2, 1918, just prior to sailing for Europe to take part in +the Peace Conference, President Wilson addressed Congress, reviewing the +work of the American people, soldiers, sailors and civilians, in the +World War which had been brought to a successful conclusion on November +11th. His speech, in part, follows: + +"The year that has elapsed since I last stood before you to fulfill my +constitutional duty to give to the Congress from time to time +information on the state of the Union has been so crowded with great +events, great processes and great results that I can not hope to give +you an adequate picture of its transactions or of the far-reaching +changes which have been wrought in the life of our Nation and of the +world. You have yourselves witnessed these things, as I have. It is too +soon to assess them; and we who stand in the midst of them and are part +of them are less qualified than men of another generation will be to say +what they mean or even what they have been. But some great outstanding +facts are unmistakable and constitute in a sense part of the public +business with which it is our duty to deal. To state them is to set the +stage for the legislative and executive action which must grow out of +them and which we have yet to shape and determine. + + +TROOP MOVEMENT DURING THE YEAR. + +"A year ago we had sent 145,918 men overseas. Since then we have sent +1,950,513, an average of 162,542 each month, the number in fact rising +in May last to 245,951, in June to 278,760, in July to 307,182 and +continuing to reach similar figures in August and September--in August +289,570 and in September 257,438. No such movement of troops ever took +place before, across 3,000 miles of sea, followed by adequate equipment +and supplies, and carried safely through extraordinary dangers of +attack, dangers which were alike strange and infinitely difficult to +guard against. In all this movement only 758 men were lost by enemy +attacks, 630 of whom were upon a single English transport which was sunk +near the Orkney Islands. + +"I need not tell you what lay back of this great movement of men and +material. It is not invidious to say that back of it lay a supporting +organization of the industries of the country and of all its productive +activities more complete, more thorough in method and effective in +results, more spirited and unanimous in purpose and effort than any +other great belligerent had ever been able to effect. We profited +greatly by the experience of the nations which had already been engaged +for nearly three years in the exigent and exacting business, their every +resource and every proficiency taxed to the utmost. We were the pupils. +But we learned quickly and acted with a promptness and a readiness of +co-operation that justify our great pride that we were able to serve the +world with unparalleled energy and quick accomplishment. + +[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPHED IN A VILLAGE IN GERMANY. + +A member of the 369th (old 15th N.Y.) brought this picture back with +him. He is wearing the smile which tells the story. The war is over.] + +[Illustration: LIEUT. "JIMMY" EUROPE AND HIS FAMOUS BAND. + +This band was hailed with enthusiasm by the French. Five kettle drums in +this band were presented by the French as a mark of esteem. Another +drum, beaten by Willie Webb, of Louisville, Ky., was a trophy left by +the Germans when they retreated.] + +[Illustration: GETTING READY FOR THEIR DAILY BATH. + +Negro troops in a transport going over. No inconvenience marred their +good cheer.] + +[Illustration: IN LINE FOR REVIEW. + +Members of the 15th Infantry being reviewed. A sturdy and determined +line of fighting men.] + +[Illustration: A QUARTETTE WHICH GAVE GOOD ENTERTAINMENT. + +These colored members of the 301st Stevedore Regiment were attached to +the 23rd Engineers in France.] + +[Illustration: LINED UP AND READY FOR ACTION. + +Members of the 15th Infantry. Note the serious and determined expression +in their faces. They mean business and will obey orders.] + +[Illustration: AT THE SIGNAL BOX READY TO SOUND THE GAS ALARM. + +These men had a great responsibility placed upon them. The sounding of +the Gas Alarm quickly and accurately, when gas was detected, meant +saving the lives of many men.] + +[Illustration: BOTH WORKING FOR THE Y.M.C.A. + +Mr. Kelly and his colored driver at work during the last German +offensive.] + +[Illustration: BAPTIZING NEGRO SOLDIERS AT CAMP GORDON. + +A religious and very effective scene. These Christian men had faith and +confidence in their religion.] + +[Illustration: COLORED TROOPS IN PUERTO RICO. + +A brilliant Fourth of July parade through Allen Street, San Juan, Puerto +Rico.] + +[Illustration: NEGRO SHARPSHOOTERS.] + +[Illustration: NEGRO CHILDREN WEAVING CLOTH. + +Recently photographed in Kamerun, the last of the German provinces in +Africa to surrender to the Allies. Illustrating child labor at the +lowest possible cost.] + +[Illustration: AFRICAN NEGROES IN KAMERUN, SHOWING NATIVE HEADDRESS. + +These pictures were photographed in Fumban, the largest and most densely +populated section of Kamerun, one of Germany's colonies in Africa +captured by the Allies.] + +[Illustration: NATIVE CHILDREN SPINNING COTTON IN KAMERUN, AFRICA. + +Kamerun was the last German province in Africa to hold out against the +Allies. This picture was taken by the Allies since they captured the +Colony. The natives were never before photographed.] + +[Illustration: Africa and the World Democracy + +HOW AFRICA WAS DIVIDED UP AMONG THE NATIONS OF EUROPE BEFORE THE WAR] + + _Area_ + _Country_ _Sq. Miles_ _Populat'n_ + British Empire 3,700,000 52,325,000 + France 4,641,000 29,577,000 + Germany 931,000 13,420,000 + Portugal 749,000 8,244,000 + Italy 593,000 1,579,000 + Belgium (Belgian Congo) 909,000 15,000,000 + Spain 88,000 660,000 + + INDEPENDENT STATES + Abyssinia 432,000 8,000,000 + Liberia 40,000 1,800,000 + +[Illustration: AFRICAN TROOPS BEING TRAINED IN FRANCE. + +These husky fighters are bound to deliver the goods.] + + +TRIBUTE TO AMERICAN SOLDIERS. + +"But it is not the physical scale and executive efficiency of +preparation, supply, equipment and dispatch that I would dwell upon, but +the mettle and quality of the officers and men we sent over and of the +sailors who kept the seas, and the spirit of the Nation that stood +behind them. No soldiers, or sailors, ever proved themselves more +quickly ready for the test of battle or acquitted themselves with more +splendid courage and achievement when put to the test. Those of us who +played some part in directing the great processes by which the war was +pushed irresistibly forward to the final triumph may now forget all that +and delight our thoughts with the story of what our men did. Their +officers understood the grim and exacting task they had undertaken and +performed with audacity, efficiency, and unhesitating courage that touch +the story of convoy and battle with imperishable distinction at every +turn, whether the enterprise were great or small--from their chiefs, +Pershing and Sims, down to the youngest lieutenant; and their men were +worthy of them--such men as hardly need to be commanded, and go to their +terrible adventure blithely and with the quick intelligence of those who +know just what it is they would accomplish. I am proud to be the +fellow-countryman of men of such stuff and valor. Those of us who stayed +at home did our duty; the war could not have been won or the gallant men +who fought it given their opportunity to win it otherwise; but for many +a long day we shall think ourselves 'accursed we were not there, and +hold our manhoods cheap while any speaks that fought' with these at St. +Mihiel or Thierry. The memory of those days of triumphant battle will go +with these fortunate men to their graves; and each will have his +favorite memory. 'Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, but he'll +remember with advantages what feats he did that day!' + +"What we all thank God for with deepest gratitude is that our men went +in force into the line of battle just at the critical moment, and threw +their fresh strength into the ranks of freedom in time to turn the whole +tide and sweep of the fateful struggle--turn it once for all, so that +henceforth it was back, back, back for their enemies, always back, never +again forward! After that it was only a scant four months before the +commanders of the Central empires knew themselves beaten, and now their +very empires are in liquidation! + + +SPLENDID SPIRIT OF THE NATION. + +"And throughout it all how fine the spirit of the Nation was; what unity +of purpose, what untiring zeal! What elevation of purpose ran through +all its splendid display of strength, its untiring accomplishment. I +have said that those of us who stayed at home to do the work of +organization and supply will always wish that we had been with the men +whom we sustained by our labor; but we can never be ashamed. It has been +an inspiring thing to be here in the midst of fine men who had turned +aside from every private interest of their own and devoted the whole of +their trained capacity to the tasks that supplied the sinews of the +whole great undertaking! The patriotism, the unselfishness, the +thoroughgoing devotion and distinguished capacity that marked their +toilsome labors, day after day, month after month, have made them fit +mates and comrades of the men in the trenches and on the sea. And not +the men here in Washington only. They have but directed the vast +achievement. Throughout innumerable factories, upon innumerable farms, +in the depths of coal mines and iron mines and copper mines, wherever +the stuffs of industry were to be obtained and prepared, in the +shipyards, on the railways, at the docks, on the sea, in every labor +that was needed to sustain the battle lines men have vied with each +other to do their part and do it well. They can look any man-at-arms in +the face, and say, we also strove to win and gave the best that was in +us to make our fleets and armies sure of their triumph! + + +PATRIOTIC WOMEN OF AMERICA. + +"And what shall we say of the women--of their instant intelligence, +quickening every task that they touched; their capacity for +organization and co-operation, which gave their action discipline and +enhanced the effectiveness of everything they attempted; their aptitude +at tasks to which they had never before set their hands; their utter +self-sacrificing alike in what they did and in what they gave? Their +contribution to the great result is beyond appraisal. They have added a +new luster to the annals of American womanhood. + +"The least tribute we can pay them is to make them the equals of men in +political rights, as they have proved themselves their equals in every +field of practical work they have entered, whether for themselves or for +their country. These great days of completed achievement would be sadly +marred were we to omit that act of justice. Besides the immense +practical services they have rendered, the women of the country have +been the moving spirits in the systematic economies by which our people +have voluntarily assisted to supply the suffering peoples of the world +and the armies upon every front with food and everything else that we +had that might serve the common cause. The details of such a story can +never be fully written, but we carry them in our hearts and thank God +that we can say we are the kinsmen of such. + + +RESUME THE WORK OF PEACE. + +"And now we are sure of the great triumph for which every sacrifice was +made. It has come, come in its completeness, and with the pride and +inspiration of these days of achievement quick within us we turn to the +tasks of peace again--a peace secure against the violence of +irresponsible monarchs and ambitious military coteries and made ready +for a new order, for new foundations of justice and fair dealing. + +"We are about to give order and organization to this peace, not only +for ourselves, but for the other peoples of the world as well, so far as +they will suffer us to serve them. It is international justice that we +seek, not domestic safety merely.... + +"So far as our domestic affairs are concerned the problem of our return +to peace is a problem of economic and industrial readjustment. That +problem is less serious for us than it may turn out to be for the +nations which have suffered the disarrangements and the losses of war +longer than we. Our people, moreover, do not wait to be coached and led. +They know their own business, are quick and resourceful at every +readjustment, definite in purpose and self-reliant in action. Any +leading strings we might seek to put them in would speedily become +hopelessly tangled because they would pay no attention to them and go +their own way. All that we can do as their legislative and executive +servants is to mediate the process of change here, there and elsewhere +as we may. I have heard much counsel as to the plans that should be +formed and personally conducted to a happy consummation, but from no +quarter have I seen any general scheme of reconstruction emerge which I +thought it likely we could force our spirited business men and +self-reliant laborers to accept with due pliancy and obedience. + + +ORGANIZATION FOR WAR. + +"While the war lasted we set up many agencies by which to direct the +industries of the country in the services it was necessary for them to +render, by which to make sure of an abundant supply of the materials +needed, by which to check undertakings that could for the time be +dispensed with and stimulate those that were most serviceable in war, by +which to gain for the purchasing departments of the government a certain +control over the prices of essential articles and materials, by which +to restrain trade with alien enemies, make the most of the available +shipping and systematize financial transactions, both public and +private, so that there would be no unnecessary conflict or confusion--by +which, in short, to put every material energy of the country in harness +to draw the common load and make of us one team in accomplishment of a +great task. + +"But the moment we knew the armistice to have been signed we took the +harness off. Raw materials upon which the government had kept its hand +for fear there should not be enough for the industries that supplied the +armies have been released, and put into the general market again. Great +industrial plants whose whole output and machinery had been taken over +for the uses of the government have been set free to return to the uses +to which they were put before the war. It has not been possible to +remove so readily or so quickly the control of foodstuffs and of +shipping, because the world has still to be fed from our granaries and +the ships are still needed to send supplies to our men oversea and to +bring the men back as fast as the disturbed conditions on the other side +of the water permit; but even there restraints are being relaxed as much +as possible, and more and more as the weeks go by. + +"Never before have there been agencies in existence in this country +which knew so much of the field of supply of labor, and of industry as +the War Industries Board, the War Trade Board, the Labor Department, the +Food Administration and the Fuel Administration have known since their +labors became thoroughly systematized; and they have not been isolated +agencies; they have been directed by men which represented the permanent +departments of the government and so have been the centers of unified +and co-operative action. It has been the policy of the Executive, +therefore, since the armistice was assured (which is in effect a +complete submission of the enemy) to put the knowledge of these bodies +at the disposal of the business men of the country and to offer their +intelligent mediation at every point and in every matter where it was +desired. It is surprising how fast the process of return to a peace +footing has moved in the three weeks since the fighting stopped. It +promises to outrun any inquiry that may be instituted and any aid that +may be offered. It will not be easy to direct it any better than it will +direct itself. The American business man is of quick initiative.... + + +OUTLINE OF WORK IN PARIS. + +"I welcome this occasion to announce to the Congress my purpose to join +in Paris the representatives of the governments with which we have been +associated in the war against the Central Empires for the purpose of +discussing with them the main features of the treaty of peace. I realize +the great inconveniences that will attend my leaving the country, +particularly at this time, but the conclusion that it was my paramount +duty to go has been forced upon me by considerations which I hope will +seem as conclusive to you as they have seemed to me. + +"The Allied governments have accepted the bases of peace which I +outlined to the Congress on the 8th of January last, as the Central +Empires also have, and very reasonably desire my personal counsel in +their interpretation and application, and it is highly desirable that I +should give it, in order that the sincere desire of our government to +contribute without selfish purpose of any kind to settlements that will +be of common benefit to all the nations concerned may be made fully +manifest. The peace settlements which are now to be agreed upon are of +transcendent importance both to us and to the rest of the world, and I +know of no business or interest which should take precedence of them. +The gallant men of our armed forces on land and sea have consciously +fought for the ideals which they knew to be the ideals of their country; +I have sought to express those ideals; they have accepted my statements +of them as the substance of their own thought and purpose, as the +associated governments have accepted them; I owe it to them to see to +it, so far as in me lies, that no false or mistaken interpretation is +put upon them, and no possible effort omitted to realize them. It is now +my duty to play my full part in making good what they offered their +life's blood to obtain. I can think of no call to service which could +transcend this.... + + +SUPPORT OF NATION URGED. + +"May I not hope, gentlemen of the Congress, that in the delicate tasks I +shall have to perform on the other side of the sea in my efforts truly +and faithfully to interpret the principles and purposes of the country +we love, I may have the encouragement and the added strength of your +united support? I realize the magnitude and difficulty of the duty I am +undertaking. I am poignantly aware of its grave responsibilities. I am +the servant of the Nation. I can have no private thought or purpose of +my own in performing such an errand. I go to give the best that is in me +to the common settlements which I must now assist in arriving at in +conference with the other working heads of the associated governments. I +shall count upon your friendly countenance and encouragement. I shall +not be inaccessible. The cables and the wireless will render me +available for any counsel or service you may desire of me, and I shall +be happy in the thought that I am constantly in touch with the weighty +matters of domestic policy with which we shall have to deal. I shall +make my absence as brief as possible and shall hope to return with the +happy assurance that it has been possible to translate into action the +great ideals for which America has striven." + + +PRESIDENT WILSON'S DIPLOMATIC MISSION. + +In accordance with this message, President Wilson broke the traditions +of more than a century, and took upon himself the deep responsibility of +a diplomatic mission. He went as the representative of one of the great +belligerent powers to confer with the premiers and leading diplomats of +Europe to frame, not only a peace of justice to terminate the World War, +but--if possible--to organize a League of Nations, henceforth making +such cataclysms an impossibility. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE FLASH THAT SET THE WORLD AFLAME. + +TEUTONS FIND IN A MURDER THE EXCUSE FOR WAR--GERMANY INSPIRED BY AMBITIONS +FOR WORLD CONTROL--THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL SUPREMACY A FACTOR--THE +UNDERLYING MOTIVES. + + +The assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir apparent to +the throne of Austria, together with his wife, in Bosnia, during the +last days of June, 1914, is commonly regarded as the blow which forged +the chain that bound the European powers in bloody warfare. The tragedy +was the signal for putting on the world stage the greatest war play of +all times. + +When Austria, regarding the murder of the Archduke as a National +affront, precipitated the conflict which has convulsed the universe, she +marked the way easy for Imperial Germany to put into effect a +long-contemplated plan for territorial expansion, and to wage a warfare +so insidious, so brutal and so ruthless in its character as to amaze the +civilized world. + +Word-pictures were drawn, so to speak, of a mighty nation striving to +burst iron bands that were slowly strangling her, and her perfectly +natural wish to find outlets for her rapidly growing population and +commerce. Germany sought to obtain "a place in the sun," to use one of +the Kaiser's most unfortunate expressions, and the world soon found that +the "place" included the territory embracing a few ports on the English +channel, with control of Holland and Belgium, Poland, the Balkan +countries, a big slice of Asia Minor, Egypt, English and French colonies +in Africa, not to mention remote possibilities. + +Germany's ambitions may have been laudable, but her methods of trying to +satisfy these ambitions were not such as to either gain for her the +"solar warmth" which she sought to win, or gain for her the friendship +of the nations of the civilized world. The drama which Germany directed +moved swiftly in this wise: + +Austria claimed that Servia, as a Nation, was responsible for the +assassination of the Archduke in Bosnia. She sent an ultimatum to +Belgrade, making demands which the Servians could not admit. Thereupon +Austria declared war and moved across the Danube with her army. + + +THE FOUR GROUPS. + +Austria's attack threatened to disturb the balance of power, because at +the time the continent was divided into four groups: The close alliance +of the central powers--Germany, Austria and Italy--referred to as the +Triple Alliance or Dreibund; the Triple Entente, or understanding +between Great Britain, France and Russia; the smaller group whose +neutrality and integrity had been guaranteed, or at least +recognized--Belgium, Denmark, Holland and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, +sandwiched in between Germany, France and Belgium, together with +Switzerland. The fourth group included the Balkan nations: Bulgaria, +Servia, Montenegro, Greece, Turkey and Roumania, all drawn close to +Russia; Norway and Sweden, and the Iberian nations, Spain and Portugal. +The increase in the power of one of these groups would at any time have +been sufficient to precipitate a war, but in the movement of Austria +against Servia there entered a racial element. There was a threatened +drawing of another Slavonic peoples into the Teutonic system. Besides +this, the action let loose the flood of militarism which civilization +had been holding in check. + +With this situation in mind, it is easy to understand how Germany could +precipitate a world conflict by attempting to keep open the way to the +near East, and controlling the markets as against Britain, France and +Russia. Back of all this was the question of commercial supremacy, +Germany showing her intention of keeping the way open to the near East +and dominating the markets as against Britain, France and Russia. + +Russia could not stand by and see one of her Slavonic wards crushed, and +France, which held the Russian national debt, prepared to support her +debtor, whereupon Germany, threatened on both sides, struck. In doing so +the Kaiser ignored the rights of the small neutral states, invaded +Belgium and brought his armies within threatening distance of England. +France prepared to defend her country against Germany, and England, +alarmed by the move of Germany and sympathizing with Belgium, struck +back to avert the disaster which she felt must follow the German +movement, which had been threatening for years. + + +REGARDED EACH OTHER WITH SUSPICION. + +All attempts to maintain a balance of power between the European +countries were from time to time jeopardized by various developments. +The elements in the continental group struggled against each other, and +the Nations, while seemingly at rest, regarded each other with +suspicion. One of the underlying forces that the world knew must at some +time be felt was of racial origin. The historical explanations of the +war would involve the retelling of almost everything that has happened +in Europe for more than a century. + +But it is necessary to the long train of evil consequences which have +followed the interference of other powers in the settlement of affairs +between Russia and Turkey after the war of 1877, when Russia was +victorious. Russia and Turkey had agreed upon a large Bulgaria and an +enlarged and independent Servia, but at the Berlin Congress, which +Austria had taken the initiative in calling, Austria showed that she +wished to have as much as possible of this Christian territory of +Southeastern Europe kept under the domination or nominal authority of +Turkey. Austria feared Russia's influence with the new countries of +Servia, Roumania, Bulgaria and Montenegro, and therefore she desired to +have this territory remain Turkish by influence, to the end that she +might some day acquire part or all of it for herself. + +One of the articles of the agreement of Berlin turned Bosnia and +Herzegovina over to Austria for temporary occupation and management. +Austria was a trustee of the country which lies between Servia and the +Adriatic sea, and while Austria's management was efficient, Servia +looked forward to the time when a union could be effected with Bosnia, +which would provide Servia with an outlet to the sea. + + +THE SERVIANS EMBITTERED. + +But when Russia fell humiliated by the Japanese and the Young Turks +reformed their government, and there was prospect that the Turks might +demand the evacuation of Bosnia by Austria, the powers that had engaged +in the Berlin treaty were informed that Austria had decided to make +Bosnia and Herzegovina a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The +Servians were embittered, because this stood in the way of their +attaining their ideals, and their country was landlocked. + +With this bitterness rankling in her national breast, Servia joined +forces with Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro to drive the Turks out of +Europe. The larger powers, including Austria, tried to prevent the +action, but the heroic Balkan struggle is a matter of history. Servia +was to have secured as a share of the conquered territory a portion of +Albania, on the Adriatic. This would have compensated her for the loss +of Bosnia, but the great powers, led by Austria, stepped in, and a plan +was devised of making Albania an independent state or principality, with +a German prince to rule over it. + +The Servians were bitter, and both Servia and Greece demanded of +Bulgaria portions of the territory acquired in the war and which had +originally been assigned to Bulgaria as her share. Bulgaria stood upon +her technical rights and precipitated the last Balkan war, which was +really made possible, or probable, by the Austrian policy. When the war +was concluded Servia had acquired more territory to the south, but she +remained a landlocked country, with Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania +stretching between her and the Adriatic sea. + +This was the situation when the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand +and his wife occurred in Bosnia. The Archduke was, in effect, a joint +ruler with the Emperor Franz Joseph, who was nearly 84 years of age, and +the entire world realized that great events were likely to follow the +killing of the heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The murder +was committed by a young Servian fanatic, and Austria determined to hold +Servia responsible for the murder, and therefore presented her +now-famous ultimatum. + + +NO CAUSE FOR WAR. + +Students of history hold that if there had been a proper respect for the +commendable desire of the Christian peoples in European Turkey to throw +off the Turkish yoke and become self-governing states, there would have +been no cause for war, so far as relates to Servia and the situation +which precipitated the conflict. There would have been developed a +series of peaceful and progressive countries of the non-military type of +Denmark, Sweden and Holland. + +A wiser treatment of the Balkan problem might have averted the war, but +it could not have set aside racial differences, nor could it have ended +the curse of militarism or set at rest the distrust and fear which it +promotes. + +The end of European militarism might have come about, however, through a +better understanding between Germany and France. This might have been +arrived at years ago if Germany had opened the Alsace-Lorraine question, +and had rearranged the boundary line between the two countries so that +the French-speaking communities lost in the Franco-Prussian war be ceded +back to France. The cost of maintaining the feud over Alsace-Lorraine +has been a burden to both France and Germany, and the progress which +Germany has made in world affairs, despite the burden of militarism +which she has earned, is one of the marvels of the century. And the +situation compelled France to maintain a defensive military organization +which was as great a burden to her and barrier to world peace as the +military burden of Germany. + + +STRAIN BETWEEN GERMANY AND RUSSIA. + +Whether Germany conspired to bring on the war so that she could wage a +campaign of aggression has not yet been made clear, but the strain +between Germany and Russia had been growing for some time, and the +assassination of the Teutonic heir, Francis Ferdinand, by a ward of +Russia, created an occasion which gave Germany an opportunity to fight, +without being compelled to directly precipitate the conflict. Russia +could do naught else but come to the aid of Servia, and Germany by +reason of her alliance with Austria must aid the latter country. + +Germany anticipated the entry of Italy into the conflict as the third +member of the Triple Alliance, but Italy did not regard Germany's action +as defensive and declined to aid Austria. Germany had made overtures to +Great Britain, but England had an understanding with France, which was +in the nature of a limited alliance, and Germany might have kept England +out of the struggle; but Germany proceeded with a plan to invade France +by way of Belgium, which was in violation of international agreement +establishing Belgium's neutrality and independence. Germany had nothing +to gain by choosing the Belgium route, for the fact is that even had the +Belgian government approved the movement, there must have been a French +counter-movement, which would have made Belgium the theatre of war just +the same. + +Pan-Germanism has been described as one of the underlying motives in the +world war, and Pan-Slavism has always opposed Pan-Germanism. +Pan-Germanism is described as a well-defined policy or movement which +seeks the common welfare of the Germanic peoples of all Europe and the +advance of Teutonic culture, while Pan-Slavism, represented by Russia, +seeks in the main the uniting of all the Slavonic folk for common +welfare. The contact between these two has always been seething, and the +racial differences made burdensome the arbitrary alignment and political +geography arranged by the Berlin Congress. + + +OUTLETS TO THE WORLD'S MARKET. + +The commercial side, however, was a big factor, for Germany sought world +markets for its products. In the near East are the grain fields of +Mesopotamia, and in the far East are the vast markets of India and +China. The great banking and financial interests of Europe have been +seeking the conquest of Asia for nearly half a century. German capital +built railroads through Asia Minor, but English capital controls the +Suez Canal. Russia welded the Balkan states until the Slavonic wedge +from the Black sea to the Adriatic barred Germany's way to the Orient. +England threatened the Kaiser's expansion on the sea; while Russia, on +one side, with France her strong ally, closed the Germans in on opposite +sides. So Germany must have outlets to the world markets. + +The religious element was also a factor in the affairs of Europe, for +the territory has been divided into four large religious groups for +centuries. Moslems counted several millions of Turks, Bosnians and +Albanians in Europe, the Protestants among the Germans, English, Swiss +and Hungarians number about 100,000,000, while the Roman Catholics in +all the Latin countries, Southern Germany, Croatia, Albania, Bohemia, +and in Russian Austria and Russian Poland are about 180,000,000. The +Greek Catholics in Russia, the Balkan countries and a few provinces in +the Austrian Empire number more than 110,000,000. + +The differences in religion have precipitated many European struggles, +but for more than a century the countries have been forced to assume an +attitude of tolerance, so that churches other than those established by +the State have thrived; But just what influence religions may have had +in the various incidents of the war it is difficult to determine. + +The outstanding fact is that but for the arrogant, militaristic policy +of Imperial Germany, the differences between nations might have been +settled, and almost indescribable horrors of the war would never have +been experienced. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WHY AMERICA ENTERED THE WAR. + +THE IRON HAND OF PRUSSIANISM--THE ARROGANT HOHENZOLLERN +ATTITUDE--SECRETARY LANE TELLS WHY WE FIGHT--BROKEN PLEDGES--LAWS +VIOLATED--PRUSSIANISM THE CHILD OF BARBARITY--GERMANY'S PLANS FOR A +WORLD EMPIRE. + + +Not merely to prevent Germany from opening avenues of commerce to the +seas nor to throttle the ambitions of the Kaiser was America drawn into +the vortex of war with France, England, Russia, Belgium, Italy and other +nations; but that the iron hand of Prussianism, as exemplified in the +conduct of the German Government, might be lifted from the shoulders of +men, and the world given that measure of peace and security which modern +civilization demands. + +Germany by her ruthless submarine warfare brought desolation to many +American homes. She sank without a pang of conscience the great +transatlantic steamship Lusitania, and, while pretending friendship for +the United States and pleading no intent to disregard American rights, +broke her own pledges and repeated her overt acts, ignoring +international law and the rights of all neutrals at sea. + +She began her outlawry by the invasion of Belgium, which was followed by +conduct on the part of the German forces which clearly marked them +descendants of the "wolf tribes" of feudal days, fighting with the motto +before them of, "To the victor belong the spoils." + +But all of Germany's diabolical acts involving the peace and security of +America and American citizens might have been the subject of +international adjudication but for the arrogance of the ruling forces of +the Teutons. In a broad sense, Prussianism is credited with +responsibility for the devastating war and for the policy which drew +America into the conflict. + +The country, led by President Woodrow Wilson, who temporized to an +extent that for a time made him the subject of bitter criticism, found +that war was being forced upon it by an autocratic and ambitious German +Government--that of the Hohenzollern dynasty--which possessed an insane +ambition to dominate the earth, leaving to America no alternative but to +borrow the piratical terrorism of Imperialistic Germany, with temporary +abandonment of its own constitutional free government, and join the +Allies to defend it. + +In the sense which Prussianism or militarism is here used it denotes a +mental attitude or view. It is a condition of mind which is partisan, +exaggerated and egotistical, and is developed by environment and +training. Just as the professional spirit in any other occupation leads +to an exhibition of exaggerated importance, the despotic doctrine of +militarism assumes superiority over rational motives and deliberations. +Everything must be sacrificed to perpetuate and maintain the honor and +prestige of the military. + + +WHAT MILITARISM IS. + +What that militarism is and what it has done to America, and to the +whole world, is best summed up in the words of Secretary Lane, of the +Department of the Interior, at Washington, who in an address before the +Home Club of the Department on June 4, 1917, just when America was +beginning to send forces to Europe, said: + +"America is at war in self-defense and because she could not keep out; +she is at war to save herself with the rest of the world from the nation +that has linked itself with the Turk and adopted the methods of Mahomet, +setting itself to make the world bow before policies backed by the +organized and scientific military system. + +"Why are we fighting Germany? The brief answer is that ours is a war of +self-defense. We did not wish to fight Germany. She made the attack upon +us; not on our shores, but on our ships, our lives, our rights, our +future. For two years and more we held to a neutrality that made us +apologists for things which outraged man's common sense of fair play and +humanity. + +"At each new offense--the invasion of Belgium, the killing of civilian +Belgians, the attacks on Scarborough and other defenseless towns, the +laying of mines in neutral waters, the fencing off of the seas--and on +and on through the months, we said: + +"'This is war--archaic, uncivilized war, but war. All rules have been +thrown away; all nobility; man has come down to the primitive brute. And +while we cannot justify, we cannot intervene. It is not our war.' + + +IN WAR TO DEFEND RIGHTS. + +"Then why are we in? Because we could not keep out. The invasion of +Belgium, which opened the war, led to the invasion of the United States +by slow, steady, logical steps. Our sympathies evolved into a conviction +of self-interest. Our love of fair play ripened into alarm at our own +peril. + +"We talked in the language and in the spirit of good faith and +sincerity, as honest men should talk, until we discovered that our talk +was construed as cowardice. And Mexico was called upon to cow us. + +"We talked as men would talk who cared alone for peace and the +advancement of their own material interests, until we discovered that we +were thought to be a nation of mere moneymakers, devoid of all +character--until, indeed, we were told that we could not walk the +highways of the world without permission of a Prussian soldier, that our +ships might not sail without wearing a striped uniform of humiliation +upon a narrow path of national subservience. + +"We talked as men talk who hope for honest agreement, not for war, until +we found that the treaty torn to pieces at Liege was but the symbol of a +policy that made agreements worthless against a purpose that knew no +word but success. + +"And so we came into this war for ourselves. It is a war to save +America, to preserve self-respect, to justify our right to live as we +have lived, not as some one else wishes us to live. In the name of +freedom we challenge with ships and men, money and an undaunted spirit, +that word 'verboten' which Germany has written upon the sea and upon the +land. + +"For America is not the name of so much territory. It is a living +spirit, born in travail, grown in the rough school of bitter +experiences, a living spirit which has purpose and pride and conscience, +knows why it wishes to live and to what end, knows how it comes to be +respected of the world, and hopes to retain that respect by living on +with the light of Lincoln's love of man as its old and new testaments. + + +AMERICA MUST LIVE. + +"It is more precious that this America should live than that we +Americans should live. And this America as we now see has been +challenged from the first of this war by the strong arm of a power that +has no sympathy with our purpose, and will not hesitate to destroy us if +the law that we respect, the rights that are to us sacred, or the spirit +that we have, stand across her set will to make this world bow before +her policies, backed by her organized and scientific military system. +The world of Christ--a neglected but not a rejected Christ--has come +again face to face with the world of Mahomet, who willed to win by +force. + +"With this background of history and in this sense, then, we fight +Germany: + +"Because of Belgium--invaded, outraged, enslaved, impoverished Belgium. +We cannot forget Liege, Louvain and Cardinal Mercier. Translated into +terms of American history these names stand for Bunker Hill, Lexington +and Patrick Henry. + +"Because of France--invaded, desecrated France, a million of whose +heroic sons have died to save the land of Lafayette. Glorious, golden +France, the preserver of the arts, the land of noble spirit. The first +land to follow our lead into republican liberty. + +"Because of England--from whom came the laws, traditions, standards of +life and inherent love of liberty which we call Anglo-Saxon +civilization. We defeated her once upon the land and once upon sea. But +Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Canada are free because of what we +did. And they are with us in the fight for the freedom of the seas. + +"Because of Russia--new Russia. She must not be overwhelmed now. Not +now, surely, when she is just born into freedom. Her peasants must have +their chance; they must go to school to Washington, to Jefferson and to +Lincoln, until they know their way about in this new, strange world, of +government by the popular will; and + +"Because of other peoples, with their rising hope that the world may be +freed from government by the soldier. + + +GERMANY'S CRIMES AGAINST US. + +"We are fighting Germany because she sought to terrorize us and then to +fool us. We could not believe that Germany would do what she said she +would do upon the seas. + +"We still hear the piteous cries of children coming up out of the sea +where the Lusitania went down. And Germany has never asked forgiveness +of the world. + +"We saw the Sussex sunk, crowded with the sons and daughters of neutral +nations. + +"We saw ship after ship sent to the bottom--ships of mercy bound out of +America for the Belgian starving; ships carrying the Red Cross and laden +with the wounded of all nations; ships carrying food and clothing to +friendly, harmless, terrorized peoples; ships flying the Stars and +Stripes--sent to the bottom hundreds of miles from shore, manned by +American seamen, murdered against all law, without warning. + +"We believed Germany's promise that she would respect the neutral flag +and the rights of neutrals, and we held our anger and outrage in check. +But now we see that she was holding us off with fair promises until she +could build her huge fleet of submarines. For when spring came she blew +her promise into the air, just as at the beginning she had torn up that +'scrap of paper.' Then we saw clearly that there was but one law for +Germany, her will to rule. + +"We are fighting Germany because she violated our confidence. Paid +German spies filled our cities. Officials of her Government, received as +the guests of this nation, lived with us to bribe and terrorize, defying +our law and the law of nations. + +"We are fighting Germany because while we were yet her friends--the only +great power that still held hands off--she sent the Zimmermann note +calling to her aid Mexico, our southern neighbor, and hoping to lure +Japan, our western neighbor, into war against this nation of peace. + + +GOVERNMENT THAT HAS NO CONSCIENCE. + +"The nation that would do these things proclaims the gospel that +government has no conscience. And this doctrine cannot live, or else +democracy must die! For the nations of the world must keep faith. There +can be no living for us in a world where the State has no conscience, no +reverence for the things of the spirit, no respect for international +law, no mercy for those who fall before its force. What an unordered +world! Anarchy! The anarchy of the rival wolf packs! + +"We are fighting Germany because in this war feudalism is making its +last stand against oncoming democracy. We see it now. This is a war +against an old spirit, an ancient, outworn spirit. It is a war against +feudalism--the right of the castle on the hill to rule the village +below. It is a war of democracy--the right of all to be their own +masters. Let Germany be feudal if she will! But she must not spread her +system over a world that has outgrown it. Feudalism plus science, +thirteenth century plus twentieth; this is the religion of the mistaken +Germany that has linked itself with the Turk; that has, too, adopted the +method of Mahomet: 'The State has no conscience,' 'the State can do no +wrong.' With the spirit of the fanatic, she believes this gospel and +that it is her duty to spread it by force. + +"With poison gas that makes living a hell, with submarines that sneak +through the seas to slyly murder non-combatants, with dirigibles that +bombard men and women while they sleep, with a perfected system of +terrorization that the modern world first heard of when German troops +entered China, German feudalism is making war upon mankind. + + +LIVE IN HAUNTED TERROR. + +"Let this old spirit of evil have its way and no man will live in +America without paying toll to it, in manhood and in money. This spirit +might demand Canada from a defeated, navyless England, and then our +dream of peace on the north would be at an end. We would live, as France +has lived for forty years, in haunting terror. + +"America speaks for the world in fighting Germany. Mark on a map those +countries which are Germany's allies, and you will mark but four, +running from the Baltic through Austria and Bulgaria to Turkey. All the +other nations, the whole globe around, are in arms against her or are +unable to move. There is deep meaning in this. + +"We fight with the world for an honest world, in which nations keep +their word; for a world in which nations do not live by swagger or by +threat; for a world in which men think of the ways in which they can +conquer the common cruelties of nature instead of inventing more +horrible cruelties to inflict upon the spirit and body of man; for a +world in which the ambition or the philosophy of a few shall not make +miserable all mankind; for a world in which the man is held more +precious than the machine, the system or the State." + +In his denunciations of the Imperial German Government President Wilson +and his advisers have indicted the House of Hohenzollern, of which +Emperor Wilhelm is the head, and which has developed the unbending +military spirit which has resulted in Germany being counted an outcast +among the nations of the world. + +America, it must be noted, has no antipathy for the Germans as a race, +but modern civilization opposes that form of Government which has +permitted the cruel characteristics of the "wolf tribes" of feudal times +to be carried down through the generations, and capitalized by the +Imperial powers to bring terror to the hearts of all who do not bow to +the iron hand of the Kaiser and his ilk. + + +GERMANY A WARLIKE RACE. + +The thing from which this Prussianism--this militarism--grew is easily +traceable down the German ages. The very first appearance of the Germans +in history is as a warlike race. The earliest German literature is +composed of folk tales about war heroes--their ideals and manly virtues. +And this ideal in one form or another, under varying circumstances and +conditions, persisted throughout the centuries. + +It is not merely that military service has been compulsory in Germany, +but that almost everything else has been subjugated to the development +of the army. While Germany has given to the world a generous quota of +scientists, industrial geniuses, musicians and poets, the whole race is +imbued with the warlike spirit and its influence is manifest in every +phase of national life. Practically all that is best in the nation in +the way of efficiency has been inspired or may be traced to the military +discipline to which the people have been subjected for years. They have +been created human machines, trained to obey orders and to perform the +services to which they are assigned without protest and without +question. + +The history of Germany began with Henry, the Fowler, about A.D. 929, +who was essentially the first sovereign. He developed the system of +margraves or wardens to guard the frontiers of the kingdom, fortified +his towns and required every ninth man to take up arms for his country. +Robbers were forced to become soldiers or be hanged, and as lawlessness +was rampant there was no dearth of material to fill up the ranks of the +army. + +The margraves, or military leaders under them, grew in importance and +influence until the offices tended to become hereditary. Gradually the +country was divided into principalities, each of which maintained a +force of arms. This limited form of military rule maintained for several +centuries of troublesome times, or until about 1412, when Emperor +Sigismund appointed Burgrave Frederick, of Nuremberg, "Stratt-halter," +or vice-regent. + + +BIRTH OF THE MILITARY SPIRIT. + +This appointment marked the establishment of the Hohenzollerns in +Brandenburg, and, in fine, fixes the birth of the military spirit in +Germany. + +Other princes of the German Reich maintained armies, but the +Hohenzollerns were destined to imprint upon the nation the military +ideal. In the beginning history says that Burgrave Frederick tried all +the arts of peace, but it was only with the army of Franks and some +artillery that he was able to batter down the castles of the robber +lords and bring order into Brandenburg. + +Thomas Carlyle gives a list of twelve electors who strove in turn to +consolidate the power of Prussia, so that when Frederick the Great +became King of Prussia he found much of the work done. Among the rulers +of these strenuous days to whom the Kaiser Wilhelm may point as having +handed down to him the warlike spirit are Kurfuerst Joachim I, of +Brandenburg (1529), who introduced Roman law and established a supreme +court for all the provinces at Berlin; Kurfuerst Joachim II, of +Brandenburg (1542), whom history describes as an unscrupulous despot, +fond of luxury and display, and who changed his religion because it was +an advantage politically for him to do so; Margrave Georg Frederick von +Ansbach (1564), who caused the eyes of sixty peasants to be bored out +upon winning the Peasants' war, and Kurfuerst Frederick William der +Grosse, of Brandenburg (1652), known as the "Great Elector," a fighter, +who had two clearly defined aims: to build up agriculture and maintain a +big army. + +For years the Hohenzollerns and their aides were fighting unfriendly +neighbors and quarrelsome princes, and when after the lapse of time the +Thirty Years' War finally turned Germany into a field of blood, the +Great Elector emerged from the strife with the support of about 25,000 +well drilled soldiers, and freed his country from foreign foes. + + +HELD EUROPE AT HIS MERCY. + +The establishment of the power of the Junkers--the autocrats of +Prussianism--is credited to Frederick the Great, who was the great +drillmaster who organized the Prussian army on lines of efficiency and +economy. It is related that Frederick, afterward "The Great," was taken +from his women teachers at the age of seven years and subjected to rigid +military discipline. He commanded a company of cadets, composed of the +sons of nobles who were compelled to drill for him, and at the age of +fourteen he was a captain in the Potsdam Guards, and when, in 1740, he +became king, he took the army and held all Europe at his mercy. His +successor, Frederick William II, was incapable, and the French +revolution found Germany in a state of discord. + +When Frederick William III acceded to the throne in 1797 he started to +reorganize the army. Frederick William I had divided the country into +districts, or cantons, and here began the system of compulsory military +training. All males born were enrolled and liable to service when of +age. The army was recruited by districts and every district had its +regiment, though later exemptions were allowed. Under Frederick William +III, Scharnhorst, a Hanoverian, was the military reorganizer, and he +began the work with the slogan "All dwellers of the State are born +defenders of the same." + +Instead of depending for its development on king, the army was directed +by genius of best men developed by the system. After the formation of +the German Empire in 1871, which placed the king of Prussia at its head, +the Constitution of the German Empire made every German a member of the +active army for seven years. Service with colors three years and with +the reserve four. In 1875 there were eighteen army corps, of which +twelve were Prussian. The strength by law in 1874 was 400,000. + + +PEACE STRENGTH INCREASED. + +In 1881 the established peace strength was increased by thirty-four +battalions of infantry, forty batteries of field artillery and other +forces, and in 1886 Bismarck, recognizing the power of Prussianism and +its military influence, was compelled to dissolve the Reichstag, but +after the election in 1887 thirty-one other battalions and twenty-four +batteries were added. Two complete army corps were added in 1890, and in +1893 the color service, or length of time when reservists were subject +to duty under colors only, was decreased by two years, bringing the +peace strength up to more than half a million and the reservists up to +4,000,000. Step by step the strength of the military force was increased +until after the adoption of the law of 1913, when provision was made for +699 battalions of infantry; 633 batteries of field artillery; 44 +battalions of engineers; 55 battalions of garrison artillery; 31 +battalions of communications and 26 battalions of train troops--a grand +total of 870,000 actually in service in peace strength. + +The German Empire is composed of twenty-six states--Prussia, Bavaria, +Wurttemberg, Baden, Saxony, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, +Mecklenburg-Sterlitz, Oldenburg, Brunswick, Saxe-Weimer-Eisnach, +Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Waldeck, Lippe, +Schaumburg-Lippe, Reuss (elder line), Reuss (younger line), Anhalt, +Schwarz-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen, Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck +and Reichsland--the Alsace-Lorraine. The area is less than that of the +State of Texas while the population according to the most recent +statistics is about 65,000,000. + +Every male person between the ages of eighteen and forty-five is liable +for military service. Reservists under the rules in force when the war +started were subject to two musters annually and two periods of training +not to exceed eight weeks in duration. + + +EGOTISTICAL AND EXAGGERATED UTTERANCES. + +That the present Emperor is imbued with the harsh military spirit of his +ancestors is illustrated by his many egotistical and exaggerated +utterances. In dedicating the monument of Prince Frederick Charles at +Frankfurt-on-the-Oder in 1891, he is quoted as having said: + +"We would rather sacrifice our eighteen army corps and our 42,000,000 +inhabitants on the field of battle than surrender a single stone of what +my father and Prince Frederick gained." The thrills which such +expressions arouse are born of an inveterate emotional habit, and are +responsible for the obliquity of view and conduct which has made Germany +an outcast among civilized nations. + +But Germany was not satisfied with what she had obtained by her +crusading. Developments of the war prove conclusively that the Kaiser +has followed out the blood and iron politico-economic methods of +Bismarck for the development of Prussian power and that while at times +Germany has been reported to be maneuvering for peace, her peace moves +have in reality been war moves, and that a truce would only give the +Imperial Government time in which to further Prussianize and prepare +for a greater world war the territory to the southeast which she has +conquered under the guise of a friendly alliance. + +It will be recalled that President Wilson declared that "America must +fight until the world is made safe for democracy." This declaration +refers immediately to the plans which Germany had developed for its +conquest. Based upon reports received by agents of the United States, of +England, of France and other countries, Germany aimed to form a +consolidation of an impregnable military and economic unit stretching +from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, cutting Europe permanently in +half, controlling the Dardanelles, the Agean and the Baltic, and +eventually forming the backbone of a Prussian world empire. + + +LEAGUE AT WORK SINCE 1911. + +In her southeastern conquests, it is apparent, Germany followed almost +in toto the long established plan of the Pan-German League, whose +propaganda had been regarded outside of Germany as the harmless activity +of extremists, too radical to be taken seriously. Coupled with this +plan, as an instrument of economic consolidation, the German officials +used with only slight modification the system of customs union expansion +which aided Prussia in former years to extend her domination over the +other German States now making up the empire. + +As early as 1911 the Pan-German League is said to have circulated a +definite propaganda of conquest, with printed appeals containing maps of +a greater Germany, whose sway from Hamburg to Constantinople and then +southeastward through Asiatic Turkey was marked out by boundaries very +coincident with the military lines held today, under German officers, by +the troops of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey. Adhesion of +the German Government itself to such a plan was not suspected by the +other Powers, although the propagandists were permitted to continue +their activities unhindered and to spread their appeals in a country of +strict press supervision. How closely the German Government did adhere +to the plan in reality has been demonstrated clearly by the course of +the war. + +Following the footsteps of Bismarck, who used the Franco-Prussian war +alliance to bring Baden, Bavaria and Wurttemburg into the German +confederacy and then into the German Empire, Emperor William chose war +as the means of establishing the broad pathway to the southeast which +was essential for realization of the dream of a great Germany. + + +VERGE OF DISSOLUTION. + +The subjugation of Austria-Hungary, which would have presented a +different task under ordinary conditions, became in these circumstances +comparatively very simple. A polyglot combination of States, having +little in common and apparently held together only by the decaying +genius of the aged Emperor Franz Joseph, the dual monarchy was regarded +everywhere as on the verge of dissolution. Her helplessness before +Russia's army became apparent early in the war, and the eagerness with +which Germany seized the opportunity thus presented is pointed to as +emphasizing the far-sightedness of the German plans. + +Austria-Hungary's submission is declared to be complete, both in a +military and economic sense. The German officers commanding her armies, +abetted by industrial agents, scattered throughout the country by +Germany, hold the Austrian and Hungarian population in a union which +neither the hardships of war, the death of the Emperor nor the +inspiration of the outside influences, such as the Russian revolution, +can break. + +Bulgaria's declaration of war on the side of Germany was actuated by a +German diplomatic coup, which in itself is regarded now as further +evidence that a clear road through to the Dardanelles was considered in +Berlin as a primary and imperative purpose of the war. + +In the case of Turkey, German domination is even more complete than in +Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. Not only have German officers led in +defending Turkish territory and in eradicating inharmonious elements, +such as the Armenians and Syrians, but German industrial organizations +have taken a firm grip on Turkish industry and a large delegation of +German professors have been spreading German kultur among the +population. + +The developments threw a new light on many events before the war. Among +them the long-unexplained declaration of Emperor William at Damascus in +1898 that all Mohammedans might confidently regard the German Emperor as +"their friend forever." There also is a complete understanding now of +Germany's eagerness to obtain, in 1899, a concession for the Bagdad +railroad, an artery of communication now indispensable to the German +operations. + +These are the things and conditions to which the Allies referred when in +replying to one of President Wilson's peace notes they declared that war +must accomplish the "liberation of Italians, of Slavs, of Rumanians and +of Tzecho-Slovacs from foreign domination; the enfranchisement of +populations subject to the bloody tyranny of the Turk; the expulsion +from Europe of the Ottoman Empire, and the restoration of Servia, +Montenegro and Rumania." + +America entered the war to fight for Democracy. On the surface the +United States pledged itself to protect its ships and make secure the +lives of its citizens on the highways of the world, but the principles +for which the manhood of the country were called to fight have been +summarized as follows: + +That the nations of the world shall co-operate and not compete. The +paradox of history is that every struggle leads to firmer unity. Wars +cemented France, unified the British Empire, consolidated the American +Union. + +That national armaments be limited to purposes of internal police, no +nation be allowed to have a force sufficient to be a menace to general +peace, and a League of Peace be formed which shall have at its hand +sufficient armed power to compel order among the States. + +That nations be governed by the people that compose them, and for the +benefit of those people, and not of a ruling class. + +That every nation be governed with an eye to the welfare of the whole +world as well as to its own prosperity or glory, and patriotism properly +subjected to humanity. + +That the power of government be dissociated from advancing the profits +of capital, and made always to mean the welfare of labor. + +That security of life, freedom of worship and opinion, and liberty of +movement be assured to all men everywhere. + +That no munitions or instruments of death be manufactured except under +control of the International Council of the World. + +That the seas be free to all. + +That tariffs be adjusted with a view to the general welfare and not as +measures of national rivalry. + +That railways, telegraph, and telephone lines, and all other common and +necessary means of intercommunication be eventually nationalized. + +That every human being in a country be conscripted to devote a certain +part of his or her life to national service. + +That both labor unions and combinations of capital be under strict +government control, so that no irresponsible group may conspire against +the commonwealth. + +That every child receive training to equip him or her for self-support +and intelligent citizenship. + +That woman shall enjoy every right of citizenship. + +That the civil shall always have precedence over the military authority. + +And that the right of free speech, of a free press, and of assembly +shall remain inviolate. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE THINGS THAT MADE MEN MAD. + +GERMANY'S BARBARITY--THE DEVASTATION OF BELGIUM--HUMAN FIENDS--FIREBRAND +AND TORCH--RAPE AND PILLAGE--THE SACKING OF LOUVAIN--WANTON +DESTRUCTION--OFFICIAL PROOF. + + +The conduct of Germany in ignoring international treaties and invading +Belgium first aroused the antagonism of the United States and the rest +of the civilized world, and furnished the primary glimpse of how +Imperialism made light of human rights. What the Kaiser and his arrogant +followers did is fully set forth in the report which a special envoy, +appointed by King Albert of Belgium, laid before President Wilson on +September 16, 1914. + +The mission consisted of Henry Carton de Wiart, Minister of Justice; +Messrs. de Sadeleer, Hymans and Vandervelde, Ministers of State, and +Count Louis de Lichtervelde, serving as secretary of the mission. On +being received by President Wilson, Mr. de Wiart, for the mission, +outlined for the world and for America, the situation in part as +follows: + +"His Majesty, the King of the Belgians, has charged us with a special +mission to the President of the United States. Let me say how much we +feel ourselves honored to have been called upon to express the +sentiments of our King and of our whole nation to the illustrious +statesman whom the American people have called to the highest dignity of +the commonwealth. + +"Ever since her independence was first established, Belgium has been +declared neutral in perpetuity. This neutrality, guaranteed by the +Powers, has recently been violated by one of them. Had we consented to +abandon our neutrality for the benefit of one of the belligerents, we +would have betrayed our obligations toward the others. And it was the +sense of our international obligations as well as that of our dignity +and honor that has driven us to resistance. + +"The consequences suffered by the Belgian nation were not confined +purely to the harm occasioned by the forced march of the invading army. +This army not only seized a great portion of our territory, but it +committed incredible acts of violence, the nature of which is contrary +to the laws of nations. + +"Peaceful inhabitants were massacred, defenseless women and children +were outraged; open and undefended towns were destroyed; historical and +religious monuments were reduced to dust and the famous library of the +University of Louvain was given to the flames. + +"Our government has appointed a Judicial Commission to make an official +investigation, so as to thoroughly and impartially examine the facts and +to determine the responsibility thereof, and I will have the honor, +Excellency, to hand over to you the proceedings of the inquiry. + + +THE UNITED STATES' ATTITUDE. + +"In this frightful holocaust which is sweeping over Europe, the United +States has adopted a neutral attitude. + +"And it is for this reason that your country, standing apart from either +one of the belligerents, is in the best position to judge, without bias +or partiality, the conditions under which the war is being waged. + +"It is at the request, even at the initiative of the United States, that +all civilized nations have formulated and adopted at the Hague a law +regulating the laws and usages of war. + +"We refuse to believe that war has abolished the family of civilized +powers, or the regulation to which they have freely consented. + +"The American people has always displayed its respect for justice, its +search for progress and an instinctive attachment for the laws of +humanity. Therefore, it has won a moral influence which is recognized by +the entire world. It is for this reason that Belgium, bound as she is to +you by ties of commerce and increasing friendship, turns to the American +people at this time to let you know the real truth of the present +situation. Resolved to continue unflinching defence of its sovereignty +and independence, it deems it a duty to bring to the attention of the +civilized world the innumerable grave breaches of rights of mankind, of +which she has been a victim. + +"At the very moment we were leaving Belgium, the King recalled to us his +trip to the United States and the vivid and strong impression your +powerful and virile civilization left upon his mind. Our faith in your +fairness, our confidence in your justice, in your spirit of generosity +and sympathy, all these have dictated our present mission." + + +THE INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE. + +In the report handed to President Wilson, the preface sets forth that +the committee appointed to investigate the conduct of the German +invaders, and all of the surrounding circumstances, consisted of Messrs. +Cattier, professor at the Brussels University; Nys, counselor of the +Brussels Court of Appeals; Verhaegen, counselor of the Brussels Court of +Appeals; Wodon, professor at the Brussels University; Secretary, Mr. +Gillard, Director of the Department of Justice. Afterwards, when the +invasion made it necessary to transfer the seat of the government from +Brussels to Antwerp, a sub-committee was appointed there, consisting of +Mr. Cooreman, Minister of State; Members, Count Goblet d'Aviella, +Minister of State, Vice President of the Senate; Messrs. Ryckmans, +Senator; Strauss, Alderman of the City of Antwerp; Van Cutsem, Honorary +President of the Law Court of Antwerp. Secretaries, Chevalier Ernst de +Bunswyck, Chief Secretary of the Belgian Minister of Justice; Mr. Orts, +Counselor of the Legation. + +In brief the report submits first, that in violation of the perpetual +treaty of June 26, 1831, Germany notified Belgium that France was about +to march upon Germany, and that Germany proposed to frustrate such a +move by sending its soldiers through Belgium; that the German government +had no intention of making war against Belgium, and that if Belgium +made no opposition it would evacuate Belgium after hostilities ceased, +and during the period the German forces were in the country, would buy +everything needed for its army. Belgium replied that it had assurance +from France that France had no intention of invading Belgium, and that +if France attempted to pass through Belgium would oppose such an act +with force. It informed the German Imperial Government that it would +similarly oppose any move on the part of Germany to pass through. + +Nevertheless Germany proceeded at once through Belgium. Quoting articles +from the Hague treaty, the commission's report reads: + + +THE DAYS OF BARBARISM. + +"In the days of barbarism, the population of a territory occupied by the +enemy was deprived of all judicial capacity. At that time," as Ghering +writes ironically, "'the enemy was absolutely deprived of rights; +everything he owned belonged to the gallant warrior who had wrenched it +away from him. One had merely to lose it.' + +"In our days the rules of warfare clearly establish the difference +between the property of the government of the territory occupied and the +property of individuals. While the present doctrine allows the conqueror +to seize, in a general way, everything in the way of movable property +belonging to the State, it obliges him, on the other hand, to respect +the property of individuals, corporations and public provincial +administrations. + +"The Hague Convention, signed October 18, 1897, by all the civilized +States, among others by Germany, contains the following stipulations +regarding laws and customs of warfare on land: + +"'Art. 46. The honor and right of the family, the life of the individual +and private property, as well as religious convictions and the exercise +of worship, must be respected. Private property cannot be confiscated. + +"'Art. 47. Pillaging is formally prohibited. + +"'Art. 53. When occupying territory, the army can only seize cash as +well as funds and securities belonging entirely to the State; also +depots of arms, ways and means of transportation, warehouses and +provisions, and in a general way all movable property belonging to the +State and liable to be used for warlike operations. + +"'Art. 56. Property of municipalities, property of establishments +consecrated to worship, to charity and instruction; to art and science, +even though belonging to the State, will be treated as private +property.' + +"In defiance of these conventional rules, voluntarily and solemnly +accepted by Germany, she has committed, from the beginning of her +invasion of Belgian soil, numerous attacks upon private property." + + +GERMAN CUPIDITY. + +At Hasselt, the report shows that on August 12, 1914, the Germans +confiscated the funds of the branch of the National Bank, which amounted +to 2,075,000 francs. At Liege, on entering the city, they forcibly +seized the funds of a branch of the same bank, amounting to 4,000,000 +francs. Moreover, upon finding at that branch bundles of bank notes of +5-franc denomination, representing an amount of 400,000 francs, and +which were not yet signed, they forced a printer to sign those bank +notes by means of a rubber stamp, which they had also seized, and +afterwards put the notes in circulation. The bank, it is explained, was +a shareholders' corporation, the capital having been obtained by +subscription from private parties and was in no wise an institution of +the State. + +The enormity of this offence is made apparent by the fact that in the +war of 1870, when the Prussians entered Rheims in the Franco-Prussian +war, and they wanted to confiscate the funds of the branch of the +National Bank of France, Crown Prince Frederick ordered that funds which +were found at the bank could not be seized so long as they were not used +for the maintenance of the French army, it having been contended by +directors of the institution that the bank was not a State, but a +private bank. But more than this Germany levied supplies from every +Belgian city and tried to levy upon the city of Brussels the sum of +50,000,000 francs and the province of Brabant 450,000,000 francs. + + +TREATY OBLIGATIONS. + +Categorically, the violation and disregard of every phase of the Hague +treaty is described. In spite of the strict provision that undefended +cities, villages and dwellings are not to be bombarded, and where +bombardment is necessary the commanding officer of the attacking party +must warn the authorities that such bombardment is to take place, German +aeroplanes and dirigibles bombarded relentlessly from the beginning. In +Antwerp a Zeppelin threw explosive bombs at the Royal Palace, but the +missiles went astray, demolishing private residences, killing eight +persons and injuring many. Servants were killed in their beds in one +private house when the bombs tore away the top of the building. + +"In the Place du Poids Public a bomb fell on the pavement. Fragments +scattered all over the place. Not a house facing the square was +untouched. A policeman was cut to pieces, all that was found of him +being a leg covered with a few rags of his uniform. Five other persons +who opened their windows were blown to atoms. The bed-rooms of two +houses facing one another were visited. In the first there were three +corpses. Blood was scattered all over the place. The floor was covered +with fragments of windows and with blood-soaked underwear. On the +ceiling and walls, parts of intestines and brains were visible. In the +other house two old persons had been killed while looking down upon the +street. Later Antwerp was bombarded, as was Heyst-op-den-Berg and the +city of Malines, which was undefended, and where there was not a Belgian +soldier. At Malines the batteries fired shell after shell in the +direction of the Cathedral of Saint Rombault, a beautiful edifice, which +was hit many times and badly damaged, though there was no military +reason for the assault as the town was practically abandoned." + +The commission turned over to President Wilson explosive bullets used by +the Germans at Werchter, and submitted briefs from physicians who +treated wounds made by the explosive bullets. + + +DETAILED ATROCITIES OUTLINED. + +A few details of the atrocities are outlined as follows: + +"German cavalry, occupying the village of Linsmeau, were attacked by +some Belgian infantry and two Gendarmes. A German officer was killed by +our troops during the fight, and subsequently buried at the request of +the Belgian officer in command. None of the civilian population took +part in the fight. Nevertheless, the village was invaded at dusk on +August 10 by a strong force of German cavalry, artillery and machine +guns. In spite of the assurance given by the Burgomaster that none of +the peasants had taken part in the previous fighting two farms and six +outlying houses were destroyed by gunfire and burned. All the male +population were compelled to come forward and hand over what they +possessed. No recently discharged firearms were found, but the invaders +divided the peasants into three groups. Those in one group were bound +and eleven of them placed in a ditch, whither they were afterward found +dead, their skulls fractured by the butts of German rifles. + +"During the night of August 10, German cavalry entered Velm in great +numbers; the inhabitants were asleep. The Germans, without provocation, +fired upon Mr. Deglimme-Gever's house, broke into it, destroyed +furniture, looted money, burned barns, hay, corn stacks, farm +implements, six oxen, and the contents of the farmyard. They carried off +Mme. Deglimme half-naked, to a place two miles away. She was then let go +and was fired upon as she fled, without being hit. Her husband was +carried away in another direction." + +Farmer Jeff Dierckx, of Neerhespen, bears witness to the following acts +of cruelty committed by German cavalry at Orsmael Neerhespen, on August +10, 11 and 12: + + +SHOCKING BARBARITIES. + +"An old man of the latter village had his arm sliced in three +longitudinal cuts; he was then hanged head downward and burned alive. +Young girls have been raped and little children outraged at Orsmael, +where several inhabitants suffered mutilations too horrible to describe. +A Belgian soldier belonging to a battalion of cyclist carbineers who had +been wounded and made prisoner was hanged, while another who was tending +his comrade was bound to a telegraph pole and shot." + +The sacking of Louvain, which was one of the vile acts of the Germans +during the early days of the war, is described briefly in the report of +the commission as follows: + +"The Germans entered Louvain on Wednesday, August 19, after having set +fire to the towns through which they passed. + +"From the moment of their having entered the city of Louvain, the +Germans requisitioned lodgings and victuals for their troops. They +entered every private bank of the city and took over the bank funds. +German soldiers broke the doors of houses abandoned by their +inhabitants, pillaged them and indulged in orgies. + +"The German authorities took hostages; the mayor of the city, Senator +Vander Kelen, the Vice Rector of the Catholic University, the Dean of +the City; magistrates and aldermen were also detained. All arms down to +fencing foils had been handed over to the town administration and +deposited by the said authorities in the Church of St. Peter. + +"In the neighboring village, Corbeck-Loo, a young matron, 22 years old, +whose husband was in the army, was surprised on Wednesday, August 19, +with several of her relatives, by a band of German soldiers. The persons +who accompanied her were locked in an abandoned house, while she was +taken into another house, where she was successively violated by five +soldiers. + + +LUSTFUL CRUELTY OF THE GERMANS. + +"In the same village, on Thursday, August 20, German soldiers were +searching a house where a young girl of 16 lived with her parents. They +carried her into an abandoned house and, while some of them kept the +father and mother off, others went into the house, the cellar of which +was open, and forced the young woman to drink. Afterwards they carried +her out on the lawn in front of the house and violated her successively. +She continued to resist and they pierced her breast with bayonets. +Having been abandoned by the soldiers after their abominable attacks, +the girl was carried off by her parents, and the following day, owing to +the gravity of her condition, she was administered the last rites of the +church by the priest of the parish and carried to the hospital at +Louvain." + +Upon entering villages occupied by the Germans after they were driven +back to Louvain, the report says the Belgian soldiers found that the +German soldiers had sacked, ravaged and set fire to the villages +everywhere, taking with them and driving before them all the male +inhabitants. "Upon entering Hofstade, the Belgian soldiers found the +corpse of an old woman who had been killed by bayonet thrusts; she still +held in her hand the needle with which she was sewing when attacked; one +mother and her son, aged about 15 years, lay there pierced with bayonet +wounds; one man was found hung. + +"In Sempst, a neighboring village, were found corpses of two men +partially burned. One of them was found with legs cut off to the knees; +the other was minus his arms and legs. A workman had been pierced with +bayonets, afterward while he was still living the Germans soaked him +with petroleum and locked him in a house which they set on fire. An old +man and his son had been killed by sabre cuts; a cyclist had been killed +by bullets; a woman coming out of her house had been stricken down in +the same manner." + + +A LAME EXCUSE OFFERED. + +Concerning the sacking of Louvain itself, the report says that one +detachment of the Germans met another detachment while in full flight +from the Belgian soldiers, and attacked one another. This was the basis +for the pretext that they had been attacked by the citizenry of Louvain +and was responsible for the bombardment of the city. The bombarding +lasted until 10 o'clock at night, and afterward the German soldiers set +fire to the city. + +"The houses which had not taken fire were entered by German soldiers, +who were throwing fire grenades, some of which seem to have been +provided for the occasion. The largest part of the city of Louvain, +especially the quarters of 'Ville Haute,' comprising the modern houses, +the Cathedral of St. Peter, the University Halls, with the whole library +of the University with its manuscripts, its collections, the largest +part of the scientific institutions and the town theatre were at the +moment being consumed by flames. + +"The commission deems it necessary, in the midst of these horrors, to +insist on the crime of lese-humanity which the deliberate annihilation +of an academic library--a library which was one of the treasures of our +time--constitutes. + +"Numerous corpses of civilians covered the streets and squares. On the +routes from Louvain to Tirlemont alone one witness testifies to having +seen more than fifty of them. On the threshold of houses were found +burnt corpses of people, who, surprised in their cellars by the fire, +had tried to escape and fell into the heap of live embers. The suburbs +of Louvain were given up to the same fate. It can be said that the whole +region between Malines and Louvain and most of the suburbs of Louvain +have been devastated and destroyed. + + +BASE INDIGNITIES TO CLERGYMEN. + +"A group of 75 persons, among whom were several notables of the city, +such as Father Coloboet and a Spanish priest, and also an American +priest, were conducted, during the morning of Wednesday, August 26, to +the square in front of the station. The men were brutally separated from +their wives and children, after having received the most abominable +treatment after repeated threats of being shot, and were driven in front +of the German troops as far as the village of Campenhout. They were +locked, during the night, in the church. The following day, at 4 +o'clock, a German officer came to tell them that they might all confess +themselves and that they would be shot half an hour later. When, +finally, they were released, the report continues, they were recaptured +by another German brigade and compelled to march to Malines, where they +were finally liberated. + +"An eye witness testified that he met nothing except burned villages, +crazed peasants, lifting to each comer their arms, as mark of +submission. From each house was hanging a white flag, even from those +that had been set on fire, and rags of them were found hanging from the +ruins. The fire began a little above the American College, and the city +is entirely destroyed, with the exception of the town hall and the +depot. Today the fire continues and the Germans, instead of trying to +stop it--seem rather to maintain it by throwing straw into the flames, +as I have myself seen behind the Hotel de Ville. The Cathedral and the +theatre have been destroyed and fallen in, and also the library. The +town resembles an old city in ruins, in the midst of which drunken +soldiers are circulating, carrying around bottles of wine and liquor; +the officers themselves being installed in arm chairs, sitting around +tables and drinking like their own men. + +"In the streets dead horses are decaying, horses which are completely +inflated, and the smell of the fire and the decaying animals is such +that it has followed me for a long time." + +And the policy which developed such outrageous conduct on the part of +the Kaiser's soldiers in the early days of the war, against which +Belgium protested to the world, inspired brutal acts, ruthlessness and +cruelty at every stage and during every period of the war. Nowhere is +there written a single line which tells of the humanitarian acts of the +German soldiers. Those who fight against them acknowledge their stoical +bravery, the efficiency of the army, the navy and the people as a whole, +but there is no reflection of refined instincts in any of the acts of +Germany or the Germans. + + +THE AMERICAN MINISTER'S REPORT. + +Of those conditions which existed in Belgium when the German soldiers +overran the country, America's own minister to the devastated country, +Brand Whitlock, sent a report to the State Department in the beginning +of 1917, when President Wilson was protesting against the treatment +accorded the helpless people of Belgium by the Germans. + +Mr. Whitlock tells how the Germans determined to put the Belgians thrown +out of employment to work for them. "In August," says the report, +dealing with the treatment of the helpless Belgians, "Von Hindenburg was +appointed supreme commander. He is said to have criticised Von Bissing's +policy as too mild, and there was a quarrel; Von Bissing went to Berlin +to protest, threatened to resign, but did not. He returned, and a German +official said that Belgium would now be subjected to a more terrible +regime, would learn what war was. The prophecy has been vindicated. + +"The deportations began in October in the Etape, at Ghent and at +Bruges. The policy spread; the rich industrial districts at Hainaut, the +mines and steel works about Charleroi were next attacked, and they +seized men in Brabant, even in Brussels, despite some indications and +even predictions of the civil authorities that the policy was about to +be abandoned. + +"As by one of the ironies of life the winter has been more excessively +cold than Belgium has ever known it and while many of those who +presented themselves were adequately protected against the cold, many of +them were without overcoats. The men, shivering from cold and fear, the +parting from weeping wives and children, the barrels of brutal Uhlans, +all this made the scene a pitiable and distressing one. + + +RAGE, TERROR AND DESPAIR. + +"The rage, the terror and despair excited by this measure all over +Belgium were beyond anything we had witnessed since the day the Germans +poured into Brussels. The delegates of the commission for relief in +Belgium, returning to Brussels, told the most distressing stories of the +scenes of cruelty and sorrow attending the seizures. And daily, hourly +almost, since that time, appalling stories have been related by Belgians +coming to the legation. It is impossible for us to verify them, first +because it is necessary for us to exercise all possible tact in dealing +with the subject at all, and secondly because there is no means of +communication between the Occupations Gebiet and the Etappey Gebiet. + +"I am constantly in receipt of reports from all over Belgium that tend +to bear the stories one constantly hears of brutality and cruelty. A +number of men sent back to Mons are said to be in a dying condition, +many of them tubercular. At Molines and at Antwerp returned men have +died, their friends asserting that they have been victims of neglect and +cruelty, of cold, of exposure, of hunger. + +"I have had requests from the burgomasters of ten communes asking that +permission be obtained to send to the deported men in Germany packages +of food similar to those that are being sent to prisoners of war. Thus +far the German authorities have refused to permit this except in special +instances, and returning Belgians claim that even when such packages are +received they are used by the camp authorities only as another means of +coercing them to sign the agreements to work. + + +A MORTAL BLOW TO BELGIANS. + +"By the deportation of Belgians to work in Germany," says Mr. Whitlock's +report, "they have dealt a mortal blow to any prospect they may ever +have had of being tolerated by the population of Flanders; in tearing +away from nearly every humble home in the land a husband and a father or +a son and brother; they have lighted a fire of hatred that will never go +out; they have brought home to every heart in the land, in a way that +will impress its horror indelibly on the memory of three generations, a +realization of what German methods mean, not as with the early +atrocities in the heat of passion and the first lust of war, but by one +of those deeds that make one despair of the future of the human race, a +deed coldly planned, studiously matured, and deliberately and +systematically executed, a deed so cruel that German soldiers are said +to have wept in its execution, and so monstrous that even German +officers are now said to be ashamed." + +And if these acts were not sufficient to convince the world that Germany +"is without the pale" so far as civilized warfare is concerned her +conduct in wantonly destroying property in Flanders while in retreat +could permit of no other conclusion. + +After the violation of Belgium and the destruction of the Lusitania and +the adoption of the policy of sinking neutral ships on sight for +military advantage, or "necessity," why shouldn't the soldiers pollute +wells, kill trees, carry off the girls, smash the household furniture +not worth taking away and smear the pictures on the wall, just for +revenge or in the sheer lust of destruction? + +It makes no difference, so far as the principles of humanity are +concerned, whether the German army is in victory or suffering defeat, +advancing or retreating. The treatment accorded the evacuated cities of +the Somme district was foretold by the treatment of the cities occupied +early in the war. Here is the wording of an order posted during the +victorious invasion of Belgium: + +"Order--To the people of Liege. The population of Andenne, after making +a display of peaceful intentions toward our troops, attacked them in the +most treacherous manner. With my authority the general commanding these +troops has reduced the town to ashes and has had 110 persons shot. I +bring this fact to the knowledge of the people of Liege in order that +they may know what fate to expect should they adopt a similar attitude. + + GENERAL VON BULOW. + Liege, Aug. 22, 1914." + + +CRUEL EXTREME OF PUNISHMENT. + +And yet this order showed only a cruel extreme of punishment where some +punishment was to be expected. It was left for the retreating Germans of +1917 to destroy, without provocation and without purpose, motived by +revenge and obsessed by the Nietschean doctrine of "spare not." + +Before Bapaume was evacuated it was deliberately converted into a mass +of muck. There is no Bapaume now. It is perfectly understandable that +the retreating soldiers should destroy their trenches and put up the +question, "Tommy, how do you like your new trenches?" But why smear +filth over the photograph of three little girls, a family treasure? All +around Bapaume the villages were looted and the night the deliverers +entered the destroyers made the sky lurid with the fires of towns and +hamlets. Some 300 in the evacuated region were burned. + +At Nesle, Roye and Ham there was not time enough to destroy everything. +The house of a doctor at Nesle, a specially attractive home, was not +blown down for strategic purposes, but some soldiers did find time to +drive axes through the mahogany panels of the beds and smash the clocks +and mirrors. They were angry at being compelled to leave the house. + +Villages like Cressy, near Nesle, where a shell never fell in the course +of the war, have been completely destroyed. + + +PERONNE A HOPELESS RUIN. + +There is not a habitable house left in Peronne. The sixteenth century +church of St. Jean is but a relic. W. Beach Thomas wrote after the +retreat that nothing was left that was valuable enough to be worth +collection by a penny tinker or a rag-and-bone merchant. Foul what you +cannot have, was the motto. + +The famous ruins of the Feudal Castle of Coucy, one of the finest relics +of architecture of its period, was wantonly blown up by the Germans on +retreat. It was built in the thirteenth century by Enguerrand III and +passed to the French crown in 1498, and was one of the great historic +landmarks of Northern France. + +Coucy was one of the noblest relics of the Middle Ages, respected by the +most barbarous wars of the past, whose donjon (greatest in all Europe) +dates almost from Charlemagne, harmless, time-wrecked, illustrious +Coucy! + +To give an idea of Coucy's importance, the French, in their first +astonishment and sorrow, proposed to make reprisals on Hindenburg, +should it take ten years. Of course, they will not; it is not their way. + +Coucy is a mountain of blasted stones. Shoun Kelly, American, owned one +of the outer towers of the great castle and the story of its ownership +is the American antithesis of German ravage. Americans were always +faithful tourists to Coucy; but among them, one loved more than all the +glorious old ruin and its story which began with Enguerrand, the Sire +of Coucy, in the year 1210. This was the late Edmund Kelly, of New York +and Paris, international lawyer and for many years counsel of the +American Embassy in Paris. He meditated on the motto of old Enguerrand: +"I am not king, nor prince, nor duke, nor even count: I am the Sire of +Coucy!" In fact, the Sire made a record for standing off local kings. + +"He was a good American ahead of his time," said Lawyer Kelly; and he +took to reading up the ancient chronicles, how Enguerrand's descendants +stood off royalty for some 200 years, until finally bought out by the +wealthy Louis of Orleans, and all the later glories of the place. +Mazarin dismantled Coucy, but left it standing in its beauty; and Lawyer +Kelly discovered it to be a State museum, impossible to be purchased, in +these latter days, even by a millionaire. Not being one, he preferred it +so, loving Coucy more than ever, the cultured American did the next best +thing. + + +A LITTLE TOWN REDUCED. + +The little town, once so rich, had dwindled since Mazarin. On the castle +side stood two massive towers of the inner defense, belonging to the +town. Mr. Kelly asked Mayor and department legislature to make a price +on the nearest. As soon as he had bought his tower, he used loving care +restoring it. He pierced windows through walls 16 feet thick. He built +rooms in three stories, furnishing them in massive antique style. The +tower roof was his shady terrace, covered with a little grove of +century-old trees! From it he dominated Coucy. All its soul of beauty +lay beneath his view. + +All was systematically blown up, the town, the towers, the castle, by +retreating Germans in their rage. Just masses of crumbled stones. The +German papers boast that it took 28 tons of high explosives, and any one +can see, this hour, the plain of Coucy covered with a white layer of +powdered limestone, for miles around. + +What for? To clear a battlefield, they say. It is not true. Nothing is +cleared. The masses of crumbled stone remained, when they fled their +"battlefield." + +The donjon was very high. It stood on a kind of bluff or elevation, +overlooking the country, and before the days of aeroplanes it might have +been used for observation. The donjon walls were 16 yards thick, not +feet, but yards! No other tower in Europe had those dimensions. They +tell a story about Mazarin. He deemed so strong a place, so near to +Paris, might be dangerous to the Crown; so he dismantled Coucy +militarily, without destroying its architectural beauty. The donjon +worried him in those days when artillery could make no impression on its +massive thickness. So Mazarin put 16 barrels of powder inside the tower, +and set them off. The tower just converted itself into gun barrel! The +powder blew out all the stories and the roof--shot them up like a gun +pointed at the sky! But the tower stood, exactly as before. + + +OF MASSIVE ARCHITECTURE. + +The masonry was admittedly the heaviest achieved by the Middle Ages. +From the donjon extended three great vaulted halls. Massive buildings +continued. There was a Gothic chapel, a Tribunal Hall, the Hall of the +Nine Peers (whose statues remained), the Hall of the Nine Countesses +(whose medallion-portraits were carved on the monumental chimney). There +was a Romanesque chapel (relic from Charlemagne, like the original +donjon), the separate Fortified Chateau of the Chatelain (the Sire's +First Officer), and so on, and so on. + +The retreating Germans have not only blown up Coucy, but that other +priceless relic, the Tower of the Grand Constable and the entire +historic Chateau of Ham, and equally the Castle of Peronne, a jewel of +beauty--all in one corner of the Vallois! On the smoking wreck of +Peronne, they left a humorous placard: + +"Nicht aergen! Tur wundern! Don't be angry, just wonder!" Noyon and +Peronne are sacked and ruined. At Chauny 1800 houses out of 2500 were +deliberately burned, and at a distance they bombarded the remainder, +full of old folks and children whom they had parked there. All the +public buildings, churches, hospitals and poorhouse were blown up. Three +hundred towns and villages were burning at one time in this small +section of the Cradle of France. Hindenburg was at Roisel when they +rounded up the populations, went through their pockets for their money +(giving "receipts"), took their clothes off their backs (so that all the +American relief agencies in Paris were overwhelmed with telegrams of +appeal) and burgled all the safes in banks and business houses before +setting fire to the town and blowing up the main street! + + +ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPLE OF WAR. + +The German official communique said that it was "all done uniquely +according to the technical principles of modern war." At Berlin they +caused an American correspondent to cable these words to his papers: +"The enemy will find great difficulty to take shelter on a battlefield +where everything has been completely razed. We regret the destruction of +a beautiful region of France, but it was necessary to transform it into +a clear field of battle before we quit it." + +They blew up the precious Romanesque Church of Tracy-le-Val (which dates +before the Gothic). The church was situated in the midst of the great +forest of Laigue; they blew up the church--and left the forest standing! +No battlefield was cleared, but they hacked the bark to kill great noble +trees by thousands. They made no effort to clear the forest; but weeping +old French peasants told how half a German regiment was occupied three +days in barking trees to prevent the sap from mounting. The crushed +pearl of architecture lies in a dying forest. + +At Le Novion, torch in hand, they burned 223 houses; but all the gutted +walls are standing. + +What technical principles of war command the wholesale destruction of +young fruit trees? In 20 orchards, by count, in sweet Leury (hidden at +the bottom of a valley) every peach, plum, apricot and pear tree has +been assassinated--hacked and standing, when the trunks are thick, and +sprawling, severed by one blow of a sharp hatchet, young trees from the +thickness of your wrists to your thumb. The French, with loving care, +trained peach and pear trees against sunny walls, as if they were +grapevines. The slender trunks are cut--and the garden walls left +standing. + + +DESECRATION OF TREES. + +The soldiers spared neither the orchards nor the single trees that took +a generation to grow, and would have borne fruit for generations to +come. Reapers and binders and other farming machines were collected and +broken to pieces. One might see a measure of advantage that the +deliverers would gain from these things if not destroyed, but it is an +awful war doctrine that refuses to discriminate between the immediate +and the eventual, the direct and the indirect, the important and the +negligible advantage that would impoverish posterity to get a dime in +cash. No military advantage is sufficient motive for such wanton +ravishment. It is military fanaticism. + +Ambassador Sharp, after a 100-mile trip through the evacuated territory, +declared that never before in the history of the world had there been +such a thorough destruction by either a vanquished or victorious army. + +One thing alone was left, after the red-brick villages had been turned +into heaps and the murdered fruit trees into black fagots, on the hill +outside of St. Quentin. This was the log hut and shooting box of the +Kaiser's son, Eitel Friederick. Its white-barked beech was unburnt, its +glass windows unbroken, its inside adornments unlooted, the tables and +chairs of its terrace beer garden remained. All around the works of man +and God were destroyed. The contrast made this destroyer's lodge a sort +of boast of his destruction. + +The shocking ruin to human life in the evacuated region is of even +greater moment. The half-starved civilians of Bapaume were forced to +make trenches there and later for the defense of Cambrai also. All men +and boys strong enough to work were taken along with the retreating +forces. Near Peronne some hundreds of old men, women and children were +found locked in a barn. One woman pathetically asked of an English +officer, "Are you many?" And he was able to answer, "We are two millions +now," and see her anxiety turned to relief and joy. Children who had +been slowly starving for a year wandered about the ruins of their homes, +but soon found reasons for smiling at the soldiers who had rescued them. + + +NEITHER MEAT NOR MILK. + +These children had had no meat for months and no milk for a year and had +almost forgotten the taste of butter. They probably never received a +quarter of the rations Americans sent. Girls were compelled to attend +the market gardens, and then the Germans took all the produce. The +region was desolated and left inhabited by women and children moribund +with misery and starvation. + +At Noyon, where the Germans had concentrated 10,000 Belgian refugees, +they promised to leave the American Relief Committee with sufficient +supplies to feed them. But the last patrols completely sacked the +American relief storehouses of all eatables and then dynamited the +building. And it was from this place that fifty young women, from 18 to +25 years of age, were taken by the officers. Their distracted mothers +were told that they were to be used as "officers' servants." + +At Ham, when a mother of six children, seeing her husband and two eldest +daughters being carried away, remonstrated, she was told that as an +alternative she might find their bodies in a canal in the rear of the +house. + +Nothing could be more significant of the Government's attitude than the +incident told by James W. Gerard. The people of a town were imprisoned +or fined for their conduct toward a delayed train of Canadian prisoners. +When he heard it he thought that at last the Government was going to put +a stop to the maltreatment of prisoners. But he learned on investigation +that the townsfolk had been punished for giving a little food and drink +to the starving and fainting prisoners. + +And yet the most singularly brutal phase of this destruction of nature +and wealth and art and life is the German defense of it. War is always +hell and most of the awful things in this war have had their +counterparts in other conflicts, though the Teutonic element has brought +some peculiar refinements of cussedness and has given a thoroughness and +"pep" and "kick" to the war business. + + +BETTER PREPARED NEXT TIME. + +German writers, instead of making excuses for turning the nation into a +war machine for forty years, complain that Germany was not prepared as +she should have been and would be better prepared next time. Her +professors do not regret that the soldiers at the front are so +unrestrained in cruelty, but urge that they are too soft and kind to +make effective war. The German correspondents all write enthusiastically +of the devastation of the country they are leaving and of the desert +created by German genius. Editors speak of the mercy which tempered the +necessary hardness towards this once beautiful stretch of country and +its inhabitants. The destruction of property which can serve no military +purpose is defended on the ground that it is legitimate from a strategic +point of view. + +This all amounts to saying everything must give way to the +considerations of war. It is taking the argument in the fable of the +wolf and the lamb as serious philosophy and accepting the position of +the wolf. They fail entirely to see the humor of the fable, and hence +the fallacy of the wolf's argument. + +The greatest hope of civilization, which trembled for a time before the +spectre of German barbarity, is that frightfulness cannot endure the +long and full test. The great initial advantages are more than offset by +new opponents. The gain of the invasion of Belgium was canceled by +England coming into the war. The advantage against England of the U-boat +campaign was more than canceled by the entrance of the United States in +the war. + +Irvin Cobb says that the trouble with the Germans is that they are not +"good sports and lack a sense of humor. It is impossible to conceive of +a group of German officers playing football or baseball or cricket and +abiding by the rules of the game. If Barbara Frietchie had said to a +Prussian Stonewall Jackson, 'Shoot, if you must, my gray old head,' he'd +have done it as a matter of course." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE SLINKING SUBMARINE. + +A VORACIOUS SEA MONSTER--THE RUTHLESS DESTRUCTIVE POLICY OF +GERMANY--STARVATION OF NATIONS THE GOAL--HOW THE SUBMARINES +OPERATE--SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. + + +Almost the entire story of the world war is written around the +development of the submarine. One can scarcely think of the terrible +conflict without bringing to mind the wonderful "underseas" boat which +has made infamous Germany famous. The truth is that, in so far as +America is concerned, the conflict was precipitated by the ruthless +submarine warfare which Germany waged as part of her plan to starve out +England, France, Belgium--and all nations which opposed her. + +The slinking submarine proved an efficient instrument, whose activities +clearly indicated the diabolical intent and purpose of Germany to make +the whole world suffer, if necessary, to the end that she might gain her +point and perpetuate the Hohenzollern dynasty. It was not so much that +her submarines wrought havoc--for death and disaster stalk always with +war--but the methods by which Germany waged their warfare and +disregarded all the rules which had been laid down for the guidance of +civilized countries at war proved conclusively that even the innocent +could expect no quarter from her. + +The story of the sinking of the brave ocean steamship Lusitania on May +7, 1915, contains in its brief recital a typical illustration of +Germany's lack of humanitarian instincts. The vessel, torpedoed off the +coast of Ireland, went to the bottom of the ocean, carrying to death +more than 1150 persons, many of them prominent Americans. With an +audaciousness which has no counterpart in the history of civilized +warfare, German agents in the United States had caused advertisements +to be printed in the public press, warning citizens against sailing on +the vessel, and advised that she was in danger of being destroyed. + +The world stood aghast and believed it impossible that Germany should +carry out her threat, but they were soon to be disillusioned. Because +the handsome vessel passed through a zone of the seas which the Teuton +war lords declared blockaded, they sent a torpedo from an underseas boat +into her bowels. The horrors of that event are still fresh in the minds +of millions. No such ruthless and wanton destruction of innocent human +beings had been accomplished by a so-called civilization at war. + + +THE DUTIES OF WAR CAST ASIDE. + +Articles of The Hague agreement defining the rights and duties of +nations at war, and which Germany had accepted, were thrust aside and +disregarded by Imperial Germany. The Hohenzollern dynasty was above +rules and regulations. International law and the rights of +non-combatants at sea were as nothing. That all nations had agreed that +the enemy ship must give the captain of the vessel attacked opportunity +to land innocent passengers was forgotten. There had not been a word of +warning. + +And Germany, and the adherents of the Imperial Government, expressing +regret that Americans should have been sacrificed, professed deep sorrow +on one hand and on the other shouted with glee. America protested +vigorously, quoting the laws and demanding that Germany recognize +them--not merely that she leave American vessels alone--and give +assurance that no such further acts would be committed. + +Contending that the sinking of the ship was justifiable, in the +exigencies of war, Germany ceased for a short time her wanton sinking of +boats without warning. For almost a year her underseas crafts had been +preying upon the small British coasting vessels, and sunk hundreds of +fishing boats, trawlers and steamships. England's mercantile marine was +the object of the Teuton's attacks, and no one had anticipated any +danger to Americans or American interests. + +Germany had no reasons for desiring to attack American boats and she +promised to mend her ways. There followed a brief period in which no +vessels were sunk on which were Americans, and then without warning the +campaign against all vessels was renewed. A dozen were sunk on which +were American seamen or non-combatant passengers, none of whom was given +warning or time to land before a torpedo sent the boat to the bottom of +the ocean. Threats on the part of President Wilson to take action +against Germany finally brought another cessation. + + +GROWING DISTRESS AND AMAZEMENT. + +"The sinking of the British passenger steamship Fabala and other German +acts constitute a series of events which the Government of the United +States has observed with growing concern, distress and amazement," said +President Wilson in a note on the submarine warfare. "This Government +cannot admit the adoption of such measures or such a warning of danger +as in any degree an abbreviation of the rights of American shipmasters +or American citizens, bound on lawful errands as passengers on merchant +ships of belligerent nationality. It must hold the Imperial German +Government to a strict accountability for any infringement of those +rights, international or incidental. + +"The objection to their present method of attack lies in the practical +impossibility of employing submarines in the destruction of commerce +without disregarding those rules of fairness, reason, justice and +humanity which all modern opinions regard as imperative. + +"American citizens act within their indisputable rights in taking their +ships and traveling wherever their legitimate business calls them upon +the high seas. + +"No warning that an unlawful and an inhuman act will be committed can +possibly be accepted as an excuse or palliation for that act, or as an +abatement of the responsibility for its commission. * * * + +"The Imperial German Government will not expect the Government of the +United States to omit any word or any act necessary to the performance +of its sacred duty or the inalienable rights of the United States and +its citizens, and of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment." + + +WHOLESALE DESTRUCTION OF VESSELS. + +Apparently Germany modified her submarine policy for a period of upward +of a year, or until in February, 1917, when to the astonished world she +threw aside all pretense and declared her intention of destroying any +vessel which attempted to cross or sailed into a zone which she +established along the English coast and around English and French ports. +America's further protests availed not; her citizens, many of them, went +to the bottom of the seas, and some of them suffered almost unbelievable +cruelties or neglect, when the captain of a German sea raider with some +humanitarian instincts permitted these innocent passengers or seamen to +be rescued from the torpedoed vessels on which they were. + +Even the Red Cross vessels and Belgian relief ships carrying supplies +and food to the maimed or sick at war and the starving children of +Belgium did not escape the torpedo from the submarine. English hospital +ships were attacked, and men unable to protect themselves were subjected +to danger because the Germans feared that something might be carried on +the boat which would prove valuable to the Allied forces in making war. + +Dozens--even hundreds of vessels of all sorts--were sunk from week to +week. Food and supplies for the Allied forces were destroyed, until both +England and France were threatened with starvation. + +All this was the work of the submarine. + +One smiled twenty-five years ago when he read that highly imaginative +story of Jules Verne, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," and +wondered if it would ever be possible for man to create such a marvelous +underseas craft as that which the famous French writer described. Today +the imaginative detail of the submarine which the novelist described has +been crystallized, and the world has learned that dreams sometimes come +true. + +Marvelous things have been developed by the war which is involving the +peace and security of the world, but no single device has had such an +effect upon the warfare and upon the methods of waging it as the +diabolical submarine, which, like an assassin in the night, sneaks upon +the great ships along the water highways of the world and sends them +with their human freight to the bottom of the ocean. + + +TORPEDO'S DEADLY WORK. + +A giant cigar-shaped missile, whose nose is pointed with guncotton and +filled with high explosives--and which the world knows as the +torpedo--launches forth from the submarine, and speeding under the drive +of a propeller at the stern steers its way into the side of the +battleship or great steamship. The torpedo plunges into the bowels of +the vessel. There is a tremendous explosion, and the water-tight +compartments of the vessel are torn open; the boat fills, and the pride +of the seas is no more. + +Had the vessel's master and her crew any warning? No; unless the +vigilant officer on the bridge should note a thin pole with a hooked end +projecting above the surface of the ocean some miles away, and turning +his glasses upon it discover that it is the "eye" of a submarine--the +periscope--which is protruding above the surface. Then he may turn his +larger vessel and ram the submarine, or change the course of his craft +so that the torpedo launched by the submarine will miss its mark, or +perhaps expert gunners may turn the muzzles of their rapid-fire guns +upon the underseas craft and riddle it before it can get far enough +below the surface of the water to make the attack upon it futile. + + +EFFICIENCY OF THE SUBMARINE. + +The enormous inroads on the world's shipping made by German submarines +during the war shows the efficiency of this diabolical device. In the +first two years and a half of the war statistics were compiled to show +that more than 10 per cent of the world's merchant marine was destroyed +by Germany's underseas craft of the U-boat type. Incidentally, the name +U-boat as applied to submarines developed because Germany, instead of +naming these slinking boats, as is the custom with surface-cruising +vessels, painted upon the conning tower or nose of the craft the letter +U, representing the word "underseas," coupled with the numeral denoting +the number of the boat. Thus those who sail the ocean highways came to +recognize the fact that a conning tower or low, sharp-nosed craft +bearing the mystic characters U-9 was a German underseas boat No. 9. + +The statistical records at the end of April, 1917, showed that nearly +3000 vessels of almost 5,000,000 gross tons were destroyed by the +U-boats in the war. More than half of the vessels sunk belonged to +England. Norway and France were the next greatest sufferers from the +submarine warfare. In one week after Germany announced her intention to +give no quarter, but to sink any vessel which came within the range of +the U-boat torpedoes, the toll of ships lost was more than 400,000 tons. + +At the beginning of the war the submarine was to all intents and +purposes a novelty--a boat of recognized possibilities, but existing +very largely in the experimental stage. Its use was very largely ignored +by naval men, although it was conceded that when properly developed it +would prove a wonderful agency of destruction. The proud commanders of +the great battleships, with their 10, 12 and 14 inch guns, which sent +great shells miles across the ocean, looked down upon the little +underseas boat, and applied to it the sobriquet of "tin sardine." + +But the "tin sardine" has grown up, and the commander of the monster war +vessel is at the mercy of the little craft which he ridiculed. A short +time ago Holland, the American inventor of the modern submarine, died of +a broken heart. His type was necessarily an experimental one. He built +five boats before he was able to sell one to the United States +Government, and this latter one, after being bought by a junk dealer, +who intended to break it up for its metals, was finally rescued from +such an inglorious end by the city of New York, which has placed it in +her municipal museum. + + +PRINCIPLE OF THE SUBMARINE. + +Germany has developed the highest type of submarines, which she has used +to the fullest advantage. The principle of the submarine is that of a +floating bottle. An empty bottle, as every one knows, will float on the +surface, but submerges as soon as it is filled with water. The submarine +has, as part of its constructive features, a number of compartments +which, as they are filled or emptied of water, enables the craft to +submerge or rise. + +At the bow and stern, respectively, there are two horizontal rudders, +and as these are manipulated at various angles so the bow points either +upward or downward, and with a steady gliding motion the submarine +slides under or is brought to the surface. + +This, in brief, is the story of the submarine. Its history is another +matter; its radius of action and results achieved one of the marvels of +the ages. A long-sheathed body, the shape of a cigar with the butt end +to the fore, the inside filled with machinery and compactness the order +of the day, might be regarded as a fair description from a physical +standpoint. It has spread terror to all corners of the earth, and, +taken in proportion to its size and steaming radius, may well be said to +be the superior of the super-dreadnought. + +The manner in which the submarine is operated is difficult to describe. +It leads a sort of dual existence. When cruising along the surface +"awash," it is propelled like a motorboat, the power being provided by a +gasoline engine; but when it dives or submerges it is operated +underwater by electric motors, and the steering, pumping, handling, +loading and firing of the torpedoes is done pneumatically and +electrically. The interior of the submarine is a marvel of mechanical +complexity and scientific detail. There are gauges to show the water +pressure, to indicate the speed, to show the depth; sensitive devices by +which the commander can tell of the approach of vessels; wheels, cranks, +levers and instruments which are used in driving and controlling this +almost human mechanical agency of the seafighter. + + +SUBMARINE AN ANOMALY IN WARFARE. + +The submarine is the sudden and amazing problem of the naval world. +While naval men assert with confidence that it can never win the mastery +of the seas, in the same breath they will admit that it may easily +prevent the older and better known types of ships from establishing the +mastery that was once theirs. It is an anomaly in warfare. + +Many are the tales of horror told by survivors of ships which have been +torpedoed by the undersea boats of the Teutons. The lordly Lusitania, on +board of which were some of the leading lights of literature and some of +the world's wealthy men, was sent to the bottom without the least +warning. Neutral shipping has been devastated, and men, women and +children have been murdered by the hand of the Kaiser, as exemplified in +the lurking submarine. + +One of the dastardly tragedies of the war was the sinking of the Lars +Kruse, a ship flying the Danish flag and which had been chartered by +the Belgian Relief Commission. This was sunk in the early part of +February, 1917, and the crew of nineteen men, together with the captain +and other officers, with the exception of the first mate and Axel +Moeller, the first engineer, perished in the bitter cold sea. No warning +was given by the attacking submarine; indeed, no sight of it was had by +the crew. Delivering its torpedo as it lay submerged, it silently stole +away into the night after the murders had been done. + +In the maritime court in Copenhagen Mr. Moeller tells of the sinking of +the ship. Dressed as the regulations of the German autocrat demanded, +with the balloon, flag and bunting displayed at each of the mastheads, +together with other marks of identification, the ship was steaming along +in the bright moonlight when she was struck, according to the testimony +of the engineer. + + +SHIP NOT STRUCK BY A MINE. + +The fact that the ship was hit near the fourth hatch alone combats the +theory that she was struck by a mine. In this latter case the mine would +have struck her nearer the bow. The ship was near the mouth of the +English channel when hit. In an instant she started to settle, and the +crew at once lowered away the single lifeboat. + +The boat had hardly started over the side, however, before the ship +lurched, and with a mighty heave went down stern first. She seemed to +turn a back somersault, according to the engineer, and because of the +fact that the lifeboat was not clear it was dragged under. The men +succeeded in cutting the ropes, however, and the lifeboat came to the +surface, although bottom side up. Engineer Moeller was struck on the +head as the boat came to the surface, but, although he was momentarily +stunned, the icy water quickly revived him. + +Striking out for the lifeboat, the engineer soon had a tight grip on her +side. A man struggling in the water grasped his wrist, but by a quick +movement he wrenched himself free, and then, climbing upon the boat, +reached out and caught the man by the hand. Then began a slow struggle +to get him aboard, but the men were unequal to the task, and the man in +the water sank. Part of the skin and flesh of his hand remained in the +fingers of Moeller, showing the desperation with which he had clung to +the man's hand. + +Three other men, who were fast becoming exhausted, were assisted upon +the boat, where they lay sprawled across its bottom. Four others were in +the water, making a total of seven who were alive. + +Water and air were freezing cold, and Moeller, who was in the water, +together with three others, held to the gunwales with stiffened fingers. +Within the hour one of the sailors gave up the struggle, and with a +farewell to the others slid quietly into the depths. + + +PASSENGERS' AGONIZING SUFFERINGS. + +Finally Moeller climbed upon the upturned boat, where he lay listening +to the shrieks of his companions. He said that their cries were most +pitiful. The cabin boy was the next victim. He cried pitifully for a +time, but finally became silent and slid into the water. One after +another, the men died of exposure and slipped into the peaceful sea. + +After a time the only persons remaining, besides the third mate, were +the two who had thrown themselves across the bottom of the boat. Finally +one of them gave up the struggle, and the other, in an effort to combat +the cold, pulled the clothes from his dead body and wrapped them about +himself. The boat settled a little, and finally both were corpses, lying +with feet and hands dipping into the sea. The engineer said that he did +not have the heart to push their bodies into the water, although he knew +they were dead. + +Finally the third mate was the only other man alive. The clothes of the +engineer were frozen fast to his body, and he felt that he was dying of +cold. The third mate started to get a sort of bluish black from the +cold, and with a gasping cry he attempted to sit up straight. Then +reason left him, and for a couple of hours he shouted and shrieked, and, +as the sun began to streak the sky and dawn brought slight comfort, the +demented man raved and swore. + +Then a flash of reason seemed to return to him and he spoke to Moeller. + +"I'm going," he said. "Give my love to my wife." + +The man had been married just before starting on this ill-fated voyage. +With this farewell message on his lips he died. When Moeller returned to +his home he found that it was impossible to deliver the message to the +wife of the dead man, because of the fact that worry had driven her +insane. + + +TROUSERS USED AS SIGNAL. + +Shortly after the death of his companion Moeller saw the smoke of a +steamer on the horizon. Summoning all his strength, he tore the trousers +from the limbs of one of the dead men, and, using them as a means of +signaling, swung them about his head to attract attention. As the +engineer made every effort to attract the attention of those aboard the +steamship, he saw a sneaking submarine slowly edging toward her. This +made him shout all the louder, thinking thereby to warn the captain of +the ship of his danger. His efforts were vain, however, and in a short +time the ship had gone to the bottom and the crew was adrift in the +lifeboats. The sunken ship proved to be a Russian steamer. + +In his efforts to attract the attention of the intended victim of the +U-boat, the drifting man had attracted the attention of the captain of +the submarine, and it was this boat to which his cold-stiffened body was +hauled a few minutes later. It was a time before his numb body could be +thawed out. + +Seeming to know from which ship he had been cast off, the engineer was +closely questioned by the captain of the submarine. As the captain +talked he made motions, as though to shut out from before his eyes a +horrible sight. He told Moeller afterwards that the most horrible sight +he had ever seen was the overturned boat with the two corpses laying on +it, and the lone man signaling for help. The victim was black from cold, +and his legs were rubbed by members of the crew. Port wine was given +him, and later food and coffee. + +Then the captain continued his questioning. He knew the name of the boat +on which Moeller had been engineer, and from his intimate knowledge of +the sinking of her, the engineer felt sure it was his submarine that had +done the work. + + +SUBMARINE TOWS RUSSIAN SHIP. + +Turning his attention to the lifeboats of the Russian ship which he had +just torpedoed, the captain of the submarine promised to tow them to the +French coast. He had been towing them but two hours, however, when he +came below and told Moeller that he had sighted a French destroyer, and +that he would have to make his escape. He gave the engineer his choice +of staying on the submarine, in which case it would be fourteen days +before he touched port, after which he was promised his freedom, or the +privilege of getting aboard one of the lifeboats, and taking his chances +of rescue by the destroyer. + +Electing to take his chances in the lifeboat, Moeller was fitted out +with new clothing, the outfit being topped off with a fur-lined +overcoat. It turned out, however, that the captain had taken this +clothing from the stores of the Russian steamer before sinking her, and +the engineer learned when he got into the lifeboat that he was wearing +the greatcoat of one of the shivering Russians. + +Just before submerging the U-boat set off a couple of red-light bombs, +for the purpose of attracting the attention of the crew of the +destroyer, and submerged. The drifters were picked up by the destroyer, +which steamed for France. The captain of the U-boat had promised Moeller +that he would not attack the destroyer, although he had been trailing +her for two weeks. The U-boat was sunk before she reached port, and all +perished. + +An American importer who, because of his German name and the intimate +relations he enjoyed with certain important men in Berlin, had been +taken to the hearts of some of the leaders, became a factor in +pro-German activities in Cuba. He was taken into the confidences of many +of the officials and learned the plans of the Tirpitz group. + +Deciding that his allegiance was American, he returned to the United +States. In his possession were many of the inner secrets of the German +Government, and these were given to the officials in Washington. His +information with reference to the submarine has been of great value to +the government. + +For the sake of convenience we will call the man Johann Schmidt. This is +his story: + + +THE U-BOAT TYPE OF SUBMERSIBLE. + +Germany's most successful and highly developed class of submarine has +been, of course, the U-boat type of submersible. These are the terrors +of the sea which have succeeded in crossing the Atlantic, and have been +developed both as the fighting and as the commercial U-boat. + +Herr Schmidt reported that Germany was constructing submarines 25 per +cent larger than anything the United States had ever seen or heard of. +His information was to the effect that Germany had a building capacity +for ten submarines a week. The ability to produce these boats with such +rapidity is due to the process of standardization--the practice of +modern efficiency which has made it possible for American factories to +turn out such big quantities of automobiles in a limited period. + +All parts of the German U-boats are made in standard sizes and from the +same original pattern. Consequently, these parts are turned out by +machinery in replica, and the building of the finished boats is merely a +matter of assembling them at points to which the various parts have been +shipped. The Diesel oil engine, which is regarded as the ideal +power-producing engine for submarines, has been developed to its highest +state of efficiency by Germany, and is made at the famous Krupp gun +works, the great engine works in Augsburg, Emden and Nuremburg, and +other less well-known places in Germany. + +It has been estimated that Germany has anywhere from 250 to 500 +submarines, and it is said that the aim is to produce 1000 of these +craft, to absolutely destroy the commerce of the seas and starve into +submission England and France. + + +HOW SUBMARINES WORK. + +According to Herr Schmidt, the submarines work in groups of four. +Because of the limited capacity of the boats for carrying provisions, +supplies and fuel, it is necessary for them to have supply bases, to +which they can return and secure torpedoes. In operation each group +consists of four submarines, traveling along in a diamond-shaped +formation, one in front, one on either flank and one in rear. Eight +miles separate the boats. The leading submarine carries the extra +gasoline and supplies and acts as a scoutship; she sights a vessel, +reports its speed and direction and then submerges--her task is done. + +The two torpedo carriers on either flank immediately change their +courses so as to converge on the prey, and they arrive one on either +side of her--they get her in between them. The boat in the rear keeps +them informed as to the doomed ship's progress, and submerges at the +last moment. She carries the extra crews for the fighting pair. The +U-boats are fairly well protected against the onslaught of the light +torpedo-boat destroyers and chasers, because the decks are protected by +several feet of water at almost all times, while the commanding tower is +covered with from two to three inches of the best steel armor plate. + +It is related that at the outset of the U-boat menace, England ordered +its commanding officers to ram the U-boats on sight. The length to which +the Germans will go in an effort to win is illustrated by the fact that, +in consequence of this order, a Von Tirpitz council presented this +answer: Attacking submarines were equipped with explosive mines +containing 300 to 400 pounds of nitroglycerin or guncotton. To the top +of this mine was fastened a fake periscope. This devilish device was +attached to the submarine by a light cable, and towed along the surface +of the water 1000 feet or more behind the submarine. The result that +would follow any attempt on the part of a commander to run down one of +these decoys is readily imagined. + + +DESCRIPTION OF A PERISCOPE. + +The periscope is distinctly a submarine device which is worthy of brief +description. It is, in effect, a long tube, with an elbow joint at the +top and a similar one at the bottom. At the elbow joints at both ends +are arranged reflectors. The reflector in the upper end catches the +object which comes within the range of vision, and reflects the image +down the tube to the mirror at the lower elbow, where the pilot sees it. +The principle of the periscope is the same as that of the "busybody," +familiar to householders, and which is placed on the sill of an upper +window, so that a person inside the house may see who is at the front +door. + +The Germans have recently devised a new form of periscope, designed to +make the device invisible to the lookout of approaching boats. This +device consists of two mirrors, put together like a "Y" lying on its +side, the wide part in front. These skim through the waves and converge +the image upon the low periscope's lens, which shoots the light down the +tube to the receiving apparatus below. When looked at from a distance +the mirrors reflect the surface of the sea, so that a lookout sees +nothing but the waves as they are reflected in the mirror. + +The Germans use the bottom of the sea as regular "land" for their supply +bases, and when the submarines go to the surface it is precisely like an +aeroplane mounting the air. The submarine fleet boasts also of "mother +boats." They lie on the bottom of the ocean, in designated places, and +rise at night to hand out their supplies. Crews are changed and tired +men go back to the bottom to rest up, while fresher comrades take their +places. + +So, too, the submarine, with its ability to rest on the bottom of the +sea, has become an efficient boat for mine laying. The mine layers work +from the undersea boats without fear of disturbance, the divers walking +out from the submarines to the floor of the sea without being seen or +without ever coming to the surface. + + +TALES OF REMARKABLE EXPLOITS. + +American citizens landed from vessels sunk by German submarines tell +remarkable tales of the strenuous exploits of the U-boats. In one case +three undersea boats appeared simultaneously alongside the ship, one +being a submarine cruiser, 800 feet long, and the others old-fashioned +submarines, with a length of about 120 feet. + +In another case a German submarine wore an elaborate disguise of a +fishing boat. This submarine carried a gun which had a range of nearly +five miles. + +In at least two cases the crews of vessels sunk by submarines were +rescued from open boats by passing ships, only to suffer a repetition of +disaster when the ship on which they had taken refuge fell prey to an +underwater boat. + +A seaman from Pensacola, who was a member of the crew of a Swedish +sailing vessel, said: + +"We were almost within sight of land late in the afternoon when we +observed a Norwegian sailing vessel in an encounter with a submarine +eight miles away. Apprehending that our turn would come next, we +prepared a lifeboat. A 300-foot submarine came up to us in due course +and fired three warning shots from its heavy gun. + +"We pulled our boat over to the lifeboat from the Norwegian ship +previously sunk, and a dozen hours later were picked up by a British +steamer. We had only a brief stay on the British boat, as she was +torpedoed the same morning. After a few hours in the boats we were found +by a British patrol and landed." + +A Baltimore seaman from a Danish sailing vessel said: + + +THE SHIP ABANDONED. + +"We abandoned ship in response to three shots from a submarine. +Thereupon the submarine fired twenty-two shots into the hull of the +ship, sinking her. We tried to speak with the submarine commander, but +he told us he was in a hurry, as he had to attend to a Norwegian bark +which was waiting a short distance off. + +"We pulled for the nearest land, and all our twenty-five men got ashore +safe, although both lifeboats were badly smashed up in the surf as we +were beaching them." + +A Philadelphian described the manner in which his steamer escaped being +sunk. + +"We were attacked by a submarine disguised as a fishing vessel," he +said. "She opened fire on us at five miles, sending fifteen shots at us, +and smashing our wireless. She pursued us for an hour. We did not use +our gun. Finally a British patrol boat appeared. The submarine +submerged, disguise and all, presenting a ludicrous sight as the +carefully prepared equipment simulating a fishing boat sank beneath the +waves." + +The captain of an American sailing ship which was sunk said: + +"Submarines are lying along the sea lanes in regular nests. They keep +well under the water most of the time, coming up now and then for +periscopic observations, or on hearing the approach of merchant craft, +which often can be identified readily by the sound of the engines. By +thus conserving fuel the submarines are able to remain away from their +base a long time, and also they find means of renewing their stores from +ships which they sink. + +"The U-boat which sank us had been out for six weeks. She had one +British captain on board. She renewed all her supplies from our boat and +took all the nautical instruments. The submarine gave us a sharp signal +to halt, with a shell from a distance of two miles. It was good +marksmanship. The shot hit the ship squarely, but caused no casualties. +We stopped and took to the boats. The submarine came up in leisurely +fashion, sank the ship with bombs and passed the time of day with our +boats. She had a crew of thirty-seven, and was 250 feet long." + +"We were picked up by a Norwegian sailing vessel, on which we spent six +days. She was then attacked by a 120-foot submarine. We all took to the +Norwegian's boats. The submarine commander declined to look at the +Norwegian captain's papers. We had another twenty-four hours in open +boats, and then were picked up by a British patrol and landed." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THWARTING THE U-BOAT. + +NETS TO ENTANGLE THE SEA SHARKS OF WAR--"CHASERS" OR "SKIMMING-DISH" +BOATS--"BLIMPS" AND SEAPLANES--HUNTING THE SUBMARINE WITH "LANCE," BOMB +AND GUN--A SAILOR'S DESCRIPTION. + + +The advantage which Germany gained by the development of what has been +termed the super-submarine placed the other nations where it became +absolutely necessary for them to concentrate their energies in an effort +to counteract the devastation which the U-boats brought upon the seas. +England tried first to protect the English channel and many of its ports +with mines, floating bombs and submarine nets, and while the latter +served as barriers which prevented the submarines penetrating into some +of the important waters and harbors, they could act merely in a +protective sense. + +The submarine net is a specially devised net with heavy iron or wire +meshes, similar to a fishing net. These nets--miles in length--were born +of the nets originally devised to sweep harbors clear of mines. They are +carried between two boats described as trawlers, which are a form of +sea-going tug with powerful engines, that can draw a heavy load. A heavy +cable runs from trawler to trawler, and from this the chain net is +suspended in the water. It is heavily weighted at the bottom so as to +hold it in a perpendicular position. The trawlers steaming along, side +by side, sweep up with the net anything which may be placed in the water +for the purpose of blowing up or injuring vessels. + +The submarine nets in some places have been anchored to form a regular +barrier against the passage of submarine boats, and in this way were +effective, but their use could in no way restrict the underseas boats in +their work upon the open seas. + +The most effective plan of overcoming the dire consequences of the +U-boat warfare was found, therefore, to lie in the use of submarine +chasers and airships, the two operating together in conjunction with the +battleships, cruisers and torpedo boat destroyers. + +The submarine chaser is a light-draught, high-powered, skimming-dish +type of husky motorboat, mounting rapid-fire, 3 or 4-inch guns. In order +to prove effective against the submarine it is necessary to have many of +these boats, and it is a matter of particular interest that the +marvelous resources of the United States at the time of her entrance +into the war enabled her to immediately begin a campaign for the +construction of chasers, which would be able to guard the seas in the +channels of traffic and along the ports into which the submarine might +attempt to sneak. + + +NO EXPERT NAVAL KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED. + +The operation of the chaser does not require the degree of technical +skill and knowledge of naval strategy required in the handling of ships +of the naval type. A fleet of chasers is manned largely by naval +reserves, who have a certain amount of training, but who are neither +navigators nor experts in naval affairs. The operations are, however, +directed by the naval authorities. + +The submarine chaser is effective because it draws very little water, +has high speed, can be quickly turned and diverted from its course and +does not present any great depth of hull at which the submarine can fire +a torpedo. It would be possible for a torpedo to pass under a chaser +without hitting it--if the submarine cared to waste such an expensive +weapon on so small an adversary. When the submarine attempts to come to +the surface and use the rapid-fire gun with which she is armed she is at +a disadvantage, because it takes her several minutes to emerge. +Additional time is required to swing the gun up through its automatic +hatch while the men scramble to the deck to man it. + +The chaser, with a speed of approximately 35 to 40 miles an hour, will +travel somewhere between a mile and a half to two miles in this period. +Its gun has been ready from the start, and the chaser has had half a +dozen shots or so with only a single hit needed to put the submarine out +of commission. Even if the submarine is at the surface and has her gun +mounted ready for action, she is at a disadvantage with the chaser. The +chaser, taking advantage of her speed and small size, goes skimming +across the water at the rate of 40 miles an hour, and it takes a mighty +fine gunner to be able to hit a small craft, going in a zigzag course +over the water at such speed. + +The chaser may continue to circle the submarine awaiting her opportunity +which will of necessity come when the U-boat attempts to submerge. The +submarine must go through the regular form of running back her gun, and +battening down the water-tight hatches, before she can submerge, and the +latter process again takes several minutes. Therefore while the +submarine is preparing to dip, the chaser can run upon her and let loose +the fire from its rapid-fire gun. + + +A POOR SURFACE FIGHTER. + +The submarine, by very virtue of the qualities which make it a good +submarine, is a poor boat for surface fighting. It can carry no very +heavy armament, and it is not heavily armored. The problem of stowing +away all the heavy machinery, supplies, torpedoes and devices necessary +for her operations and maneuvering has presented about all the +difficulties the constructors have been able to handle. The highest +speed of the submarine is not in excess of 20 miles an hour. The +submarine must be light and easy to handle. It gains in steadiness and +certainty of operation with increased size, but it loses in capacity for +quick and delicate maneuvering. + +In addition the submarine has what is termed a strategic vulnerability. +A shot which might mean nothing more serious than a hole in the side to +a surface boat would end the submarine's usefulness for underseas work +and convert her into a helpless hulk of surface craft. + +The submarine is an easy quarry for a chaser, for even when submerged +and moving along, the U-boat creates a distinct wave on the surface of +the water which can be followed by the chaser. The little boats are just +what their name implies--chasers--and besides having the qualities +already described they may conceal themselves behind large steamers, and +when the submarine in preparing to launch a torpedo makes its presence +known the chaser may speed from its hiding place and drive the underseas +craft away, even if it does not succeed in injuring it. + + +OPERATING IN CONNECTION WITH AN AEROPLANE. + +The chasers also have a special facility of operation in connection with +the aeroplane or seaplane, principally because of their high speed; and +next to the chaser the aeroplane is one of the submarine's worst +enemies. Used in conjunction with the regular torpedo boat destroyers of +the navy, the chaser and the aeroplane promise in future wars to +minimize the effectiveness of the underseas craft. This is proven by the +fact that immediately after the United States naval forces joined those +of the Allies in European waters, the disasters resultant upon submarine +attacks were greatly reduced. The speedy destroyers, while not actually +sinking many submarines, by their vigilance prevented the submarine from +operating. + +Large types of the chasers ordered in this country by the Russian +Government are 72 feet long by 11 feet 3 inches wide and draw 3 feet 3 +inches of water. Each boat carries three of the 8-cylinder 6-3/4 x 7-3/4 +Duesenberg, 350 to 400 horsepower motors. The boats carry an 18-inch +torpedo tube amidships and a 47-millimetre rapid-fire gun on the forward +deck. They are controlled from the bridge deck with a sheltered cabin +for the quartermaster, with controls from either the shelter or bridge +deck. They have a guaranteed speed of twenty-eight knots. + +Deck arrangements consist of the following: A hatch to the fo'castle, +followed by; the emplacement for the rapid-fire gun. Following this is +the steering shelter containing duplicate controls, &c., for the engine +room and for the steering. Immediately aft of the steering shelter is +the bridge deck, located on top of the engine room trunk house. The +entire after half of the vessel is a clear sweep of deck with the +exception of a booby hatch to crews' quarters well aft. + +The boats are arranged for wireless with foremast and jigger mast. Rail +stanchions in the way of the torpedo tube are hinged down, giving clear +sweep to the tube for firing purposes. + + +PROVISION FOR OFFICERS AND CREW. + +Below decks ample space has been provided for the crew and officers. The +forepeak is arranged for chain lockers and bosun's gear lockers, +followed by ship's galley, which has two pipe berths. Next to the galley +is located the officers' cabin and wireless room, which is entered by a +hatch from the steering shelter. This cabin accommodates two officers +and includes lavatory, officers' desks, wireless desk and folding mess +table. + +Next aft is the machinery space, in which are located the three eight +cylinder Duesenberg motors, a three k.w. universal lighting set, the +necessary oil tanks, batteries and a work bench. The next compartment +contains fuel tanks, with 1300 gallons capacity. Aft of this compartment +is located the crew's quarters, berthing eight men, with lavatory +attached. The hull is divided into six water-tight compartments by steel +bulkheads. + +The hull is of wooden construction, as developed for this service by the +builders. + +The 72-footers develop a speed of twenty-eight knots and have a cruising +radius exceeding 1200 miles. The design of the hull is the concave +bottom, square bilge type, developed for this particular service. It +furnishes a steady gun platform, which, with the necessary speed, is +the most vital feature of a submarine chaser. + +The demand for speed and stability was borne out by the experience of +the Russian and Italian navies in their active work and no consideration +at all is given propositions from these two countries which do not range +well about twenty-five knots. + +Exceptional success was attained by the Russian Black Sea and by the +Italian high speed fleets in actual use and their demand for exceptional +speed was based on experience. + +It is a well known fact that the Russian government was successful in +patrolling its shores and in protecting its harbors and shipping. The +Italian government also was exceptionally successful in maintaining its +mercantile fleet in comparative safety and in protecting its harbors +against the offensive work of enemy submarines. The entire Italian fleet +of submarine chasers consists of high speed, high powered motor patrol +boats, most of which were equipped with American made motors. + + +CATALOGUED AS "PATROL BOATS." + +In a general way the "chasers" are catalogued in naval circles as +"patrol boats." England has thousands of them, ranging from motorboats +to naval auxiliaries, raking the English Channel, the North Sea and the +waters all about the British Isles. As a rule the boats work in groups +of five or six, one boat serving as a flagship--and often there is a +"blimp" attached to the fleet. The armament of these small vessels is +distinctive. Each carries, besides a deck gun, a "depth charge," half a +dozen lance bombs and arms for each member of the crew. The deck gun +fires a shell that weighs about thirteen pounds. + +The "depth charge" is a submarine bomb, so constructed that it is +discharged at any determined depth of water when thrown overboard. If +the water is 100 feet deep the bomb will explode at that depth. The +bombs are used to drop in places where the submarine has been located +or is expected of lurking in the bottom of the sea. While the exploding +bomb may not strike the underseas boat it will create havoc on board the +underwater craft if discharged in close proximity, the extra water +pressure exerted causing disarrangement of the delicate mechanism, if +not rendering the boat unfit for service. + +Some of the patrol boats of the English have been armed with "lance +bombs." These are bombs of highly explosive character which are fastened +to the end of a long pole or staff. They are used just as a harpoon is +used when by chance a submarine may emerge from the water in too close +proximity to the chaser. It is not of record that any U-boats have been +sunk with these strange javelins, but official reports show that the +boats are armed with them for emergencies. + + +CHASER TROUBLES THE SUBMARINE. + +What with dragging bombs through the water, and setting traps and nests +for the submarines, the chasers make great trouble for the underseas +craft, but the ingenious Germans are constantly on the alert, and it has +been proved that in one or two instances at least the submarines cut +their way through the heavy chain nets which were set to catch them near +Havre. It was said that the submarine was provided with steel knives or +wire cutters, and shears operated by electricity or pneumatic pressure, +which enabled the boat to cut its way through the barrier of chains and +wires. + +As a means of visualizing the operations of the "chaser" and giving some +idea of the excitement which attends the attempt to run down the +underseas craft, the following description by an English sailor is +interesting. The chase occurred off the Isle of Wight: + +"Offshore a short distance was a patrol boat lying very low and flying +distress signals. We had run over to her and learned that about an hour +before the periscope of a submarine had been stuck up not far from her, +then the craft had submerged, appeared again about a mile away, and +fired four shots, which let in enough water slowly to sink the patrol, +which before the war had been nothing but a dirty little trawler. + +"Finding the crew of the patrol could take care of themselves in their +small boats and learning that the submarine had run over to the +westward, where we knew chain net traps to be laid, we circled in that +direction. + +"Our powerful motors thrummed evenly. The water seemed to part ahead of +us, and the gunners squinted along the surface, looking for the glimpse +of a periscope or the first sign of the hull of the U-boat if she should +be proceeding awash. + + +CREW THRILLED WITH JOY. + +"Suddenly, off to the west, we made out her periscope. Intense joy +thrilled our little crew. She was inshore from us. She was between our +circular course and the chain nets--in the trap. The periscope we had +seen might be a dummy, for a submarine frequently casts loose a phoney +periscope to draw fire, but, at any rate, she must have been between us +and the nets if she cut it loose. + +"Presently, probably after a look around, the periscope suddenly +disappeared, and we knew it was a real one with a German U-boat on the +end of it. Like a flock of falcons we were swooping down on the prey. + +"Abruptly the lead boat comes to a dead stop and lists heavily to +starboard. Evidently something is wrong. We see men crawl out over the +stern and fish around with boat hooks and poles. Cold as it is, one man +goes overboard and remains under water so long we could not believe he +would come up alive. The boat had fouled the chain nets. + +"Circling round in an ever smaller radius, we search the water for a +periscope, a shadow, or the conventional 'streak of dirty grease' or +'line of bubbles.' + +"All of us have towing torpedoes out. These are bombs on long cables +which are towed astern and sink to a certain specified depth. If the +cable fouls anything at all, as the boat goes ahead, the bomb pulls up +to it, and, when it bumps, it explodes. + +"We are in line. Suddenly there is a crash and a roar just ahead of us. +I am thrown off my feet. Barrels of water splash down into our cockpit +and roll off the decks. The bow lifts itself clean for a second. I think +that the submarine has blown us up. Perhaps I am dead already. + +"Then we settle down again, and except for a scared look on the faces of +a couple of men and rather nervous, forced jests on the lips of others, +we are plowing ahead just as before. + +"Nothing has happened except the towing torpedo of the boat in front of +us in the line fouled a submerged spar, or a bit of wreckage, and +exploded right under our bow. 'If we had been a few yards closer we +would never have been there any more.' + + +FOULS A SUBMERGED SPAR. + +"As we realized what had happened, our tongues were loosened, and, if +the crew of the boat ahead could have heard what we said about them, we +would have lost their friendship most assuredly. + +"Way inshore, after a circling chase of perhaps twenty minutes, the +submarine came up. She was in such shallow water that she probably was +having trouble in operating submerged. She was gone then. + +"What followed was very business-like. It illustrates the attitude the +British have come to take toward the submarines because of their +flagrant violations of every form of international law and decency. It +is the attitude which any country, obliged to fight against them, will +assume. To the British mind, submarines must be exterminated, just as +one would exterminate a nest of poisonous vipers, or a nest of hornets. +People ask me how many submarines are being captured now. Very few! Many +are destroyed, but few captured. + +"No sooner did the hull of the submarine show itself than we began to +hammer her with our three-inch guns. She opened fire, but her shots went +wild, and, in a few seconds, she disappeared. + +"As fast as we could, we ran over to where she had gone down. If the +principles which obtain on land, in the air or in the navy at large, +existed in submarine warfare, we would have gone over to see if we could +rescue any of the wounded, but it was a U-boat and we simply made sure +that there was nothing left of the craft. + +"About where she went down, a quantity of gas and air bubbles were +rising, and the dirty patch of oil was once more in evidence. That was a +pretty certain sign the career of one U-boat was at an end, for the sea +must have been pouring into her, and even though all her crew did not +drown, once the salt water reached the storage batteries, the chloride +would do the work. + + +WERE TAKING NO CHANCES. + +"But we are taking no chances. We circle round and round the spot and +drop depth bombs--deadly machines. These are powerful explosives which +are set so they will detonate at a certain depth. We first sounded the +bottom and then set our bombs for ten fathoms. Suddenly I hear a cry +from the boat behind us. One of the crew reaches out, grabs the collar +of a man who has just dropped a depth bomb over the stern and yanks him +unceremoniously into the cockpit. At a glance I see what has happened. + +"The engineer has stalled his motor--just as the bomb was let go. It +sinks slowly, and there is a slight momentum left in the +submarine-chaser. We hold our breath and watch in suspense, expecting +any second to see our comrades hurled into the air among a mushroom of +water and splinters. + +"There is no way to help them. Suddenly there is a muffled roar, a +column of water rises to what seems a hundred feet, and falls back, +drenching every one who is near it. But our comrades are unhurt. The +momentum of their boat has carried them just far enough to save them +from being blown to atoms. That is the second narrow escape for our +little squadron in this chase after a single submarine. + +"But our work is done. There is no doubt now about the fate of the +U-boat. It is not necessary for one of the depth bombs actually to come +in contact with the submerged craft to destroy it. When under water, a +submarine's rigidity is multiplied. Its elasticity is next to nothing. +An explosion as powerful as that of a depth bomb near it, is almost +certain to cripple it if not destroy it. It is the same principle as +that which kills fish in a pond when dynamite is exploded beneath the +surface of the water. The shock is sufficient to kill the men in the +U-boat, and so we glide along homeward, secure in the knowledge that +even if our gunfire did not finish the enemy, the bombs have done the +work. On the surface, we notice swarms of dead fish." + + +THE HAWK-EYED AEROPLANE. + +The last wrinkle developed for submarine hunting was the aeroplane. Like +a fish-hawk it can see its prey beneath the water by flying high in air. +Another step just a bit in advance of aeroplane scouting for submarines +is the use of a small dirigible for the same purpose. But the cleverest +development of the aeroplane-submarine idea involved the use of +seaplanes for the purpose of launching submarine torpedoes at enemy +ships. + +Here's how this is practiced. As most folks know, the seaplane differs +from the land-flying craft in that it rides on floats instead of wheels. +These floats permit the seaplane to come to rest on the waves, and to +launch itself again. Between these floats, which resemble a pair of +broad home-made sleds, may be slung a torpedo. The same type of missile, +this, that is used by the submarine and the destroyer--a long, +cigar-shaped cylinder, operated by compressed air driving a propeller, +and equipped with a warhead filled with guncotton. The torpedo is held +by slings, delicately adjusted so that they can be released in an +instant. + +The great seaplane, swinging the missile of death between its giant +floats, climbs the skies in search of an enemy ship. From a distance of +miles, perhaps, the seaplane looks like a gull. To the observer in the +plane, however, sweeping the horizon with his binoculars, a ship is +plainly and easily seen. + + +NOT TO BE OUT-DISTANCED. + +Off in the distance is spied a ship suspected of being an enemy +transport. It isn't hard to determine--the ship cannot steam away from +them, no matter how swift its engines. A seaplane can go so fast that it +makes the fastest torpedo boat destroyer look as if it were standing +still. The attacked transport may try to bring its anti-aircraft guns to +bear, if luckily it is equipped with them. Failing this, the soldiers +will man the decks with their rifles ready. Then there is a duel of +skill and daring between the men on the cruiser and the lone fighters in +the seaplane. + +The seaplane must swoop sufficiently close to the water to release the +torpedo and let it drop without damage. And this must be done from a +sufficient distance to safeguard the seaplane from the vessel's guns. +The superior speed and mobility of the seaplane gives it a great +advantage over the ship attacked. + +Another of the weapons or instruments of warfare devised largely for use +in destroying the evil submarine is the "blimp." This is nothing more +nor less than a small dirigible balloon, hundreds of which the United +States government started to build when it entered the war. + +The blimp is an aerial sea-scout. Its principal employment is for +observation. It is a watcher of enemy movements on the water. But it is +also serviceable for attack, and especially for assailing submarines. + +The British used blimps for the latter purpose, and to great advantage. +The dirigible sausage-balloon, when a submarine is descried, can hover +over it (as an aeroplane cannot), remaining as nearly stationary as may +be desired, and waiting for an opportunity to drop a bomb with accurate +aim. + +If the submarine be under water, and its presence betrayed by the +peculiar surface-ripple that marks its wake, a bomb with a delay-action +fuse can be dropped upon it, the projectile not exploding until it +reaches a depth of fifty feet or so. In case the first bomb does not +score a hit, there are others to follow, with better luck perhaps. + + +THE IMPORTANCE OF THE "BLIMP." + +Thus, it will be seen that the blimp is an important auxiliary of the +flying-machine in the pursuit of the submarines. Both together, in this +exciting sport, supplement the swift power-boats called +"submarine-chasers." + +For some time the Navy Department has trained enlisted men and officers +for this work, chiefly at a Gulf port, where a school--it is no war +secret--of aviation and ballooning has been maintained. Six officers and +40 men are required for each coast station. + +The Navy Department adopted for the blimp a standardized pattern, with +definite published specifications, in accordance with which contractors +turned them out in numbers. It is a sausage-shaped balloon 160 feet +long, with a great diameter of 31-1/2 feet, and containing, when +inflated, 77,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas. + +The fabric of the "envelope"--that is to say, of the gas-bag--is coated +both outside and inside with rubber. It is required that the balloon +shall not lose more than 1 per cent of its gas-content in 24 hours. When +inflated it must be able to carry (including its own weight) a total of +5275 pounds. + +If the "Zeppelin" be excepted, the blimp is the most highly-developed +and scientific heavier-than-air flying machine ever devised. It has a +cruising speed of 35 miles an hour, but at a pinch can travel ten miles +an hour faster. At the "cruising" rate, it carries enough gasoline to +keep going for sixteen hours; at 45 miles, its load of "petrol" will +suffice for ten hours. + +Even the best war balloons of a few years ago were at the mercy of the +winds. It is not so with the blimp. Barring storms, it is able to +navigate the air as it wishes. It can rise safely to an altitude of a +mile and a half. To furnish fuel for its engine of 100 horsepower it +carries, in two tanks, 100 gallons of gasoline. + + +DESCRIPTION OF THE "BLIMP." + +In effect, the blimp is a combination of balloon and aeroplane. Like the +latter, it is provided with "skids" (resembling sled runners and made of +ash wood), or sometimes with bicycle wheels, for safe landing on terra +firma. When designed for sea scouting, floats--cylinders of waterproof +fabric stuffed with vegetable fibre--are attached to the skids, or to +the wheels, so that the airship, in calm weather, may be able to rest, +like a sea bird, on the waves, if desired. + +The blimp's balloon envelope must contain two smaller balloons, together +holding 19,250 feet of hydrogen gas. The idea, of course, is that if +anything happens to the major balloon--puncturing by gunfire or by other +mishap--the "balloonets" inside of it will keep the machine afloat. + +The wingless aeroplane is suspended from the balloon by cables of +galvanized wire. There is a special arrangement by which the +"pilot"--the man who steers and operates the airship--can at any time +measure the pressure of hydrogen in the balloon, thus knowing what he +has to count on in the way of carrying power. + +The front part of the blimp's car is occupied by the engine and +radiator, behind which is a bulkhead of sheet steel. In the rear of this +bulkhead sits the pilot, and behind him the "observer," who makes +sketches and takes notes of anything important that he sees. Behind the +observer are the tanks for fuel oil and 300 gallons of water ballast. +The body of the car is covered with aeroplane linen, save for the +engine, which is sheathed with sheet aluminum. + +In order to hold whatever position in the air may be desired, the blimp +is equipped with two horizontal fins and three vertical fins. Not every +blimp, that is to say, but the pattern approved and required of +contractors by the Navy Department. These fins are made of wood and +light steel tubing, reinforced with wire, covered with aeroplane linen +rubber painted and finished with varnish. + + +THE "BLIMP" WELL EQUIPPED. + +There are also two horizontal rudders and two vertical rudders, for +steering up and down or sidewise. They work on ball bearings. A blimp, +one should understand, is a fish in the ocean of air, a swimmer--just as +the aeroplane is a flyer, like the bird. + +The blimp's "car" carries an electric storage battery to furnish lights. +The same battery energizes a searchlight for night scouting. A wireless +apparatus, for transmitting information to the shore station, is part of +the equipment. + +The blimp, as already stated, is a sea scout. It is meant to be operated +from a base on shore--which base is in constant communication by +telegraph and wireless with the great radio stations that are strung all +along our coasts at intervals of 200 miles. These stations, in turn, are +in communication with the huge wireless outfit at Arlington (across the +Potomac from Washington), whose "antennae," uplifted on tall steel +towers, receive instantaneous war news from half the world. + +Thus if (just for illustration) a blimp spies a hostile submarine, the +news is instantly transmitted to the Navy Department. The department +orders its "chasers" and warplanes nearest to the scene to go after the +undersea boat. Within a few minutes the pursuit has started, and the +U-boat finds itself in much the same situation as a fox hunted by +hounds. In this case, however, the hounds are in the air, as well as +"quartering" the aqueous terrain. + +The United States' blimps are modeled on European patterns. But they are +to have special improvements of their own. To make sure of their +efficiency and structural correctness, each contractor, in offering bids +to furnish them, was required to exhibit a model, exactly like the +sausage balloons he proposed to make, but of toy size--one-thirtieth the +length of the full-sized, completely equipped aerial sea scout. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE EYES OF BATTLE. + +AEROPLANES AND AIRSHIPS--THEY SPY THE MOVEMENTS OF FORCES ON LAND OR +SEA--LEAD DISASTROUS BOMB ATTACKS--VALUABLE IN "SPOTTING" +SUBMARINES--THE BOMBARDMENT AT MESSINES RIDGE. + + +Just as the submarine has revolutionized warfare on the seas and +presented new problems for the naval experts to solve, so the aircraft +of the last decade has had its effect upon the operation of land forces. +Probably the aeroplane and the dirigible balloon have had a greater +influence on the conduct of battles and military campaigns as a whole +than any other device utilized in connection with the war. + +It is significant, too, that just as America produced the first +submarine, and then failed as a nation to develop it to its highest +state of efficiency for military use, so American inventors were +pioneers in the construction and successful operation of aeroplanes, or +airplanes, which were first developed to their greatest efficiency and +utility by the French and Germans. + +Some of the most striking events of the war centre around the use of the +airplanes or dirigibles, and aside from the picturesqueness and +thrilling atmosphere that seem to surround their use, the operator of +the aircraft has proved himself one of the most valuable servants in +modern warfare. He has reduced the proudest cavalry to second place in +the matter of reconnoissance, and has rendered services which have +heretofore been impossible. + +The airman sails out over the lines of battle, so far above the earth +when necessary as to be out of range of the most powerful guns, and with +glasses looks down upon the whole country. His machine, whether it be a +dirigible balloon or airplane, is equipped with a wireless telegraph +instrument with which he is able to send brief messages back to his own +line or military headquarters. He can and does mark the changed +positions of the contending forces, note the entrenchments and +reinforcements, follow movements, and last but not least, as was +noticeable in one of the desperate attacks upon the German position in +June, 1917, swoop down upon the enemy, attack the lines and forces with +bombs, and rain bullets upon them from rapid-fire guns. + +No longer can the enemy mask its heavy batteries or conceal them beneath +earthen mounds, plant them in corners of the forests or in clumps of +bushes without their being located. The "eyes of the sky," as the planes +are now termed, can spy them out. And when the airman has communicated +to his military commanders the positions of the opposing batteries, he +acts as a director in instructing the friendly gunners in finding the +range and cleaning out the enemy. + + +THE AIR SCOUT'S USEFULNESS. + +The air scout can detect the enemy's lines of communication and raid it +with bomb attacks. Even when the land forces cannot reach the enemy with +gunfire he can rain missiles of all sorts upon them. Sometimes the +airman flies over the enemy lines and drops glittering tinsel or bright +metal devices, which falling to the ground serve as marks for the +artillerymen in finding the range. + +Where the cavalry scout or creeping scout of days gone by could never +have proved successful, the airman has easily accomplished his purpose. +He has carried messages from one frontier to another in hours, when it +would have taken days for a scout on horseback or on foot to have +rendered the service, if they could have accomplished it at all. He has +eliminated distance. + +Trench warfare developed in the world-war in a way that has never before +been deemed necessary or possible, but the miles of trenches which +conceal the men from the fire of the enemy are plainly visible to the +airmen. And armed with cameras having powerful telescopic lenses they +can photograph the entire scene and send to their own military +headquarters not mere indicated plans of the battle lines, but exact +photographs. + +The war has shown conclusively that once the formation of the battle +line has been decided upon it is, in a measure, a fixture. It may be +subject to rearrangement, but this is when the force of battle demands, +or for strategic purposes, but such an arrangement requires a great deal +of time and much work. The battle fronts on the borders of France and +Belgium have ranged from 100 to nearly 300 miles in length, with nearly +3,000,000 strung out in opposing lines along the entire distance. + + +LIKE AN IMMENSE GRIDIRON. + +The ground has been dug up and trenched until the surface of the earth +looks like an immense gridiron. The soldiers almost live within the +trenches and dugouts beneath the ground. Telephone and telegraph wires +run through the trenches and even railroad tracks are laid so that small +engines go whirring through the ditches like "dinky" locomotives in a +coal mine. + +And the "eyes in the skies" make it possible for the commanders to know +each other's strength and the disposition of the forces at all times. + +Particularly has the air scout proved valuable in enabling commanders to +execute their final orders without grievous error. There is danger of +possible misjudgment because of the great length of the firing lines. +The airmen verify positions and make last minute reports, taking minutes +to perform services that cavalry forces or other scouting parties would +have taken hours or days to render. + +Operated in conjunction with cavalry scouts, and motor and cycle squads, +the airplane is a destruction-directing and defensive force. And it was +the large fleet of aircraft that aided Germany in making such rapid +advance in its drive toward Paris in the early days of the war. The +scouts reconnoitering in the early dawn were able to report the +situation and give the commanders time to move their forces before the +Belgians and French were aware of what was being done. + +Germany had probably the largest fleet of airplanes at the beginning of +the conflict and is said to have possessed upward of 500, of various +sorts, and this does not include the famous Zeppelins or dirigible +balloons. She also had something like two dozen factories which could +turn out flying machines, and had been at work on the development of her +aircraft long enough to have her patterns and methods of manufacture +somewhat, if not entirely standardized. During the third year of the war +it was estimated that she had more than quadrupled her force of flying +machines. + + +GERMANY'S PREPAREDNESS. + +Germany's preparedness in this as well as in other directions was what +enabled her to obtain such a tremendous advantage in the beginning of +the war. Later England and France concentrated on the development of +aeroplane squads or corps, and when the United States entered the war +one of the first detachments sent into France consisted of 100 aviators. +How rapidly the aeroplane forces were developed is indicated by the +statement made in the beginning of 1916 that the air forces of the +Allies were represented by 3380 aeroplanes of various types and 64 +dirigible balloons, while Austria and Germany had 2000 aeroplanes and 70 +dirigibles. + +The dirigibles--the type of airship commonly referred to as +Zeppelins--have the advantage over the heavier-than-air machines of +being almost silent in their operations, while at the same time they can +remain for a longer time suspended in air over a camp or battleground +without being detected. The Zeppelin is the development of the old +balloon, made, however, in a conical shape with a long basket or car +attached. They are driven by propellers similar to those used with +aeroplanes, but as the power generated by the engines is merely used to +drive the machines and has nothing to do with maintaining their position +in the air, the motors do not have to be so powerful. They are steered +by rudders. + +Some of the largest Zeppelins which have been leading factors in night +raids conducted by the Germans on London and English coast resorts are +capable of maintaining a speed of 60 miles an hour. One of these immense +Zeppelins was reported to have covered 1300 miles in less than forty +hours, covering the German borders, and still keeping in touch with its +base. The Zeppelins, because of their large size, can carry large +quantities of bombs, wireless apparatus, signals and electric +searchlights. They can rise to a height that places them fairly beyond +the range of the aerial guns used for fighting the air forces of the +army. + + +MANY KINDS OF BOMBS. + +The bombs used are as diversified as the crafts on which they are +carried. The French aviators at one time dropped long steel billets or +arrows which had swedged heads and sharpened points. These missiles, +dropped from the height of a thousand feet or more, attained a velocity +and force which made them dangerous weapons of the minor sort. + +The bombs, in the main, however, consist of jacketed shells containing +high explosives, some of which are constructed on what is called the +delayed-action principle. Such bombs explode after penetrating the fort +or object which they strike, instead of going off by contact. Germany is +said to have developed some of these that were of such size and power as +to penetrate an armored ship. As much as 50 pounds of explosives or +chemicals is declared to have been carried in some of the larger ones. + +The big dirigibles mount machine guns of superior range. Some of them +have been armored to an extent, and to make them less easily detected +they have been painted tints and colors to harmonize with the clouds and +sky. Special kinds of gas have been used to fill the envelopes or bags, +and instead of one large bag they consist of a series of bags enclosed +in an envelope or casing, so that if a bullet would penetrate the +envelope it would only destroy one of the gas bags, and not cause the +whole thing to collapse. + +Besides having proved of great value in the land campaigns, the aircraft +has shown itself to be one of the most effective devices of warfare for +use against the submarine, and all manner of naval craft. From the +heavens they can see the submarine under the water, and as either the +dirigible or the aeroplane can develop a speed greater than that of any +battleship or cruiser, it is not difficult for it to soar over the +vessel and drop bombs upon it. Even gas bombs have been used in the +raids by the aircraft. + + +ACCURACY THE GREAT DIFFICULTY. + +The difficulty in the use of bombs has been in accurately directing the +death-dealing devices when the airship or aeroplane is in motion. To +assist in this work aerial range finders have been devised. These are +constructed on the principle of the finder on a camera, with graded +scale markings to indicate the allowance that must be made for speed and +motion. Complete apparatus has been built up for launching the +projectiles from the large dirigibles, and to insure the missiles +traveling properly vanes have been attached to some of them. + +In a test made under the auspices of the French Government and the +Aerial Club of France, a few years ago, one of the bomb-launching +machines on an aeroplane scored eleven bull's-eye shots in a target ten +yards in diameter, from an altitude of more than 2000 feet, while the +aeroplane was going at a speed of more than 65 miles an hour. + +Though there has not been any widespread use of the plan the air has +been "mined" in an experimental way to protect certain sections against +night raids by the airmen. Mining the air consists of locating small +balloons over an area, each balloon being attached to the other with +wires. The small balloons have attached to them explosive bombs which +would destroy the larger aircraft if it was to run into this nest of air +vessels in the dark. + +Reverting to the use of aircraft in naval warfare it may be said that to +the aeroplane the relatively fast fleet is virtually stationary. About +the only case parallel to the aeroplane looking over the hill and down +on concealed enemy positions would be in rising above the smoke screen +thrown out by destroyers. + + +THE SMOKE SCREEN. + +The smoke screen, by the way, which has been used by the British with +marked success in many instances, is an American invention. The low, +swift craft are equipped with special oil burners which throw off dense +volumes of heavy smoke, which float low over the surface of the water, +concealing the maneuvers of the larger boats and protecting them from +the skill of enemy gunners. Its effectiveness, of course, is influenced +by the direction and strength of the wind. Used generously by small +craft convoying a ship through a submarine area, it should be of great +value. + +A battleship can see about as far as it can shoot, anyhow. Except for +smoke screen, or the famous "low visibility," which means foggy weather +or darkness, no enemy within range can be concealed. + +What the fleet commander wants to know is how those enemy vessels beyond +the horizon, which may be within range of his guns tomorrow, the day +after, or next week, may be distributed, and how many of them there are. +This is where the speed of the airplane comes in. + +A machine which can travel 100 miles an hour covers a thousand miles in +10 hours. Locating an approaching enemy fleet this distance away, it +brings back the news of the approach in 10 hours. It takes the fleet, +traveling at 15 miles an hour, two days and 18 hours to cover this +distance. The aeroplane can beat it by two days and eight hours. + +But the aeroplane flying high enough to give it the widest practical +range of vision is able to see only over a path 75 miles wide under the +most favorable weather conditions. Haze will cut this down considerably. +This means that for anything like complete scouting work a fleet must be +equipped with a large number of them. + + +PROPORTION OF FIGHTING PLANES. + +Then, too, there must be a generous proportion of fighting planes to +spread out in a very wide circle beyond the fleet. It will be +appreciated that this circle must be a mighty wide one if the enemy +planes be kept far enough away to prevent their counting the number and +type of ships in the command. There is required also a large detail to +guard against the submarines. While an aeroplane can see quite deep in +the sea, this penetrating vision is limited to the water directly +beneath it. It can see straight down in the water, but not off to the +side at an angle. + +If such a thing is possible, air control at sea is more important than +over the land, and of first value is the fighting plane. In this +connection there is an aeroplane gun which works well. It is a +double-ender. That is, there is a breech in the middle, and the two ends +are muzzles. In air fighting it is seconds and fractions of seconds that +count, and the advantage of this gun lies in that it can be fired in +opposite directions, thus cutting down the length of the arc through +which it has to be swung to be brought to bear on the enemy. + +Of exceptional value to the United States navy is the super-American +type of planes which the Curtiss factories have developed and which have +done such wonderful service for the British. In this type the fuselage +is entirely enclosed, built with a hull much along the lines of the +motorboat or hydroplane. The 'plane may thus come to rest safely in the +open sea. + +It weighs nearly 6000 pounds and can carry a useful load of more than +2000 pounds. The boat is slung well below the planes, eight feet below +the lower one, which has a span of 66 feet. Eight feet above this is the +upper plane, which overlaps the lower plane by 13 feet on each side. The +complete span of the upper plane is 92 feet. It can carry six to eight +men, if necessary, altogether a huge, sturdy, dependable machine with +two powerful motors. + +And what was done to give America the equipment of 'planes which we +needed? + + +RESOURCES AT GOVERNMENT'S COMMAND. + +Fifteen aeroplane manufacturers, with a combined capital of $30,000,000 +and a total capacity of 175 machines a week, organized and placed all +their resources at the command of the government. The organization +provided for the interchange of ideas and plans and for the +standardization of manufacture, which resulted in a material increase in +output. + +One hundred and seventy-five machines a week should give us, in a year, +9100. And there are other conditions which may modify the estimate both +favorably and unfavorably. There is, for instance, a limit to the amount +of seasoned lumber available in this country of the peculiar type and +quality needed for airplane construction. Provision must be made for the +future in this respect. All-steel machines have been made and used in +Europe to some extent, but no metal alloy has been developed which is +likely to take the place of wood in general construction. The +manufacturers developed some interesting things along these lines which +were not given to the public. + +In the Spring of 1917 the fighting in the air took on an entirely new +interest abroad, because of the German policy of painting their machines +most grotesque patterns. They seemed to have taken this idea from the +old American Indian custom of painting their faces to frighten their +opponents, or else the fancies of the German airmen were allowed to run +riot with vivid color effects. + +British pilots daily brought home from over the lines new reports of +fantastic creations encountered amid the clouds. The gayest feathered +songsters that came north with the Spring did not rival the variegated +hues of the harlequin birds that rose daily from the German airdromes. +The coming of this fantastic order of things in the air was first +heralded by a squadron of scarlet German planes. It then was noticed +that some of the enemy machines were striped about the body like +yellowjackets. + + +GAUDY TASTES OF AIRMEN. + +Nothing appeared too gaudy to meet the tastes of the enemy airmen, who +seemed to have been given carte blanche with the paint brush. There were +green planes with yellow noses, silver planes with gold noses, +khaki-colored planes with greenish-gray wings, planes with red bodies, +green wings and yellow stripes, planes with red bodies and wings of +green on top of blue, planes with light blue bodies and red wings. +Virtually all the gaudiest machines were in red body effects, with every +possible combination of colors for their wings. Some had one green wing +and one white; some had green wings tipped with various colors. + +One of the most fantastic met had a scarlet body, brown tail and +reddish-brown wings, with white maltese crosses against a bright green +background. One machine looked like a pear flying through the air. It +had a pear-shaped tail and was painted a ruddy brown, just like a large +ripe fruit. One of the piebald squadrons encountered was made up of +white, red and green machines. There still were others palpably painted +for what became known as "camouflage" purposes, as guns, wagons and +tents often are painted to blend with the landscape and thus avoid +detection. + +This lavish use of paint, however, did not reduce the heavy daily loss +inflicted on the Germans by the British flyers. But it must not be +imagined that the Germans did not put up a stalwart fight. Just as their +resistance was strengthened on land, so it was increased in the air. +Just as the Germans threw in new divisions of infantry and new batteries +of artillery to check the Allies' offensive, so they sent aloft hundreds +of new machines to contest for the mastery of the air, an important +phase of modern war. + +The manner in which the British flying corps dominated the air during +the battle of Messines Ridge in June, 1917, and completely smothered the +German aviation service for the time being is one of the most thrilling +and remarkable stories of the entire war. + +Hundreds of British planes were well behind the German lines when the +battle broke into its fury at dawn. They had stolen over during the +darker intervals of the brief night when the moon was hidden by storm +clouds. Other hundreds went aloft with the first faint streaks of coming +day and, guided by the flashes of the guns, flew into the thick of the +fighting. + + +COMBED BY MACHINE GUNS. + +During the night British machines combed enemy railway stations, trains, +ammunition dumps and troops coming up on the march. Others hovered above +German airdromes and circled low among airplane sheds and fired hundreds +of rounds from machine guns into them and prevented the enemy machines +from coming out. Later in the day, while the fighting was most intense, +British airmen dropped about three tons of bombs on the German flying +grounds as a further deterrent, which proved highly effective. + +In addition to shutting the German airmen out of any early participation +in the battle, the British airplanes were in a large degree responsible +for the fact that the Germans could not launch a counter-attack of +appreciable strength until forty hours after the battle for the ridge +began and every bit of ground desired by the British in this particular +operation had been taken and secured. + +Far back of the German lines the British planes searched out troops in +every hamlet, town and village. In several places they saw them +gathering or marching in the main streets, whereupon they flew down low +at times and opened a fire which scattered the gray-clad soldiers in all +directions. All pilots report that their accurate fire had a most +demoralizing effect upon the hostile troops. Convoys and ammunition and +supply columns were attacked while on the march and the disorganized men +left their teams and automobiles on the roads while they sought shelter +in nearby ditches. + + +AIRPLANES ATTACK TROOPS. + +Airplanes attacked troops in the support trenches and sent them +scurrying to the cover of their dugouts. One pilot made so many of these +attacks that he finally ran out of ammunition, but he delivered his last +stroke by letting go his signal rockets at a platoon of soldiers who, +evidently mistaking this for some particularly horrible new style of war +frightfulness, fled in all directions. + +German troops were fired upon in the more distant back areas as they +were entraining for the front. Many of the enemy retreating from the +British attack and hiding in shell holes were seen by the low-flying +airmen and pelted with bullets. + +One British pilot patrolled a road for half an hour before he saw +anything to shoot at. Then a German military automobile with three +officers sitting in the back seat came along. The Britisher dived at +them from a height of three hundred feet, firing at them as they came. +He flew so low eventually that the wheels of his under carriage barely +missed the automobile, which swerved into a ditch while going at about +forty miles an hour and crashed into a tree. + +This same pilot later came across an active field gun battery and +charged it, scattering the gun crew and hitting a number of them. Still +further along he attacked a column of Germans marching in fours. The +column broke when he opened fire, scattering to both sides of the road. +At no time during his stay inside the German lines was this pilot more +than 500 feet from the ground. + + +ON CONTACT PATROL WORK. + +Large numbers of British machines were on contact patrol work, flying +low over the advancing lines of infantry, constantly watching their +movements, their progress, any temporary reverse, any attempt to form +counter-attacks and all the while sending detailed reports back to corps +and army headquarters. + +Of the fourteen planes lost during the day of the battle, a majority +were those contact machines. They had to fly through a frightful storm +of their own as well as the enemy's artillery fire, and they succumbed +to chance blows from these exploding missiles. + +Late on the day of the battle, when the enemy machines had finally +arrived from more distant airdromes, there was some good fighting in the +air, some of it at close quarters with collisions barely avoided. Twenty +enemy machines were accounted for in the fighting, some flopping about +until they broke up in the air and others being driven down on their +noses in yellow buttercup fields so far back of the fighting line that +no shell had ever marred the symmetry of the landscape. + +Some of the most marvelous work was done by artillery airships. One +squadron of these alone, acting with several batteries of British +heavies, succeeded in silencing seventy-two German batteries before six +o'clock on the morning of the attack which began at 3.10 o'clock in the +morning. These planes also directed the firing on the enemy's guns en +route to the front, some of the big weapons being drawn by caterpillar +tractors. Wherever a thousand or more troops were observed forming for +possible counter-attacks the artillery planes directed "shoots" upon +them. + +So complete was the British domination of the air along the front of +attack that not a single one of the British artillery observing +aeroplanes was lost during the week that the intense bombardment was +going on. During the battle British aeroplanes also attacked and +silenced a number of enemy machine-gun positions. + +The growth of the aeroplane industry has developed as many makes of +machines as there are makes of automobiles, but in a general way +aeroplanes are divided into four classes--monoplanes, biplanes, +triplanes and hydroplanes. About 90 per cent of all designs are +monoplanes and biplanes, and the types are distinguished by their single +set of wings or planes or the double planes or wings. Both types have +their advantages in use, the biplane being regarded as more stable for +certain scouting purposes than the monoplane. It can carry heavier +weights--has greater lifting power--but is not capable of as great speed +or as easily maneuvered. + + +MACHINE ON PRACTICAL BASIS. + +The War has placed the machine on an intensely practical basis. The +manufacturers have learned that machines constructed along certain lines +will travel at such and such a speed and have a certain lifting +capacity, will rise under a particular speed and may be expected to do +certain things under certain circumstances, but with all the advance +which has been made in the construction of the air machines, the +designers do not yet understand all the "factors" that enter into the +"why" of the case. + +The makers have, however, succeeded in standardizing their machines to a +degree. The story of how the aeroplane flies is a highly technical and +scientific one, but the basic principle is the reaction of air and an +inclined surface in motion. It might be likened to a stone skipping +across the surface of a pond, if the imagination can conceive of the +water as being air. It is simplicity itself to drive an inclined plane +against the air with such force that the impact will produce a lifting +power. In raising an ordinary kite, for instance, the boy runs into the +teeth of the wind. His kite is so attached to a string as to stand at an +angle, and as he runs the pressure against the air drives the kite +upward. In the aeroplane the propellers drive the machine into the air +with such force that the planes, standing at an angle, guide the machine +upward. + +There are innumerable problems to be solved--those of buoyancy, delicacy +of balance and many others--but the designers themselves have not been +able to determine upon a precise formula for their solution. It is +sufficient that the aeroplane has reached a degree of practicability in +construction and use which insures its permanent existence, and has +given the military and the naval forces one of the greatest agencies in +the world for protecting themselves and watching their enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +WAR'S STRANGE DEVICES. + +CHEMISTRY A DEMON OF DESTRUCTION--POISON GAS BOMBS--GAS MASKS--HAND +GRENADES--MORTARS--"TANKS"--FEUDAL "BATTERING RAMS"--STEEL +HELMETS--STRANGE BULLETS--MOTOR PLOWS--REAL DOGS OF WAR. + + +Things new and passing strange--thousands of them--have been brought +into being by the great world war. Human minds have developed things +undreamed of by science or fiction--things that a few years ago would +have been considered too strange and fantastic for even the professional +romancer to weave into the tissues of his stories. + +Every known science has been called upon to produce its quota of new +things which might be used for the destruction or the protection of men +at war. The wonders of chemistry have always lent descriptive +inspiration to the pen of writers, but mankind to get a vivid conception +of the horrors of chemistry has had to wait for the great world war. + +The conflict which has involved the entire world might almost be termed +a warfare of chemists. Without their diabolical products, ranging all +the way from high explosives to poison gases, it would have few of the +characteristics of ultra-frightfulness that render it unique in the +history of international struggles. + +But of all the instruments of destruction used in this war, there is +none more horrifying than the so-called "incendiary bomb," which sets +instant fire to whatever it touches and which spreads flame in a manner +so terrific that three or four such gravity-projectiles dropped from an +aeroplane burned up the whole of a peaceful Dutch village in a few +minutes. + +Now, what is the fearsome stuff with which such bombs are loaded? A new +chemical compound? Not at all. What they contain is simply the mixture +of two of the most harmless things in the world--oxide of iron (which +is simply iron rust) and powdered aluminum. + +When these two innocent substances are mixed together the result is a +compound truly infernal in its potentialities for mischief. It is not an +explosive but if set on fire it burns with an intensity that is +positively appalling. Nothing will put it out; no quantity of water has +any effect upon the raging flames it engenders. + +This is the material used for loading incendiary bombs. It is ignited in +such projectiles by a mercury-fulminate cap that sets off a fuse +containing powdered magnesium--the stuff photographers employ for +flashlights. + + +THIN SHELLS OF STEEL. + +These bombs are thin shells of steel or iron--mere containers for the +mixture before described. They are so contrived that the fuse is +instantly ignited when they strike. + +Whereupon the shell is melted by the heat generated within it and a +flood of fiercely burning metal is scattered in all directions. All of +this seems rather extraordinary, and it is worth explaining. + +Oxygen has an affinity for iron, readily combining with the +latter--which is the reason why iron is liable to rust. This rust is a +chemical compound of iron and oxygen; in other words, oxide of iron. But +oxygen has a much greater affinity for aluminum. And so, when the two +metals are powdered and mixed together and heat is applied the oxygen +flies out of the iron rust and combines with the aluminum. + +The process is started in the bomb by the burning magnesium. And then +the oxygen passes out of the iron and into the aluminum so rapidly that +an enormously high temperature is developed. It runs up to 3500 or 4000 +degrees Fahrenheit--which means, of course, a tremendous combustion. The +mixture of aluminum and iron burns like so much tinder--though such a +way of putting it is absurdly feeble. + +The present war has been conspicuously marked by reversions to ancient +methods of fighting. In this line the incendiary bomb offers an +excellent illustration. It is in effect merely an adaptation of an idea +utilized by the Saracens--we should call them Turks nowadays--in their +warfare with the Crusaders of the Middle Ages. + + +DREAD INSTRUMENT OF WAR. + +The instrument of war most dreaded by the Crusaders, as they found it in +the hands of the Turks, was the incendiary bomb--a projectile that flew +through the air "like a fiery dragon" as they described it, and set fire +to whatever it touched. Sometimes it was provided with iron barbs, by +which it clung to buildings. + +This was one of the ways in which the Saracens employed the celebrated +"Greek fire"--an inflammable compound that is understood to have been a +mixture of petroleum, saltpeter and pitch. The chief horror of it, from +the Crusaders' point of view, was that it was unquenchable. Mere water +had no effect upon it. Hence they were sure that it must be of +diabolical origin. + +But the up-to-date incendiary bomb is a great improvement on its +original of the Middle Ages. The modern contrivance is thoroughly +scientific, and it does its destructive business with certainty and +dispatch. + +No less effective are the gas bombs which were introduced by the German +soldiers at Rheims, and which when exploding near the trenches occupied +by the French and English threw off vapors and poisonous gases which +killed or overwhelmed thousands of brave men. These devices used in +violation of all rules of civilized warfare sent hundreds to the +hospitals. Seventy-five victims were taken at one time from the trenches +to the hospital at Zuydcoote, north of Dunkirk, where it was found that +some of those who had inhaled the fumes turned a violet tinge. + +Altogether it was estimated that from 3000 to 5000 men were affected by +the gas fumes in this first onslaught and at least 10 per cent of those +who were overcome succumbed to the deadly fumes. Many of those who +inhaled the poisons expectorated blood and for days afterward were +racked by terrible coughing. In many cases fever developed in a few days +ending with pneumonia. When the men were not sufficiently poisoned to +cause death they were so affected that their usefulness as soldiers was +ended for all time. The poison made them confirmed invalids. + + +INTRODUCTION OF GAS MASK. + +Naturally human ingenuity was called into play to protect men against +the poisons and the gas mask came into being. These were of many types. +The early creations consisted primarily of a nose and mouth covering +with a receptacle for inclosing a sponge or gauze soaked with a chemical +which possessed the power to neutralize the gas fumes. Such devices have +been used by fire fighters in large cities the world over where the men +battling to save buildings have been compelled to enter smoke-filled +rooms and cellars. Other types which have proven more effective are +designed after the fashion of the diving apparatus, and having a small +tank of compressed oxygen with feeding tubes running to the mask. The +oxygen combines with the contaminated air breathed through absorbent +cotton or sponge and provides the wearer with the proportion of oxygen +necessary to existence. And even the horses have been provided with such +masks. + +But to go back to bombs. All through France and Belgium, and wherever +the Prussian soldiers found their way, there was evidence of the use of +hand grenades which were thrown against the sides of or into buildings +to set them in flames. Some of these devices, made of sheet metal, were +in their action similar to the "Fourth of July torpedoes" familiar to +every American school boy. When thrown they exploded throwing oil and +chemicals over walls and floors. Some of them seem to have been loaded +with bullets and were in effect hand shrapnel. + +Then there developed from the primary use of these nefarious weapons the +recognized hand grenade, which is actually hand-shrapnel, plied by men +at close quarters. Thousands of these have been thrown by the armies in +their charges on the trenches. And then, to offset the use of these +devices in the offensive, there came into being also the smoke bombs. +These when exploding throw up great clouds of black smoke which hang +over everything. + + +EFFECTIVE IN A HUNDRED WAYS. + +The use of such bombs has proved effective in a hundred ways. They have +been used to create a perfect shield of smoke to conceal the movements +of troops, or prevent the enemy from finding the range with their long +distance guns. Similarly bombs which contained burning chemicals have +been used to hold in check the approaching enemy forces. + +Half way between the great gun and the hand grenade stand among war +weapons the trench mortars. The first of these were used by the Japanese +in their war with Russia. The Japanese mortars were mere logs hollowed +out and strengthened by wrappings of bamboo rope. The projectiles fired +from these were empty provision tins filled with high explosives, scraps +of metal, bits of stone or whatever, in the emergency, could be found to +fill them. + +The mortars are pitched at an angle and the projectiles are shot with a +skyrocket effect, to land in the trenches or camp of the enemy. The +Germans developed the idea and the perfected mortars are of steel, and +capable of throwing bombs weighing several hundred pounds. + +And then the great moving fort which has been called "the tank!" Those +snorting, fire-spitting dragons which were depicted for us in childhood +can scarcely bring to our mind a greater element of the fanciful, the +horrible, and the powerful than the steel hulks which came into being in +this war under the name of "tanks." + +We see them in our mind's eye spitting fire as they crossed No Man's +Land, amid the smoke and dust of bursting shells. Keeping steadily on +their courses they dived into huge craters made by exploding shells; +stretched themselves across trenches, brushed trees and boulders aside, +and kept steadily on their courses. German wire entanglements were as so +many pieces of string before their huge frames. Nothing deterred them. +They moved forward into the face of the enemy, reaching the first line +of German trenches. There the soulless devices sat complacently astride +the trenches, and turning their guns along the ditches swept them in +both directions. + + +THE TANK DEFIES ALL OBSTACLES. + +The tanks which were introduced by the English, move along on revolving +platforms, so to speak. These platforms enable the tank to overcome all +obstacles as the caterpillar tread is curved up in the arc of a huge +circle at the front which gives the vehicle its wonderful tractive +powers. This large curvature acts as a huge wheel with a tremendously +long leverage equal to the radius of the circlet or the spokes of the +imaginary wheel of the same diameter. Only that portion of the assumed +wheel which would come in contact with the ground acts as the lever, and +it is just this portion that is reproduced in the front end of a +caterpillar belt. + +Although varying in size and details, all tanks have the common +characteristic of being divided into three main compartments between the +two side caterpillar frames. The first is the observation compartment in +which the driver and his helper are perched high above the ground to +direct the movements of the huge steel beast. + +In the middle is the ammunition room from which the guns carried in the +two side turrets are fed. At the rear is the engine room. From two or +four gasoline engines are used--these driving the rear axle and its +integral sprockets over which the caterpillars run. The latter run an +idler pulley or sprockets at the extreme front ends and are supported by +means of rollers attached to the upper portion of the frame on each side +when passing over the top. This movement of the caterpillar belts is +exactly analogous to that of the ordinary variety of garden insect with +the same name which similarly lays down his own track by humping his +back continuously and regardless of the land surface. + +The tanks are steered by a pair of small ordinary wheels at the rear. +These are supported in a pivot on a frame extended from the rear. They +are merely for steering, and support none of the weight of the tank +except when bridging wide trenches or dips in the surface. Steering can +be accomplished by making one caterpillar go faster than the other by +manipulating clutches on the driving mechanism. + + +TANK'S "CATERPILLAR" FEATURE. + +The "caterpillar" feature of the tank had its origin in the caterpillar +belts or shoes which were first used on the great field guns and +mortars--those tremendous weapons which shoot bombs and shells weighing +tons and containing 500 or more pounds of guncotton or explosive which +on contact is discharged, rending everything for yards around. + +These guns, as well as the smaller field guns, have had attached to them +great shields of steel behind which the gunners stand, so that they are +protected against the old-fashioned sharpshooters whose duty it was to +pick off the gunners. + +The caterpillar or wheel belts on the big guns consist of flat blocks, +or shoes, wider than the tires of the wheels. They are hinged and +fastened together so as to form a great chain, and when placed on the +wheels present broad surfaces to the ground and keep the gun carriages +from sinking into the soft earth. With a set of these shoes a heavy gun +can be drawn over soft and irregular ground, which would be almost +impassable where the gun is mounted on wheels of ordinary width. + +Before these belts were devised it was necessary for every gun crew to +carry a supply of beams, jackscrews and devices to be used in +extricating the heavy guns when they got fast in the mud. Now every gun +has these belts which can be put on or detached in a few minutes. + +Paradoxically, this is the day of the big gun's greatest effectiveness, +and the day of its greatest limitations. The war has taught us more in +two years about gunnery and the effect of various types of ordnance +under varying conditions than could have been learned in twenty years of +theoretical research--for actual experience proves where theoretical +research merely gives ground on which to base an opinion. + + +NATIONAL RESOURCES TO DISLODGE A MAN. + +One of the things that we have learned is that when man takes unto +himself the humble pick and shovel and proceeds to dig a hole for +himself in the ground, we can get him out of that hole only by drawing +on the combined resources of a nation, by constructing one of the most +complex and expensive instruments in the world, and with it hurling at +man dug-in a projectile weighing a good part of a ton. + +The blunder, perhaps unavoidable, which stands out with equal emphasis +among the preliminary preparations of all the nations engaged in the +struggle was the underestimation of the artillery power required for the +conduct of a successful military campaign under modern conditions of +warfare. It was an underestimation so great that in the light of +developments it will some day prove ridiculous. + +At the opening of the war two opposed theories of artillery +effectiveness were held by the combatants. The French swore by the +medium calibre, rapid-fire, low-trajectory field piece. The Teutons had +devoted their best efforts to the development of guns so big that their +opponents were tempted, before they learned better, to regard them as +too unwieldy for effective field service. Both were right, the French in +the full sense and intention of the term, the Teutons by pure accident. + +It should be explained here that the word Teuton is used advisedly, for +in reality it is to the Austrians before the Germans that the +development of the 11-inch and bigger field gun, with its special +carriage and caterpillar-tread wheels owes its existence. It was +Austrian guns and Austrian gunners that first made the heavy artillery +of the Teuton armies famous. + +The French field piece performed all that was expected of it, but it was +handicapped by unforeseen conditions of warfare. The heavy Teuton guns +performed their mission in the very introductory stages of the war, then +failed, and later, by the irony of fate, proved to be the very things +required when the unforeseen war conditions developed. + + +A WONDERFUL GUN. + +The Germans and Austrians believed that they could develop a big gun +which could be given sufficient mobility for use in the field, and with +commendable and methodical application they proceeded to do so. The +theory was, first, that it could batter down any permanent +fortifications that man could build, and when it was pitted against the +concrete ramparts of Liege and Namur it blew them out of existence in a +few hours. The Teutons had scored, and scored so heavily that the Allies +barely escaped the fate the Germans had prepared for them in an +overwhelming sweep on Paris. That they did escape this fate is no doubt +in a large measure due to the fact that the second effectiveness claimed +by the Teutons for their heavy ordnance failed in its full +accomplishment. Used in open fighting, the great explosive shells hurled +by these guns did not do the damage expected to the wide, open firing +lines of the Allies, nor did they produce the moral effect expected. The +great shells tore tremendous craters in the ground, from which the +force of the explosion was expended upward in a sort of cone-shape, +shooting above the heads of any troops in the vicinity except those +immediately adjacent to the explosion. In the meantime the field pieces +of the French, with their extreme mobility and rapidity of fire, were +scattering death and destruction with their straight shrapnel fire in +the solid formations which were so popular with the Germans in the early +stages of the war, and which today they do not seem to be able to drop +entirely. + +So far the French piece did all expected of it. The German piece had +proved its ability only to blow up permanent fortifications, and this +was nullified immediately by the action of the French in abandoning the +concrete shelters and moving their own guns into newly and +quickly-constructed trench forts. + + +A THING UNDREAMED OF. + +But the thing that neither side had dreamed of was the settling down of +the war on the west front into an eternal line of opposing trenches to +face each other for years. That it did so was due to the monumental +blunders on the part of the German staff in allowing itself to be +outmaneuvered and beaten back from the gates of Paris by numerically +inferior forces, and still further outmaneuvered in the extension of the +lines northward in that famous series of flanking movements which +finally reached the sea. + +It was their success in driving the German army to earth when it was +stronger than they were that saved the Allies, and gave them the +breathing time required in which to further their preparations and train +new troops, and likewise it is this same mode of trench warfare which +has made their task so difficult when they have taken the offensive. + +Against ordinary trench lines, as known in the early stages of the war, +the French field pieces were more effective than the heavy cannon of the +Teutons, just as they had been in the open. Shooting in flat trajectory +across the trench, and exploding just above it, the shrapnel scattered +more death downward than the heavy projectile could scatter upward after +it had buried itself in the soft earth. + +But with the continuous line of trenches stretching from Switzerland to +the sea, with consequent impossibility of out-flanking, demonstrated by +the Germans to their sorrow in repeated repulses of their drives to cut +through to Calais, each side felt justified in replying to the artillery +of the other by digging deeper and more permanently, with many feet of +shelter overhead. This ended the effectiveness of shrapnel except for +the repulse of attacks, and again the heavy guns swung into the position +of pre-eminence. + + +A SITUATION ALMOST BEYOND CONTROL. + +It was at this stage, however, that both sides realized how totally +inadequate the supply of these heavy guns and ammunition was to cope +with the situation. While the heavy gun was more effective in blasting +out the enemy from his dugouts than the field piece, it required many +times the artillery power which either side possessed to handle the job. + +Then commenced the race of the ammunition and gun factories to turn out +their products by the ton where they had been turned out by the pound +before; a race in which the Allies took and held the lead. + +With the greatly increased number of heavy guns it became possible to +develop the famous curtain of barrage fire, also known as drum fire, +with this type of ordnance, as well as with shrapnel. + +It is with this form of attack that the Allies blasted their way slowly +but steadily through the strongest networks of trenches which the +Germans were able to build. + +Along a given section of the front, or rather just behind it, the guns +were placed singly or in pairs, widely scattered, some close to the line +and some well back from it, all concealed as far as possible from enemy +aviators. There were also many dummy batteries, so that if the enemy +air scout saw a gun or group of guns, he had no way of telling whether +they were real or imitation. + +In such an instance before the actual advance of the troops the fire of +all these guns is concentrated along parallel lines to the enemy +trenches, first, second and sometimes third. Each gun has its work +mapped out for it in advance on a map covered with tiny squares. The +actual point may be well beyond view of the gunners. The shell is landed +in its appointed square solely on mathematical calculation. The +commander of each gun knows, for instance, that he must fire into this, +that or the other square for so many minutes or hours, and exactly at a +given minute change his fire to another source. + + +RAIN OF SHELLS LIKE STREAMS OF WATER. + +In effect on the enemy a continuous rain of shells, comparable to +streams of water from hundreds of hoses is poured in a line right down +the trench. At the same time a parallel line of fire is concentrated at +a given distance back of the enemy's first trench and in front of the +second, or in it. This means that the troops in the first line must not +only take their bombardment without hope of retreat or escape, but that +it is impossible to get reinforcements to them through the second +curtain. + +When it is calculated that the first line has been destroyed or +demoralized, the troops leap from their trenches and advance strictly +according to schedule over the ground between the opposing trenches. +Their arrival at the enemy's first trench is timed to the second, and +just as they are on the verge of plunging into their own curtain of fire +this latter is gradually thrown forward, forming a screen between the +newly captured trench and the enemy's second line. This means two +curtains of fire through which the enemy would have to advance to +counter-attack. + +Time is given to rout out what remains of the enemy from the first line +dugouts, and then the troops advance again. In the meantime the curtain +of fire has preceded them as before, moving up to the line of drum fire +which has been playing on the second line of trenches or just in front +of it. If any of the enemy have attempted to flee before the attack from +the first line they are caught between these two barrages which are +gradually brought together. + +When the first and second lines of fire have been brought together they +are poured with redoubled fury into the second line of the enemy +trenches, and then moved forward again just as the advancing troops +reach this line. + + +DEPENDING ON LOCAL CONDITIONS. + +The performance is made continuous so far as possible under the +conditions peculiar to the given section in which the attack is being +made. Sometimes it is possible to advance over three, four or five +trenches in a single attack. At others it is as much as can be +accomplished to capture one, which must be consolidated before further +advance is made. It depends on the strength of the trenches, the nature +of the ground, the distance apart that they are, and, of course, the +amount of artillery fire which the enemy is able to concentrate in +return. + +When a sufficient advance has been made, it also becomes necessary to +suspend operations for a time while the guns behind the lines are moved +forward to new positions. + +This is always the period of the counter-attack in force by the enemy, +who seizes the opportunity when a certain proportion of the artillery is +unable to fire because it is being moved. And it is during this period +that the infantry have to do their hardest fighting, which consists, not +in making the advance over no-man's land to the enemy trench, but in +holding that trench afterward when the bringing up of their own +artillery behind them to more advanced positions robs them of some of +the support of the drum fire. + +Still another factor of delay at this period is the time required by +the air scouts to find the rearranged positions of the enemy guns after +the advance, for these must be taken care of also before a new advance +can be made. + +An explanation of this form of attack shows why news dispatches have +told first of an advance of the British, followed by a period of quiet, +during which an attack by the French in some other section of the line +was in progress. Then suddenly the scene of action switched back to the +British lines again while the French were consolidating their new +positions preparatory to pushing the general advance a step farther. + + +GERMAN EQUIVOCATION. + +It also explains just what has happened when the Germans state that the +"enemy penetrated our first trenches in a small sector, but his attack +broke down before our second line." When the next attack is ready, of +course, the former second German line is referred to as the "first," and +so, on paper, as far as the uninitiated are concerned, the German +publicity office is able to build up a continuous series of enemy +attacks which "break down," and somehow never, never "penetrate our +invincible line." Actually an advance of this nature is extremely slow, +but it is sure, and it is made at the expense of tons upon tons of +ammunition rather than at the expense of lives, for ammunition can be +made faster than soldiers. + +Even the old battering ram of feudal times with which the ancestors of +Kaiser William used to knock down the castles of the baron robbers has +been approximated by his warring tribes. With the retreat of the German +troops from Flanders the Allied forces found crude battering rams such +as have been shown in the stirring "movies" when the ancient warriors +stormed the gates of the city. + +One of such devices was in the form of an upright frame made of heavy +timbers. An immense log was suspended from the cross-piece by a heavy +chain. An iron band circled one end of the log which was used for +battering purposes and at the opposite end were handles, used by the +operators in their nefarious work. The ram was used to batter in the +doors of houses which had been locked or barricaded against the German +soldiers. In their most destructive moods, it is charged that they used +these devices to destroy the standing walls of houses and cottages after +they had been gutted by fire. The Germans would not permit even so much +as a wall to stand which might be used by the poor peasant in +rehabilitating himself and building a new home. + + +NEW METHOD OF WARFARE. + +The new method of warfare, with men working in trenches and dugouts and +millions of shells breaking over head, while missiles rain all about, +necessitated the development of some device to protect the heads of the +fighters. Therefore the steel helmet. + +It has been shown that, due to trench warfare, about seventy-five per +cent of the wounded on the western front had been hit with shrapnel or +pieces of shell traveling at a low velocity and therefore had torn +wounds and in many cases smashed bones. About three per cent of the +wounds were in the head and about fifteen per cent in the face or neck. +This led to the adoption by the French of a steel helmet called after +its inventor, Adrian. The helmets were first used in May, 1915. That +their use is justified is shown by statistics. Among fifty-five cases of +head wounds, forty-two happened to soldiers without helmets. + +Twenty-three of these had fractured skulls, while the remaining nineteen +had bad scalp wounds. Of the thirteen who wore helmets, not one had a +skull fracture. Five had slight wounds only, while none of those who had +worn a helmet died. Quite a number of those who had not did. + +In the Academy of Medicine Dr. Roussey brought up the point that due to +the helmet the number of cases of sudden death from wounds in the head +had been so decreased that the number of wounded with head injuries +treated in the hospitals had materially increased. + +The French helmet proved such a success that Belgium, Serbia, Russia and +Roumania equipped their troops with the same model. The French helmet +has a bursting bomb as insignia on its front and is light blue or khaki +color, depending on whether it is worn by the metropolitan, the French +home army or the French colonial army. + + +THE BELGIAN HELMET. + +The Belgian helmet is khaki-colored, with the Belgian lion on the front; +the Italian, greenish blue, with no insignia; the Serbian, +khaki-colored, with the Serbian coat of arms; the Russian, +khaki-colored, with the Russian coat of arms, and the Roumanian, +blue-gray, with the Roumanian coat of arms. + +The French have made more than 12,000,000 helmets, using about 12,000 +tons of steel. In other words, a ton of steel will make 1,000 helmets. +The British also equipped their troops with a steel helmet, which has no +ridge running from front to rear, as has the Adrian, no decorations, and +a rather wide brim, which runs all the way round. It is of a khaki +color. + +The Germans issued to a certain number of their men, generally those +most exposed in trench fighting, a steel helmet considerably heavier +than any of the allied helmets. It has a much higher crown, and comes +down more over the eyes and the sides and back of the head. + +All these helmets are supported by means of a leather skull cap inside, +which fitting closely to the head, distributes the weight over the whole +of the skull, instead of simply around the edge of it, as is the case +with ordinary headgear. + +Of course, these helmets will not protect against high velocity +projectiles. However, as they do protect the wearer from low velocity +projectiles, and as these are, because of infection, often as fatal as +severe wounds, it can easily be seen how much good has been +accomplished. + +A French writer in La Nature shows that 332 out of 479 abnormal wounds +were caused by shrapnel and pieces of shell having a low velocity. + +In 13 out of 15 cases of lung wounds, the projectiles did not have +velocity enough to completely traverse the body and come out. + +In 71 cases of joint wounds, 66 were due to low velocity shrapnel and +only 5 to high velocity bullets. Practically every one of these wounds +could have been prevented by breast and body pieces and knee and elbow +caps of armor. + + +LOW VELOCITY MOST EFFECTIVE. + +As for every man who afterward dies from a wound made by a high velocity +bullet there are about ten who die from wounds made by the low velocity +shrapnel and shell fragments, the importance is seen of protection +against these low velocity wounds if it can be had. + +The wearing of armor means the lessening of the mobility of the soldier. +In the open field lessening of mobility means a decrease in efficiency, +which cannot be tolerated. However, in trench warfare the mobility of +the individual does not count for so much, as even during an attack he +does not have to go far, and generally does it at a walk in the rear of +the barrage fire of his own artillery. + +Efficiency in warfare, as indicated by the keeping of such records, has +set the brains of the world at work, and armor is used to a limited +degree for the protection of men in greatly exposed fronts or open +positions. + +The Japanese in modern times were first to resort to the forerunner of +armor. They used shields of steel and in the siege of Port Arthur such +shields were strapped to the front of the body. The Germans in the +charges have frequently used double shields, advancing in groups of four +behind a steel protector carried by two men, leaving the other two free +to fire at the enemy through port holes in the armor shields. + +None of the armors has, however, proved its resistance to the high +velocity bullets which the powerful field guns rain against it. +Experiments are being made continuously along these lines, and Guy Otis +Brewster, of New Jersey, has developed a bullet-proof jacket and +headgear which it is said approximates perfection. + +In the presence of ordinance officers from the Picatinny Arsenal he +invited an expert military marksman to fire at him from a distance of 60 +yards. A Springfield rifle was used, with regulation ammunition. The +steel bullet had a velocity of 2740 feet a second. Only one shot was +fired, but it failed to penetrate the armor. + + +COMPOSITION A SECRET. + +The composition of the latter is a secret, beyond the fact that it +consists in part of steel. Jacket and headgear weigh 30 pounds; but the +material is so flexible that the soldier wearing such an outfit can +kneel, lie down, rise and run, charge from the trenches, use the +bayonet, or throw hand grenades, without impediment to his movements. + +It has been denied that dum-dum bullets, placed under ban by all +civilized nations, have been used by the Germans, but there is no doubt +that explosive bullets have been used. The report of the Belgian +Commission, which investigated the horrors when the Germans first +invaded King Albert's country, contains testimony which proves +conclusively that such missiles were used. These bullets were, in +effect, small shells containing an explosive chemical which was set off +by contact. Photographs taken of wounds show the effect which these +bullets produced. + +More than that, the Russians charged that along the northern frontier +the Germans fired glass bullets, although there is nothing to sustain +the belief that such missiles were generally used. The dum-dum bullet +is a soft-nosed missile which, when it strikes a bone, flattens out and +splatters, creating a jagged wound which it is almost impossible to +treat or heal. The Germans, in ordinary, use a steel jacketed bullet +which possesses high penetrative powers, while the French at the +beginning of the war were using the ordinary lead bullet. + + +AN AMERICAN BULLET. + +Among the recent developments is a bullet which had its origin in one of +the United States arsenals for manufacturing ammunition. This is a steel +bullet covered with lead. The effect of such a combination on the +penetrating quality of the bullet may be readily understood by anyone +who has ever tried the experiment of driving an ordinary needle into a +board through a cork. If the cork is placed on the board and the needle +pressed down through the cork until it touches the board, a powerful +blow from a hammer will force the needle into the board without +breaking. In the application of this principle to the manufacture of the +bullet, experiments proved that the soft lead acted as a guide or +sustainer which permitted the inner steel to penetrate without +deviation. + +And just as these oddities of warfare have been created to meet arising +situations, others have been created to care for the sick and +injured--those who have fallen victims of the agencies of destruction. +Who ever heard of a sand sled? + +Such sleds have been used effectively on the Eastern fronts to carry +wounded soldiers to the hospitals. They are long, staunchly constructed +sleds similar to those used on the farms in America for hauling plows, +cultivators and other agricultural implements across the fields which +have been furrowed. + +The sleds have broad runners which do not sink into the sands and can be +drawn easily. In winter these same sleds have served to haul the wounded +and sick over miles of snow and ice on the Russian frontier. + +Then, though it is not a weapon of offense, there is the tractor plow +which works at night. It is a war device to the extent that as England's +need for food has been great and constant the tractor plow has been used +to solve the problem of working the ground. On the estate of Sir Arthur +Lee, the director-general of food production in England, great +agricultural motors equipped with acetylene searchlights were kept at +work in the fields day and night. + +Dogs too have been ushered into the arena. No longer may the old English +expression, "Let Slip the Dogs of War," be regarded as a mere figure of +speech. The war dogs, and particularly the animals used by the Red Cross +on the battlefields, have assumed a regular status in the armies of the +world. In the European armies are thousands of dogs which have been +trained to act as messengers or spies, or to seek out on the +battlefields the wounded. The Germans use a canine commonly known as +"Boxers." These animals are a cross between the German mastiff and the +English bulldog, and on the fields of Europe they have proved to be +"kings" among the Red Cross dogs. The animals are first taught to +distinguish between the uniforms of the soldiers of their own country +and those of the enemy. Then they learn that the principal business in +life for them is to find and aid wounded soldiers. + +The animals are trained to search without barking and to return to +headquarters and urge their trainers to follow them with stretcher +bearers. Sometimes the dogs bring back such an article as a cap, tobacco +pouch or handkerchief. The dogs of the Red Cross carry on their collars +a pouch containing a first aid kit, by means of which a wounded soldier +may staunch the flow of blood or help himself until assistance arrives. + +It is reported that one of these dogs rescued fifty men on the Somme +battlefield in France. The animal known as Filax of Lewanno, is a +typical German sheepdog. Such dogs weigh from 50 to 65 pounds and are +very powerful, but the Irish terriers and Airedales have also been +trained to do effective work, as have the Great Danes and St. Bernards. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WONDERFUL WAR WEAPONS. + +THE TERRIBLE RAPID-FIRE GUN--ARMORED AUTOMOBILES AND AUTOMOBILE +ARTILLERY--HOWITZERS--MOUNTED FORTS--ARMORED TRAINS--OBSERVATION +TOWERS--WIRELESS APPARATUS--THE ARMY PANTRY. + + +It is a long step from the old, smooth bore, flintlock rifle of the +Revolutionary days to the modern magazine gun, with its long-pointed +cartridges; and it is almost as great a step from the crude iron cannons +and smooth bore mortars of the Civil War, with their canister and grape +shot, down to the huge, 42 centimeter guns which have boomed their way +through France and Belgium. + +The patriotic citizen who is unfitted for military service no longer +sits at home and aids the armed forces of his country by melting pewter +spoons into bullets, or cutting patches of cloth to serve as wads to +pack down into the muzzle of guns. The powder horn and the bullet mould +are devices of the past. The whole world working in the old-fashioned +way could not have in the course of the "war-of-nations" made sufficient +bullets to supply the forces for a single week. + +Those who must sacrifice in the stress of war now turn their silverware +and precious metals into nuggets that may be sold to produce revenue, so +that the armed forces may purchase the machine-made cartridges and +weapons required to fight the enemy. + +Modern warfare has developed the climax in armament and the world has +learned more within the last few years about the devilish instruments of +destruction which human ingenuity has devised than was known in all the +ages before. Since Germany and Austria were the first into +action--actually precipitated the great conflict--and as by their years +of preparation they were ready for the emergency, it best serves the +purposes of those who seek enlightenment on the subject of armaments +and weapons to deal with the equipment of the Teuton forces. + +Other nations--England, France and the United States in +particular--have, in some directions, surpassed the Germans in +developing efficient weapons, but in the main, when Germany plunged into +the war, she had all around what was conceded to be the best equipment +that science and mechanics could supply. + + +INFANTRY AND FIELD ARTILLERY. + +While stories told of the awful havoc wrought by the German siege guns +in reducing the forts and fortifications in France and Belgium are true, +it is also true that the bulwark of the military organization is the +infantry and field artillery. The big guns may level the forts and +reduce them to powder, driving off the opposing forces, but the infantry +must advance and the small arms and rapid-fire guns must keep the +opposing forces from resuming the position which they had abandoned. + +The difficulty of handling the big guns has always been a problem, +except in fortifications and at fixed points of defense, and it has only +been within a few years that a solution of the trouble has been found. +The solution lay in the use of tractors, or the tractor principle, which +every person familiar with farming and the "traction engine" can +recognize. + +Germany and Austria, as in many other matters, solved the problem by +building mortars for field service which outclassed the heaviest +artillery of the old type, and mounting them on tractors. It would +require a team of probably forty horses to pull one of the German +42-centimeter guns over the rough ground, and then a relay would be +required every few hours. An immense number of horses would be required +and the transportation would be slow, and not certain at best. + +Early in the war Austria sent to the front a battery of 80-centimeter +howitzers, and from the famous Krupp gun works there were 21 and +28-centimeter howitzers. Later came the 42-centimeter guns, which are +classed as automobile field artillery. These are the weapons which +leveled the forts at Liege and were used to bombard Fort Maubeuge. + +The immense howitzers, with their caterpillar wheels, are taken apart +and transported to the scene of action in sections, or units. An +automobile tractor carries the artillery crew and tools and furnishes +the motive power. The second car carries the platform and turntable on +which the gun is mounted, and the third hauls the barrel, or gun proper. + + +THE MOVING OF HEAVY WEAPONS. + +The weapons can be moved anywhere, though they weigh as much as forty +tons in some cases. Sometimes it is necessary to build special roads +where fields must be crossed, but on the highways there is little +trouble. The big howitzers are built on the principle of the large +caliber guns used on battleships--that is, there is a system of recoil +springs and air cushions to take up the shock when the gun is fired, so +that the terrific energy, when the charge is exploded, shall not be +borne by the breech of the gun. The howitzers can be turned in any +direction, and the gearing attached to the mounting is such that the +barrels can be pitched at any angle. + +Such guns fire an explosive shell weighing from 500 to 1000 pounds, and +because of their form of construction--they have shorter barrels than +the naval guns--which reduces the surface of the barrel subject to +erosion, they are longer lived than the long guns. The endurance of the +guns is a factor because it is difficult to get repairs for such great +weapons on the field of battle. + +At the outbreak the contending forces are said to have had 4,000 guns in +the field artillery. Among the devices of interest identified with the +artillery is the armored automobile, which has been described as the +"cavalry" of motor driven artillery. The advent of the armored +automobile in the war changed many features of campaigning and helped to +revolutionize military methods. The armored automobile is an ordinary +chassis with a body made of chilled steel. + +Many types have been devised, including turreted automobile, mounting +one or two rapid fire guns which can be turned in any direction. The +armored motors have high-powered engines, and the chassis chosen for +these new instruments of war are of the heaviest types. Some have been +constructed especially for the purpose. One of these, used by the +Germans, had a "barbette" top, which looked like the shell of a +tortoise, fitted down over the chassis. Guns protruded from holes in the +front, back and sides. + + +VALUE OF ARMORED CARS. + +The armored cars have proved extremely valuable for scouting purposes. +They can sneak through and complete scouting where mounted men would be +detected, and besides, are better able to protect themselves against +attack. The cars also possess the ability to speed away out of range of +enemy detachments. + +The army officer, too, has taken to the armored automobile, and put +aside his horse. You cannot kill an automobile; and the armor laughs at +the bullets from small caliber guns. The officers can, with the +high-speed armored cars, travel from one end of a line to the other and +in a few hours make surveys and complete observations which would take +days were horses used. + +Very few of the light-armored cars used by the officers are armed, the +attache or aide of the officer carrying a rifle. Some of the armored +cars used for scouting and by the officers have, in the case of Germany, +been provided with sharp knives attached to the front of the machine. +These are steel blades vertically attached to the frame and hood, and +are designed to cut wires which the enemy may have stretched across +highways or passages to hinder progress. + +The armored covering on some of these cars is little more than a steel +box, with "port" holes all around. There is no hoop dome or cupola, and +the men are supposed to protect themselves by keeping their heads below +the sides of the box. Besides the driver, some of the cars carry two or +three men, who are further protected against the bullets of the enemy +and the chance missile from the sharpshooter by steel headpieces or +helmets. + +The Belgians have a type of car of heavy design, equipped with huge +headlights, as well as a searchlight to operate at night. The car has a +rapid fire gun mounted in a cupola-formed revolving turret. In the +matter of automobiles in the army, Italy outranked Germany at the +beginning of the war. While Germany had Mercedes and Opel trucks, +mounting five to seven rapid fire guns, which, with their steel armor +and solid tire disc wheels, were actually miniature forts, the Italians +had more formidable mounted creations of the same sort. + + +ITALY'S SINGULAR POSITION. + +As a matter of fact, Italy's position in regard to motors is unique +among the other countries in the war. Not only are the transportation +conditions different, but the motorcar industry in the country is on a +different basis. It is said to have been the only one of the countries +which was able to meet the demand put upon it for motors without going +into some other land to augment its supply. Italy did not buy a single +American motor vehicle for war purposes. There are cars of foreign makes +in the army and with the Red Cross, but these vehicles were in the +country--purchased for private use--when the war broke out and were +requisitioned. + +The big guns of the army are handled by motor tractors, 95 per cent of +the army mail service is motorcar service and 95 per cent of the +drinking water for the fighting forces is delivered by motortruck. +Profiting by the lessons of the other countries called to war, Italy had +time in which to prepare for emergencies, and when the order for +mobilizing forces was issued the motorcar factories were speeded up and +the workers were permitted to stay on the job, instead of being called +out to fill up the ranks of the army. + +Compared with the resources of America, the Italian motor industry is +not large; but the product is uniform and practically all of the +factories are conveniently located for distributing the machines to the +army on the frontier and readily providing repairs and parts. The +physical conditions of the country necessitated the use of certain types +of trucks and motors and the dropping of some of the practices of other +countries in motor usage. + +The rugged, irregular country, with its narrow roads, makes +impracticable the use of trucks larger than three and one-half tons, and +"trailers," largely employed by the French, German and Belgian armies, +were found not satisfactory. What is described as the Isotta Fraschini +heavy model armored artillery car of Italy is considered one of the most +effective of the "motor forts" or "land cruisers" developed during the +war. + + +THE WHEELED FORT. + +The wheeled fort has a battery of four rapid fire guns and a revolving +turret. Besides being full armored and turreted, the car has steel +wheels of the disc type, and is as formidable in appearance as it has +proven in practice. France has a type of the completely enclosed armored +motorcar which affords its crew unobstructed view on all sides through +lattice panels. Even the windshield is made on this plan. This car also +has a revolving turret and carries a 5-centimeter rapid fire gun and +possesses high speed. + +All of the powers have armored automobiles, and in Germany, England and +France the exigencies of conflict impelled the Governments to +practically commandeer all of the automobiles in the countries for war +purposes. Many of these cars were turned into armored cars of the +lighter type, and the number of such automobiles in use runs far into +the thousands. The United States has not made much fuss about it, but +has had armored cars in the regular army for several years. + +The experience gained in the campaign in Europe indicates that the +military authorities believe the high-powered, speedy cars, clad with +armor of medium weight and mounting one or two machine guns, are the +most valuable of all the "sheathed" cars. They can appear suddenly, +maintain a withering fire for a short period and then disappear +suddenly. + +As an instance of what the armored car accomplishes, it is recited that +when the German troops sought to invade the Belgian town of Alost a +detachment was sent through the streets in armored cars. The houses were +barricaded and the Germans feared snipers. There were no snipers when +the motorcars returned. More than a thousand Belgians were mowed down in +the streets by the rapid fire guns of the armored cars. + + +IMPORTANCE OF THE AUTOMOBILE. + +Evidence of how greatly the automobile is appreciated in its relation to +the modern army service is found in the fact that when America entered +the war and began the mobilization of its forces and resources, the +Quartermaster at Chicago was ordered to obtain bids for the delivery of +35,000 motortrucks of one and one-half tons capacity and 35,000 trucks +of three tons capacity. Bids were also asked on 1000 five-passenger +automobiles, 1000 runabouts, 1000 automobiles, in price ranging from +$1500 to $2000, several hundred motortrucks of half, three-quarter and +one ton capacity and 5000 motorcycles, and the same number of +motorcycles with auxiliary passenger capacity, or side cars. + +The motortruck, too, in modern warfare is a shoeshop. The care of the +feet is an important matter in the army, and the men, besides being +provided with good footwear, must have that footwear kept in serviceable +and comfortable condition. It is some job to keep the shoes of half a +million or more men in repair, and the United States Quartermaster +Department, in connection with their mobilization, included in its +equipment portable motor-power machines to nail on half soles for troops +in garrison and campaign. Such a machine will nail on a pair of soles in +five minutes. It weighs but 27 pounds and can be transported with the +troops on a motorcar, and may be used anywhere to keep the shoes in +serviceable shape until the troops can reach permanent camps, where new +footwear can be provided. + + +FRANCE'S TRANSPORTATION RESOURCES. + +At the outset of the war France is said to have had 100,000 passenger +cars, 25,000 motorbuses, taxicabs and motorcycles and 10,000 motortrucks +available for military use, and was able to give the various departments +of her military organization excellent transportation service. Besides +this, she had squads of automobile aeroplane cannon, and about 84 +12-centimeter and 15 5-centimeter Rimailho howitzers of the armored +artillery type. Russia is said to have been weak in automobile +equipment, having less than a thousand trucks in the Empire available +for military use; but this number was rapidly increased, upward of half +a thousand having been purchased within a short time. + +Austria and Germany together are said to have had something like 1500 +trucks and about 20,000 passenger cars available for army use. At the +start Germany alone had 250 armored automobiles, several score of +searchlight automobiles, or night scout cars, probably 8000 motorcycles +and more than 500 motor-driven field guns, besides the big tractors used +to draw the heavy howitzers. Aside from this, practically all the motor +vehicles in the country were commandeered, numbering upward of 75,000. + +While they are stationary devices, the forts which were stormed by the +Germans at Liege and Antwerp are properly part of the military equipment +used in the war. These forts, known as turret forts, are described on +preliminary inspection as looking like a row of huge tortoise or turtle +shells rising a few feet above the ground. The shell is, however, a +shell of chilled steel. Through it the guns protrude and are operated +very much like the guns on a battleship, the turret revolving. Under the +dome are vaults and the compartments of concrete, containing the +mechanism for moving the turrets, operating the guns, lifting the big +shells and handling the ammunition generally. + +The fortifications, which at Antwerp included nine intrenched sections, +were regarded as almost impregnable; but when they were built there were +no such field guns as the famous 42-centimeter guns which the Germans +brought to the attack. The forts themselves had no guns larger than a +7-inch caliber. + + +FRANCE'S ARMORED FIGHTING MACHINES. + +In the matter of movable guns, the French and Germans both had them +mounted on armored trains. One such train used by the French included +armored locomotive, flat cars on which were mounted the guns in +"barbettes," or steel turrets, and completely protected armored cars, +used to transport troops or detachments of men. + +A feature of the train was the observation tower. It was mounted upon +what would ordinarily be the cab of the locomotive. Such towers have in +one form or another become very common in the war. One type resembles +the motortruck ladder and platform devices used by the man who repairs +electric lights and wires in our city streets. Another is patterned +after the hook and ladder truck of the fire department. The tower, or +ladder, is raised after the fashion of the ladders in fighting a fire. A +couple of soldiers turn a crank, and the ladders are raised to a +perpendicular position and extended high into the air on the sliding or +telescope principle. + +The German and Austrian engineers also utilize observation ladders of a +less complicated mechanical nature. In use, and with a soldier perched +on top of them, they remind one of the toy devices with which we played +as children, using the slotted acrobats to do wonderful things atop the +"ladders." The ladders are carried in short sections, which may be +fastened together in a variety of ways, but a good idea of the manner in +which the ladders are used may be obtained if you can imagine a letter Y +made of ladders and turned upside down, with a soldier standing on top +of it. + + +THE IMPORTANCE OF OBSERVATIONS. + +And making observations is a highly important matter in modern warfare; +more important than it was in the old days. The long-range guns are +aimed and their fire directed by observation and calculation. The gunner +cannot see the target he is required to hit. His job is a mechanical +one--perhaps it would be better to say scientific--for he must read +mathematical calculations and interpret them into accurate gun action. +The guns may be on one side of a hill and the enemy on the other, and +they may be miles apart, yet the gunner must be able to get the range. +His efforts are directed by observers in aeroplanes or balloons, and the +range is established by calculations, so that the gunner must be +proficient in geometry, trigonometry and mathematics generally. + +Not all the great guns in the war when it started were owned by the +Germans, for England had 100-ton Armstrong pieces which were capable of +hurling a 2,200-pound projectile; but it was the modification of the +design of the large caliber guns and the method of mounting them, which +permitted them to be drawn wherever needed, that gave Germany such an +advantage. + +Most of the big guns are in the navy--on the huge dreadnoughts and +battleships--and therefore the fortifications at Helgoland, which are +designed to resist the bombardment of the heaviest naval guns, must be +regarded as equipment. Helgoland is the protecting fort of Germany's +most vulnerable point. It is the Gibraltar of Germany, and protects the +entrance to the Kiel Canal from the North Sea. If the British could get +past the fortifications to the Kiel Canal, it could establish a close-in +blockade which would render Germany helpless in a short time. + +Helgoland is an island fortress in the North Sea, in the center of which +is a mortar battery mounting 11-inch and 16-inch guns, capable of +puncturing the decks of the battleship which comes within range; and +these batteries have a range of from six to eight miles. The batteries +are ranged in tiers, one above the other, to a height of almost 180 feet +above the sea level, the heavy guns and pieces being placed below and +the lighter ordnance in the upper tiers. The guns range from 17.7-inch +caliber down to 8.2-inch. Germany calls Helgoland the "fortress +impregnable," and the developments of the war seem to indicate that the +description fits. + + +SMALL GUNS OF VARIED INTERESTS. + +In the smaller guns used in warfare there are many varieties of +interest. The United States prior to and with their entrance into war, +particularly during the period of the trouble along the Mexican border, +experimented with almost every known make of rapid fire machine and +field gun, and there was for a time much criticism because the +government did not adopt for army use the Lewis gun, which was adopted +by some of the foreign countries. + +The German army rifle carried by all the infantry is of the Mauser type, +first introduced in 1888 and gradually improved until 1898. The weapon, +because of the adoption of the improved model in 1898, has come to be +known as the "ninety-eight gun." It is a quick-firing weapon, from which +20 to 30 shots a minute may be projected by the soldier. The gun is +universally used and has a caliber of 7.9 millimeters, which provides +for the use of the smallest bullet which will work sufficient injury on +the enemy to make its use profitable. + +Experience in the Russian-Japanese war proved to the military +authorities that the use of a smaller caliber was not advisable. It was +found that the smaller bullet could, and in many cases did, pass through +a man's body without actually rendering him useless, and that in a large +percentage of cases--more than one-third--the wounded were back with +their troops within a few months. + +In the United States all of the forces are now provided with standard +arms or weapons. The army, the Marine Corps and the organized militia of +the States, absorbed into the body proper of national troops, have the +same firearms--the same service rifles, the same machine guns and field +guns and the same automatic pistols. One kind of cartridge--containing a +cylindro-conical bullet of copper-nickel, with a lead core--serves for +all rifles and for the machine guns as well. + + +OLD FLINTLOCK IN WAR. + +Many people, perhaps, will be surprised to learn that the Mexican war +was fought mainly with the antiquated flintlock muskets. When the +trigger was pulled the flint came down hard upon a piece of steel, and +the resulting spark was thrown into the "pan," igniting a pinch of +powder. The fire ran into the powder charge and the gun went off. Round +balls were used, and the loading was done with the help of a ramrod. + +There were already percussion rifles in those days, but General Winfield +Scott, who bossed the Mexican war, declared that he would have nothing +to do with those new-fangled weapons. The old smooth-bore flintlock was +good enough for him. In truth, the percussion gun of that period was not +as reliable as might have been wished. The cap was liable to get wet and +to fail to go off, whereas a good flint could be counted upon to yield a +spark every time. + +It was not until 1858 that the percussion rifle, still a muzzle-loader, +was generally used by the United States army. The Springfield, which was +the first breech-loader (one cartridge inserted at a time) came along +in 1870. In 1892 it was replaced by the first of our magazine rifles, +the Krag, and simultaneously we adopted smokeless powder, a European +invention. + +The regulation United States service rifle is a great improvement on the +Krag. It is loaded with "clips," holding five cartridges each. The +velocity of the bullet is greater, and the accuracy and rapidity of fire +are superior. + + +FIGHTING RANGE 800 YARDS. + +In the Mexican war the ordinary fighting range, with the smooth-bore +flintlock, was about 250 yards. In the Civil War, with the percussion +muzzle-loader, it was 350 to 400 yards. With the new service rifle, the +fighting range is 700 to 800 yards, and the infantryman is able to fire +at least twenty times as many shots in a given number of minutes as was +possible fifty years ago. + +The field artilleryman carries no rifle, but is provided with a +45-caliber automatic pistol and twenty-one cartridges. The men who +compose the machine-gun platoons have no rifles, but each one of them is +armed with the same sort of service pistol and a bolo. The latter is a +weapon new to our army, adopted as a result of military experience in +the Philippines. It is in effect a machete (a sugar cane chopping +knife), shortened and made heavier. At close quarters it is a formidable +weapon. + +The bolo embodies the best principles of the various razor-edged +fighting blades of the Filipinos, and was first adopted as a side arm of +the Marine Corps officers. The bolo, which is much heavier than an +ordinary sword, measures 24 inches from tip of handle to tip of blade, +and is forged from a piece of file steel. + +For many years the Marine Corps, except upon dress occasions, has had no +cutting weapon. It is not strange, therefore, that many of the officers +of the corps, while on duty in the Philippines, adopted for use in the +field that weapon of the Moro tribesmen. + +The introduction of the bolo as the field arm of the Marine Corps--the +sword having given place to the pistol several years ago in this branch +of the service--robs the time-tried and traditional Mameluke saber of +the corps of the distinction of being the only cutting weapon in the +equipment of this division of the Government's sea fighters. + +The Mamelukes are inseparably associated with the military history of +Egypt, the first country in which a regular military organization was +established, and a country in which the fighting element was the most +honored and powerful of all classes. This type of blade was adopted by +our Marine Corps in 1825, and later by the officers of the Royal Horse +Artillery of England. + +Until recently the allowance of machine guns in our army has been two to +a regiment, but abroad four to six are used. + + +AUTOMATIC MACHINE RIFLES. + +These guns are automatic machine rifles, firing ordinary rifle +cartridges, which (in the Benet-Mercie weapon, a French invention which +we have adopted) are supplied in brass clips of thirty. A small part of +the gas generated by the explosion of the individual cartridge operates +the mechanism, discharging the bullet, throwing out the empty shell and +making ready for the next shot. + +A machine gun is designed to enable one man to fire the equivalent of a +volley, or series of volleys, discharged by an entire platoon (one-third +of a company) of infantrymen. As at present developed, it represents a +step toward the evolution of a shoulder-rifle that will throw a +continuous stream of bullets. + +The latest government rifle--the weapons of the individual soldiers--are +manufactured at the Springfield (Mass.) Armory, which is the +government's great small-arms factory, and at the Rock Island (Ill.) +Arsenal--the facilities of the latter having hitherto been held in +reserve for emergency purposes. The rifle cartridges are turned out at +the Frankford Arsenal, in Philadelphia, and at private plants in Lowell, +New Haven, Bridgeport and Cincinnati. These concerns and another near +St. Louis also make the cartridges for the automatic pistols. + +At the outbreak of the world war we had 150 batteries of light field +guns and 45 batteries of heavy artillery (four guns to each battery), +including cannon provided for by Congress, and since then delivered. +There was an inadequate supply of ammunition for the heavy guns. + + +MUNITION SUPPLY AUGMENTED. + +The ammunition supply was immediately augmented and field guns of +various calibers turned out as fast as possible, including 9-inch +howitzers. + +A 3-inch field gun fires projectiles weighing 15 pounds, with a muzzle +velocity of 1700 feet per second. + +A 4.7-inch field gun fires projectiles weighing 60 pounds, with the same +velocity. + +A 6-inch howitzer fires projectiles weighing 120 pounds, with a muzzle +velocity of 900 feet per second. + +The principal difference between the field gun and the howitzer is that +the latter can be pointed at a high angle, to assail infantry protected +by intrenchments, or for other purposes. + +While reference has been made to siege guns, which were used by the +Germans in their attacks on the Belgian and French forts, the fact is +that the large caliber mortars and howitzers are what wrought the havoc. + +The large caliber howitzers and mortars throw shells containing huge +charges of explosives, and are more adaptable in their application than +the ordinary siege guns or cannons. + +One novelty which had not been used up to the entrance of the United +States into the war is a device invented by a Los Angeles man, which +makes a "periscope gun" of any ordinary service piece. + +In trench warfare, as developed abroad, the periscope has been used by +the men in the trenches to observe the movements of the opposing forces +and watch for scouts without exposing themselves to the fire of +"snipers" or sharpshooters, who are always looking for a head or mark to +aim at. + +The new device comprises two mirrors attached to the gun by a metal +frame in such manner that one mirror is above the range of vision and +reflects the image to be fired at upon the other mirror below the stock +or butt of the gun. The attachment enables the soldier sitting in a +trench or shelter to accurately aim his gun and conveniently shoot while +his head is kept below the safety line, or top of the parapet, or +properly built trench. + + +THE TRENCH PERISCOPE. + +With this attachment, approved by the United States Ordnance Department, +a rifleman, from his concealed point of vantage, can survey a 30-foot +field at 200 yards. The attachment can be removed at will and the metal +bars and parts can be easily carried. The device adds about one and +one-half pounds to the weight of the gun. + +In the same category with the aeroplane, the automobile, the submarine, +the torpedo, in their effect upon the method of waging modern warfare +are the telephone and the wireless telegraph. There were no telephones +and no wireless instruments in the days of our own Civil War, and the +stories related of the bravery and astuteness displayed by orderlies, +messengers and scouts of those days will not be repeated. + +Today the army carries a complete telephone system and wonderful +wireless apparatus. The commander sits in his headquarters and +communicates with his officers in all parts of the field, reaching +points miles distant. Wires are strung through trenches, along fences +and wherever needed, and telephone "booths" are set up wherever it is +found necessary. Switchboards are mounted on motor cars and encased in +armor plate. The "repair" wagons are motor vehicles, and lines cut or +destroyed are quickly repaired or replaced. + +Aerial stations for the wireless are carried, and are of many varieties. +Some of them are similar to the observation towers and ladders. The +French army regulations provide for wireless service between the general +staff headquarters and the army corps, connecting these with the heavy +cavalry divisions and lines of communication. The wireless companies in +the French army are made up of 10 officers and 293 men. + +Nearly all of the other nations have patterned their wireless companies +after the French. The company carries 302 miles of wire and cable and +about 96 sets of instruments. The rate of operation is more than 400 +words a minute. The mast for the aerial station is made in sections, on +the telescope plan, and can be erected by a trio of men in a few +minutes. The whole outfit for a station weighs about 750 pounds and the +range of service is about 200 miles. + + +"KNAPSACK" STATIONS. + +There are, in addition to the field stations, "knapsack" stations, which +are divided into sections so that four soldiers can carry an outfit. The +sections weigh about 20 pounds each. The small station set up with this +apparatus has a range of from 5 to 10 miles and in service replaces the +orderlies and such visual signs and signalling, as was used before the +wireless came into existence. Such an outfit can forward more +information in a few minutes than a whole squadron of orderlies could +riding at full speed. + +The aeroplanes carrying a wireless outfit can communicate with the field +stations, and have rendered wonderful service on the battlefields. The +cavalry also carry wireless outfits, and in the Allied armies the second +regiment of every cavalry brigade has a wireless detachment of 4 +troopers, 1 cyclist and 3 horses, besides a wagon. There is also a +division with tools and material for both destroying and repairing +lines. + +The French army also has automobile wireless stations. The automobile +outfit is complete in every particular and is not augmented. It carries +its own crew and has a traveling radius of several hundred miles. The +car containing the station is completely enclosed and the walls are +deadened so that the noise made by the apparatus may not betray the +presence of the station to the enemy scouts. + +The practical application of portable wireless outfits to military usage +is probably less than four years old, but the portables can transmit +messages over a radius of 200 to 250 miles. Expressed in technical +terms, the portable stations have a capacity of about 200 mile +wave-lengths. + +The one weakness of the wireless is that the enemy can purloin secrets, +though adroitness in manipulation can overcome some of this difficulty. + + +A WORD ABOUT "HEAVY ARTILLERY." + +It would not do to mention armaments and weapons without a word about +the "heavy artillery" of the commissary department, for this branch of +the army service is represented by formidable field kitchens, which are +again carried on trucks or motor cars. The officers' field kitchen +follows the advance of the officers to the field of action. Some of +these kitchens, particularly those of the Kaiser and the Crown Prince in +the German army, are described as almost luxurious. They contain +complete equipment--range, bake-oven, pantry, ice-box, china closet and +every device needed for preparing a complete meal. + +Supplies are hurried after the troops in motor trucks from stations +where the supplies are delivered by rail and soups and sturdy meals are +prepared which were lacking in the campaigns through which the soldiers +of the Civil War passed. The pioneer mobile military field kitchen which +has been the subject of widespread comment was developed by the German +army. + +It consists of a four-wheeled vehicle drawn by two horses, though +motors have supplanted the horses in some cases. The front carriage is +detachable from the rear and is actually a separate contrivance. On the +rear truck is a 200-quart copper, double, or jacketed vat. Also a +70-quart coffee tank. Both receptacles have separate fireboxes and ash +pits. One section carries extra rations for the men, the daily quota of +provisions, extra rations for horses, folding canvas water pails and +utensils. + +The actual food is cooked within the vat or caldron inside the water +jacket, so that the heat does not come in contact with the food direct, +thus preventing burning. The food will cook slowly for hours when once +the water is heated, and will remain hot for a long time. The men can +get water in an emergency and hot coffee is always ready for the +sentries and men on guard duty to carry with them at night. Of course a +bottle of the thermos type is used by these men so that they can have +hot coffee when on the line of duty. The kitchen outfits are complete +and so arranged that they can be rushed over rough ground without +spilling their contents. + +Electric flash lights, batteries for setting off dynamite and other +explosives used for blowing out trenches and other fortifications, +searchlights, mirror signaling devices, illuminating bombs, which are +shot high in the air to explode and illuminate the field for hundreds of +yards, signal bombs, and many ingenious contraptions never dreamed of +are part of the army's equipment used on the battlefields of the +greatest war that the world has ever known. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE WORLD'S ARMIES. + +THE EFFICIENT GERMAN ORGANIZATION--THE LANDWEHR AND LANDSTURM--GENERAL +FORMS OF MILITARY ORGANIZATION--THE BRAVE FRENCH TROOPS--THE PICTURESQUE +ITALIAN SOLDIERY--THE PEACE AND WAR STRENGTH--AVAILABLE FIGHTING +MEN--FORTIFICATIONS. + + +No one scoffs at the military organization which Germany has developed +through the years--yes, almost centuries--of moulding and training, for +Germany has proved herself efficient, even if egotistical and +domineering. She built up what at the beginning of the war was +recognized as the most powerful, most efficient and well balanced +military organization the world has ever known. And it was not an army +in the sense that America has been taught to think of armies. It was a +trained nation for war--a nation armed--rather than a small, compact +fighting machine. + +The strength of the German army on October 1, 1913, has been given in +fairly authentic reports as 790,788 men and 157,916 horses. Of the men +30,253 were officers and 2,483 sanitary officers. There were 104,377 +non-commissioned officers and 641,811 common soldiers. The general +divisions were 515,216 infantry and 85,593 cavalry, 126,042 artillery, +and the rest in the general service, including the commissary and +quartermasters' departments, as these are known in America. The +estimated army on a war footing is more than four times this number and +approximates about 4,000,000, while the entire available force was given +at probably 8,000,000. + +The infantry is designated as the main body of the army. The infantrymen +carry the "98" gun, already referred to, which is an improved Mauser, +and the non-commissioned officers and ambulance drivers carry revolvers. +There are several classes of infantrymen, a distinction being made +between the sharpshooters, and some of the others, variously known as +grenadiers, musketeers and fusileers. + +The cavalry is armed with lance, saber and carbine. There are +distinctions in this branch of the service, too, among the cavalry units +being cuirassiers, hussars, uhlans and dragoons. The field artillery +carries batteries of cannon and light howitzer, and the drivers are +armed with a sword and revolver. The cannoneers have a short knife or +dagger as well as the revolver. + +The communication troops are what parallel the engineers in the United +States army. They build the roads, put up the telegraph lines and +telephone service, construct bridges and make the travel possible. + + +STRENGTH OF GERMAN ARMY. + +While the full strength of the German army is given at 4,000,000 on a +war footing, the total availables from the nation's reserve is double +that sum. These forces are gathered from three sources: the first line, +with an estimated strength of 1,750,000; the Landwehr 1,800,000, and the +Landsturm 4,500,000. + +All who enter the service pass into the Landsturm after 19 years and +remain until they are 45. The cavalry service is three years with the +colors and four years in the army reserve. The horse artillery are +subject to the same service, while those in other branches serve two +years with the colors and five with the army reserve. The soldier passes +from the army reserve into what is described as the Landwehr, where +artillerymen and cavalrymen remain three years; those of other branches +of the military five years. The soldier passes from the first division +or class of Landwehr to the second, where he remains until his 39th +birthday. + +The Landsturm of the first class includes those between the ages of 17 +and 39, who have not reached the age of service, and those who have not +been called into active service because the ranks were full and there +was no room for them in the regular army. The second class includes +those who have passed through the other branches and whose ages are +between 39 and 45. + +There is a wide difference between the military organizations of the +different countries. Whereas the United States army regiment +approximates 1500 men, the German army regiment contains almost 3000. In +the German army six battalions form an infantry regiment. Two regiments +form a brigade, two brigades a division, and two divisions an army +corps. There are 10 divisions composed of 3 brigades each, but of course +the whole organization was augmented when war broke out. Adding the +necessary auxiliary troops, viz: an artillery brigade of 12 batteries +composed of 6 guns each--or 4 in the case of the horse Batteries--a +regiment of cavalry of 4 squadrons, an engineer battalion, sanitary +troops, etc., a German 3-brigade division at war strength numbers about +21,000, and an army corps--to which are further attached 4 batteries of +howitzers and a battalion of rifles--about 43,000 combatants. The +cavalry division is composed of 3 brigades of 2 regiments each and 2 or +3 batteries of horse artillery, a total of 24 squadrons and 8 to 12 +guns. + +In a general way it may here be interpolated that the organization of an +army is given in the military manuals as follows: + + +INFANTRY. + +A squad is 8 men under the command of a corporal. + +A section is 16 men under the command of a sergeant. + +A platoon is from 50 to 75 men under a lieutenant. + +A company is 3 platoons, 200 to 250 men, under a captain. + +A battalion is 4 or more companies under a major. + +A regiment is 3 or more battalions under a colonel, or a +lieutenant-colonel. + +A brigade is 2 or 3 regiments under a brigadier-general. + +A division is 2 or more brigades under a major-general. + +An army corps is 2 or more divisions, supplemented by cavalry, +artillery, engineers, etc., under a major-general or lieutenant-general. + + +CAVALRY. + +A section is 8 men under a corporal. + +A platoon is 36 to 50 men under a lieutenant, or junior captain. + +A troop is 3 to 4 platoons, 125 to 150 men, under a captain. + +A squadron is 3 troops under a senior captain, or a major. + +A regiment is 4 to 6 squadrons under a colonel. + +A brigade is 3 regiments under a brigadier-general. + +A division is 2 or 3 brigades under a major-general. + + +ARTILLERY. + +A battery is 130 to 180 men, with 4 to 8 guns, under a captain. + +A group or battalion is 3 or 4 batteries under a major. + +A regiment is 3 or 4 groups (battalions) under a colonel. + +When regiments are combined into brigades, brigades into divisions, and +divisions into army corps, cavalry, artillery, and certain other +auxiliary troops, such as engineers, signal corps, aeroplane corps, +etc., are joined with them in such proportions as has been found +necessary. Every unit, from the company up, has its own supply and +ammunition wagons, field hospitals, etc. + + +THE UNITED STATES ARMY. + +Prior to 1915 the regular United States army was a mere police body as +compared with the armed forces of other countries. It was concededly +highly efficient, but for the purpose of entering into conflict with +such forces as those presented by Germany, France and some of the other +European countries it was admittedly inadequate. + +The entire force consisted of 5,004 officers and 92,658 men. The forces +were divided into 15 regiments of cavalry and 765 officers and 14,148 +men; 6 regiments of field artillery, with 252 officers and 5,513 men; +the coast artillery with 715 officers and 19,019 men, and 30 regiments +of infantry, with 1,530 officers and 35,008 men. The Philippine scouts +had 182 officers and 5,733 men; the Military Academy 7 officers and +6,266 men and the Porto Rico regiment of infantry with 32 officers and +591 men. + +The signal corps had 106 officers and 1,472 men, and the engineer corps +237 officers and 1,942 men. There were also about 6000 recruits in the +various branches of the service under training. + +The marine corps, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, had +346 officers and 9,921 enlisted men. + + +THE REGULAR ARMY. + +The regular army was supplemented by the National Guards of the various +States which had 7,578 regiments with 9,103 commissioned officers and +123,105 enlisted men, or a total organization of 132,208. The "reserve +militia," which was in fact little more than a name, consisted of the +availables for service between the ages of 18 and 45 years, and +estimated on the basis of population, numbered about 20,000,000. + +Before there was any real indication that the country would become +actively involved in the world war steps were taken to reorganize and +develop an efficient army, and under the Act which became effective on +July 1, 1916, and which provides for the establishment of basic units +for the army, the War Department orders and regulations fixed the basis +of the organization as follows: + +Sixty-four infantry regiments, 25 cavalry regiments, 21 regiments of +artillery, a coast army corps, the brigade division, army corps, and +army headquarters, with their detachments and troops. A general staff +corps, adjutant general's department, inspector general department, +judge advocate general department, quartermaster corps, medical +department, corps of engineers, and ordnance department, signal corps, +officers of the bureau of insular affairs, militia bureau and detached +officers. + +The law specifies that the total armed force shall include the regular +army, volunteer army, officers' reserve corps, enlisted reserve corps, +and the National Guard of the various States, subject to call for duty +within the borders of the United States. + +The reorganization of the army was being effected at the time Uncle Sam +was called to fight for humanity, and only an approximation of the +condition can be made, for about two-thirds of the National Guard had +been taken into the regular service incident to the trouble with Mexico, +when the Guardsmen were summoned to the border to protect the country, +and recruiting was proceeding in all branches of the service to bring +all the regiments up to a war footing. + + +UNITS ON WAR FOOTING. + +The various units, on a war footing, are: Infantry regiment, 1,800 men; +cavalry regiment, 1,250 men; field artillery, light regiment, 1,150; +field artillery, horse regiment, 1,150; field artillery, heavy regiment, +1,240; field artillery, mountain regiment, 1,100; engineers, pioneer +battalion, 490; engineers, pioneer battalion, mounted, 270; engineers, +pontoon battalion, 500; signal troops, field battalion, 160; signal +troops, field (cavalry) battalion, 170; signal troops, aero squadron, 90 +men. Trains--infantry division: ammunition, 260; supply, 190; sanitary, +530; engineer, 10. Cavalry: ammunition, 60; supply, 220; sanitary, 300. + +A division of infantry consists of 3 brigades of infantry, 1 cavalry +regiment, 1 artillery brigade, 1 regiment of engineers, 1 field signal +battalion, 1 aero squad, 1 ammunition train, 1 supply train, 1 +engineer's train and 1 sanitary train, and comprises approximately +22,000 men and 7,500 horses and mules, and 900 vehicles, including guns. +The latter figures are, however, changed by reason of the introduction +of motor trucks, and automobiles, there being a consequent reduction in +the number of horses and mules and a slight increase in the number of +men. + +A cavalry division consists of 3 cavalry brigades, 1 regiment of field +artillery, 1 battalion of mounted engineers, 1 field signal battery, +mounted; 1 aero squadron, 1 ammunition, 1 supply, 1 engineer and 1 +sanitary train. + +A brigade, in the main, consists of three regiments, the infantry having +5,500 men, cavalry brigade 2,500 and artillery brigade 2,500 men. + +Under the reorganization plan the United States army would have about +293,000 in the service, but with the advent of the country's entrance +into the conflict of world powers Congress passed the Conscription bill +authorizing the drafting, for military purposes, all young men between +the ages of 21 and 31 in the country. + + +MILLIONS NOT IN THE COUNTRY'S SERVICE. + +The registration of those subject to call under this bill showed that +there were about 11,000,000 men in the country, not in the army, navy or +supporting branches, available. The bill designed to produce, within a +year from the time of the signing of the law by President Wilson, of a +national army of more than 1,000,000 trained and equipped men, backed by +a reserve of men and supplies and by an additional 500,000 under +training. + +Meantime the State authorities were authorized to fill up the National +Guard units and regiments to full war strength, so that with the regular +army there would be a total of 622,954--293,000 regular and 329,954 +guardsmen, to be taken over by the War Department. This was the physical +state of the army when the country found it necessary to ship men into +France to assist the Allies in their fight against the German and +Austrian forces, and General Pershing was sent to command the American +troops. + +The United States army and all of the military branches are armed with +the Springfield magazine rifle, which holds five cartridges. It shoots a +pointed bullet of tin and lead and is of .30 inch caliber. The Colt +automatic pistol is used as the service weapon by officers and those +requiring this sort of arm. It is a .45 caliber pistol with a magazine +holding seven cartridges, which can be fired successively by simply +holding the trigger back. + + +THE FRENCH ARMY. + +Military spirit in France has had an almost incredible resurrection +within the past few years. The increase in the standing army of Germany +was watched closely, and as new units were added to the standing army of +the latter country France retaliated by lengthening the term of military +service from two to three years. This accomplished practically the same +purpose without causing a ripple of excitement, and as France determined +to recover her lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine her fight is to the +limit of her endurance. + +There were, at the outbreak of war, 869,403 men in the National Army of +France, which was composed of the Metropolitan army, having a total of +753,403 men, of the Colonial army, numbering 116,000 men. These figures +do not include the personnel of the Gendarmerie, or military police, +which numbered 25,000 men. + +Military service is compulsory in France and all males between the ages +of 20 and 48 years must serve three years in the army, the only cause +for exemption being physical disability. Following the active service +the soldier passes to the reserve for 11 years, after which he is seven +years in the Territorial army and seven years in the Territorial +reserve. The training in the active reserve consists of two periods of +training and maneuvers which last for four weeks each, in the +Territorial army one period of two weeks, and in the Territorial +reserve, no fixed period. There are more than 2,000 reservists per +battalion produced by the length of the reserve service, and when the +troops are mobilized the active units can be easily maintained at full +war strength. The number available in this way gives enough men for each +battalion and regiment in the field with enough men left over for +routine home guard work. + + +FRENCH MILITARY DIVISIONS. + +There are two infantry regiments, composed of from six to eight +battalions, to the brigade, in the French army, with two brigades to a +division and two divisions to an army corps. A field artillery regiment, +consisting of nine batteries of four guns each, is attached to each +division. With nine field and three howitzer batteries and six +reinforcing batteries added under mobilization, each corps on a war +footing has 144 guns. There is also added to every army corps in the +field one cavalry brigade of two regiments, one cavalry battalion, +engineer companies and sanitary and service troops. The cavalry +divisions are composed of three brigades of two regiments each--together +with three batteries of horse artillery. There is in an army corps, when +mobilized, approximately 33,000 combatants, and in a cavalry division +4,700 men. An aeronautical corps in the French army consists of 334 +aeroplanes and 14 dirigibles. + +In the Reserve army at the time of mobilization there were two divisions +in each region, corresponding to those in the active army. When they +were mobilized the 36 reserve divisions contained virtually the same +organization and strength as the troops of the line. There were a large +number of troops for garrisoning the various fortresses when the +regional regiments, engineers and foot artillery were utilized for this +work. + +The Territorial army also consists of 36 divisions and garrison troops. +When the remaining men of the Reserve and Territorial armies were +summoned to the depots they were available to maintain the field army at +full strength. + +In the French field army there were 20 army corps, a brigade consisting +of 14 battalions, and 10 divisions of cavalry, when war was declared. +When this was raised to its full war strength the active army numbered +1,009,000 men, the reserves and depots 1,600,000, the Territorial army +818,000, and the Territorial Reserve 451,000, a grand total of 3,878,000 +soldiers. At this critical time, therefore, France had at her command +about 5,000,000 trained men. + +Lebel magazine rifles of .315 inches caliber are used by the infantry, +while the cavalry uses the Lebel carbine. The field piece is a +rapid-fire gun of 7.5 centimeters, or 2.95 inches, of the model of 1907, +and is provided with a shield for the protection of the gunners. A +howitzer of 12 or 15.5 centimeters is the type used by the French army. + +The French artillery is generally admitted to be in a class by itself, +and the commissariat is excelled by none other. The infantry is most +deceptive in appearance, but the ability of the French to march and +attack has never been surpassed. + + +THE RUSSIAN ARMY. + +There are 1,284,000 men in the Russian army in times of peace, while the +war strength is 5,962,306. The young man of Russia is compelled to enter +the army at the age of 20 years, the military service being compulsory +and universal, terminating at the age of 43 years. The period of service +in the active army is three years in the case of the infantry and +artillery, and four years in other branches of the service. The soldier +then passes to the reserve, where he serves for 14 or 15 years, during +which period he receives two trainings of six weeks each. After 18 years +in the active and reserve armies he is transferred to the Territorial +army for five years. There also exists a modified system of volunteers +for one year who supply the bulk of officers required for the reserve +upon mobilization. + +The Russian army is divided into three forces, the army, of the +European Russia, the army of the Caucasus and the Asiatic army. There +are 1,000 men in a Russian battalion, 4 battalions constituting a +regiment, 2 regiments a brigade and 2 brigades a division. + + +RUSSIAN FIELD BATTERIES. + +The field batteries are composed of 8 guns, the horse batteries of 6. +The ordinary army corps is made up of 2 divisions, a howitzer division +and one battalion of sappers, and has a fighting strength of +approximately 32,000 men. The rifle brigades form separate organizations +of 8 battalions with 3 batteries attached. The Cossacks, who hold their +lands by military tenure, are liable to service for life, and provide +their own equipment and horses. At 19 their training begins; at 21 they +enter the active regiment of their district; at 25 they go into what is +termed the "second category" regiment, and at 29 the "third category" +regiment, followed by 5 years in the reserve. After 25 years of age, +their training is 3 weeks yearly. In European Russia the field army +consists of the Imperial Guard and Grenadier Corps, 27 line army corps +and 20 cavalry divisions; in the Caucasus of 3 army corps and 4 cavalry +divisions. The Asiatic army is composed of Russians with a few Turkoman +irregular horse, and is mainly stationed in East Siberia. Since the +Russian-Japanese war these forces have been increased and reorganized +into a strong army which, at the outbreak, was capable of mobilizing, +together with auxiliary troops, more than 200,000 men. + +The small-arm of the infantry is the "3-line" rifle of the 1901 model. +It has a magazine holding five cartridges, a caliber of .299 inches, a +muzzle velocity of 2,035 foot seconds, and is sighted to 3,000 yards. +The arm of the cavalry and Cossacks has a barrel 2-3/4 inches shorter, +but uses the same ammunition, and is provided with a bayonet which no +other mounted troops use. The field piece is a Krupp rapid-fire, +shielded gun, of the 1902 model, with a muzzle velocity of 1,950 foot +seconds, the shell weighing 13-1/2 pounds. + + +AUSTRIA-HUNGARIAN ARMY. + +There are 472,716 men in the army of Austria-Hungary during times of +peace, with a war strength of 1,360,000 soldiers. Military service is +universal and compulsory, beginning at the age of 19 years, and ending +at the age of 43 years. The term of service in the common or active arm +of the service is for two years in the case of the infantry and three +years in the cavalry and horse artillery. + +There is a Landwehr, or first reserve, in which the term of service is +10 years in the infantry, and seven for the cavalry or horse artillery, +which service is followed by that in the Landsturm, or second reserve, +in which the soldier serves until his forty-second birthday. Hungary +possesses a separate and distinct Landwehr and Landsturm, which +constitute the Hungarian National army. There is also a supplementary +reserve intended to maintain the units of the common army at full +strength. + +The Empire is divided into 16 army corps districts, each presumed to +furnish a complete army corps of two divisions to the active army. Every +infantry division is composed of two brigades of 8 battalions each, 1 +artillery brigade and 10 batteries of six guns, a regiment of cavalry, +and a rifle battalion. The army corps also contains a regiment of field +artillery or howitzers, a pioneer battalion and a pontoon company, and +numbers about 34,000 combatants. + +There are 6 permanent cavalry divisions, each made up of 2 brigades--24 +squadrons, 3 batteries of horse artillery and a machine-gun detachment +numbering about 4,000 men. It is estimated that the war strength is, +active army, 1,360,000; Austrian Landwehr, 240,000; Hungarian Landwehr, +220,000; Landsturm, 2,000,000 and reserve of 500,000, or a grand total +of 4,300,000. + +The infantry carries the Mannlicher magazine rifle, .315-caliber and a +cavalry carbine of the same make. The field gun is a Krupp which uses a +14-1/2-pound shrapnel and the field howitzer is a 10.5 centimeter piece +which fires a 30-pound shell. The Hungarian cavalry is accounted fine, +but the main force is not regarded as efficient as the German or French. + + +THE ITALIAN ARMY. + +The army of Italy on a peace footing is only about 250,860 men, +exclusive of the troops in Africa, but the country is able to mobilize a +large force, and some of its branches of service are the most efficient +in the world. Service is compulsory and general, beginning at the age of +20 years. After two years in the standing army there are six years in +the reserve, four years in what is known as the mobile militia and seven +years in the territorial militia. + +There is compulsory training in both the reserve and the territorial +militia, ranging from two weeks to six weeks. In organization each +division of the army consists of 2 brigades composed of 2 regiments, +comprising 3 battalions, together with a regiment of field artillery, +with 5 batteries. The division has a war strength of 14,156 officers and +men and 30 guns. The cavalry division comprises 2 brigades of 4 +regiments and 2 horse batteries. Each army corps has two divisions in +which are included a regiment of field artillery, 3 heavy batteries, a +regiment of cavalry and one of light infantry. + +There is available for army service the military police, known as the +Carabinieri, besides the aeronautical corps, with half a dozen or more +companies, 30 aeroplanes and a dozen airships. There are also the +frontier troops organized for defense of the mountains, and which troops +waged heroic and picturesque warfare in the mountain passes. There are +in these troops 8 regiments of Alpine infantry, comprising 26 +battalions, and 2 regiments of 36 mountain batteries. + +The army strength approximates 2,600,000, made up of 700,000 active +army, 400,000 mobile militia, which is the second line of defense, and +the territorial militia, about 1,500,000. The infantry is armed with a +magazine rifle of 6.5 millimeters caliber known as the Mannlicher +Carcano, but up to the beginning of the war the territorials used a +different type. + + +GREAT BRITAIN'S ARMY. + +The military establishment of Great Britain consists of the Regular army +and the Territorial army, aside from the Indian army and the local +forces in the various colonies. These armies are recruited from youth +between the ages of 18 and 25 years, who are recruited by voluntary +enlistment. The enlistment period is for 12 years, although it can be +prolonged under certain circumstances to 21 years. + +Three to nine years is the period with the colors, and the remainder of +the enlistment is with the Army Reserve. Many men elect to serve seven +years with the colors and five with the reserve. Recruits are subjected +to five months' training, and each year are called out for six weeks, +supplemented by six days' musketry practice for the infantry. + +The Home army consists of 9,740 officers and 172,610 men, the Army +Reserve of 147,000 and the Special Reserve of 80,120, and the +Territorial army of 313,485, a total of 724,955 men. Raised to war +strength, these forces would number 29,330 officers, 772,000 men and +2,072 guns, the batteries being of six guns, except the heavy batteries +and those of the Territorial army, which have four. During the Boer War +England put more than 1,000,000 men in the field. + +The United Kingdom is divided into seven "commands," and the London +district, all of which include from two to three territorial divisions, +and one to four territorial cavalry brigades, in addition to detachments +of varying size from the Regular army. Two nearly full divisions are +stationed at Aldershot and in Ireland, one complete division in the +Southern and one in the Eastern "command." There are also six aeroplane +squadrons, each with 18 aeroplanes. + +The Lee-Enfield rifle, caliber .303, is the arm of the infantry and +cavalry. In the Regular army the field artillery has an 18-pounder +Armstrong gun, the horse artillery a 13-pounder, the field howitzers are +40-pounders, and the heavy batteries are armed with 60-pounders. + +The Territorial army was organized along the lines of the American +militia, and could scarcely be expected to distinguish itself when +pitted against the German regulars. + + +BELGIAN ARMY PEACE FOOTING. + +The Belgian army peace footing is 3,542 officers and 44,061 men, with a +war strength estimated at from 300,000 to 350,000. The infantry is armed +with the Mauser rifle, the artillery with a shielded Krupp quick-fire +piece of 7.5-centimeter caliber. + +In 1913 the Netherlands had in its standing army 1,543 officers and +21,412 men and 152 guns. On a war footing it could probably be raised to +270,000 men. The small arm is the Mannlicher rifle and carbine, the +field gun is the same as that of Belgium. + +Servia has 10 divisions, divided into 4 army corps. The peace footing is +160,000, and the war strength about 380,000. The rifle is the Mauser +model of 1899, and the field piece a quick-firing gun of the French +Schneider-Canet system. + +Bulgaria has a peace army of about 3,900 officers and 56,000 men. It is +armed with the Mannlicher magazine rifle, the Mannlicher carbine, the +Schneider quick-fire gun and a light Krupp for the mountain batteries. +On a war footing the country musters 4 army corps and 550,000 men. + +Roumania's army is about 5,460 officers and 98,000 men. On a war footing +it has 5 army corps and 580,000 men. The infantry uses the Mannlicher +magazine rifle and the cavalry the Mannlicher carbine. The field and +horse batteries are armed with the Krupp quick-fire gun of the model of +1903. + +In 1912 Greece had a peace establishment of 1,952 officers and 23,268 +men, but the recent war has caused her to augment them to 3 army corps, +and her war footing is not far from 250,000 men. The infantry is armed +with the Mannlicher-Schonauer rifle of the 1903 model and the field +artillery with Schneider-Canet quick-fire guns. + +Japan has a peace strength of 250,000 men, with a reserve of 1,250,000, +and a total war strength of 1,500,000 men, out of a total available +force capable of fighting of approximately 8,239,372 men. + + +SPAIN'S STANDING ARMY. + +The standing army of Spain is 132,000 men. The reserves are estimated at +1,050,000, and the total war strength at 1,182,000. The total available +unorganized force is 2,889,197 men. + +The army of Denmark on a peace footing is 13,725 men, with a reserve of +71,609. The total war strength is a little more than 85,000 men, and the +total fighting population is approximately 470,000. + +Sweden has a peace strength in excess of 75,000 men, and a reserve of +more than 500,000, giving an estimated war strength of 600,000 men. The +total available unorganized force is about 500,000. + +Norway has a standing army a little larger than that of Denmark--about +18,000 men--with 90,000 reserves, giving a total war strength of about +110,000 men. The unorganized force available is about 360,000 men. + +Portugal has a peace strength of 30,000 men, with a reserve of 225,000, +making a total war strength of more than one-quarter of a million. The +unorganized fighting material is more than 800,000. + +Turkey, which reorganized its forces within recent years, has a peace +strength of 210,000 men, about 800,000 reserves, giving a war strength +of over a million, and has a total available unorganized force to call +upon of more than 3,000,000. + +The little army of Montenegro is a permanent body of about 35,000 men. +There are no trained reserve forces, but there is an available fighting +population of 68,000, outside of the army, to call upon. + + +CHINA'S MILITARY RESOURCES. + +Recent events throw some doubt on the figures regarding China's military +resources, but the last available figures credited the great Republic of +the East with a force of 400,000 men, augmented by 300,000 reserves. +With this total war strength of 700,000 soldiers, estimates of the +available unorganized fighting material reaches the stupendous figure of +63,000,000. + +Brazil has a peace strength of 33,000, with more than 500,000 reserves, +with more than 4,000,000 unorganized available material. + +As relating to the armed strength of the nations abroad, some reference +to the system of fortifications which protect the various countries is +interesting at this point. Following years--in fact, centuries--of +study, Central Europe has been strongly fortified with a system of +embattlements which have reached the limits of human ingenuity. + +In the east of France, along the frontier where France, Switzerland and +Germany meet, there are the first-class fortresses of Belfort, Epinal, +Toul and Verdun in the first line, reinforced by Besancon, Dijon, +Langres, Rheims, La Fere and Maubeuge in the second line, with smaller +fortifications close to the German frontier at Remirement, Luneville, +Nancy and other points. Along the Italian frontier the fortresses are +situated at Grenoble, Briancon and Nice, with Lyons in the rear. There +are strong forts at all naval harbors, the defense of Paris consisting +of 97 bastions, 17 old forts and 38 forts of an advanced type, the +whole forming entrenched camps at Versailles and St. Denis. + +On that line of the German frontier which faces France there are the +fortresses of Neu-Breisach, Strassburg, Metz and Diedenhofen, in the +first line, with Rastatt, Bitsch and Saarlouis in the second line, and +Germershein in the rear. Situated opposite Luxemburg is Mainz, with +Coblentz and Cologne opposite Belgium and Wesel opposite Holland. + +All along the northern coast, from Wilhelmshafen to Memmel, the German +coast is strongly fortified. Memmel is the pivot point of the northern +and eastern frontier, the latter frontier being protected by Konigsberg +and Allenstein, of the first line, and Danzig, Dirschau, Graudenz, Thorn +and the Vistula Passages, of the second line. South of this point are +Posen, Glogau and Breslau, which face Poland, while beginning at Neisse +the strong defense against Austria consists of fortifications at Glatz, +Ingolstadt and Ulm, the approaches to Berlin being guarded by Magdeburg, +Spandau and Kustrin. + + +POLISH QUADRILATERAL. + +Along the line of the Russian frontier which guard that country from +attacks by the Germans are the fortresses of Libau, on the Baltic; +Kovna, Ossovets and Ust-Dvinsk, in the Vilna district, and in Poland +there are situated Novo-Georgievsk, Warsaw and Ivangorod, on the +Vistula, and Brest-Litovsk, on the Bug--four strongholds known as the +Polish Quadrilateral. Guarding Petrograd are the smaller fortifications +of Kronstadt and Viborg, with Sweaborg midway down the Gulf of Finland +near Helsingfors. Sebastopol and Kertch, in the Crimea, and Otchokov, +near Odessa, are the fortifications which guard the Black Sea. + +Along the Austrian frontier are the strong embattlements of Cracow and +Przemysl, on the road to Lemberg in Galicia. These forts face Poland. In +Hungary there are Gyula-Fehervar and Arad, on the Maros River, and which +guard the approach from the angle of Roumania. On her frontier facing +Servia there are Alt-Orsova and Peterwardein, on the Danube, and +Sarajevo, in Bosnia, with Temesvar and Komorn blocking the approach to +Vienna from the southeast. On the Adriatic are Cattaro, on the edge of +Montenegro, and the naval arsenals of Pola and Trieste. All the Alpine +passes of the Tyrol are fortified, but neither Vienna nor Budapest has +any defenses. + +The fortifications of Italy, aside from those on her coasts, extend in a +line from Venice, through Verona, Mantua and Piacenza to Alessandria and +Casale, which face the French frontier. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE WORLD'S NAVIES. + +GERMANY'S SEA STRENGTH--GREAT BRITAIN'S IMMENSE WAR FLEET--IMMENSE +FIGHTING CRAFT--THE UNITED STATES' NEW BATTLE CRUISERS--THE FASTEST AND +BIGGEST OCEAN FIGHTING SHIPS--THE PICTURESQUE MARINES: THE SOLDIERS OF +THE SEA. + + +Just as Germany at the outset of the war had the most efficient and, +broadly speaking, the greatest army in the world, so England had the +greatest navy in the world. As a matter of fact, Great Britain's +domination of the seas was very largely responsible for the development +of the super-submarine by Germany, and the putting into effect of the +submarine warfare which proved so disastrous to the Allies. This for the +reason that Germany, having sought for means to offset Great Britain's +power and control of the seas, turned to the underseas craft. + +Up to the accession of Emperor William II--the Kaiser--Germany's navy +was little more than a joke. In 1848 the National Parliament voted six +million thalers for the creation of a fleet, and some boats were +constructed. But the attempts to weld Germany, then little more than a +federation, into a nation having failed, the fleet was put up at +auction, and actually sold in 1852. Prussia, a separate state, had +started a fleet of her own and purchased the German boats. + +This fleet, just before the American Civil War, consisted of four +cruisers, carrying 28 cannon, and one cruiser having 17 cannon, besides +which there were 21 "cannon boats," carrying two and three cannons each. +The Prussian fleet merged into the North German Confederation in 1867, +and in turn became part of the fleet of the new German Empire in 1871. + +In the war with France the German fleet played no part. There were one +or two clashes between French and German small boats, but that was all. +Even the successful outcome of the war did not inspire Germany to build +up a navy. Plans for the greater navy were first outlined about 1882, +but for a period of seven years not a battleship was built, +concentration being placed upon the torpedo boat. The idea of developing +the torpedo boat fleet belong to the present Grand Admiral von Tirpitz, +then a young officer. The fleet became the best in the world, but its +usefulness was soon checked by the new inventions, searchlights, gatling +guns, etc. + +Germany's fleet legislation of 1898 for the first time looked ahead and +established rules for future building. The Spanish-American and the Boer +wars disquieted Germany, and about 1900 the fleet was doubled by +legislation. In 1906 the campaign of submarines, torpedo boats and +greater battleships began. Part of the program required that 12 torpedo +boats be built each year. Additional legislation for the construction of +cruisers and battleships was effected in 1908, and in 1912, until at the +beginning of the war, Germany had 38 ships of the line, 14 armored +cruisers, 38 protected cruisers, 224 torpedo boats and 30 submarines. +There were no torpedo-boat destroyers, the small cruisers taking their +places. The naval organization contained 73,000 officers and men. The +largest boats are the dreadnoughts, which are divided into several +classes. One of the last of these built by Germany was the Derfflinger, +which had a displacement of 28,000 tons. + +The personnel of the German navy prior to the war was 79,197 officers +and men. + + +THE BRITISH NAVY. + +Because of the fact that the territory of Great Britain is scattered +over the face of the globe and that it is necessary to use the highways +of the sea for reaching her various possessions, the navy of that +country is undoubtedly the greatest collection of fighting ships ever +gathered together under one flag. + +In order to take care of her population of 1,625,000,000 she has +gathered together a navy consisting of 60 modern battleships, 9 battle +cruisers, 34 armored cruisers, 17 heavy protected cruisers, 70 light +cruisers, 232 destroyers, 59 torpedo boats of the latest type, 75 +submarines, together with 50 sea-going auxiliaries of the fleet, which +are used as mother ships to destroyers, mine-layers, distilling ships, +oil ships, repair and hospital ships, with 145,000 officers and men. + +The first group, completed between 1895 and 1898, includes six +battleships, all of 14,900 tons displacement, 12,000 horsepower and +2,000 tons coal capacity. The speed is 17.5 knots, the armor belt being +from 10 to 14 inches at the big guns and with a mean armor belt of 9 +inches. The armament consists of 4 12-inch guns, 12 6-inch rapid fire, +16 3-inch rapid fire, 12 3-pounder rapid fire, 2 light rapid fire and 2 +machine guns. They have one torpedo tube above water and two under +water. + + +MONSTERS OF THE SEA. + +A later group of six was built in 1900 and 1902. These monsters of the +sea are of 12,950 tons displacement, 13,500 horsepower and have 2,300 +tons coal capacity. They have a speed of 18.25 knots, 6 inches of armor +belt and from 8 to 12 inches protection for her big guns. The armament +consists of 4 12-inch rapid fire guns, 12 6-inch rapid fire, 10 3-inch +rapid fire and 2 light rapid fire and 2 machine guns. There are four +torpedo tubes. + +Gradually England developed larger and larger vessels from this point, +increasing the displacement in each group from 16,350 tons in 1906 to +20,000 in 1911, and finally to 25,700, when the Queen Elizabeth and +Warspite were completed in 1915. These boats--England's +super-dreadnoughts--are of 58,000 horsepower (turbine), 4,000 tons oil +capacity. They have a speed of 25 knots, 13.5 inches of armor belt and +from 8 to 13.5 inches protection for the big guns. The armament consists +of 8 15-inch, 16 6-inch and 12 3-inch rapid fire guns. They have five +torpedo tubes. There were 150,609 officers and men in the navy when +England entered the war. + + +THE FRENCH NAVY. + +At the beginning of the war the French navy ranked fourth among the +navies of the world. She had 18 battleships of the older types, and +which ranged in date of launching from 1894 to 1909. There were building +at that time eight ships of about 23,095 tons displacement. Although +France had no battle cruisers, she had 19 armored cruisers. The heavier +of these ships had a designed speed of 23 knots, and carried from 2100 +to 2300 tons of coal. Their main batteries consisted of 2 7.6-inch rapid +fire and 8 6.4-inch rapid fire guns. + +Two protected cruisers, the D'Entrecasteaux and the Guichen, and 10 +light cruisers of no fighting importance completed the list of French +ships. + +France was, however, strong, so far as numbers go, in destroyers, +torpedo boats and submarines, there being 84 destroyers, with +displacements of 276 to 804 tons and speeds of 28 and 31 knots. She +possessed 135 torpedo boats and 78 submarines, but many of these were of +small size. One hundred and one of her torpedo boats had displacements +of about 95 tons, and 20 of the submarines had displacements of 67 tons. + +Of the submarines, there were 33 which had a displacement of 390 tons, 2 +of 410 tons, 6 of 550 tons, 2 of 785 tons and 7 of 830 tons. This +displacement, which was surface, is usually 70 per cent of the +submerged. The larger submarines carry from six to eight torpedo tubes. +In the early part of 1916 the French Government had 12 submarines +building, these latter having surface displacement of 520 tons and +having Diesel motors of 2000 horsepower. The speed of these submarines +is 17-1/2 knots on the surface and 8 knots submerged. + +Attached to the French fleet are 16 auxiliaries, used as mine-layers, +submarine destroyers and aeroplane mother ships, of from 300 to 7,898 +tons. + +There were 61,240 officers and men in the navy of France when war was +declared. + + +THE RUSSIAN NAVY. + +With the ending of the Russo-Japanese war the Russian navy was given an +overhauling. There were but three of the old battleships of the Russian +navy left after this fateful struggle, these being the Tri Sviatitelia, +the Panteleimon and the Czarevitch. The Russian Government labored +diligently to build up her navy, and is still doing her utmost to +readjust that branch of her service. + +With the outbreak of the great war she had six armored cruisers, none of +which was in the Black Sea. These averaged in tonnage from 7,900 to +15,170 tons displacement. There were eight cruisers of from 3,100 to +6,700 tons, and of no fighting value whatever. + +Russia had but 14 torpedo boats, all small and of little value. She had +a fairly good fleet of destroyers and submarines, having 91 of the +former and 55 submarines. + +There were 36,000 officers and men in the service when hostilities +opened. + + +THE AUSTRIAN NAVY. + +When the war was declared Austria, Germany's supporter, had nine +battleships ready. These were completed since 1905, as follows: In 1906 +and 1907 there were finished three battleships which displaced 10,433 +tons, had 14,000 horsepower and 1315 tons coal capacity. They had a +speed of 19.25 knots, 6 to 8.25 inches of side armor and 9.5 inches +protection for the big guns. The armament consisted of 4 9.4-inch, 12 +7.6-inch rapid fire, 14 3-inch rapid fire and 16 smaller guns. They had +two torpedo tubes. + +In 1910 three other ships were added to the navy. These were slightly +larger than those described just above, having a displacement of 14,268 +tons, with engines of 20,000 horsepower. They had three torpedo tubes. + +Three ships of 20,000 tons displacement were launched in 1912 and 1913. +They had a speed of 20 knots and four torpedo tubes. Three other +battleships had been built up until 1906, and these, together with 10 +light cruisers, were in the Austrian navy at the breaking out of +hostilities. + +The torpedo boat destroyers, of which there were 18, must not be +forgotten. Twelve of these were of 384 tons, capable of making 28-1/2 +knots. These carried 4 12-pounders and 2 21-inch torpedo tubes. They +were built for oil fuel. + +There were six submarines in this navy, these being of moderate size, +ranging from 216 to 235 tons displacement on the surface. + + +THE JAPANESE NAVY. + +There were 9 first-class battleships in the Japanese navy at the +beginning of the world war. Of battle cruisers there were 5, while of +the older battleships 13 were ready for orders. Twelve first-class +cruisers were ready for duty, and there were 9 second-class cruisers and +9 third-class cruisers. Of gunboats there were 5, 60 destroyers, 37 +torpedo boats and 15 submarines. The personnel of the Japanese navy +consisted of 47,000 officers and men. + + +THE ITALIAN NAVY. + +Italy was ready for her part on the seas with 7 first-class battleships, +8 of the older type, 9 first-class cruisers, 5 second-class cruisers, 10 +third-class cruisers, 5 gunboats, 46 destroyers, 75 torpedo boats and 20 +submarines. There were 36,000 officers and men to handle these ships. + + +THE TURKISH NAVY. + +When hostilities were declared Turkey had a navy consisting of 2 +first-class battleships, 3 battleships of an older type, 2 first-class +cruisers, 2 second-class cruisers, 4 third-class cruisers, 8 gunboats, 2 +monitors, 10 destroyers and 8 torpedo boats. The officers and men in the +Turkish navy numbered 30,000. + + +THE UNITED STATES NAVY. + +The United States navy, which has made an enviable reputation for itself +wherever and whenever the boats and men have been engaged, ranked third +at the beginning of the war. While not of the heaviest type, the boats +were of the most improved models, and maintained on a basis that +justified the belief that they would stand up in the face of the +severest opposition. + +There were 12 modern battleships, 30 of an older type, 10 armored +cruisers, 5 first-class cruisers, 4 second-class cruisers, 16 +third-class cruisers, 30 gunboats, 9 monitors, 74 destroyers, 19 torpedo +boats and 73 submarines, manned by 55,389 officers and men. The +California, Idaho, Arizona, Mississippi and Pennsylvania are the latest +battleships of the navy, and are of the super-dreadnought type. All of +these battleships have a displacement of more than 31,000 tons, and have +the most complete equipment that it is possible to command. The +batteries consist of 4 13-inch and 14 6-inch guns, 4 6-pounders, +together with 4 21-inch torpedo tubes. There is a variation in the +batteries, but all have approximately the same kind of armament. + +One of these huge vessels is about 625 feet long, and has a speed of +from 21 to 23 knots. The Pennsylvania, one of the largest, is of 31,500 +horsepower, and cost approximately $7,250,000. In addition to this, +Congress had authorized the construction of what is designed to be the +supreme type of fighting vessel. The plans for these vessels call for +the construction of vessels approximately 875 feet long and nearly 90 +feet wide. Some idea of what enormous vessels these must be may be +gained when it is seen that the cruisers are 250 feet longer than the +super-dreadnought. + +The battle cruisers have six decks, extending from end to end, and are +so extensive that they almost constitute a battlefront. + +This comparison to a battlefront on land becomes interesting when +consideration of it is further pursued. There are even railroads to +fetch ammunition to the guns, though they run vertically instead of +horizontally. The general headquarters is in the conning tower, to which +all lines of "field communication" lead--telegraphs, telephones, etc. + +The "observation posts," for directing and correcting the range and aim +of artillery, are at the tops of the two wire "bird-cage" masts. This +work is helped (as on land) by kite balloons and aeroplanes, which, as +part of its fighting equipment, the battle cruiser carries. To blind the +enemy ships, under suitable circumstances, the big guns create a +"barrage" of water, by directing their fire at the sea in front of the +hostile vessels, throwing over them a mass of spray. + + +AMPLE PROVISION FOR THE WOUNDED. + +On board the battle cruiser is a fully equipped field hospital, +supplemented by battle dressing stations near the guns, for the +emergency treatment of the wounded. To the musicians of the ship's band +is assigned the duty of carrying wounded men to the dressing stations +and the hospital, the latter being on one of the lower decks, beneath +the water level. + +The battle cruiser, built long and narrow, has a great speed. The four +monster propellers are driven by electricity, which is generated by +engines fed with fuel oil. The speed attained is 35 knots an hour, which +means the same speed as a train traveling at the rate of 40 miles an +hour, since the sea mile, or knot, is longer than the land mile. + +In order to obtain this enormous speed it was necessary for the +designers of the battle cruisers to sacrifice armor protection. The +armor on these ships is but an eight-inch belt. The real object of the +battle cruiser is to use its superior speed and overwhelming gun power +to overtake and destroy the enemy's ships of the second line, the +auxiliaries and scouts. + +Each of these vessels has a displacement of 34,800 tons--meaning, in +plain language, that they weigh that much, hence displace that much +water when launched. The biggest British battle cruiser, which is the +largest battle cruiser afloat, is the British Tiger, which has a +displacement of 28,500 tons, and is less in length by 150 feet than +these mighty battle cruisers. The Tiger is much less formidably armed, +carrying eight 13 1/2-inch guns. The largest German battle cruiser is +the Derfflinger, of 26,200 tons, and armed with eight 12-inch rifles. + +Our latest commissioned dreadnought, the Arizona, has engines of 31,400 +horsepower. The engines of that monster passenger steamship, the +ill-fated Lusitania, were of 70,000 horsepower. Those of the Tiger boast +120,000 horsepower. But each of our six battle cruisers has 180,000 +horsepower to drive her through the water. + + +HUGE FIGHTING CRAFT. + +These huge fighting craft are the most expensive ships ever built. Each +of them cost about $20,000,000, the money outlay being something like +$16,500,000, exclusive of armor and guns. And for each battle cruiser +must be provided, in the way of personnel, 1,153 enlisted men, 64 +marines and 58 officers. + +While the American Navy had but 55,389 men when the war opened it was +quickly increased, and under the Army bill, which provided for the +reorganization and increasing of the land forces, the naval forces were +also increased. + +The bill increasing the authorized enlisted strength of the navy to +150,000 did not provide for any additional officers above the rank of +lieutenant. The increase in the enlisted force amounts to 57,000, the +authorized strength at the time of the law's passage being 93,000. Based +on the increase, the allowance of officers would be 747 lieutenants and +954 lieutenants junior grade and ensigns. + +The increase in the enlisted strength of the Marine Corps from 17,400 to +30,000, or by 12,600, also gives an additional allowance of 504 +officers to the corps, which, under the bill, are distributed among the +grades of major, captain, first lieutenant and second lieutenant. + +The Marine Corps is one of the most picturesque military organizations +in the world. There is, probably, no other such body of trained +soldiery. While they are under the control of the Navy Department, they +can be detached from that branch of the service and assigned for duty +with any other branch of the military forces of the country. + + +POLICEMEN OF THE SEA. + +They are the policemen of the sea; they are artillerymen, infantrymen, +cavalry, engineers, and soldiers, first, last and all the time. They are +the first troops in action, and there is no restriction as to the kind +of military duty they are called upon to perform. + +The Marines served on shore and on board vessels of the navy throughout +the Revolutionary War, two battalions having been authorized by the +Continental Congress November 10, 1775. The present organization really +dates from July, 1798, when Congress passed an act approving the +establishment of an organization to be known as the Marine Corps, +consisting of 1 major, 4 captains, 16 first lieutenants, 12 second +lieutenants, 48 sergeants, 48 corporals, 32 drums and fifes and 720 +privates. + +Every one of the 15,000 men who composed the more than a century old +Marine Corps when the war broke out was ready and on his toes when the +call for action came. There was nothing in the way of scientific +preparedness that got by them. In the matter of trench helmets, for +instance, when it was time for the American nation to come to the front +in the great world war, the Marines had a helmet so much of an +improvement on the one used by the Allies that there was no comparison. + +Armored motorcars, likewise, of the most improved type, belonged to the +Marine Corps when the call for action came. These cars are capable of +making 45 miles an hour, and there were plenty of them for service in +the Marine Corps. Some interesting equipment never used before the big +war composed part of the quartermasters' stores in the Marine Corps. + +It's a marvel what these chaps can do with a big naval gun--one of those +big brutes which are bolted down to the deck of a warship. It doesn't +look like a thing to be picked up and carted around the country. That's +precisely what the heavy artillery companies do, however. It takes them +but a few minutes to sling one of these five-inchers over the side of a +ship, land it, and take it wherever it is needed. They do this with the +aid of a single-spar derrick, some little narrow-gauge trucks and a +portable narrow-gauge railroad. + + +TRANSPORTATION OF BIG GUN. + +The method is to lay down the railroad--it can be done very swiftly by +men carefully trained in the art of laying tracks over all kinds of +ground--put the gun and its mount, with a specially prepared base of +extremely heavy timbers, on the tracks, and trundle it to the place +where it is needed to pour a rapid fire into the enemy. + +Here a pit has been dug, in which is laid down the heavy timber base, +riveted together with heavy steel bolts. Then it is well packed with +dirt and stone, and the gun carriage made fast ingeniously. The +single-stick derrick has been erected alongside, guyed out in four +directions with heavy ropes, which are made fast to the ground by means +of "dead men," and manipulated by very live gangs of husky marines. A +chain block of powerful type is used to pick up the gun carriage and put +it in place, and afterwards to swing the gun into its sockets on the +carriage. + +Later the breech locks and sights are added, and the big five-inch, +40-caliber naval gun is ready to go into action. These big and heavy +guns, suitable for long range work with high explosive shells, can be +taken a quarter of a mile or so from the ship which carried them, over +rough ground, set up and put in operation in a few days' time. + +But the heavy artillery base is only one of the Marines' work. They have +big howitzers, of the more modern type, most of which are kept at +Annapolis, where they can be loaded aboard ship in short order. Men and +machines can be mobilized at the strategic points in a very short time. + + +EVERY MAN'S SERVICE. + +The Marine service is unique in many respects. For one thing, it is +every man's service. The proportion of officers who have risen from the +ranks or who have been commissioned from civilian life is higher in the +Marine Corps than in either the Army or the Navy. This, of course, makes +for democracy in the corps. An enlisted man, who does not wait until he +is too far up in the 20's to enlist, has a very fair chance of earning +his commission. Another thing--and this is of prime importance to the +ambitious fellow--promotion goes by merit. In the army and navy the +young officer is promoted by seniority. + +Things are a bit different in the Marine Corps. In this organization a +man doesn't absolutely have to wait for his number to come around. If he +distinguishes himself above his fellows, he may be promoted without much +regard for age or length of service. He goes up as he is able to, by his +active ability and his readiness to work hard and effectively for Uncle +Sam. There are advocates, of course, of both systems. There are merits +which both systems can justly claim. But it goes without saying that +this possibility of promotion keeps everybody in the Marine Corps on the +jump. + +Even the enlisted men who are too old to get commissions have something +to work for. Not very long since Congress authorized the appointment of +"warrant officers" in the Marine Corps. The Navy had this grade for many +years. It is new in the Marine Corps, and is an added incentive to hard +work. + +Another incentive--and perhaps the strongest one--that draws young +fellows of the up-and-doing sort into the Marine Corps is that of active +service. The Marines boast that they are always on the job; that no +matter how peaceful the time, the Marines are sure to see "something +stirring" right along. It is a saying--and a true one--in the Marine +Corps that every marine who has served the ordinary enlistment in the +corps since the Spanish-American war has smelt powder. Ever since the +fuss with Spain the marines have been covering themselves with glory. In +that little war of 1898 the Marines were the first to land in Cuba. They +held Guantanamo for three months. In 1890 they saw service in the +Philippines; the next year in China. In 1902 the Marines took part in +the fighting against Aguinaldo, the wily Filipino leader. In 1903 they +put down the rebellion in Panama, captured Colon and opened up the +Panama railroad. In 1906 they helped quiet the uprising of that summer +in Cuba. They were in Nicaragua in 1909. From 1911 to 1913 they did more +duty in Cuba, with a whirl in Nicaragua again in 1912. They helped hold +Vera Cruz for three months in 1914. Next year they went to Haiti, where +they have been moderately busy from time to time since. Santo Domingo +saw them in 1916. + + +AN UNAPPROACHABLE RECORD. + +Neither the army nor the navy can claim anything to beat it--you +couldn't tell a marine that the rival branches of the service can claim +anything to equal it. And as for the modern implements of warfare--the +European armies have no advantage over the marines for testing out new +devices. They had armored cars, for instance, as far back as 1906; they +began to use motor trucks for military purposes as early as 1909. Every +marine expedition is equipped with its quota of armored trucks. They +would as soon think of voyaging over the seas to put down an incipient +revolution without their armored cars and motor trucks as they would of +going to meet the enemy without their rifle. + +There used to be an old joke about "Horse Marines." A sailorman on a +horse is an incongruous thing--a sight to make you hold your sides. But +the marines are not plain sailormen. They are "soldier and sailor, too," +and as soldiers they have turned the joke on the old saw about "horse +marines." There are "horse marines" these days, and mighty good cavalry +they make. + +The marine can ride with the best of the cavalrymen. And in the fracas +in Domingo there were two cavalry companies of marines organized. + + +THE MANY-SIDED MARINE. + +It takes a bit longer to make an efficient marine than to make an +infantryman. This because the marine is a man of many specialties. He +is, of course, in season and out of season, an international policeman. +That's his job in time of peace. But when he fares abroad to fight his +country's battles he may be called upon to do almost any kind of work. +He may be an artilleryman; a signalman; an airman. He may be, and +usually is, anything that his country needs at that particular time. And +he is trained to meet the emergency. + +The new recruit, in ordinary times, is sent for his first instruction to +Port Royal, down in Georgia. There he has nothing to do but drill, +drill, drill, until he can do the infantry evolutions in his sleep. He +learns to drill, he learns to keep clean--the Marines are something of a +dandy corps--and he learns to take care of himself no matter what +happens. He is taught to be a soldier and a man. He learns to walk +straight, shoot straight, think straight. And then he goes for a spell +to sea--for after all, he needs sea legs as well as land legs. + +But these two tricks of duty by no means end the marine's schooling. +When he has become an efficient all-around man he may specialize. He +may, if he chooses, go into the signal corps and learn the multitude of +details connected with this ultramodern arm of the service. He learns to +send messages by every possible means. He learns to operate a radio. +And, it might be mentioned in passing, the Marine Corps is equipped with +the very finest of radio apparatus. They have big trucks which carry the +outfit and supply the power for either sending radio messages or +operating huge electric searchlights. Or he may go into aviation. + +[Illustration: INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARIES BEFORE THE WAR. + +This map shows the boundary lines between nations as they were at the +beginning of the war, as also the coast lines of Europe. The latter are +brought out in bold relief.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE NATIONS AT WAR. + +UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENTS--HOW THE WAR FLAMES SPREAD--A SCORE OF COUNTRIES +INVOLVED--THE POINTS OF CONTACT--PICTURESQUE AND RUGGED BULGARIA, +ROUMANIA, SERVIA, GREECE, ITALY AND HISTORIC SOUTHEAST EUROPE. + + +The real history of the greatest war of all times is the history of the +entire world, touching every phase of existence in a manner that has +never been approximated by any other conflict. The motives and +ramifications are so great that it is almost impossible for the human +mind to grasp the significance of many things of importance which, at a +glance, seem to be but incidents. + +The world looked on expectantly when the war started, because there was +a general knowledge of the conditions existing in Europe and the +undercurrent was felt by students of international affairs. But that +Russia would revolt and the Czar abdicate, as he did in March, 1917, and +the iron-ruled country would set up a government of its own--would join +the circle of democracies--was not even hinted at. Neither was it +intimated that Constantine I, King of Greece, would abdicate in favor of +his son, Prince Alexander, as he did in the following June, under +pressure, because of his sympathy for Germany. + +Neither was there a suspicion that the fire started by the flash of a +pistol and the bursting of a bomb in Bosnia would spread until sixteen +countries were arrayed against Germany and Austria, supported by the +Bulgarians and the Turks. And to these must be added the entrance into +the conflict of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, possessions of Great +Britain, and smaller possessions of other countries. The flames swept +over the face of the earth in this fashion: + +Starting with the movement of Austria against Servia, after the +assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand, there lined up as a +consequence of the alliances formed between the powers, the countries +referred to in preceding chapters. The triple alliance was originally an +agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, to strengthen +their positions, and the Triple Entente consisted of agreements between +France, England and Russia. + + +INVASION OF BELGIUM. + +Briefly, the invasion of Belgium by Germany, and her ambitions in the +southeast, where Russia had what amounted to protectorate relations, +drew first France, England and Russia into the strife, and step by step +there became involved nation after nation. The steps, marked by the +declarations of war, were as follows: On July 28, 1914, Austria declared +war on Servia, and on August 1 Germany made the declaration against +Russia. Next Germany turned upon France, on the third day of August, and +also on Belgium, whereupon, on the following day, Great Britain declared +war on Germany; a day later Austria-Hungary issued the mandate against +Russia, and two days later, or on August 8, Montenegro declared war on +Austria. Austria accepted the challenge, and then Servia took up the +cudgel against Germany. France made formal declaration of war on +Austria-Hungary and by the end of August Montenegro had declared against +Germany; Great Britain on Austria; Japan on Germany; Austria on Japan; +Austria on Belgium. Later, or early in November, Russia declared herself +against Turkey, as did France and Great Britain. + +For six months the battle raged and the rest of the world regarded the +result with grave concern until in May of 1915 Italy, having renounced +her alliance with Germany and Austria, declared war first on Austria, +then on Turkey. In the fall of 1915 Servia took up arms against +Bulgaria, as did Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia. Then Germany +declared against Portugal, whose government replied in kind; Austria +followed Germany in the alignment and finally, in August, 1916, there +were exchanges of sharp "courtesies"--the complete severance of all +diplomatic relations and open warfare--between Roumania and +Austria-Hungary; then between Bulgaria and Roumania, with the consequent +alignment of the Central Powers. Italy had also made her declaration +against Germany specific. So for nine months the war waged with terrible +bitterness until on April 6, the United States, by the proclamation of +President Wilson, was finally at war with Germany. + + +IN THE NATURE OF MERE FORMALITIES. + +These steps were, in many instances, in the nature of formalities, for +the relationships of some of the countries involved placed them in the +position of practically being at war before formal announcement was +made. The position then, was that Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey +were supported by Bulgaria, who was anxious to get redress for having +been cheated out of what she regarded as her rightful possessions in the +settlement of the Balkan war question. Those aligned on the other side +were England, France, Russia, Montenegro, Italy, Belgium (which had been +making defensive warfare in keeping with her desire to be true to her +neutral pledges); Servia, Roumania, Japan, Portugal, the United States, +the little principality of Monaco, which is best known as the seat of +Monte Carlo, the great gambling center of Europe, and San Marino, a +similar "patch" on the map of Europe. Brazil, Guatemala, and the little +Republic of Cuba also aligned themselves against Germany in support of +the Allies, though there was no actual engagement of their forces. Thus +there could be counted as at war against the Central Powers in June, +1917, sixteen countries. + +Most interesting of all the countries involved were those belonging to +the Balkan group and centering in southeastern Europe. The Balkan +nations, Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, with Greece, paved the way for +their entrance into the conflict when they formed an alliance, in 1912, +for common protection, particularly for the enforcement of one of the +provisions of the Berlin Treaty, guaranteeing local government to the +Bulgar and Serbian colonies in Macedonia. Montenegro began war on Turkey +in October, and Bulgaria, Servia and Greece joined and drove the Turks +out of many of their strongholds. + +[Illustration: OUTLINE MAP OF GERMANY AND THE STATES FORMING THE EMPIRE. + +This drawing shows the location of the twenty-five States which were +included within the boundaries of the German Empire at the beginning of +the war.] + + +"COMIC OPERA" SOLDIERS. + +In a month of fighting the little countries, in the picturesque +southeastern section, whose soldiers have been depicted as "comic opera" +soldiers, had rent Turkey; Greece had captured the famous Macedonian +city of Salonica, once known as Thessalonica, where was located the +church in which was addressed St. Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians; +while the Servians had captured Monastir, one of the most important +centers in Macedonia, and the Bulgarians had driven the Turks almost to +the famed city of Constantinople. The Servian soldiers finally marched +to the Adriatic sea, and Albania raised a flag of its own and asked +Austria-Hungary and Italy to recognize its independence and grant it +protection. + +Within little more than two months Turkey had been deprived of the +greater portion of her possessions in Europe and a treaty of peace was +signed between the allied countries and the Turks. By this agreement +Albania became in effect a suzerainty, protected by Austria. But the +agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy--the Triple +Entente--gave those countries a combined power which, when it came to +fixing the terms of peace, left the small allied countries of victory at +a disadvantage, and while Montenegro and Greece gained some territory, +as did Servia, Bulgaria lost what she had gained in the war. Turkey lost +90 per cent of her Empire in Europe, which so aroused the country that +the rising of the young Turks followed and the government was +reorganized. The enforced terms of settlement, however, set the little +countries at each other's throats. + +The field of the Balkan battles is the very center of the world's +history. Along the Adriatic, Ionian and Agean seas are lands and +territories peopled with races that mark their ancestry back to the very +darkest ages. The protected country of Albania, with its rocky surface, +numbers among its peoples descendants of the Arnauts, whose very origin +is a mystery. They were present before the days of Greece and Rome. The +Ottoman Turks, the Bulgars from the plains of the Volga and the Ural +Mountains, the Serbs, the Roumanians, Russians, Italians, the Slavs, +Tartars. + + +A REGION OF MOUNTAINS. + +Albania is a mountainous region along the Adriatic coast, peopled with +descendants of the ancients who maintain their characteristics. They are +said to be descendants of the Pelasgian races, which inhabited the +territory before the Greeks builded their Athens. + +The Albanians are wild, daring mountaineers, and though the people have, +to all intents and purposes, been under Turkish rule for centuries, they +have never recognized the sovereignty of the Sultan. It was originally +part of the Turkish Empire in Europe, having been taken by Turkey, in +1467, and is a fertile, but wild country. + +The same picturesque people that make up the population of Albania +constitute the populace of the little country of Montenegro, which was +once part of the Turkish possession. Montenegro contained about 3486 +square miles of territory before its acquisitions in the Balkan wars. +Aided by Russia, the country obtained its independence from Turkey in +1878, and in 1910 became a kingdom. Its present area is about 5650 +square miles and the population 520,000. The capital is Cettinje. + +Bulgaria was also once a part of the Turkish possessions, and under the +Treaty of Berlin, in 1878, became a suzerainty. It is a famous pastoral +country, inhabited by a people for years held under the Ottoman heel. +They are racially Turanians, and kin of the Tartar and Huns, who came +into their present fertile country from the vast plains of eastern +Russia. They made their way thither more than a thousand years ago, and +battling at the very gates of Constantinople, by their fierce crusades, +secured the grants from the Byzantine Empire of the territory, which +constitutes the Bulgaria of today. The population is nearly 5,000,000, +and the country contains about 43,000 square miles. + + +WHY ITALY ENTERED THE WAR. + +Italy's reasons for entering the war, aside from her demands for +territory, in exchange for continuance of neutrality, have to do with +matters of years gone by, when she began the struggle for her liberation +from the Austrian domination. Italy desired, among other things, to +acquire Trentino, Goritz, and other adjacent territory controlled by +Austria, but Italian in every attribute. Trentino is a rocky region, and +strategically valuable to the country possessing it, which was proved by +the terrible struggle which the Italians were forced to make in their +attacks against the Austrian forces. + +The city of Trent is the capital of Trentino, famous in history, and the +seat of the long church council in 1545-46. It was in turn controlled by +Roman, Goth, Hun, Lombard and Holy Roman Empire. It is the site of many +historic buildings, notably the cathedral of Trent, which is a fine +example of Lombard architecture, and the church of Santa Maria Maggorie, +where the famous Council of the Roman Catholic Church was held. There +are old towers, and libraries rich in manuscripts. + +Trentino is famous for its mountain passes, over which the Italians have +been compelled to drag their heavy artillery and implements of war. The +Alpini, the mountaineer soldiers of Italy, are among the most +picturesque in the world. They have scaled the almost perpendicular +faces of the Alps, climbing from crag to crag with their bodies roped +together, dragging machine guns in pieces strapped to their shoulders. +Tolmino, Trieste, Istria, Dalmatia, Avlona, the prime harbor of Albania +(seized by Italy in the fall of 1916). These are little spots in the +territory logically Italian, which Italy covets. + +[Illustration: OUTLINE MAP OF THE AUSTRIA-HUNGARY EMPIRE. + +Drawn and engraved especially to show the Provinces comprising the +Empire, and their locations as they were at the beginning of the war. +This is a country of many nationalities and languages.] + + +DIVIDED INTO SIXTEEN DEPARTMENTS. + +Italy, since its consolidation into one kingdom in 1870, has been +divided into sixteen departments comprising sixty-nine provinces. The +country has a total area of 110,623 square miles, and a population of a +little more than 35,000,000. The Roman Catholic Church is irrevocably +linked to the history of Italy and Rome, its capital, marked the +farthest advance of civilization in the ancient days. It possesses four +distinct zones, ranging from the almost arctic cold of the mountain +belts to an almost tropical heat in the southern lowlands. It is one of +the picturesque countries of the world, a center of art, industry and +travel. + +Servia, which is separated from Austria-Hungary by the Danube, is of +precisely the same character as the other rich, mountainous region. The +country was subjugated by the Turks, who retained possession of it until +1717. Austria then wrested control from the Turks, and held it until +1791, when Turkey again dominated it. In 1805 the Servians revolted, and +secured temporary independence, only to again come under the Ottoman +rule. Again it secured freedom in 1815, and by the Treaty of Paris, +independent existence was secured for it. Turkey became only a nominal +authority. It became a kingdom in 1882, after having become absolutely +independent with the Berlin Treaty. + +The people are Slavonic, and kin to the Croats of ancient history. They +are described as having come from Poland and Galicia, moving down the +Danube, into what is the present kingdom. In the fourteenth century the +Servian empire comprised the whole Balkan peninsula, from Greece to +Poland, and from the Black Sea to the Adriatic. But Servia warred with +Turkey, and her troops were defeated in the great battle at Kossovo, and +the Ottoman power became supreme. The country has an area of about +34,000 square miles and a population of 4,600,000. + + +LITTLE BOSNIA'S FUTURE. + +Bosnia, where was assassinated the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, of +Austria, was a Turkish province, west of Servia, and under the treaty of +Berlin was to be administered for an undefined period by the Austrian +government. The little section contains about 16,000 square miles and +has a population of about 1,750,000, largely of Slavonic origin. They +are partly Mohammedans, partly Roman Catholics and Greek Catholics. In +the middle ages Bosnia belonged to the Eastern Empire. Later it became a +separate kingdom, dependent upon Hungary, only to be conquered by the +Turks. It is the mountainous, rugged country of the Julian and Dinaric +Alps, but has many fertile valleys, and is well watered by the river +Save, and its numerous tributaries. + +Greece, the modern kingdom, is one of the countries that for centuries +were politically included within the limits of the Turkish Empire. In +its present form it represents but a portion of that country, famous in +history, as the Greece of the Ancients--that classic land which holds +the most conspicuous place in the pages of ancient history--but still it +is inclusive of the greatest names belonging to the glorious past. It is +the country of Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes and Argos. It is +separated from Turkey by a winding boundary, extending from the Gulf of +Arta on the west to the Gulf of Salonica on the east. + +The earliest settlers were the Pelasgi, who were in course of time +replaced by the Hellenes. They, in turn, were succeeded by the +Phoenicians, who swayed the country. Athens, Sparta, Thebes and Corinth +came into existence and became the centers of political government, of +the most progressive advancement in civilization. Civil discords brought +on first the Peloponnesian War, about 434 B.C., and made them prey to +the Macedonians. Successively invaded by Goths, Vandals and Normans the +country came into the possession of the Turks in 1481, though for two +centuries the power of the Turk was questioned by the Venetians. Revolt +was had from the Ottoman yoke in 1821, and independence was secured by +the interference of foreign powers after the defeat of the Turk at the +Navarino, in 1827. Through the succeeding years it has been a protected +monarchy. + + +ONE OF THE BALKAN GROUP. + +Roumania, the largest of the Balkan group, lying between Russia on the +north, and Bulgaria on the south, is the home of the Gacians, +descendants of the warlike tribes who for years held their own against +Greek and Roman. After the fall of Rome the province became a melting +pot, through which the hordes of invaders, passing from Russia to Asia, +were in a sense made one people. The Goths, the Huns, the Lombards, the +Bulgars and the Magyars traversed the region, leaving many settlers. It +became divided into two provinces, Moldavia and Wallachia, known as the +Danubian provinces. + +Both provinces were conquered by the Turks in the fifteenth and +sixteenth centuries, and under Peter the Great the Russians attempted +the conquest of the provinces. In 1859 the two provinces were united +under a prince whose independence both Turkey and Russia recognized, and +in 1881 the country declared itself a kingdom. The province of Wallachia +derives its name from the people who early settled there, the Wallachs. +The Roumanians claim descent from Vlachi, a colony of Romans, who +settled in Thrace, and, in the twelfth century, emigrated to the Danube. +The name Roumania is derived from the word Roman, the country having +originally been "the Land of the Roumani." Roumania has a population of +about 7,600,000 and comprises 64,000 square miles. + +Macedonia, famous country of Greece in the time of Philip, father of +Alexander the Great, embraced the entire region from the Scardian +Mountains to Thessaly, and from the Epirus and Illyria to the river +Nestos, taking in what is now part of Salonica. It was reduced by the +Persians and subsequently Alexander the Great made it the nucleus of a +vast and powerful empire along with Greece. Ultimately it passed under +Roman sway, until it was ceded, in 1913, to Greece. + + +AN OBJECT OF CONTENTION. + +Alsace-Lorraine is worthy of note, as comprising one of the territories +which for centuries have been the cause of conflict between Germany and +France. It is pointed to as the physical evidence of the humiliation of +France at the hands of the Germans, in 1870, and has for nearly one-half +a century been a German imperial territory. The surrender of Alsace and +part of Lorraine was made the principal condition of peace on the +settlement of the war of 1870. Bismarck, it is said, might have been +content with a language boundary, taking only that portion of the +country in which lived those who spoke the German tongue. + +For strategic purposes, however, Alsace and Lorraine, with the exception +of one district, were taken. The strip of country was to be governed by +the power of the German Emperor until the constitution of the German +Empire was established. Many of the inhabitants opposed the Prussian +domination, and a vote was taken on who would declare themselves Germans +and remain in the territory, or French and leave. More than 40,000 left +the country and went into France. + +The German language was made compulsory in the schools, the courts and +the legislative body. The French never forgot their loss, and revenge +for that loss has been a subject of consideration in their foreign +policy ever since the war of 1871. Alsace and Lorraine contain about +5600 square miles, and together have a population of about two million. +About 85 per cent of the people speak German. + +[Illustration: OUTLINE MAP OF TURKEY IN ASIA. + +A country where civilization was first born and which is now undergoing +a new birth of a new civilization. The location of the Garden of Eden +was between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The drawing shows the +country which is mentioned largely in Bible history.] + + +PICTURESQUE TURKEY. + +Turkey, one of the picturesque and ancient countries which is aligned +with the Germans, is a Mohammedan state of the Ottoman Empire in +southeastern Europe and western Asia, whose holdings in Europe have been +steadily decreasing, especially during recent years. The immediate +possessions of Turkey, or those directly under the Sultan's rule at the +time this country became involved in the great world war, extended from +Montenegro, Bosnia, Servia and eastern Roumelia on the north, to the +Agean Sea and Greece on the south, and from the Black Sea to the +Adriatic, the Straits of Otranto and the Ionic Sea. In September, 1911, +the Italian government sent a long list of claims made by Italy against +Turkey for economic and commercial discrimination against Italian +commerce, and the person of Italian citizens all over the world. A reply +was demanded within twenty-four hours, and failing to receive a reply +considered satisfactory, Italy immediately sent warships to Tripoli, +bombarded and captured the city. This meant that Turkey has lost one of +her most important seaports, consequently weakening her position. + +The immediate possessions of Turkey in Europe, at this time, had an area +of 65,350 square miles, with a population of 6,200,000. In Asia Turkey +had possessions of 693,610 square miles, with a population of +16,900,000, while in Africa about 398,000 square miles belonged to the +Turkish Empire, on which lived 1,000,000 persons. This gave Turkey an +area of about 1,157,860 square miles, with a population of 24,100,000. A +number of islands in the Agean Sea belong to Turkey, and Egypt is also +nominally part of the kingdom of the Sultan. + +[Illustration: A DASTARDLY CRIME WHICH AUTOCRACY CANNOT DENY. + +Aerial photograph by a British pilot showing four huts of a British +hospital in France, in which were helpless men who were blown to bits. +All plainly shown in the foreground.] + +[Illustration: A BRITISH TOMMY ON WAY TO TRENCHES. + +This photograph shows a soldier crossing through a trench--which is +camouflaged. The screen prevents his being seen.] + +[Illustration: AN ATTACK BY AMERICANS. + +Company H and Company K of the 336th Infantry, 82nd Division are +advancing on enemy positions in France and driving them out while the +307th Engineers of the 82nd Division are clearing the way by blowing up +wire entanglements.] + +[Illustration: GENERAL BULLARD.] + +[Illustration: GENERAL LIGGETT.] + +[Illustration: GENERAL DICKMAN. + +American Army Commanders who out-generaled the Germans. They were well +supported by the fearless and determined fighters, the U.S.A. troops.] + +[Illustration: A RELIGIOUS MEETING ON THE FIELD. + +American, British, French, Belgian and Portuguese troops are represented +in this gathering of defenders of Liberty listening to a sermon on the +western front.] + +[Illustration: THE HOLY LAND AND THE WAR. + +Christmas Day at Bethlehem. Latin procession to the Church of +Nativity.] + +[Illustration: FIGHTING IN PALESTINE EAST OF THE JORDAN. + +Infantry were in the act of occupying an important hill when they were +met with a strong counter-attack. The timely arrival of machine guns and +supports the situation.] + +[Illustration: SIGNING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE BY +MID-EUROPEAN NATIONS. + +Professor H.A. Miller, Director; Thos. Naroshevitshius (Lithuaniana); +Christos Vassilkaki (Unredeemed Greeks); Christo Dako (Albanians); +Charles Tomazolli (Italian Irredentists); Nicholas Ceglinsky (Ukranian); +Dr. Hinko Ninkovich (Jugoslavs); T.M. Helinski (Poles); Dr. T.G. Masaryk +(Prime Minister of Cezhoslovakia); G. Pasdermadjian (Armenians); Capt. +Vasile Solca (Roumanians): Gregory Zsatkovich (Uhro-Rusins); Ittamar +Ban-Avi (Zionists). Signed Independence Hall, Phila, Oct. 26.] + +[Illustration: GENERAL ALLENBY. + +One of the notable events in the history of the war was the surrender of +Jerusalem to the British Army under the command of General Allenby.] + +[Illustration: GENERAL TOWNSHEND. + +The British officer who was taken prisoner at Kut-el-Amara, and who +afterwards became the peace negotiator.] + +[Illustration: OFFICE OF A FIELD CASHIER. + +This spot was formerly one of the pillbox strongholds of the famous +switch in the Hindenburg line. It was afterwards run by the Canadians.] + +[Illustration: Negro Band of the 814th Infantry Leaving the Celtic After +Her Arrival.] + +[Illustration: 8th Reg., FRENCH WAR-CROSS WINNERS. + +Top Row: 1st-Lieut. Hurd, Lieut-Col. Duncane, Major White, Capt. +Crawford, 1st-Lieut. Warfield and Capt. Smith. Bottom Row: Capt. Allen, +Lieut. Browning, Capt. Warner and 1st-Lieut. Tisdale.] + +[Illustration: Captain John H. Patton, 370th U.S. Infantry (formerly 8th +Illinois Infantry). + +Regimental Adjutant to September 11, 1918. Commanding 2nd Battalion from +September 11, 1918 to December 17, 1918. Saint Mihiel Sector from June +21, 1918 to July 3, 1918. Argonne Forest from July 16, 1918, to August +15, 1918. Battles for Mont des Signes September 16 to September 30, +1918. Oise-Aisne offensive September 30 to November 11, 1918. Awarded +the French Croix de Guerre (Division Citation for meritorious service +covering the period September 11 to November 11, 1918.)] + +[Illustration: Homecoming of 370th (old 8th Regiment), parade passing +the reviewing stand, Michigan ave., opposite Art Institute, Chicago Ill. +Line of march broken by the great mass of people eager to march with the +soldiers, the greatest gathering ever assembled on Chicago's great +boulevard.] + +[Illustration: Officers of the 370th (old Illinois 8th Regiment) + +Reading left to right: 2nd-Lieut. Lawson Price, 2nd-Lieut. L.W. Stearls, +2nd-Lieut. Ed. White, 2nd-Lieut. Eliass F.E. Williams, 1st-Lieut. Oaso +Browning, Capt. Louis B. Johnson, 1st-Lieut. Frank Bates and 1st-Lieut. +Binga Desmond.] + +[Illustration: Left to right: Col. Franklin Dennison, Col. J. Roberts +and Lieut. Col. Otis B. Duncan of 370th (old Illinois 8th Regiment).] + +The population is a motley assortment of races, nationalities and +creeds. About 38 per cent being Ottomans or Turks. The Slavic and Rouman +races come next in importance, then the Arabs, the remaining population +consisting of Moors, Druses, Kurds, Tartars, Albanians, Circassians, +Syrians, Armenians, and Greeks, besides Jews and Gypsies. + + +PHOENIX OF THE GREEK EMPIRE. + +The Ottoman Empire arose from the ruins of the old Greek Empire, early +in the fifteenth century, Constantinople being made its capital in 1453, +after its capture by Mohammed II. At the accession of Mohammed IV, in +1648, the Turkish Empire was at the zenith of its power. Internal +corruption caused loss of power, and in 1774, a large slice of territory +was ceded to Russia. In 1821 Greece became independent. The Crimean War, +in 1854-56, checked Russia for a while, but in 1875 the people of +Herzegovina rebelled. A year later the Servians and Montenegrins +revolted, and in 1877 Russia began hostile operations in both parts of +the Turkish Empire. At this time Roumania declared her independence. +After the fall of Kars and of Plevna, the Turkish resistance completely +collapsed, and in 1878 Turkey was compelled to agree to the Treaty of +San Stefano. + +Within the year the Treaty of Berlin declared Roumania, Servia and +Montenegro independent; Roumanian Bessarabia was ceded to Russia, +Austria was empowered to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Bulgaria was +made a principality. The main events in the history of the Ottoman +Empire since the Treaty of Berlin were the French invasion of Tunis in +1881, the Treaty with Greece, executed under pressure of the Great +Powers in 1881, by which Greece obtained Thessaly and a strip of Epirus; +the occupation of Egypt by Great Britain in 1882; the revolution of +Philippopolis in 1885, by which eastern Roumelia became united with +Bulgaria. In 1908 Bulgaria declared its independence and the Young Turk +Party extorted a constitution and a parliament from Abdul-Hamud II, who +was deposed in 1909 by the unanimous vote of the national assembly. +Mohammed V, eldest brother of the deposed Sultan succeeded to the +throne. + +Russia, "the Great Bear," whose part in the war brought on internal +strife and revolution which robbed Czar Nicholas of his throne, traces +its history back for more than ten centuries, when the Norse invaded the +territory and founded Veliki Novgorod, for many years one of the chief +Russian cities. The Norse, to use the modern vernacular, "put Russia on +the map" when the Russian army fought its way to the very walls of +Constantinople. Much of the early history of the country is legendary, +and one of the famous stories is that after Igor, who commanded the +great armies, was put to death by rebellious subjects, his widow sought +out the territory where her husband had lost his life and pretending to +make peace with them, requested every householder to give her a pigeon. + + +WINGED FIREBRANDS. + +When they gladly complied with her request she sent the tame birds back +home with flaming firebrands tied to their tails, and they entered their +lofts or rests and started fires which destroyed the city of Korosten. +The ascendancy of the Romanoff dynasty, which maintained in Russia +through the centuries, was established through the atrocities of Ivan +the Terrible, who is said to have absolutely destroyed the descendants +of the Rurik, the first Norse chieftain. Ivan the Terrible was the first +Czar of Russia. He conquered Servia and his domestic infamies and +intrigues are among the historical scandals of the country. + +Through every reign in Russian history there ran stories of terrible +crime, cruelties, infamies, immoralities and degradation. Following the +death of Ivan the Terrible came Fedor, one of his sons, who was a +weakling in the hands of the Duma of five, one of whom was Boris +Godounoff. Fedor reigned but a few years, and Godounoff was elected +Czar. He was ambitious, and was founder of the system of serfdom, and +also of the Russian State Church, and like many of the other rulers of +Russia, met death through infamy, supposedly having been poisoned. + +[Illustration: OUTLINE MAP OF THE BALKAN STATES. + +This drawing shows the boundary lines as they were at the beginning of +the war. It also shows the location of the principal city of each +country. This part of the world has always been of great importance +since the earliest history of man and nations--a continuous struggle +between nations to control this gateway into southwestern Asia.] + + +BASE IMPOSTER SLAIN. + +Boris Godounoff was succeeded by his son Feodor, but he was seized by a +pretender, and with his mother, thrown into prison, where they were +murdered. The discovery of the plot, which was laid at the door of the +King of Poland, produced an uprising and Czar Dimitry the Impostor was +slain. Vasili Shouyskie, leader of the mob that slew Dimitry, was +proclaimed Czar, but pretenders sprang up, and one of these, who posed +as a false Dimitry, invaded Russia from Poland, and established a rival +imperial court at Toushin, and some of the Russian cities swore +allegiance to him. + +Vasili Shouyskie held out at Moscow, and after a time Dimitry's cause +failed, whereupon Sigsmund, of Poland, invaded Russia, and put forward +his son Vladislav. Vasili, roused to anger, committed acts which +provoked Moscow, and in 1610 he was compelled to abdicate, and a council +of nobles was formed to run the government until a Czar could be chosen. +Vladislav was finally selected, but Feodor Romanoff sought to prevent +his being crowned. There was a period of anarchy, cities were burned, +and chaos was complete. + +The dignitaries of the church and state finally set to work and +supported the candidacy of Mikhial Feodorovitch Romanoff, who was the +first Romanoff Czar. He reorganized the empire, and reigned for +thirty-three years. His successor, Alexis, the direct heir, reigned for +thirty-one years, and cultivated friendly relations with Ukraine and the +Cossack country. He was followed by Feodor II, and then came Peter the +Great. There were two claimants to the throne, Ivan and Peter, both sons +of Alexis by separate wives, and the difficulty was settled by letting +the two reign jointly under the regency of Sophia, a sister of Ivan. + +When Ivan died Peter assumed the reins, and it was he who gave Russia a +frontage on the Black Sea, and on the Baltic, and built St. Petersburg. +He did much for the development of Russia, creating a navy and a +merchantile marine. + +Catherine the First, his widow, followed him in reign, and at her death, +Peter II occupied the center of the stage. At his death there was chaos +again and counter claims. Anna of Courtland, a daughter of Ivan, brother +of Peter the Great, was finally elected sovereign, but she was a mere +puppet, vesting her authority in a High Council. + + +FAMILY'S WRETCHED CAREER. + +During her reign her lover, named Biren, held sway and distinguished +himself by sending thousands of political exiles to Siberia. At the +death of Anna, Ivan IV, her grandnephew, reigned, but was deposed and +sent to prison for life, while Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Peter the +Great, succeeded him. She permitted the government to be run on +comparatively honest lines by favorites, and while they ruled she drank +herself to death. + +Her nephew, Peter III, succeeded her. He was incompetent and a tool in +the Prussian hands. His wife was a German princess, and led a movement +which ended in his being deposed, imprisoned and murdered. + +Catherine, widow of the murdered Peter, succeeded. She was known as +Catherine the Great, and is credited with having been the most infamous +of women in all history. Catherine was succeeded by Paul, who was +assassinated by his own courtiers when he was on the point of joining +Napoleon Bonaparte in his conquest of India. + +His son was Alexander I, who added Finland and Poland to Russia, and +founded the Holy Alliance. He was followed by his son Nicholas, who +ruled for 30 years, and crushed the Poles and Hungarians, but died of a +broken heart in the Crimean War. + +Next came Alexander II, who gained fame as liberator of the serfs, and +died the victim of a Nihilist bomb thrower. Alexander III succeeded him, +and then came Nicholas II, the last Czar, whose reign lasted 22 years. +The beginning of the end was marked by the request of the workingmen in +1905 for an increase in civil rights. They were fired upon, and there +was general disorder, until the Czar proclaimed a constitution, and +established a Duma, or national parliament, which met for the first time +in 1906. + + +BETRAYAL OF RUSSIA'S MILITARY PLANS. + +The outbreak of the war was marked by the personal decree of the Czar to +change the name of the capital, St. Petersburg, to Petrograd, but his +evident intent to eliminate evidences of German influence did not stop +the betrayal of Russia's military plans by German spys within the court +circles, and it was charged that supplies were withheld from the Russian +army by those within the charmed circle, who were friendly to Germany. + +Russia was a party to the Franco-Russian and Anglo-Russian agreement, +which constituted the basis of the Triple Entente, but conditions were +such that the soldiers refused to fight, and the situation culminated in +the uprising which ended with the abdication of the Czar, in behalf of +his brother, who, however, declined to accept the throne, unless he +should be elected by the votes of the Russian people. The Duma thereupon +decided to organize a republican form of government, and so the Russian +Republic came into being in March, 1917. + +Spain, a fertile country in the southwestern part of Europe, has played +a prominent part in the development of the world. She has a coastline +extending nearly 1500 miles, and there are about 200,000 square miles +included in her territory. The coastlands and the southern section of +the country are especially rich in fruits and agriculture. Although +watered by many rivers, the land, for the most part, is artificially +irrigated. + +Up until 1898 Spain held possession of magnificent colonies in Cuba and +Porto Rico and the Philippines, but now her colonial possessions are +confined to a strip on the west coast of the Sahara, and the island of +Fernando Po, with some smaller possessions on the Guinea coast in +Africa. Their total area is about 434,000 square miles, the total +population being 10,000,000. + + +SPAIN, PAST AND PRESENT. + +Spain formerly composed the ancient provinces of New and Old Castile, +Leon, Asturias, Galicia, Estremadura, Andalusia, Aragon, Murcia, +Valencia, Catalonia, Navarre and the Basque Provinces. These, since +1834, have been divided into 49 provinces. The capital of Spain is +Madrid, and the present constitution dates from 1876. There is a +Congress, which is composed of deputies, each one representing 50,000 of +the population. + +The Roman Catholic faith is the established form of religion, and the +priesthood possesses considerable wealth and power, although the +dominant influence once possessed has been curtailed of recent years. +The peace strength of the army is about 83,000, and what navy she has is +practically new, as the Spanish navy was annihilated in the war with the +United States in 1898. + +During recent years the republican tendencies among the people have +found vent in socialism. The Spanish socialist leaders belong mostly to +the intellectuals, and here again is the weakness of the movement, +whether considered as a means of giving Spain a republic or of +liberating her political system under monarchical form. Some of the +intellectual leaders among the socialists headed straight for +philosophic anarchy, while others expended their energies in building +castles in the clouds. + +The substantial socialism of the recent period was, however, based on +the workingmen's movement. Before the outbreak of the great war the +tendency was to affiliate with the groups in other countries of Europe +which advocated socialism as an international creed. But when the German +socialists placed their country above internationalism, and the French +socialists did the same, and the Italian socialists joined in the +agitation to force the government into war to get back territory lost to +Austria, the international basis of Spanish socialism disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +MODERN WAR METHODS. + +INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE AS AGAINST MASS MOVEMENTS--TRENCH WARFARE A GAME +OF HIDE AND SEEK--RATS AND DISEASE--SURGERY'S TRIUMPHS--CHANGED +TACTICS--ITALIAN MOUNTAIN FIGHTING. + + +Warfare such as carried on in the Great World War is so different from +that of any other of the great wars which the world has seen, that it +might be described as a method of fighting distinctively unique. +Undoubtedly, more ancient methods, and even ancient weapons, have been +employed than were used in any of the wars which have changed, from time +to time, the boundary lines of nations. The fighting of mass against +mass has been practically obliterated, and modern evolutions where the +plan is man to man have developed a mode of fighting where terrible +execution has resulted. + +Undoubtedly this means of fighting has developed the personal initiative +of the soldiers, and the modern fighting machine of the nations is of a +high standard, which, together with death-dealing weapons, has resulted +in terrible havoc. Massed movements, such as carried on in the War of +the Rebellion, have been practically done away with, and although there +have been long and costly sieges, they have been carried on by tedious +trench fighting, airships, hand grenades, and massive shells fired from +guns of great caliber, and with a range which is really marvellous. + +Shells are fired, shrapnel in some cases, explosive shells in others, +which are timed to the second, so that when fired from guns many miles +from the objective point, they explode at a measured distance from the +earth. They are exploded within a gauged distance of the target, and the +execution is done over a measured area. On the shells are indicators. +Within the shrapnel shells are hundreds of small shot. As the shell +explodes the shots are scattered over the enemy, and death and +destruction are unavoidable. + +With bomb shells, fired from guns of the largest caliber, there are also +indicators which are timed to the second. The range and time of +explosion previously figured out by officers, the shell explodes where +it is intended that it shall, and the work of the great explosive is +done with resultant damage. + + +WAR'S MANY DEVELOPMENTS. + +The war has developed many of the new methods of fighting and revived +many of the old means of warfare. Cavalry has not been as active in the +relation in the great war as in any of the wars of comparatively recent +date, because of the extensive trench warfare which has formed so much +of the fighting plan. Fighting has been a question of trench raids, and +barrage fire, followed by the infantry charge through shell holes. The +impression brought home to the modern observer is that the older +recognized methods of warfare are gone for good. + +The thing which war changed in the work of the cavalryman is in the +nature of an addition, rather than a subtraction from his duties and the +training he must have. The day of cavalry--as cavalry and nothing +else--has passed. For today the cavalryman must be familiar not only +with the sword, lance and revolver, but with the rifle as well. It has +been demonstrated that such long periods of trench warfare may develop +that it becomes necessary for him to dismount and make himself valuable +in the scheme of military economy by fighting as infantry until such +time as the enemy line is broken and he can again take to his horse and +the work of harrying the retreating foe. + +The war has been full of surprising results as regards cavalry. It was +popularly supposed that in facing such terrible modern weapons as the +repeating rifle of long range, the machine gun and the automatic field +pieces which have become so well known as the French "75s," any body of +cavalry which attempted to charge the enemy would be annihilated. + + +CAVALRY'S SUCCESSFUL CHARGES. + +Yet all through the early stages of the war one reads of desperate, and, +what is more to the point, successful charges made by British cavalry +against batteries of German field pieces. There was one instance in +France, just back of the Belgian frontier, where a charge of British +lancers against a German battery, which had a commanding position, saved +the day for a greatly-outnumbered allied detachment, which was +conducting that most difficult of all maneuvers, a rear guard action, +covering the retreat of the body of the army. The charge of the lancers +took the Germans so by surprise, and was executed with such speed, that +despite the heavy fire they poured into the advancing horsemen the +latter were at work among them with spear and saber before +reinforcements could be brought up. Then the cavalry, dismounting and +unslinging their carbines, defended the position with such tenacity that +the German advance was delayed several hours, sufficient for the rest of +the allied forces to make good its withdrawal and the consolidation of +the new lines chosen for defense. + +This idea of cavalry serving in the double role of infantry and cavalry +is a distinctly American development, a trick which the Federal and +Confederate armies taught the world during the Civil War, and of which +the British made excellent use in South Africa against the Boers. The +fact which this war has established, however, is that the older use of +cavalry, in the charge against infantry, artillery and even entrenched +positions is still of great value. The idea had developed from the +tactics so largely employed in the Civil War of using the cavalry as +mounted infantry, that the increased deadliness of modern weapons would +make this use of cavalry the sole use. + +Now, however, it seems that not even the lance is to be discounted. +Given the opportunity to reach his objective, the lance becomes a +terrible weapon in the hands of the horseman. In hand-to-hand fighting +the man with the rifle and bayonet has some chance against the mounted +man with the saber. While fighting upward from a lower level he has a +pretty long reach, and the advantage of being completely in control of +his own movements, whereas even the most expert horseman cannot control +the step and movement of his mount as well as a man can control his own. +Barring fire, however, the infantryman has no chance against the lance, +with the speed and momentum of the mounted man behind it. + +So, for this reason, though they are cumbersome weapons under ordinary +circumstances, and make a detachment equipped with them much more likely +to be seen, lances were retained by many of the British cavalry +regiments, just as the German Uhlans retained them. + + +CAVALRY'S IMPORTANT SERVICE. + +One of the most important services which cavalry fulfills in modern +warfare is that of drawing the enemy's fire at the time his positions +are being approached. This is done to obtain some idea of his force and +the disposition of his guns. + +Cavalry detachments are sent scurrying across the front, as though +threatening an attack, deliberately furnishing a mark for the enemy +gunners that this object of ascertaining his strength may be attained. + +The more ordinary work of scouting, advance guard work, and riding wide +on the flanks of an advancing force are parts of the cavalryman's work +which are more familiar. + +In the European conflict with tremendous concentration of troops and +continued occupation of the same territory the foraging feature of +cavalry work disappeared. It is no longer possible for an army to "live +on the country as it goes." Food and supplies must be brought up from +depots in the rear through an entirely separate and specialized +department of the military organization, which does its work with a +celerity certainly undreamed of in former days, even as late as our own +war with Spain. + +In the modern campaign trenches have been developed to such an extent +that it is really marvellous how the soldiers live, and to what an +extent the "underground fortresses" have been used for living as well as +fighting purposes. + +In a letter written by a French soldier who took part in a successful +raid upon a German trench, he adequately describes the luxuries enjoyed +by the German soldiers in the front line trenches in the Marne. The +letter was written by a youth who had been wounded in the fight, and was +mailed in April, 1917. + + +LUXURIOUS DUGOUTS. + +"We are now living in German lines and dugouts--a magnificent work we +have just now taken--cement and steel are used with profusion, and +electricity in every dugout, even in their front lines. Unharmed +casements and machine guns in cemented shelters and light railways and +immense reserves of food--thousands of bottles of claret. + +"But also, at the middle of each staircase, in the wall, a box with +about seventy pounds of cheddite--to blow the shelter up in case of +retreat. They knew they might have to go back, as they are doing now. +America will gain victory, as until the present moment only the bravery +of our soldiers can put them back, with much exertion and frequent loss. + +"Our men are magnificent in spite of death. We hope your help may be +quick and decisive. I think your flying corps especially may be useful, +the more as yesterday, with four fellows, I was run through the field, +and in a destroyed trench by a German Albatross shooting a machine gun, +and flying very low, he missed us quite near. On the other hand, we have +just a few days hence seen a sausage balloon destroyed by our men. +Anyhow your help may be decisive. + +"I believe your joy is great about the Russian revolution. At home they +are happy, too--only let us hope the Russian army may attack this +summer--to help us. + +"I need not tell you the impression made by your American decision here. +We now know victory is sure. Let us hope it may be this year--though you +may easily guess such is not my belief--next year. + +"I hope my next letter be sent from farther in the German lines--perhaps +from a place they have not had time to destroy." + +Shorn of all technicalities, the plain method of warfare which has +developed as the result of the trench building is that each force +establishes lines along miles of front with trenches in rows, one after +the other, at measured intervals. The soldiers are thus "entrenched." +One force seeks to drive the other from its position. + + +MANY DEADLY DEVICES. + +The force of batteries is directed against the entrenchments, hand +grenades, bombs, shells, gases and every device which has fallen to the +use of armies is projected at the ditches in which are hidden the enemy +soldiers. When, by the concentration of attack the trenches are +destroyed or the soldiers driven from their first position, the opposing +force has gained if it has succeeded in advancing its own soldiers to +occupy and reconstruct the trenches or defences from which the enemy was +driven. + +The soldiers carry, in addition to the ordinary weapons, a trench spade, +and in most cases large knives, which are used to cut away brush or dig +in the earth when emergency demands. The close confinement in the +trenches tends to develop disease, and the sanitary force of the modern +army is a thing that was undreamed of in the olden days. More men died +from disease during the Civil War than were killed by bullets or in +hand-to-hand encounter. + +The percentage of those who die from camp fever has been reduced to a +minimum. Napoleon said that armies travel on their stomachs, but the +European War and the Russian-Japanese War have proven, as did our +campaigns in Cuba and Mexico, that soldiers live by reason of the health +which they are permitted to maintain. Some idea of the conditions which +developed in the trenches may be gained from a study of the various +hospital reports, and investigations which have been made by physicians. + + +INFECTED WITH ASIATIC JAUNDICE. + +Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, +completed a series of experiments which showed that apparently healthy +wild rats in the European war zone became infected with Weil's disease, +or "infectious jaundice," common in Asia. Weil's disease is +characterized by sudden onsets of malaise, often intense muscular pain, +high fever for several days, followed by jaundice, frequently +accompanied by complications. It becomes more virulent as it is +successively transmitted from one victim to another. This is supposed to +explain the much greater mortality, about 38 per cent. in Japan, as +compared with from 2 to 3 per cent. among European soldiers. + +The study of the disease was made possible by the successful importation +from Japan and Flanders of guinea pigs and rats which had been +inoculated with the causative organism in those two countries. +Experiments previously made showed that the germ of the disease was +carried in the kidneys of a large percentage of apparently healthy wild +rats caught near the districts where the disease had been epidemic. +Experiments in Europe demonstrated the presence of the germ in rats not +only near the infected zones, but also in captured localities some +distance from trenches. + +For purposes of comparison Dr. Noguchi collected a number of rats in +this country and removed their kidneys. His report states that by +inoculating the emulsion made of the kidneys of 41 wild rats into 58 +guinea pigs during a period of three months, he had been able to produce +in three groups of guinea pigs typical cases of infectious jaundice +altogether identical with the findings in the guinea pigs which died of +the injection of the Japanese and Belgian strains of the disease. The +germs taken from wild rats caught near New York produced death in guinea +pigs within nine to twelve days. + + +AMERICA'S GREAT SERVICE IN WAR ZONE. + +In studying the conditions and helping to fight the dangers encountered +in the battlefields and camps of Europe, no country in the world +rendered a greater service than America. Long before the country entered +the war hundreds of American nurses, ambulance drivers and surgeons were +on the battlefields and in the hospitals of Belgium, France and England. +Men who were leaders in the medical and surgical world gave their +services to the Allies, and almost every hospital in the United States +sent some of its staff. + +Through the efforts and study of Dr. Alexis Carrel, of New York, deaths +from wounds received in battle were reduced almost 90 per cent. by a +system of treatment which he devised. Dr. Carrel began his work in 1914, +at Compiegne, in connection with the military hospital, and in +collaboration with the Dakin Research Laboratory, under the auspices of +the Rockefeller Foundation. + +Using a solution of sodium hypochlorite, the plain method of treating +wounds which proved such a great boon, was described at the Congress of +Surgeons in Philadelphia in 1916, where many of the wonders of war +surgery were described. By means of a rubber tube, which is run through +or into the wound, the injury is flushed continuously by the solution, +for a period of hours or minutes, according to the nature and character +of the wound. + +The inflammation is reduced, the wound cleaned, and blood poisoning is +averted. Under the treatment the soldier's stay in a hospital is +reduced weeks and even months, and, as has been stated with authority, +where in the old days twenty operations would have been necessary, the +modern methods have reduced the percentage to a point where the twenty +has become as one. + +The story of surgery itself and what it has done in modern warfare would +make a wonderful volume. The shattered bones of the legs and arms have +been spliced, and laid side by side in open wounds, to knit together and +practically form a new limb. Artificial hands, feet, and legs have been +made by ingenious mechanics, which are so perfect that those who have +been deprived of their natural facilities can use them with a degree of +facility never before believed possible. + + +RESULT OF SCIENTIFIC SURGERY. + +Armless men and legless men have worked in the munition factories of +both France and of England, and the fact that they are able to do so is +due to the genius of surgeons and of scientists. Thoroughness and +preparation, coolness in execution and scientific accuracy in all +directions is the modern necessity in warfare. + +What this means in modern battle, as demonstrated in the last important +conflict in the clearing of German East Africa by British forces, was +described by Reuters' correspondent in an account of the battle of +Rufiji River. + +This was the last campaign personally commanded by Major General Jan +Christian Smuts, the former Boer commander, and resulted in giving the +British control of all the coastline and the inhabitable portion of +German East Africa. + +For two weary months the army lay upon its weapons, consolidating, +reorganizing, rebuilding railway lines and piling up great dumps of food +and ridding itself of its sick and wounded. Then it moved forward from +Morogoro. The object of the advance was the ejection of the enemy from +his trenches on the Mgeta River and the seizure of the passages of the +Rufiji River. + +The battle was directed and controlled from an observation hill at +Dathumi, but General Smuts spent little time on the hill. He had made +all the dispositions and issued his orders. Nothing remained for him to +do and he was back in his camp calmly reading a book. + +In the straw hut the brigadier general sat at a table on which was an +oriented map showing the strategic and geographical points of the plans +which lay before us, at his elbow the telephone and just below the hut +the wireless instrument incessantly emitted sparks. Higher up the slope +of the hill were the observing stations of the battery commanders. + + +SIGNALED BEGINNING OF BATTLE. + +The burning of huts at Kiruru signaled the beginning of the battle. The +brigadier general, a polite little man who has lectured at the staff +college for twenty years and who knows the last word in the science of +warfare, especially of artillery, called the howitzer battery by +telephone. + +"Open fire a little to the right of the palm tree," he said. "You have +the elevation and direction. The Nigerians will be on the move." Just +behind the palm tree and a little to the right a great brown cloud of +mud and smoke rose high in the air. From the plain came the boom of +heavy guns and all along the river branch rose clouds of smoke, mud and +dust. + +The staff officer handed in a telegram reading: "The infantry are now +about to advance; they ask artillery support." + +"Bring the field guns into action," said the general. + +It was all so very matter of fact. This little man, who was about to let +loose upon the German trenches a hell's broth of fire and disaster, +acted as if he were in his own drawing room, deciding how many lumps of +sugar he would take with his tea. + +Down below on the plain the howitzers were lobbing 60-pound shells into +the German Askaris, the Nigerians were advancing by sharp rushes and the +rat-tat of the machine guns and the crackle of musketry broke very +faintly. Airplanes sailed above us. A message came from the Nigerians, +"We are going to take the enemy's trenches; please lift gunfire." The +order was passed along, "All guns lift two degrees." + +Little black dots, like tiny ants, are running where the shells are +bursting. The Nigerians are rushing the trenches. The forward observing +officer reports that the enemy is retiring. The 15-pounders, man-killing +guns, shower shrapnel on the German line of retreat. + + +SUGGESTS A CUP OF TEA. + +The infantry report having occupied the German first line trenches, +halting for one hour to consolidate. The brigadier-general commented on +the difficulty of observation in the humid atmosphere and suggested a +cup of tea. It seemed that nothing more would happen until after lunch, +so I visited the commander-in-chief. He was occupied for the moment with +a volume by George Gisslog and was satisfied with the reports he had +received. By dark the whole of the German entrenchments were in our +hands. + +A volume could be written alone on the changes in tactics which have +been developed and practiced by the military geniuses of the contending +forces. In the European War the range of artillery and infantry fire was +three times what it was in the Franco-Prussian War. The flattening of +the trajectory, which means making the bullets go more nearly on a +straight line instead of traveling in an arc, has made the fire so +effective as to compel the soldiers to "travel on their stomachs." To +crawl along the ground like alligators, or advance like moles digging +their way into the earth. + +The tremendous range of the modern rifle, single arm, or rapid-fire gun, +and the development of more powerful explosives for ammunition have +wrought this change. The bullet will travel a longer distance at a +horizontal position than in the old days when ordinary black powder and +a smooth-bore gun were used, and so at hundreds of yards distance the +soldiers can aim direct to kill, without making elevation allowances. + +The machine gun has made it possible for the men to fire from four to +five shots for every one that was fired in the Franco-Prussian War and +probably ten for every one that was fired in the Civil War. The only +time the soldiers exposed themselves on the army frontiers were when +they were storming trenches, and this was not attempted until the trench +had suffered bombardment so it was made untenable. + + +DIFFICULT MOUNTAIN FIGHTING. + +Probably nothing in the warfare of nations has been more colorful and +replete with surprises than the campaign waged by the Italian soldiers +on the Alpine passes between Italy and the Austrian strongholds, and in +the discussion of modern warfare, a brief description of some of the +work of these intrepid mountain fighters is interesting. + +Much of this fighting has been the most difficult known in the annals of +modern warfare, save, perhaps, that done by the famous Younghusband +British Expedition to Thibet. And that, by comparison, was a very small +matter. + +The mere height--altitude--at which the Italian warfare against the +Austrians was carried on has been sufficient to entail enormous +difficulties and a great additional strain, due actually to difficult +breathing in a rarefied atmosphere. + +The warfare in the clouds which has characterized the struggle along the +Isonzo front has been conducted at an altitude seldom less than 8,000 +and often rising to 12,000 feet, which is well within the realm of +eternal snow. + +Naturally, therefore, most of the fighting was done in bitter cold. To +this fact add the other that the Italian soldiers who carried it on were +almost exclusively men who had not been accustomed to the cold. They had +been drawn from among dwellers in a semitropical climate, and one gets +an idea of the immense accomplishments of this army which struggled in +the skies. + +The average American knows the Italian as immensely industrious, but +perhaps is disinclined to credit him with great constructive ability or +engineering genius. He would change his estimate of him if he could see +him fight and study his battlefield. The Italian warfare of the mountain +peak and gorges has been a warfare of construction, even more than it +has been a warfare of destruction, and has been rendered possible only +by the exercise of engineering genius comparable with that which sent +our world-beating American railways through the famous Rocky Mountain +passes! + + +HALTED BY INTIMIDATION. + +The fact that Italy's warfare has been invariably against positions +stronger than her own is the result of the fact that while, since 1866, +Austria continually strengthened her frontier with fortifications, most +of them of ferro-concrete, the Italians were not able to fortify at all. +Every step in that direction brought forth threats of war. These began +at a time when Italy was in no condition to fight, before, as a unified +nation, she became a world-power. + +Being weak, she was prevented from making any preparations for defense +against a foe which continually was obviously getting ready for attack +upon her. The mere commencement of preparations might have precipitated +war. But Austria continually prepared. Besides, the Italians ever have +been a peace-loving nation. + +As a natural and inevitable consequence of all these conditions all the +dominating positions along the Austro-Italian frontier were strongly +fortified by the Austrians. They have long occupied the crest of every +mountain in such a way that their guns could rake any Italian approach +from below, along a front of 450 miles--about the distance from New York +to Buffalo, and almost the same as that of the whole French-British-Belgian +eastern front in this war. + +During the winter of 1916, one of the most exceptionally hard winters +known in the annals of the Italian Weather Service, the Italians not +only have been fighting for their sunny homeland, but have been fighting +in a region of eternal snow. + +This snow was an obstacle extremely hard to overcome. It may be said +never to have been less than six yards deep on the Isonzo front, so the +task of the consolidation of positions, enabling troops at once to +resist attack and protect themselves from assault from the rear, was +highly difficult. + + +TYPICAL ROAD BUILDERS. + +The Italians were ever road-builders, descendants, as they are, of those +Romans who built roads for all Europe. While the Austrians were fully +supplied with roads of the best and most modern character, there were +hundreds of miles on the Italian side where there were not even +mule-tracks. + +Here was a vast problem. + +Literally millions of soldiers were not free to fight, but had been +drafted for the road-building work. Carrying picks and shovels, managing +steam-shovels, working electric hoists, stringing supporting cables, +they were as truly fighting men, however, as any who ever bore rifles or +worked machine-guns. + +Miles of the roads were rebuilt under Austrian fire, by men who built +them well enough, even in the great 8,000-foot heights, that they could +bear heavy artillery of vast weights without suffering damage. They +built them in such easy gradients that heavy artillery could be moved +speedily, the guns and motor-lorries that passed over them frequently +weighing as much as fifteen tons. + +Nor did the problem end with the construction of these marvel-roads. It +was necessary to transport very heavy war material across stretches +where the building of any roads whatever was a sheer impossibility. +Often it was necessary to take heavy guns as far as might be upon +sleighs and then drag them for considerable distances by hand; quite as +often it was imperative that across chasms great cables should be rigged +on which the guns might be swung, sometimes hundreds or even thousands +of feet above the valleys beneath, from one height to another. + +The "wireways" by which much of this unique transportation was +accomplished are of Italian invention, as were other notable and +essential engineering devices of this great war of mountain +transportation. + +Such contrivances, known as "teleferrica," were introduced for the first +time during the winter of 1916, and by summer there were about 200 along +the mountainous front. They not only supplied very advanced positions +with armament, ammunition and food, but transported men back and forth +between them and lower points. + + +SYSTEM ONE OF TACKLES. + +The system was one of tackles (where guns and other heavy freight were +to be moved) or cars (like cradles, where men were to be moved), +operated by motor-pulleys directly connected up with great electric +power. One of the most astonishing and picturesque uses to which these +aerial wireways were put was the movement downward of men wounded at the +advanced posts with which the teleferrica communicate. + +To see wounded men going down these wireways, mere dots, each +representing a suspended stretcher upon which a suffering human being is +strapped securely, was described as one of the most amazing spectacles +of the whole war. The experience, to some wounded men, swinging +sickeningly, dizzyingly alone in midair, was probably more terrifying +than actual fighting, although there were few, if any, accidents +connected with the wireways. + +Not infrequently these wireways were within direct range of the enemy +fire, and that complicated matters. So far as is known, there has been +no instance of a cable cut by gunfire, but in several districts it was +necessary that the men, going to their duty and the wounded going +backward, having done theirs, must needs be protected in armored +baskets, somewhat like those which often are swung beneath observation +balloons on the various fronts. + + +PROBLEMS OF TRANSPORTATION. + +The problems of transportation, great as they are, are by no means the +only unique difficulties presented to these brave mountain fighters. In +this extraordinary warfare mining by means of high explosives was +carried on upon a hitherto unequaled scale. Such work with high +explosives was not only continually necessary in the construction of +roads and fortifications in a region of solid rock, but sometimes proved +the only effective means of attack upon the enemy. + +The mine was used as an offensive weapon by both sides, and often with +very terrible results. + +Perhaps the most extraordinary of the campaign was the mine laid by the +Italians after infinitely difficult and very extensive tunneling in +solid rock at the Cima del Col di Lana. + +This immense effort with explosives blew off the whole top of a +mountain--and that mountaintop was thickly occupied by Austrians at the +time of the explosion of the mine. None on the Italian side knows +exactly what the Austrian casualties were, but it is certain that +through this one explosion more than an entire company--that is, more +than 400--of the enemy's soldiers were destroyed. + +An interesting detail of this operation is the fact that while the +Italians were tunneling for this great mine they were perfectly aware +that the Austrians also were at work upon a similar effort. It amounted +to a race with death, and the Italians won it. + +Correspondents agree that the thing which most impresses the visitor to +the mountain fronts of the Italian army is the immense patience which +it has shown in the face of the difficult tasks of this astonishing +campaign. Italians usually are regarded as temperamental creatures, but +"dogged" has been the word which has meant most in this campaign. + +Some of the movements of troops across exposed snow-covered spaces have +been marvels of incredible patience. To escape observation the soldiers +have been clad in white clothing, but in addition to this it has been +necessary for them to lie flat upon their faces in the snow, moving +very, very slowly, accomplishing their transfers from point to point +literally at snail speed. + +With regard to such work, as with regard to the Italian wounded, one +thing is remarked by all the officers and those who have been privileged +even for a short time to share the hardships of the Italian "common +soldier." He never complains. Healthy or hurt, weary or fresh, he takes +war with a smile full of flashing teeth and with eyes glittering with +interest and good nature. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +WOMAN AND THE WAR. + +SHE HAS WON "HER PLACE IN THE SUN"--RICH AND POOR IN THE MUNITIONS +FACTORIES--NURSE AND AMBULANCE DRIVER--KHAKI AND TROUSERS--ORGANIZER AND +FARMER--HEROES IN THE STRESS OF CIRCUMSTANCES--DOING MEN'S WORK FOR +MEN--EVEN A "BOBBIE." + + +If it were ever really necessary for woman to "win a place in the sun" +she has done so by her activities with relation to the war. We have +regarded woman with a high degree of sentimentality, and to her pleas +for recognition in world affairs have shrugged our shoulders and +intimated that she was fit to bear children, nurse the sick, do +household chores and cook, cook, cook; but physically, mentally and by +training she was unfit to perform the greater world duties. + +But the world war has proved that all the tasks which men claimed women +were unfitted to perform can as well be done by what we have been +pleased to term the "weaker sex." + +The war has proved a truism that old saying, "The hand that rocks the +cradle rules the world," and also that the burden of war falls upon +women. It is they who give up their sons to their country and send their +husbands and boys to the front to serve as fodder for the cannon. + +In England the work of women in the war secured for them a degree of +recognition in Parliament which all of their agitation and militant +tactics failed to produce. + +National extremity was woman's opportunity; frank invitation to new +lines of work was followed by hearty appreciation on the part of the +men; and a proposition to extend suffrage to 6,000,000 English women was +based avowedly upon the general gratitude felt for their loyal and +effective service in the war. And it is war service, for modern warfare +has greatly enlarged the content of that term. In the modern conception +those who make munitions or in other ways release others for the front +are doing war service as truly as those who bear arms. + +Instead of yielding to fame a few isolated Mollie Pitchers, the war +brought a largely neglected half of the nation's military strength into +practical service. Indeed, though woman dreads war more than man does, +if it comes to actual defense of land and home and young, we find, with +Kipling, that "the female of the species is more deadly than the male." + + +THE WORK OF WOMEN. + +The work of the women in the munitions factories in England has +deservedly attracted large attention, and, doubtless, British historians +will for centuries tell how, when England found herself utterly at a +loss before her enemies because of a lack of effective ammunition, the +women responded "as one man" to meet the need and save the Union Jack +from being forced to the shore. It was a repetition, multiplied 10,000 +times, of the Presbyterian parson at Springfield, N.J., supplying +Washington's army with Watts hymn books when it was retreating to serve +as paper wadding for the rifles. + +The innovation of the task, the large scale on which it was carried out +and the striking success of it make it a major event of the war, even to +be compared with the battle of the Marne. And shall not American +historians ascribe to the scores of young girls who lost their lives in +an explosion at Eddystone, Pa., making munitions, the honor of being the +first martyrs of the German-American War? + +It was not alone the working girls of England who tired their arms and +calloused their hands on the heavy shells. When the work was at its full +capacity, a proposition was sent to the women of leisure to undergo +three weeks of training in a munitions factory and then take up the work +at the week-ends to relieve the regular workers, the women shell +machinists, whose strength and skill could best be maintained by saving +them from Saturday and Sunday overtime. + +There was a strange incongruity in paying them less than the men for the +same work. They worked in eight-hour shifts and were required to stand, +except during a single half-hour interval. The prospectus of instruction +suggested short skirts, thick gloves and boots with low heels, adding +that evening dress would not be necessary. + +Hotel accommodations were attempted for these "lady" workers, but this +proved inadequate, and part of them went to the lodgings with the +regular workers. Short skirts were only the first step that promptly led +to overalls, and when these English ladies, whom the girls called +"Miaows," got well grimed with dust and grease, utterly tired out with +handling 12-pound shells and hungry enough to prefer coarse food, they +understood the workgirls as never before, and the men, too, and they had +a new birth of patriotism. One lady said she found great relief and +enthusiasm by thinking of the shells as so many dead Boches or live +Tommies. + + +VARIED OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN. + +Making ammunition and hospital supplies, handling luggage and trunks in +baggage rooms, driving motors, conducting trolley cars, carpentry work +on wooden houses for the front, are but a few of the occupations in +which European women engaged in war service. They have served as lift +attendants, ticket sellers, post office sorters, mail carriers, +gardeners, dairy lassies, grocery clerks, drivers of delivery wagons and +vans, commissionaires. More than a million were added to the industrial +workers in England during the first two years of war. + +America coming later into the war, its women naturally followed the lead +of the English and French along many lines tried and proved to be worth +while, but our matrons and maids, famed for their independence and +initiative, developed also new lines of patriotic effort. As soon as it +was evident that German ambitions included designs upon America, the +strong feminine instinct for preservation began to assert itself. +Pacifism had no special appeal to the gentler sex at such a time. She +got behind the recruiting as if it were her own job, and much of the +success of it was due to her efforts. + +The Woman's Section of the Navy League may well be described by quoting +from its own statement of motive and purpose. "Every mother with sons, +every wife with husband, every sister with a brother, feels her heart +stand still with the horror of what war may bring to her." + + +WOMAN'S MANY SERVICES. + +These women spread information to arouse interest in the condition of +the United States naval forces, aided recruiting for the Naval Reserve, +assisted in procuring enrollments for the Naval Coast Reserve, and +drawing on their resources provided many needed articles of clothing, +equipment and comfort not furnished by the Government. A knitting +committee makes sleeveless jackets, helmets, wristlets and mufflers. +Comfort kits, games, blankets, underwear, rubber hats, coats and boots +are made or bought by the Comfort and Supplies Committee. + +The two poles of patriotic service are the production of food and +fighting at the front; a world of activity bulges between them. European +women are accustomed to farm labor. Millions of peasant women, serfs, +all but in name, under the late Russian regime; Balkan women, German and +French wives and girls, and, to some extent, the mothers and daughters +of the English poor, would have understood Markham's poem better if he +had called it, "The Woman With the Hoe." + +In the war food crisis the women of America matched the women of the +enemy and vied with those of their own allies in persuading mother earth +to yield her bounty. In heavy shoes, trousers of jean, rolled-up sleeves +and a straw hat, the girls of America here and there turned to the land +and took hold of the tasks of the farm. + +So far we have mentioned only the work at home that women took up for +the war, but this is only a part; the other pole finds them near. The +invaluable service of Red Cross nurses, their zeal and sacrifice and +sometimes martyrdom, from Elizabeth Fry and Florence Nightingale to +Edith Cavell, have been women's glory for more than half a century. This +war multiplied the need many times and veritable regiments of them +responded. Their emblem became the symbol universal of mercy, charity +and good will. + +In addition to the 50 trained nurses for a base hospital, there are 25 +hospital aids, who serve without pay. America has 8000 registered Red +Cross nurses and scores of thousands are in training for aids. + +The effective and helpful work of women in all lines of endeavor, aside +from home and family life, has never before been shown so impressively +as now. Their energy, willingness, faithfulness and capability in every +activity are unsurpassed. + + +WOMAN BENT ON DOING HER UTMOST. + +But woman shares the lot of mankind on earth, and in the issues of life +and death, land and home, she fears to do less than her most, and we +would fear to have her do less. + +The woman for ages has been the war nurse, but the American woman has +gone a step further and qualified as the war physician. When the war +clouds first hovered over America more than 200 women physicians +formally offered their services to the Government. At the graduation +exercises of a women's medical college, when America first entered the +war, a prominent official made the statement that 3,000 women physicians +could find unlimited work of mercy behind the first line of firing in +Europe. + +The surgeon general of the United States army did not await an actual +call to arms to notify a physician that the proffer of the services of +women physicians would be accepted when the need came. + +"When I spoke to the women," said this physician, "I asked them this +question: + +"'Can I tell the Government that it may count upon each and all of you +for any work within your power?' + +"Their answer was unanimous. It was 'Yes.'" + +There is a law prohibiting women from going aboard battleships when they +are under way, but such an obstacle has not stood in the way of woman's +desire to help where she can when her country calls, and so Miss Loretta +Walsh became a member of the United States navy--the first woman +enlisted in that branch of the service, with the exception of the +nurses' corps. Her title was chief yeoman. + +Women announced their readiness to assist in another way--in +economizing--one organization having adopted the following resolutions: + + +RESOLUTION ON ECONOMICS. + +"Resolved, That all patriotic women be urged to use their influence on +fashions in dress to keep them as economical as possible, and to +register their disapproval of such styles as the melon and peg-top +skirt, or any other styles that imply extravagant changes in the +wardrobe, to the end that the time and money thus saved from clothes may +be devoted to the needs of the nation." + +How often have we heard: "When war comes, when our homes are threatened, +when peril stalks abroad in the land, who shoulders the musket and goes +out to fight? The man! The man!" + +But woman, knowing better than man the impulses of her own heart, only +awaited the opportunity to show what she could do, though, much more +than man, she loves peace, detests strife. But she did not await an +actual call to arms to show the patriotic spirit with which her soul was +fired. Whatever her Government was willing she should do, to that was +she prepared to give her best efforts. + +Lady Frances Balfour, president of the London Society of National Union +of Women Suffragists and president of the Travelers' Aid Society, worked +as hard to win the war as any Tommy in the trenches. + +A daughter of the eighth Duke of Argyll and the widow of a soldier, she +played an important part in Scotch and English public life for many +years, and has done much to advance the cause of British women. + +An authentic view of the situation as it developed with reference to the +reception of women into the everyday work and what American women might +do is contained in the following interview with Lady Balfour: + + +WOMAN AS WAGE EARNER. + +"We are doing everything," she said. "We are filling nearly every post. +If the House of Lords had not vetoed the bill we would be solicitors, +but that must wait for a time. British women are now meeting with +success because for the first time they are receiving a proper wage and +are able to live in a way to do their best work. The old sweat shop wage +has gone, and I hope never to return. Women will never return to the +conditions which existed before the war. + +"American women start with a great advantage. They have already the +entree in the business world and fill many clerical places, whereas our +women and girls had to break down the barriers of conservatism existing +in a great number of banks. There was the same objection to women +workers among the farmers of the South of England, though in Scotland +the woman has always done her part on the farm. + +[Illustration: GENERAL PETAIN. GENERAL MANGIN. GENERAL D'ESPEREY. + +Three French Generals who fought their way to fame. In many a battle +they saved the day, and through their heroic deeds France was saved from +the Hun.] + +[Illustration: ENGLISH BOMBING PLANE ON THE AISNE FRONT. + +Preparing the departure for a bombing expedition. The bombs and their +holders can be seen in the foreground.] + +[Illustration: UNITED STATES COLORED LABOR TROOPS BOARDING A TRANSPORT. + +An American Negro battallion entering a pier ready to board a transport. +These husky doughboys perform their tasks with a vim and a will.] + +[Illustration: FIRST LOOK AT FRANCE FROM A TRANSPORT. + +United States soldiers seeing France as the transport arrives in sight +of land. This vessel was formerly a Hamburg-America (German) liner.] + +[Illustration: BRITISH TANKS ADVANCING ACROSS THE HINDENBURG LINE. + +This battery of tanks shows the new superstructure on their fronts, +which is used to carpet the slippery mud which the caterpillar wheels do +not grip.] + +[Illustration: MAMMOTH BRITISH GUN "KILL JOY." + +Used by the British forces in Flanders. No gun of more power was used by +any belligerent. It is greater than the "Busy Berthas" of the Germans.] + +[Illustration: A RAPID FIRING GUN ON A FRENCH AEROPLANE. + +This remarkable picture from a close-up photograph shows the little +Nieuport "scout" plane. The electric gun is worked from the pilot seat +by a wire. It produced great havoc among German birdmen.] + +[Illustration: THE GUN WITH THE PUNCH. A FRENCH 320 M.M. + +Photographed While in Action--Loading. + +One of the largest and most effective guns used in the war. An idea of +its immense size is gained in comparison with the men. It is moved about +on a specially constructed railway.] + +[Illustration: THE RETURN OF THE HOLY SCROLL IN JERUSALEM. + +General E.H.H. Allenby, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in the +Holy Land, is seen seated at the left. The ceremony was very +impressive.] + +[Illustration: THE GUN WITH THE PUNCH. + +Huge American railway artillery of 16-inch calibre for the U.S. Army. +This big gun can be put into position in 15 minutes and will fire all +around the horizon. The ammunition car for shell and powder is +attached.] + +[Illustration: A MONSTER BRITISH HOWITZER NICKNAMED "GRANNY." + +One of the guns which blasted the way along the Menin Road in the big +offensive. "Shells hastily delivered and with a punch," that's all +Granny had to say. Any German trooper will vouch for its accuracy.] + +[Illustration: THE HANDLEY PAGE SUPER AERIAL BOMBING DREADNAUGHT. + +Designed by Mr. Handley Page, a British manufacturer. It was claimed +that this giant plane could cross the ocean under its own power. + +AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY MARCHING UNDER INSPECTION. + +The Anzacs, famous for their brave and daring accomplishments, and among +the best of fighters.] + +[Illustration: WELCOME HOME, ALL HAIL TO THE CONQUERING HEROES. + +When New York's Negro Soldiers marched amid the cheering crowd, Harlem +was mad with joy over the return of its own.] + +[Illustration: SOME OF THE WOUNDED IN THE NEW YORK PARADE. + +The 369th Colored Regiment was cited as a whole for bravery in +action--at Champagne, Chateau Thierry, Mihiel Salient or in the Argonne, +wherever there was hard fighting to be done.] + +[Illustration: MANUAL OF ARMS OF THE UNITED STATES. + +Showing the different positions in the drill.] + +[Illustration: GROUP OF RUSSIAN SAILORS. They are the first to come to +New York since the United States entered the war.] + +[Illustration: SERBIAN CORPS ORGANIZED IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Hundreds of Serbians organized an army and went to France and joined the +offensive. The photo shows the men leaving San Francisco, where they +were mobilized. The United States paid for the transportation of the +men.] + +"Girls are beginning on the farm at 18 shillings ($4.50) a week; before +the war men farm hands worked for 11 shillings ($2.75). Our women are +milking cows, running steam plows, digging in the fields and giving +complete satisfaction. I dare not venture to predict what will happen in +the future, but we can face it with confidence, I am certain. Now we are +inspired with the spirit of patriotism; we feel we owe our best to our +country; we are ready to suffer hardship just as our brave men are doing +in the trenches. + + +BRITISH WOMEN'S PATRIOTISM. + +"The patriotism of British women had stood a hard test; I hope American +women have an easier trial. Lloyd George says he hopes America will +profit by the mistakes of Britain. For more than a year the government +of this country snubbed and discouraged our women. The government does +not pay women at the same rate as men; it does not give them the same +war bonus. There came a time when the government realized the war could +not be won without the women. Then it issued frantic calls for help, and +the women responded nobly, just as they would have done months before. I +hope your American Government will recognize the value of woman's help +from the very start. + +"Unfortunately I must judge your women largely by those who come over +here for the season in peace days. As I remember they spent a great deal +of time and money at the hairdressers, manicures, dressmaking +establishments and hotels. But I am certain the great majority of +Americans care more for their homes and country and less for display. I +feel that they should concentrate on the production of food. We need all +we can get and then we shall not have as much as we require. Money, food +and ships are the things most needed. + +"Your women have been wonderfully generous in giving us money, +supporting hospitals and sending us supplies. We can use some of your +nurses and women doctors. We have a hospital here in London holding +nearly 1000 soldiers and it is run entirely by women. Our Scottish +women's hospitals have done grand work in the various theaters of war. +Not only the nurses, but the doctors and ambulance drivers are women. We +have supplied about 72,000 women for this work alone." + +"How have women regarded the discipline of army life?" was asked. + +"Wonderfully!" said Lady Frances. "It has been good for them. Just see +our women 'bus conductors. They work hard, handle all kinds of people, +but I never heard them say they are unable to meet the emergencies which +arise. And for the most part they are women who come from very humble +surroundings. You hear that women have broken down in health under their +work, but it seems to me I have read frequently about American business +men suffering from nervous breakdowns and overwork." + + +SUCCESS BUILT ON RUINS OF FAILURE. + +No great victories, either in war or in the ordinary relations of life, +are attained without initial blunders. Many a splendid success is built +upon the ruins of failure, and this is a fact that the women of Europe +learned after the first hysteria occasioned by the marching soldiers, +the beat of drums and all the excitement incident to real warfare. +American women, when they joined hands with the Allies against +Prussianism and all that it meant, builded splendid records of their +usefulness upon the mistakes that these women made. + +In the summer of 1914 every girl and woman clamored to be a nurse. Women +with a great deal of money and no experience opened "hospitals" that +were about as fit for the reception and treatment of wounded men as a +henroost is capable of housing an eagle. They all wanted to be in the +"Red Cross" or "V.A.D." (Voluntary Aid Department) and wear caps and +bandage wounds. + +Then there were the amateur nurses who didn't know much about nursing, +"but would love to try." The daughter of a duke tried to go through a +probationary course at St. Bartholomew's Hospital because she thought +the uniform "perfectly sweet." But of course this element of +"fluffiness" exists on the outside of any great movement. It has to be +blown away so that the hard surface of genuine and practical endeavor +can be seen and felt. And that is what happened to England. The "fluff" +disappeared and women knew where they were, and men realized that women +possess a force, a firm and splendid resolve, that gives them the right +to step beside men in the march toward victory. + +Another craze that amounted to a vice was the furious and ill-considered +efforts of totally unskilled women to make shirts and hospital garments +for soldiers. If some of the results had not been pathetic one could +almost be overcome with the comicality of the whole business. Soldiers' +shirts were turned out by a circle of busily sewing ladies that would +not fit a dwarf, while probably the next batch of garments dispatched +with patriotic fervor to a regimental depot might have been designed for +a race of giants. + + +NATIONAL SERVICE FOR WOMEN. + +National service for women as well as for men proved a very substantial +portion of Great Britain's strength, but before national service had +been generally thought of an organization called the Women's Service +Bureau had been formed by a group of influential and intelligent women +who were imbued with the idea that only by careful and systematized +registration and selection could the matter of feminine war work be +successfully arranged. + +Lady Frances Balfour was the first president of the Women's Service +Bureau, which with the London Society for Suffrage established 62 +branches in the city of London and its suburbs. + +What the women at the head of this society realized was the necessity +for giving the right women the most suitable employment and also to give +every applicant for work helpful and practical advice. The need for +women's labor in the many trades and professions hitherto closed to +them, and for their increased co-operation in those in which they +already took part, has been forced home even to unwilling minds. + +Here and there on the battlefields of Europe--in Bulgaria, Servia, +Roumania, France, Belgium and Russia--have been noted occasionally the +presence of a woman warrior, a modern Joan of Arc. It was not expected, +however, that in America woman would do more than perform the service +work which fell to the lot of the Red Cross nurses and the women +practicing conservation and effecting organization in England. + +But the women of America were not satisfied with "petticoat +preparedness." They rushed to the khaki suits and to the colors with +unexpected enthusiasm. One khaki-clad woman walked from San Francisco to +New York, making recruiting speeches on the way. + +The infantry, the cavalry, the navy, the marines could all point to +their girls in khaki. + + +ALL KINDS OF WOMEN ENLISTED. + +As the women enlisted for all kinds of service, so it may be said all +kinds of women enlisted--that is, women of all ranks of life--some from +society, some from the mills, others from the offices, the shops, the +stage, the restaurants and the colleges. + +Many years ago the country rang with the name of Tippecanoe, and one of +the men who bore arms on the western frontier was William Henry +Harrison. The years went by and Benjamin Harrison came to the White +House as President. + +The Harrison blood showed in the preparedness work, and Old Tippecanoe's +great granddaughter helped to make the women of the country fit for the +burden of war. + +There isn't anything on earth that shows so strongly in the blood as the +soldier element, and Elizabeth Harrison, whose great ancestor faced the +perils of the frontier warfare, was a leader by force of her inherited +ability as a leader. She was elected drill sergeant for the college +girls of the New York University. + +When the war clouds came she was following inherited bent. All of the +Harrison men had been among the country's greatest lawyers and Miss +Harrison was studying for the bar. + +But just as the warwhoop of the West called Tippecanoe from his books +and briefs to bullets and battles, so the daughter of the former +President dropped Blackstone and Kent to take up the Drill Regulations +and the elementary text books of the army. + +She knew that the way to make women fit for their part of war service +was to make them strong and healthy and to give them an idea of the +things that men-at-arms have to do. + + +NOTED WOMEN IN THE WORK. + +So Miss Harrison was one of the first workers in the movement to teach +women the elements of war. Many women of importance in the social and +financial world took up the task with a will, and there was a girl for +every signal flag, a maid for every wireless station, and an angel for +every hospital ward in the making as the men pursued the task of +providing guns and the men behind the guns. + +Miss Harrison and the girls she drilled at the University wore +regulation field service uniform, khaki breeches, coat, heavy shoes and +puttees, and a large hat of military cut. + +The American Woman's League for Self-Defence and Preparedness was the +first woman's military organization in America, according to its +president, Mrs. Ida Powell Priest, who is descended from an old Long +Island family, Thomas Powell being one of her ancestors. + +The first cavalry troop, of which Ethel M. Scheiss was first senior +captain, drilled regularly. Their first appearance mounted caused a mild +sensation on Broadway. They were most impressively stern soldierettes as +they trotted and galloped their horses. + +Everywhere the girl in America strove with helpful earnestness to do +"her bit." Every strata of society called out its members in a wonderful +plan of feminine preparedness. Besides the thousands of women members of +the Red Cross some of the most prominent organizations officered and +planned by women include The National League for Women's Service, which +has branches in every large city in the United States. They enrolled +women as motor car drivers, telegraphers, wireless operators, +agriculturists and skilled mechanics. + +Miss Anne Morgan, as head of this organization, devoted an enormous +amount of energy to the success of the work. + + +OTHER SOCIETIES ORGANIZED. + +Other societies organized were the National Special Aid Society, Service +of Any Kind, Militia of Mercy, which sends and provides bandages and +other necessities and comforts for the soldiers; Girl Scouts of America, +first aid, signalling and drills; Daughters of the American Revolution; +the Suffrage Party and the Anti-Suffrage Society; the International +Child Welfare League and the Girls' National Honor Guard. The Federation +of Women's Clubs all over the United States also organized for any +patriotic service that women could perform. + +A practical way of doing something to help France and Servia was offered +early in the war by the splendid initiative of Dr. Elsie Inglis and the +Scottish Federation of Women's Suffrage Societies, who organized +hospitals for the wounded, the staffs of which were all women, and +called on other societies for their support. + +The London society responded first by subscriptions from individual +members, then by giving beds, then (in February, 1915) by offering +itself as London agent for the hospitals and undertaking all the +practical work, in the sending out of personnel and equipment, which had +to be transacted in London. + +It is only by carefully systematized organization that great work of +this kind can be carried on. The slapdash, haphazard of hysterical +excitement can have no legitimate place in a movement that provides +stepping stones toward the salvation of the civilized world. + +One of the things which will live long in the history of womankind was +the wonderful work done by the magnificently courageous units of Lady +Paget's nursing force, which went out to Servia, when that country was +laid waste not only by the German beasts, but also by disease. + +It was not the fault of those brave women and men that things happened +at Uskub and in other Servian towns that do not bear repeating. + +It was just the lack of thorough preparedness for a war which was much +worse than humanity had thought possible that deepened the tragedy of +their situation. In Servia, in fact, the career of the hospitals was +quite checkered and the service rendered proportionately more vital. + + +LONDON-WALES UNIT. + +At the time of the Austro-German invasion in the autumn of 1915, the +London-Wales Unit was at Valjevo, one of the five Scottish women's +hospitals working in the country. It was under the command of Dr. Alice +Hutchinson and was very highly organized. Doctor Inglis had herself gone +on to Servia to take general charge of the hospitals there in the spring +of 1915. From the time that a typhus epidemic was overcome by women +doctors early in the year to the time of the invasion all seemed to be +going well. Then came three weeks of great pressure of work and of rapid +moves from place to place as the enemy advanced into the country. +Finally, it became a necessity for the personnel of the different units +either to retreat with the Servian army over the mountains into +Montenegro or to fall in the hands of the enemy. + +The story of the retreat is now very generally known. The journey was +one long series of forced marches. Mountains 7000 feet high had to be +traversed in blinding snow, almost the whole journey had to be made on +foot and it was six weeks before the little band reached the coast. +Doctor Inglis meanwhile, with her group of nurses and orderlies, and +Doctor Hutchinson, with the London-Wales Unit, had gallantly stayed +behind and continued to attend to their Servian wounded and to organize +help for them till the work was forcibly stopped by the advancing +Austrian army. + + +UNIT TAKEN PRISONERS. + +After being ordered out of Valjevo, Doctor Hutchinson made several +attempts to organize hospitals in the line of retreat. She was at +Vrnyachka Banja when the Austrians entered the town on November 10, +1915. She and her unit were taken prisoners and interned, first near the +Servian frontier and then in Hungary for three weary months. The +cheerful courage with which the members of the unit bore hardship and +uncertainty and hope deferred has been related by Doctor Hutchinson in a +memorable narrative. Their conditions would have been still more +intolerable and their release would have been still longer delayed if +Doctor Hutchinson herself had not known a great deal more about the +Geneva Convention than the Austrian authorities had ever dreamed. She +was thus able to assert herself on behalf of those under her in a way +which taught her captors something new about British women. At the +beginning of February the unit was at last allowed to cross the frontier +into Switzerland. It reached England on February 12. It was only the +perfection of its organization that carried this brave body of women +through amazing hardships. + +Abroad women chauffeurs became almost as common in the war as men; the +public in Paris and London refused to regard the appearance of a woman +on the streets in cap, "knickers" and puttees or heavy boots as unusual, +and in need they in many instances not only drove "taxi," but guided +ambulances in the hospital service. + +The Red Cross in America, in the matter of preparedness, organized a +class for women chauffeurs. One of these, started in Philadelphia, had +among its instructors Mrs. Thomas Langdon Elwyn and Miss Letitia McKim, +both of whom drove ambulances for the Allies in England. + +The National League for Woman Service, working in conjunction with the +Council of National Defense, canvassed the country through its Bureau of +Registration and Information to provide statistics for mobilizing the +entire woman-force of the Nation; all of which was done with the +approval of the Secretary of Labor. + +Perhaps the outstanding incident of industrial employment among women +was that of several women in France as locomotive engineers. It is true +that they operated only the shunting engines about the yards at the +military camps, but it was noted in dispatches in every quarter of the +globe that Mesdames Louis Debris and Marie Viard, whose husbands were +killed in the war, were piloting the engines which their husbands had +formerly driven. + + +WOMAN'S INGENUITY. + +And woman has proved her ingenuity. In the damp trenches of the +battlefields abroad the men need protection from the dampness and cold, +which ordinary clothing will not provide. It was found that the +leather-lined huntsmen's coats, and the sort of garments worn by the +chauffeur, the aviator and the mountaineer served the men in the +trenches well, and particularly along the Russian frontier and in the +cold mountainous regions. + +But the price of leather soared, with the demand for millions of pairs +of shoes, saddles, harness, headgear, and whatnot, and leather-lined +coats were at a premium. The women were not to be denied, and through +the Suffrage organizations which turned in to prepare America for the +struggle and to render assistance to the Allies, the unique plan was +adopted of making linings for the airmen and soldier's coats of old kid +gloves. + +One group of women in a single section of Philadelphia gathered a +thousand pairs of old gloves in a canvass. The seams were ripped and the +gloves cut down one side and laid open. The fingers of one glove so +treated were dovetailed between the fingers of another glove so cut, and +stitched together. Thus one glove was sewed to another until a section +of leather was formed sufficient to make a lining for a coat. And many +such were devised and incorporated in the garments sent to the front by +the various agencies dominated by the women of the land. + + +WOMEN AS POLICEMEN. + +While women to a limited degree were rendering service as "policemen" in +certain sections of the United States and on Continental Europe the war +was responsible for the development of an organized force in London, +which will probably remain a permanent organization to the end of time. +Miss Darner Dawson is chief of the London woman "bobbies," and M.S. +Allen is chief superintendent. + +The force was organized in 1914, shortly after the outbreak of the war +and has relieved the men of a large amount of responsibility. The force +is uniformed, the women wearing military costumes with visored caps. +They operate under the supervision, or with the authority of Sir Edward +Henry, Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan police, and serve for duty +at the munition plants where women workers are employed, besides doing +regular patrol duty and welfare work. + +The service in London is in the nature of a training for special service +and the women after sufficient experience are sent to suburbs and small +towns to do police duty. They are highly spoken of and declared to be +very efficient, rendering service in the barrooms and looking after +women in a manner that the regular "bobbies" cannot approximate. + +It was declared in England, by way of closing the comment on this phase +of the war that no one thing so stimulated the enlistments for service +as the execution of Miss Edith Cavell, the English nurse who was shot as +a spy by Germany. That her name will go down in history as a martyr to +the cause of liberty and humanity goes without saying. + +Miss Cavell had been a nurse in Brussels, and after the occupation of +the Belgian capital by the Germans, she remained where she used her +private hospital for the nursing of wounded soldiers; not excluding the +Germans. It had been intimated that she had better cross the border, but +she insisted on remaining at her post. Ultimately she was accused of +being one of the instigators of a plot to smuggle English, French and +Belgian soldiers across the lines, and of serving the enemies of +Germany. + +To the German mind she was more than a spy; Her conduct was +reprehensible, because in the capacity of nurse she had won a degree of +confidence. She was therefore held as a spy and traitor. And though +Brand Whitlock, America's Minister to Belgium, and other diplomats +sought to save her, she was shot by the ruthless Germans. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE TERRIBLE PRICE. + +A NATION OF MEN DESTROYED--MILLIONS IN SHIPPING AND COMMERCE +DESTROYED--WORLD'S MAPS CHANGED--BILLIONS IN MONEY--IMMENSE +DEBTS--NATION'S WEALTH--THE UNITED STATES A GREAT PROVIDER. + + +The human tongue seems almost devoid of power to convey to the human +mind what the war has actually cost the world in lives, money, property, +ideals and all that is dear to humanity. In all the world there is not a +human being who has not contributed something to the awful cost and the +loss due to the destruction of property, the stopping of industry, the +waste of energy and the curtailment of human endeavor in the interest of +civilization, and the effects which the struggle has had upon the world +cannot even be approximated in dollars and cents. + +We have been taught to regard war as a terrible thing and to realize +that thousands must be slain, but in no war in the history of the world +has there been as many troops engaged as have been killed in the +European war on the battlefields of Belgium and France. + +At the beginning of the year 1917 it was estimated that the total +casualties of the war were 22,500,000. In a report based on figures +compiled in Washington it was stated: The human estimated waste and +financial outlay are staggering. The combined casualties of the war, +partly estimated because all belligerents do not publish lists, are +22,500,000. The figures included killed, permanently injured, prisoners +and wounded returned to the front. Of this number the Central Powers +were estimated to have suffered permanent losses in excess of 4,000,000, +and the entente perhaps twice that number, Russia being by far the +heaviest loser. + +The financial outlay, based in part on official reports and statements +and in part on estimates, was placed at approximately $80,000,000,000, +divided $50,000,000,000 to the entente and $30,000,000,000 to the +Central Powers. The entente lost more than 3,500,000 tons of merchant +shipping and approximately 800,000 tons of naval vessels. On the other +side the loss of naval tonnage was approximately 250,000 tons, and +merchant ships aggregating 211,000 tons were reported captured or +destroyed. + + +IMMENSE LOSS TO COMMERCE. + +Of the foreign commerce the Central Powers had lost $10,000,000,000 in +the two and a half years of war, including imports and exports. The loss +of commerce of Great Britain and her allies with the Central Powers +probably was in the neighborhood of $7,000,000. This was largely made up +at least on the import side by increased trade with the United States +and other neutral countries and enlarged trade with the colonies. + +Germany lost virtually all her African colonies and all her possessions +in the Pacific Ocean, an aggregate of more than 1,000,000 square miles. +Turkey also lost a large area of territory held at the outbreak of the +war, while Austria lost most of Bukowina and Galicia. To offset the +territory losses of the Central Powers, the entente have lost in Europe +approximately 300,000 square miles. Of this large area, all of it +thickly populated in normal times, 175,000 square miles were wrested +from Russia on the eastern battlefield. + +The staggering losses in men include the vast number on both sides +wounded in such a way as to permanently cripple them and render them +unfit for military service. The figures are based on official reports +and estimates by military experts. + +Germany's permanent losses were placed at 1,500,000 men, including about +1,000,000 in killed. The permanent losses of Austria-Hungary were placed +at about 1,000,000 more than those of Germany, owing to the fact that so +much of the hard fighting on the eastern front was in the +Austro-Hungarian theater. The losses of the Austro-Hungarians during the +drive of General Brusiloff in 1916 were frightful. Large numbers of +Austrians were taken prisoner by Brusiloff. + +Russia's casualties for the first year of the war were estimated by +military experts at more than 3,500,000 men, and these were doubled in +the succeeding year, according to estimates by American military +experts. Russia returned to the fighting line a smaller percentage of +wounded than any of the other great Powers. + + +GREAT BRITAIN'S CASUALTIES. + +Great Britain's casualties were placed in excess of 1,250,000 despite +the limited front of British operations in France in the early stages. +The aggregate of Italy's casualties was estimated at 1,500,000, while +Belgium's were placed at 200,000, Servians at 400,000, Montenegro's at +150,000 and Rumania's at more than 300,000. + +While the area of the territorial losses of the Central Powers was +nearly four times as great as that of the entente group, with the +exception of the occupied portions of Bukowina and Galicia, the value of +the territory included in them is comparatively small. For example, +Germany's African colonies were sparsely settled, largely by natives, +with virtually all development in the future. Despite this fact, their +loss was a severe blow to Germany. + +The territorial losses of the entente covered all but a small corner of +Belgium, a highly developed, thickly populated industrial country; a +large slice of northern France, virtually all of Servia, all of +Montenegro, more than three-fourths of Rumania and 175,000 square miles +of Russia, the major part of it in the grain-growing section. + +According to military experts on the "war map" of Europe as it stood at +that time, the Central Powers had won the war. But when their enormous +loss of foreign commerce and territory is considered, their "victory" +was shown to have most decided limitations, especially because of their +admission that they eventually would have to give up all occupied +territory in view of the frightful cost in men and money. + + +FIGURES POSITIVELY STAGGERING. + +Supplementing these statements, as showing the progress of the war, it +was stated just before the United States took its memorable step to +break off diplomatic relations with Germany, members of the National War +Council estimated the total casualties of the war at that time as in +excess of the population of the United Kingdom, which in 1911 was more +than 45,000,000. This of course included those maimed, injured or so +stricken that they were unfit for future service. The number actually +killed was estimated at more than 7,000,000. + +Staggering as these figures are they are easily conceivable when it is +remembered that the German front lines covered more than 500 miles with +Allied troops opposing them, and that in a single battle millions of +shells were fired by one side or the other. In one battle it was +officially reported that 4,000,000 shot and shell were used, and in +another the English mined the German trenches for a distance of several +miles and blew out the strongholds, using more than 1,000,000 pounds of +high explosives. + +One of the great 42-centimeter guns of the Germans is said to have used +a charge of guncotton involving the use of a full bale of cotton to make +the explosive--and a bale of cotton contains 500 pounds. The shrapnel of +the heavy field artillery of the United States contains 717 balls or +bullets about the size of a common marble, and the shell, so timed that +it explodes just before it touches the ground, scatters the bullets or +balls over an area estimated at one yard for every bullet, or more than +700 yards. With thousands of such shells being rained over the +entrenchments is it any wonder that the list of wounded and killed was +great? + +Thousands were killed by poisoned gases, and where they were not killed +a very large percentage of those affected suffered consequences which +rendered them unfit for battle--turned them into invalids. The gas bombs +produced hemorrhages of the lungs and bowels in thousands of cases and +left those who inhaled the fumes in an anemic and permanently disabled +condition. And what of the thousands who succumbed to fevers, and who +because of the terrible shock became mental and physical wrecks and were +made unfit for further duty on the actual firing lines? + + +A MATTER OF DOLLARS AND CENTS. + +When it comes to the cost in dollars and cents it is possible to tell +something of what they mean with reference to war construction and +maintenance, although no one can estimate what it represents in +destruction. No one has yet devised an accounting system to determine +the percentage of "depreciation" through wear and tear on guns and +devices that cost thousands of dollars each, but everybody knows that +guns wear out and that some of the larger ones have a very decided limit +on the number of times they can be fired without being rebored or +rifled. + +Railroads which have taken years to build and develop have been +destroyed, telephone and telegraph lines put out of commission, great +castles and temples razed, works of art burned, whole cities devastated, +green fields turned into great craters torn up by bombs and shells, +factories dismantled, herds of cattle fed into the maw of the armies, +and the ruthless Germans even went so far as to wantonly cut down and +destroy whole forests and magnificent shade trees which it took +generations to grow. + +How the indebtedness of the nations grew during the progress of the war +is shown in the following statement issued by some of the financial +institutions of the country in the Spring of 1917: + +"Indebtedness of the seven principal nations engaged in the European war +has crossed $75,000,000,000. In the middle of 1914 the indebtedness of +these seven nations was $27,000,000,000." + +Financing on an extensive scale followed this state of affairs. France +issued a second formal war loan, Germany a fifth loan and Russia a sixth +loan. Great Britain issued temporary securities in enormous sums. + +The war cost $105,000,000 every twenty-four hours, according to the +statistics, expenditures of the Entente Allies being fully double those +of the Central Allies. + + +COMPARATIVE WAR EXPENSES. + +Without for one moment taking into consideration the billions which were +thrown into the war-pot by America the figures are staggering. An +interesting comparison is found in the cost of the previous great world +wars. The American Civil War, the greatest conflict in prior history +cost $8,000,000,000, a sum equalled every three months in the conduct of +the European war. + + Approximate cost. + Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815 $6,250,000,000 + American Civil War, 1861-1864 8,000,000,000 + Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871 3,000,000,000 + South African War, 1900-1902 1,250,000,000 + Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905 2,500,000,000 + European War, 1914-1917 (3 years) 75,000,000,000 + +It was further estimated that after the year 1917, the payment of +$3,800,000,000 a year would be required to pay the interest on the debt, +and that the total Government expenditures in Europe for bond interest +and support of the various branches of the Governments would require in +the neighborhood of 20 per cent of the people's income. + + +POPULATION AND WEALTH OF COUNTRIES. + +Another comparative table that is important to any one desiring to study +the costs and their effects is that relating to population and wealth of +the principal countries. The latest available figures are: + + Population Wealth + United States 101,577,000 $187,739,071,090 + British Empire 394,930,000 130,000,000,000 + Germany 67,810,000 80,000,000,000 + France 39,700,000 50,000,000,000 + Russia 187,379,000 40,000,000,000 + Austria-Hungary 53,000,000 25,000,000,000 + Spain 20,000,000 5,400,000,000 + Belgium 7,500,000 9,000,000,000 + Portugal 5,958,000 2,500,000,000 + Italy 37,048,000 20,000,000,000 + +Taxes have been the main sources for raising money to carry on the war. +In Germany taxes on all incomes from the Kaiser to the ordinary business +man were kept at the highest rate, the Kaiser paying $500,000 on his +fortune of $35,000,000 during the early part of the struggle. This was +in addition to his income tax which amounted to $440,000, making a total +annual tax of nearly $1,000,000. The Krupps are said to have been +assessed at $3,000,000. + +When the new military service laws were approved in Paris, which was +about the middle of July, 1913, the French Cabinet was at its wit's end +to provide the financial end of the tremendous military budget. +Investment markets were sluggish, and there were thousands of notes +whose values were rapidly depreciating. The French Government was unable +to float a loan of $200,000,000 which was necessary for making +preparations. + +Then in her desperation Paris closed her doors to all foreign loans. +The Viviani Ministry practically duplicated the plan of its predecessor +in proposing an issue of $360,000,000 3-1/2 per cent bonds, which were +redeemable in 25 years. + +One year previously to this financial struggle the Belgian Government +had started to raise $62,800,000 in order that the people of this +country might prevent its being used as the battleground for the world +war which they had seen away off in the future. This money was raised +for the purpose of making Antwerp an impregnable fortress. + + +IMMENSE SUM FOR ARMY AND NAVY. + +Russia had taken steps to raise $3,700,000,000 which the Russian +Minister of Finance had informed the Budget Committee must be spent in +the next five years on the army and navy. During the first year of the +war there was $500,000,000 spent by this country in military and naval +defence. This does not include the cost of those strategic railroads of +which so many were constructed by the Russian Government, and which cost +so many hundreds of thousands of dollars. + +Previous to the time Great Britain declared war on Germany the House of +Commons had voted $525,000,000 for Emergency purposes, and within a +couple of days of this appropriation an additional $500,000,000 was +granted by the British Parliament. + +One of the things accomplished by war was to bring out the fact that the +resources of individuals are far greater than is ordinarily suspected. +In 1870 Bismarck imposed an indemnity of $1,000,000,000 on France, never +believing that country could meet the great debt, but with the help of +all the inhabitants the debt was lifted within a few months. + +When countries are at war the cost of continuing fighting does not stop +with those actually engaged. The trade of the world is affected, and +this means loss in all quarters of the globe. Of the import trade of the +United States more than $500,000,000 was directly with those nations +engaged in the war at the opening of hostilities. This was out of a +total of $1,850,000,000. A great part of this commerce is classed as +among that which yields the greatest import tax, which means that +internal taxes must be imposed on the people to make up for the money +necessary to meet with the yearly loss occasioned during the continuance +of the war. + + +ANNUAL NATIONAL INCOME. + +In the United States there is an annual national income of +$50,000,000,000, the total bank resources being $35,000,000,000, the +individual deposits being $24,000,000,000, with cash held by the banks +totaling $2,500,000,000, total gold stock in the country being +$3,000,000,000, and available additional commercial credits on the basis +of cash holdings totaling $6,000,000,000. + +The borrowing power of the American Government does not total less than +$40,000,000,000, from domestic sources, and this does not disturb the +ordinary financial and economical affairs of the nation. + +During the first five months in 1917 the Government of the United States +reached a record for expenditures never before equalled in American +history. The total amount expended was $1,600,000,000. + +The chief item of the increase--$607,500,000--was the purchase of the +obligations of foreign Governments in exchange for loans advanced to the +Allies. The sum did not represent by approximately $140,000,000 the +total amount authorized in loans. An increase of approximately +$245,000,000 in the ordinary disbursements of the Government, chiefly +due to military and naval needs, also was recorded and another item +going to swell the grand total of expenditures was the payment of +$25,000,000 for purchase of the Danish West Indies. + +War loans of the six chief European belligerents, early in 1917, +aggregated approximately $53,113,000,000. + +Loans of the chief Entente nations, Great Britain, France, Russia and +Italy, were placed at about $36,300,000,000; those of Germany and +Austria-Hungary, not including the sixth German loan reported to have +yielded about $3,000,000,000, at $18,800,000,000. + +The amounts of the various loans were placed at: + +Great Britain, to March 31, 1917, $18,805,000,000; France, to February +28, $10,500,000,000; Russia, to December 31, 1916, $7,896,000,000; +Italy, to December 31, 1916, $2,520,000,000; Germany, to December 31, +1916, $11,226,000,000; Austria, to December 31, 1916, $5,880,000,000; +Hungary, $1,730,000,000. + +The total included the advances made by the United Kingdom and France to +the smaller belligerent countries allied with them. + + +SOME IDEA OF NATIONAL FINANCING. + +Some idea of what all this financing means to a country may be judged by +the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who in October, 1916, +replying to questions regarding the English loans in the House of +Commons, declared that England was paying at that time about $10,000,000 +a day in the United States, for every working day in the year. + +When the English mission visited the United States in May, 1917, after +the country had entered the war, there was handed to Arthur James +Balfour, ex-Premier of England, a check for $200,000,000, said to have +been one of the largest single checks ever paid in this country. It was +a loan for war purposes. In the month of June it was stated that the +total advance made to the Allies was $923,000,000, among the loans made +then was one of $75,000,000 to Great Britain, and $3,000,000 to Servia. +The Servian loan, the first made by the United States to that country, +was mainly for the improvement of railway lines. A small portion was +used for the relief of the distressed population, and Red Cross work. + +It was stated that the allied countries would spend in America, in the +neighborhood of $200,000,000 a month for the year; which brings +attention to the resources which America turned in against Germany when +she joined the allied forces. To meet the demands made upon it the +Government borrowed at once $3,000,000,000 by popular subscription--a +matter of history of which the nation is proud. + +From its funds the country loaned Russia $100,000,000, which was the +first loan made by the United States to that Government. A credit of +$45,000,000 to Belgium was also established by the Secretary of the +Treasury. This also was Belgium's first participation in the loan of the +Allies. + + +COUNTRY'S NATURAL RESOURCES. + +Aside from the financial resources of the United States, the country is +undoubtedly the richest in agricultural, mineral and other natural +resources. It annually produces more than 3,500,000,000 bushels of corn, +wheat touching the high point of 1,500,000,000 bushels; 1,600,000,000 +bushels of oats; 250,000,000 bushels of barley; 40,000,000 bushels of +rye; 22,000,000 bushels of buckwheat; 425,000,000 bushels of potatoes; +77,000,000 tons of hay; 30,000,000 bushels of flaxseed; 7,000,000,000 +pounds of cotton; more than 1,000,000,000 pounds of tobacco; 2,000,000 +long tons of sugar and 275,000,000 pounds of wool. + +There are nearly 70,000,000 swine, and as many cattle, more than +25,000,000 head of horses and mules, and 62,000,000 sheep. Coal is mined +at the rate of more than 500,000,000 tons yearly, and the copper mines +yield 1,250,000,000 pounds of metal. Petroleum wells yield 225,500,000 +barrels yearly. There are 270,000 manufacturing plants with a yearly +output of more than $25,000,000,000. The products of the farm total more +than $11,000,000,000 annually. + +As to Germany's position, economists all over the world have considered +her position as not only lacking soundness, but as crazy--crazy in that +no attention whatever has apparently been paid to what are recognized +as firmly fixed economic laws. The world has been at a loss to +understand Germany's attitude, and it can only be explained by assuming +that Germany was perfectly well aware of the entire unsoundness of her +commercial and financial position, and was willing, or, in fact, had to +risk everything with the hope of acquiring sufficient indemnity, +resulting from the war, to bring her financial affairs to a sound basis. +Germany's entire structure from the close of the Franco-Prussian war +evidently was built upon rotten foundations. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE WORLD RULERS AT WAR. + +WOODROW WILSON, THE CHAMPION OF DEMOCRACY--THE EGOTISTICAL KAISER--THE +GERMAN CROWN PRINCE--BRITAIN'S MONARCH--CONSTANTINE WHO QUIT RATHER THAN +FIGHT GERMANY--PRESIDENT POINCAIRE--AND OTHER NATIONAL HEADS. + + +No matter what the human frailties may be there are always men who rise +in the stress of circumstances to unexpected heights. They thrive upon +difficulties and in the emergencies become protectors and saviors of +men. In the world's greatest melting-pot--the burned and blood-stained +battlefields of Europe--there were tried and tested millions of men of +all nationalities and characteristics, and though the experience was one +of bitterness, there was found in it the satisfaction that in their own +way millions of men proved themselves great. + +Out of the hordes that rode over mountains, sailed the seas or picked +their way through trenches and across the scarred surface of the earth +there looms the figures of some whose names will go down in history for +all time. Their names will be written indelibly upon the pages of life +and they will be known for ages after the evidences of the great strife +have been obliterated and the peace for which the world struggled has +been made a permanent thing. + +Among those whose names will be forever linked with the terrible war as +a leader of men--whose figure stands out against the mass of +humanity--is Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America. +Though he neither faced bullets nor tramped the historic byways of +Europe in the terrible struggle, he was to all intents and purposes the +commander-in-chief of all the world forces seeking to break the +autocratic domination of the Hohenzollerns of Germany and give +democracy its place among the nations of the world which its character +justifies. + +President Wilson, when he was elevated to the highest position in +America which the Nation could bestow, was recognized as one of the +greatest essayists and students of history, political economy, +constitutional law and government in the country. And those who made +light of his "book-learning" and referred to him as "the school-master +president," came to know that his training and the very character of his +life's work fitted him better than probably any other man in America to +deal with the great national and international problems which +confronted, which culminated with or grew out of America's entrance into +the great war. + + +WILSON'S MANY HONORS. + +He was born in Staunton, Va., in 1856, the son of Rev. Joseph Woodrow +Wilson, and received his early education at Davidson College, N.C. +Subsequently he received a degree at Princeton University and graduated +in law at the University of Virginia, later practicing law at Atlanta. +After this he received degrees at Johns Hopkins, Rutgers, University of +Pennsylvania, Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale Colleges, and was +professor of history and political economy, first at Bryn Mawr College +and later at Wesleyan University, and finally professor of jurisprudence +and political economy, then jurisprudence and politics and afterward +president at Princeton University, from which post he was elected +Governor of the State of New Jersey in 1913. He resigned from the +Governorship and was elected President of the United States for a term +beginning March, 1913, and was re-elected in November, 1916, for a +second term beginning March, 1917, both times on the Democratic ticket. + +As against the figure of President Wilson there stands that of the +Emperor William of Germany, whose policies indirectly precipitated the +war and impelled the alignment of nations to defend themselves against +his autocratic domination. For years the head of the House of +Hohenzollern, descendant of the ancient margraves of Germany who have +battled with the old Romans, made it manifest in speech and by action +that his ambition was to create a world empire. + + +GERMANY MUST BE RECKONED WITH. + +Once at the launching of one of the great German warships he said: "The +ocean teaches us that on its waves and on its most distant shores no +great decision can any longer be taken without Germany and without the +German Emperor. I do not think that it was in order to allow themselves +to be excluded from big foreign affairs that, thirty years ago, our +people, led by their princes, conquered and shed their blood. Were the +German people to let themselves be treated thus, it would be, and +forever, the end of their world-power; and I do not mean that that shall +ever cease. To employ, in order to prevent it, the suitable means, if +need be extreme means, is my duty and my highest privilege." + +In a famous interview in the London "Daily Mail" in 1908, discussing the +attitude of Germany toward England, the Kaiser was quoted as follows: + +"You English," he said, "are mad, mad, mad as March hares. What has come +over you that you are so completely given over to suspicions quite +unworthy of a great nation? What more can I do than I have done? I +declared with all the emphasis at my command, in my speech at Guildhall, +that my heart is set upon peace, and that it is one of my dearest wishes +to live on the best of terms with England. Have I ever been false to my +word? Falsehood and prevarication are alien to my nature. My actions +ought to speak for themselves, but you listen not to them but to those +who misinterpret and distort them. That is a personal insult which I +feel and resent. To be forever misjudged, to have my repeated offers of +friendship weighed and scrutinized with jealous, mistrustful eyes, +taxes my patience severely. I have said time after time that I am a +friend of England, and your Press--or at least a considerable section of +it--bids the people of England refuse my proffered hand, and insinuates +that the other holds a dagger. How can I convince a nation against its +will?" + +And then as if to impress upon the world the belief that he was chosen +of God, the Kaiser repeatedly gave voice to such bombastic utterances as +when to his son in Brandenburg, he declared: "I look upon the people and +nation handed on to me as a responsibility conferred upon me by God, and +that it is, as is written in the Bible, my duty to increase this +heritage, for which one day I shall be called upon to give an account; +those who try to interfere with my task I shall crush." + + +THE "GOD-APPOINTED" HOHENZOLLERNS. + +Again he expressed the same sentiment when he said: "It is a tradition +of our House, that we, the Hohenzollerns, regard ourselves as appointed +by God to govern and to lead the people, whom it is given us to rule, +for their well-being and the advancement of their material and +intellectual interests." + +And finally in his address to the people in August, 1914, he said at the +beginning of war: "A fateful hour has fallen for Germany. Envious +peoples everywhere are compelling us to our just defence. The sword has +been forced into our hands. I hope that if my efforts at the last hour +do not succeed in bringing our opponents to see eye to eye with us and +in maintaining the peace, we shall, with God's help, so wield the sword +that we shall restore it to its sheath again with honor. + +"War would demand of us an enormous sacrifice in property and life, but +we should show our enemies what it means to provoke Germany. And now I +commend you to God. Go to church and kneel before God, and pray for His +help for our gallant army." + +This is the picture of "Kaiser Bill" whose egotism gave expression to +itself in 1910 when in a speech he said: "Considering myself as the +instrument of the Lord, without heeding the views and opinions of the +day, I go my way." + + +EMPEROR WILLIAM'S CHILDREN. + +William II, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia, was born +January 27, 1859, succeeding his father, Emperor Frederick the +III, in June, 1888. He married the Princess Augusta Victoria, of +Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and had the following +issue: Frederick William, Crown Prince, born May 6, 1882; William +Eitel-Frederick, born 1883; Adalbert, born 1884; August, born 1887; +Oscar, born 1888; Joachim, born 1890, and Victoria Louise, born 1892. + +Crown Prince Frederick William is one of the remarkable figures of the +war. A profound admirer of Napoleon he has always made a close study of +that great French soldier, and has long been one of the leaders of the +war-seeking element in Germany. The Crown Prince, who was born in 1882, +is tall, slim and impulsive. The late Queen Victoria, his great +grandmother, was his godmother. + +After he had completed a military course he attended Bonn University, +and on the completion of his college course he set out on extensive +travels. After his return he was placed in the offices of the Potsdam +provincial government so that he might study local administration. After +completing this study he was given a course in the intricate routine +through which two-thirds of the German people are governed, by being +placed in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior. Naval administration +has also been a part of the studies of the Crown Prince, in fact he was +deeply engrossed in that study when the war was declared. + +The Crown Prince married Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in +1905. + +King George V, of Great Britain, the only surviving son of the late King +Edward, was born in 1865. He was the second son of the king, his brother +Prince Albert, the heir to the throne, dying suddenly in 1892 and +bringing the second son, who had been destined for the navy, into direct +succession. In 1893 Princess Mary of Teck, who was to have married +Prince Albert, was married to Prince George, and there is one daughter, +Princess Mary, and five sons--Edward, Prince of Wales, and Princes +Albert, Henry, George and John. + + +THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT. + +Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, who is now Governor General of +Canada, is an uncle of the King. He was married to Princess +Louise-Margaret of Prussia, the daughter of Prince Frederick-Charles of +Prussia and Princess Marie-Anne of Anhalt. He has three children; +Margaret, the oldest, is the Crown Princess of Sweden; Prince Arthur is +married to his cousin, Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife, and Princess +Victoria-Patricia, who is unmarried. + +King Edward had three brothers and five sisters, two brothers falling +heir in turn to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. + +King George V is uncle by blood to Olaf, Crown Prince of Norway, and by +marriage with Queen Mary, to three Princes and three Princesses of Teck. +He is brother-in-law to King Haakon VII of Norway and Prince of Denmark, +Duke Adolph of Teck, and Prince Alexander of Teck. He is a first cousin +on his father's side to Emperor William II of Germany, and his brothers +and sisters, among whom, principally, is the Queen of Greece; to +Ernst-Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, and his four sisters, one of whom is +the wife of Prince Henry of Prussia, and another is Alice, former +Czarina of Russia. The first and second cousins of the King run well up +into the hundreds. + +The Royal Family of Belgium was founded when, in 1831, the people +elected King Leopold I to rule the destinies of that country. The king +was married to Princess Louise of Orleans, after which practically all +the marriages of the family were with the southern group of royal +houses. + +There were three children born to the couple, the oldest son succeeding +to the throne as King Leopold II. The latter married Archduchess Marie +Henriette of Austria. One son, and three daughters were born, the son +dying when he was 23 years old. The oldest of the daughters became the +wife of Prince Philip of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the second wedding Crown +Prince Rudolph of Austria-Hungary, who died in youth, and the third +becoming the wife of Prince Napoleon Bonaparte. The daughter of Leopold +I is the widow of the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, who was +executed there in 1867. + + +SECOND SON OF LEOPOLD I. + +The second son of Leopold I was Philip, the Count of Flanders, who was +married to Princess Marie of Hohenzollern, sister of the Prince Leopold +of Hohenzollern and King Charles of Roumania. The son to this marriage +is King Albert of Belgium, who succeeded his uncle, Leopold II, in 1909. +The Queen of Belgium is Princess Elizabeth of the Ducal House of +Bavaria. Through her King Albert is allied to the Crown Prince of +Bavaria, the Grand Duchess of Luxemburg, the Duke of Parma, the late +Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and the present heir-apparent, Archduke +Charles Francis Joseph. The King and Queen have two sons, Leopold, born +in 1902, and Charles Theodore, who is two years younger. There is also a +daughter, the Princess Marie-Josephine, born in 1906. + +King Nicholas I, ruler of the picturesque little country of Montenegro, +which was the scene of much bitter fighting, was born October 7, 1841, +and proclaimed Prince of Montenegro, as successor to his uncle Danilo I, +in 1860. He became king in 1910. Nicholas I married Milena Petrovna +Vucotic. The children are Princess Militza, who married the Russian +Grand Duke Peter Nikolaievitch; Princess Stana, who married George, Duke +of Leuchtenberg, but which marriage was dissolved, the Princess +subsequently marrying the Russian Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaievitch. The +other children are Prince Danilo Alexander, heir-apparent; Princess +Helena, who married Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy; Princess Anna, who +married Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg; Prince Mirko, who married +Natalie Constantinovitch; Princess Zenia, Princess Vera and finally +Prince Peter, who was born in 1889. + + +KING OF SERVIA. + +Peter I, King of Servia, one of the figures of the war, is the son of +Alexander Kara-Georgevitch. He was born in Belgrade in 1844, and was +proclaimed King after the murder of King Alexander and Queen Draga. He +ascended the throne on June 2, 1903. He was married in 1883 to Princess +Zorka, of Montenegro, who died in 1890. He has two sons and a daughter; +George, who was born in 1887, and who renounced his right to the throne +in 1909; Alexander, born in 1889, and Helen, who was born in 1884. +Because of his ill health King Peter, for a long time, delegated +authority to his son Alexander for the purpose of government. + +Nicholas II, the last Czar of Russia, who abdicated in June, 1917, was +born May 18, 1868, and succeeded his father, Emperor Alexander III, on +November 1, 1894. He married Princess Alexandra Alice, daughter of +Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and has four daughters and one son: +Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia and Alexis. + +The family is descended in the female line from Michael Romanof, first +elected Czar in 1613, and, in the male line, from Duke Karl Frederick of +Holstein-Gottorp. As the result of intermarriages and connections with +the royal houses of Germany, they are practically Germans by blood. + +It was in fact the German influence, which is said to have been the +immediate cause of the revolt in the great country. + +The revolution may be said to have had its inception when a small group +of men opposed to the German influence at court assassinated the monk +Gregory Rasputin, who had a great influence over the Czar. + + +A REACTIONARY CABINET INSTALLED. + +Czar Nicholas in anger dismissed Premier Trepoff and installed a +thoroughly reactionary Cabinet. Trepoff had been in office only a short +time, having followed M. Sturmer, who had bitterly fought the Duma. It +had been commonly reported that the real power in the Russian Government +after Sturmer went out was in the hands of the Minister of the Interior, +M. Protopopoff. Sturmer had been called to the premiership to succeed M. +Goremykin, who was in office when the war began. + +The fact that Michael Rodzianko, president of the Duma and one of the +leading advocates of liberalization of the Government, was named as the +chief figure in the provisional government, showed that the movement is +in the hands of the same forces which had demanded the overthrow of the +bureaucracy and a more energetic prosecution of the war. + +There were many changes in the Russian Government during the war, +although the censorship was enforced so rigidly that the significance of +the rapid shifts was apparent. Vague reports reached the outside world +of high councilors of State who were obstructing instead of assisting +the work of carrying on the war, and the strength of German influence at +Petrograd. The most conspicuous case of this sort was that of General +Soukhomlinoff, former Minister of War, who was dismissed from office and +imprisoned as a result of charges of criminal negligence and high +treason. + +M. Sazonoff, Russia's Foreign Minister at the beginning of the war and +an ardent believer in the prosecution of the war, was deposed early in +the reactionary regime and sent as envoy to London. It was suggested +that the motive for this was not to honor an anti-German, but to get him +out of Russia. + + +MEMBERS OF THE RUSSIAN CABINET. + +The members of the Russian Cabinet, as announced for the Provisional +Government, were: + +Prince Georges E. Lvov, well known as president of the Zemstvos' Union, +Prime Minister. + +Alexander J. Guchkoff, Minister of the Interior. + +Paul Milukoff, well known as a Constitutional Democrat leader, Minister +of Foreign Affairs. + +M. Pokrovski, Minister of Finance. + +General Manikovski, chief of the Artillery Department, War Minister. + +M. Savitch, Minister of Marine. + +M. Maklakoff, Minister of Justice. + +M. Kovalevski, Minister of Education. + +M. Nekrasoff, Minister of Railways. + +M. Konovaloff, Moscow merchant, Minister of Commerce and Industry. + +M. Rodischneff, Secretary for Finland. + +M. Kerenski, Minister without portfolio. + +The executive committee of the Imperial Duma, as the provisional +Government styles itself, is composed of twelve members, under M. +Rodzianko, including two Socialists, two Conservatives, three Moderates, +five Constitutional Democrats and Progressives. + +Constantine I, King of Greece, who abdicated in favor of his son, Prince +Alexander, on June 11, 1917, under pressure from the Allied countries, +was born in 1868. His father, King George, was assassinated at Salonica +on March 18, 1913. The abdication of King Constantine in June, 1917, was +due to his opposition to the forces in the government which desired to +join the Allies in the war against Germany. The influence in favor of +the Germans in the royal family of Greece was Queen Sophia, a sister of +the Kaiser. + +For a time Constantine was a veritable idol in Greece. In 1896 when his +country was drifting into war with Turkey, he sounded a warning that the +Greek army was unprepared for a campaign. The infantry was armed with +condemned French rifles; the cartridges were 15 years old; there was no +cavalry; the artillery was obsolete, and the officers few. When the +country went to war despite his warning, the result was a disastrous +defeat. A similar situation developed when King George tried to oppose +the popular clamor for the annexation of Crete. The King knew that +Turkey was waiting for another opportunity to crush Greece, and there +was a second uprising. + + +CONSTANTINE BECOMES AN IDOL. + +Constantine had been in command of the military forces, and King George +was obliged to dismiss him as Generalissimo. In the Balkan war of 1912, +however, when he led an army of 10,000 Greeks to the capture of +Salonica, causing 30,000 Turks to lay down arms, he became an idol. On +ascending the throne, it was said that he aimed to restore the grandeur +of the ancient Hellenic Empire, and that he was a firm believer in the +old national prophecy that, under the reign of a "Constantine and a +Sophia," the Eastern Empire would be rejuvenated and the cross restored +on Saint Sophia in Constantinople, supplanting the Crescent of the Turk. +In fact, after the Balkan war, when Greece added a section of Turkish +territory to her domain, and the islands of Crete were annexed, King +Constantine hoisted the ancient Hellenic flag over the fort. + +The climax in Grecian affairs was precipitated when Turkey entered the +great World War on the side of Germany. The question of intervention on +the part of Greece arose, and King Constantine insisted on strict +neutrality being observed. The cabinet, headed by Premier Venizelos, +which was for war on the side of the Allies, tendered its resignation. +When the operations began against the Dardanelles the Government +believed that the time had come for Greece to enter the war. The King +refused to countenance the plan, arguing that the sending of forces to +the Dardanelles would dangerously weaken the Greek defences on the +Bulgarian frontier. Queen Sophia was regarded as bitterly opposed to the +country joining the Allies, and was reported to have threatened several +times to leave the country. + +The criticism directed against Constantine was severe because, under the +terms of the treaty made in the Balkan war, Greece was committed to ally +herself with Servia if that country were attacked by another power. +Austria did invade Servia, but Constantine asserted that the treaty +applied only to an attack by another Balkan nation. + + +ACCUSED OF EVASION. + +The occupation by troops of the Entente Powers of a part of Macedonia, +and the seizure of Salonica as their base, involved the King of Greece +in a long series of clashes with the Entente commanders, and he was +accused of evasion and attempting to gain time in the interests of +Germany. A temporary understanding was obtained, but meantime the +provisional government, headed by Venizelos, had been growing in +strength, and obtained the recognition of the Entente Powers. + +The Allies laid an embargo on the supplies of Greece, and Constantine +was denounced by the people of Crete and other territory, who demanded +his dethronement. This was the situation, in a general way, which led to +his abdication and his retirement to Berlin, with the Queen, in the +summer of 1917. + +Alexander, who succeeded his father, was a second son, born August 1, +1893. He was a captain in the First Regiment, artillery, in the Greek +army. + +Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, who threw the weight of his country with +the Allies, repudiating the treaty with Germany and Austria-Hungary +which established what was known as the Triple Entente, was born in +1869, the only son of King Humbert, second King of United Italy, who was +murdered at Monza, in July, 1900. Victor Emmanuel married Princess +Elena, daughter of Nicholas, King of Montenegro, and has four children: +Princess Yolanda, Princess Mafalda; Prince Humbert, heir-apparent, and +Princess Giovanna. The mother of King Emmanuel--Dowager Queen +Margherita--is a daughter of the later Prince Ferdinand of Savoy. + + +TRAGEDY THE PATHWAY TO THRONE. + +Charles I, the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, was born in 1887 +and succeeded his grand uncle, Francis Joseph I, in November, 1916. His +way to the throne lay through tragedy, for he came into the crown +immediately through the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, +heir-apparent, and his morganatic wife Countess Sophie Chotek, in +Bosnia, and which crime was the signal for the war. Nor would Charles +have been entitled to succeed to the throne but for the fact that the +Archduke Rudolf, heir-apparent to the throne, committed suicide in 1889. + +The right of succession went with his death to the second brother of the +then Emperor Francis Joseph, or Archduke Charles Louis, father of the +assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand. It passed then after the +tragedies to Archduke Otto, brother of Francis Ferdinand, Charles I +being the son of the Archduke Otto. The young Emperor married Princess +Zita of Bourbon Parma in 1911. She is the daughter of Duke Robert of +Parma, and sister of the first wife of Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria. The +Emperor has four children: Francis Joseph Otto, Adelaide Marie, Robert +Charles Ludwig and Felix Frederic August. + +Ferdinand of Bulgaria, Czar, is son of the late Prince Augustus of +Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and late Princess Clementine of Bourbon-Orleans, +daughter of King Louis Philippe. He was born in 1861 and succeeded +Prince Alexander, who abdicated. He married Marie Louise, daughter of +Robert of Parma, and after her death married Princess Eleanore of +Reuss-Kostritz. There are four children by the first marriage: Prince +Boris, heir-apparent; Prince Cyril, Princess Eudoxia, Princess Nadejda. + +Alfonso XIII, King of Spain, was born May 17, 1886, his father, King +Alfonso XII, having died nearly six months previous to his birth. Maria +Christina, mother of the heir to the Spanish throne, was an Austrian +princess. In 1906 King Alfonso XIII married the English Princess +Victoria Eugenie, daughter of the late Henry of Battenberg and Princess +Beatrice, a daughter of the late Queen Victoria. + + +KING ALFONSO'S SONS. + +King Alfonso XIII has four sons: Alfonso, Prince of the Asturias, heir +to the Spanish throne; Prince Jaime, who is deaf and dumb; Prince Juan, +and Prince Gonzalo. There are two daughters, Princess Beatrice, and +Princess Maria Christina. + +The King's sisters were Maria de las Mercedes, who married Prince Carlos +of Bourbon, in February, 1901, and died in 1904, and Infanta Maria +Teresa, who died suddenly from the effects of childbirth. She was the +wife of Prince Ferdinand, who afterward remarried Dona Maria Luisa Pie +de Concha, who was created Duchess of Talavera de la Reina, and given +the courtesy title of Highness by Alfonso. Don Carlos, who was born in +1848, and was the pretender to the Spanish throne, was a second cousin +to the King. He died in 1909, leaving a son, Prince Jamie, born in +1870, and who is the present pretender, and four daughters. + +The Spanish reigning family are the Bourbons, descendants of King Louis +XIV of France. + +Ferdinand, King of Roumania, was born in 1865, and is a nephew of the +late King Carol, who died in 1914. In 1893 he married Princess Marie of +Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and two sons and four daughters were born to the +royal couple as follows: Charles, who was born in 1893, and who is +heir-apparent; Nicholas, Elizabeth, Marie, Ileana and Mircia, the latter +dying when four years old. + + +POINCAIRE'S VERSATILITY. + +President Poincaire, of France, is a bearded, pale-faced, short, and +rather stout man, who leaves upon those who come in contact with him, an +impression of his mental ability. He was born in 1860, and is regarded +as one of the few strong characters who have held the office of +President since the war which brought about the third Republic. He is an +author of widely read books, and has won a place in the French Academy. +As a lawyer he was a leader at the bar, and before being chosen +President, in 1913, he served as Minister of Finance, and as Minister of +Public Instruction. While serving as Minister of Finance he is credited +with having put on the statutes admirable laws regulating and equalizing +the taxations of millions. President Poincaire is a patron of art, and +has been counsel of the Beaux Art, of the National Museum and President +of the Society of Friends of the University of Paris. + +The Sultan of Turkey, the outstanding nation in the conflict, not +Christian, was chosen ruler and took the Osman sword on May 10, 1909, +and was designated Mohammed V. His name is Mohammed Reshad Effendi, and +he succeeded Abd-ul-Hamid, who was deposed. The latter became Sultan in +1876, succeeding Abd-ul-Aziz, who was preceded by Abd-ul-Mejid. + +The history of the Ottoman Empire is filled with mystery, romance and +stories of intrigue, cruelty and barbarities, involving internal wars, +uprisings, almost continuous struggles with practically all of the +European countries and massacres that aroused the whole world. Legend +assigns Oghuz, son of Kara Khan, father of the Ottoman Turks, whose +first appearance in history dates back to 1227 A.D. + +The reign of Abd-ul-Aziz in the latter part of the last century was +marked by many massacres and the extravagant conduct of affairs by the +Sultan, who visited England in 1876 and was honored by Queen Victoria, +who bestowed upon him the Order of the Garter. He was deposed and +Abd-ul-Hamid succeeded. He made feeble attempts to reorganize the +Government, but his efforts were fruitless and following wars and +uprisings and further internal troubles and the loss of territory he was +deposed and the present Sultan was chosen. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE WAR'S WHO'S WHO. + +STRIKING FIGURES IN THE CONFLICT--JOFFRE, THE HERO OF +MARNE--NIVELLE, THE FRENCH COMMANDER--SIR DOUGLAS HAIG--THE +KAISER'S CHANCELLOR--VENIZELOS--"BLACK JACK" PERSHING. + + +One of the most striking figures among those whose names are irrevocably +linked with the history of the world fight for democracy, is that of +Joseph Joffre, Marshal of France, former Commander of the French forces +and victor of the famous battle of the Marne, who led the French Mission +to the United States, after America entered the war. + +The Commander-in-Chief of all the French armies, a man of humble birth, +saw the light of day at Perpignan, near the Pyrenees, in 1852. + +The future General early showed a deep interest in mathematics and +obtained the degree of Bachelor of Science at the College of Perpignan +at the early age of 16. He was a student at the Polytechnic Institute +when the Franco-German War of 1870 broke out. Joffre was placed in +charge of a large part of the defense of Paris and drew the plans of the +fortifications in the direction of Enghein. At the age of 19 he was +promoted to Captaincy in the presence of Marshal MacMahon and his whole +staff. + +Marshal Joffre traveled much and spent a great many years fighting +France's colonial wars. He served in the Formosa campaign of 1885; +constructed a chain of forts at Tonkin, Cochin-China; was decorated for +distinguished bravery in leading his troops in action there in the +eighties; was Chief Engineer of the Engineering Corps at Hanoi, and +undertook the building of a railroad from Senegal to the Niger River in +1892. + +Joffre fought through the Dahomey Campaign in 1893; saved the day for +the French in a brilliant rear-guard action and entered Timbuctoo as a +conqueror. Later he proceeded to Madagascar, where he constructed +fortifications and organized a naval station. + +Recalled to France, General Joffre became a Professor in the War College +and obtained his stars in 1901. He later entered the Engineering +Department of the War Ministry; then became Military Governor of Lille. +Later he was promoted to be a Division Commander in Paris and then +commander of the Second Army Corps at Amiens. He gained the honor in +1911 of a unanimous vote of the Superior Council of War making him +Commander of all the military forces of France. + + +A FAMOUS WAR RECORD. + +His record in the World War is well known. Every one has read of his +masterly conduct of the retreat from the Belgian border; of his work in +regrouping the shattered and retiring French forces; of his ringing +appeal to the men to strike back at the moment he had determined upon. +At the Marne he saved France and perhaps the world. + +Joffre is unsympathetic and grim when at work. He has no patience for +anything but the highest efficiency. At a single stroke he cashiered a +score of Generals who did not measure up to his standards. He is a +master builder, organizer and strategist. Though rather taciturn he is +loved both by the officers and poilus. Among the latter he became known +as "Papa" Joffre. + +He showed by his appointments and acts that a new inspiration--an +inspiration of patriotism--controlled the Republic. Joffre's accession +to supreme command symbolized that France had experienced a new birth, +that the army was well organized and that the man who for three years +had been silently performing the regeneration of the land forces had +rightly been placed over the forces he had reformed. + +Almost unknown to the masses, Joffre was placed at the head of the +French troops in the summer of 1914. Among his associates he was known +as an authority on aeroplanes, automobiles, telegraphs and the other +details of modern warfare. Above everything else he stood for efficiency +and preparedness, and lacked the qualities of the French soldier of +literature. To be prepared for instant war had been his effort for three +years, and when that time came France found herself nearly as well +prepared for the conflict as was Germany, which had prepared for +twenty-five years. + + +ADJURATION TO SCHOOL CHUMS. + +One of his few published speeches, made to his old school chums, is on +this theme. "To be prepared in our days," he said, "has a meaning which +those who prepared for and fought the wars of other days would have +great difficulty in understanding. It would be a sad mistake to depend +upon a sudden burst of popular enthusiasm, even though it should surpass +in intensity that of the volunteers of the Revolution, if we do not +fortify it by complete preparation. + +"To be prepared we must assemble all the resources of the country, all +the intelligence of her children, all their moral energy and direct them +toward a single aim--victory. We must have organized everything, +foreseen everything. Once hostilities have begun no improvisation will +be worth while. Whatever lacks then will be lacking for good and all. +And the slightest lack of preparation will spell disaster." + +What Joffre said to his chums he had done for the French army, and +President Poincare, after the Battle of the Marne, summed up his +qualities which made it a French victory in this message to Joffre: "In +the conduct of our armies you have shown a spirit of organization, order +and of method whose beneficent effects have influenced every phase, from +strategy to tactics; a wisdom cold and cautious, which has always +prepared for the unexpected, a powerful soul which nothing has shaken, +a serenity whose salutary example has everywhere inspired confidence and +hope." + +These words of the President of the French Republic are an epitome of +the character and the military record of Joffre. He is representative of +the real France, not the France of Paris and scandals. He is of the +peasantry, and he and his kind, men of character, brought about the +glorious France of the war. + +Among those who accompanied Joffre on his visit to the United States was +Rene Viviani, ex-Premier of France and Minister of Justice. He was born +in Algeria in 1862, his family being Corsican, and originally of Italian +blood. + + +VIVIANI A SOCIALIST LEADER. + +M. Viviani became a lawyer in Paris and built up a large practice. In +1893 he entered the Chamber of Deputies as a Socialist. Together with +Briand, Jaures and Millerand he was long a leader of the parliamentary +delegation of Socialists. On June 1, 1914, one month before the outbreak +of the war, M. Viviani became Prime Minister. He showed himself a +brilliant leader and tireless worker. His speeches embodying the spirit +of fighting France were read and admired the world over. Many persons +consider Rene Viviani France's greatest orator. Volumes of his speeches +have had a wide sale. + +M. Viviani was succeeded in the Premiership by M. Briand, and recently +he became Minister of Justice in the Ribot Cabinet. He is a man of great +culture. Though an excellent Latin and Greek scholar, he speaks no +English. Rene Viviani has had some experience as a newspaper man, as a +special writer and as managing editor of the Petite Republique. His +younger son, aged 22, was killed in the war. His older son has been +wounded but is back at the front. + +Another member of the French mission was M. de Hovelacque, the French +Inspector General of Public Instruction. He is well known in the United +States because of his marriage to Miss Josephine Higgins, of New York +State. + +The Right Honorable Arthur Balfour, ex-Premier of England, who came to +America to join in the conferences at which the policies for carrying +the war were outlined after America became an Ally, is described as one +of the most intellectual statesmen in England, and one who, although he +won all the honors his country could give him, never realized his own +possibilities. At sixty-nine, at the height of his mental development, +he occupies a place in the English cabinet, a place which was given him +because of his great hold upon the autocracy of England. + + +BALFOUR'S INTELLECTUAL ABILITY. + +As the Premier of England, as Secretary of Ireland and as the leader of +the House of Commons Mr. Balfour displayed great intellectual agility, +but at no time was credited with having displayed the industry which +spurred on such men as Lloyd George to success. He is of the aristocracy +and his position in English politics came to him as the nephew of Lord +Salisbury. + +He was born in 1848 and educated at Eton and Cambridge and entered the +House of Commons at the age of 26. Mr. Balfour was known in his early +years as a philosophically and religiously inclined young man, and it +occasioned some surprise when he followed the traditions of his family +by entering politics. + +Some years after taking his seat he joined what was known as the Fourth +Party, a conservative rebel faction, consisting of three members, Lord +Randolph Churchill, Sir Henry Drummond Wolff and Sir John Gorst. This +group constituted a sort of mugwump element that voted independently on +every party question and that tried to rouse the Conservatives from +their party prejudices and narrow leanings. + +To Mr. Balfour belonged the distinguished honor of attending the Berlin +Conference of 1878 as private secretary to Lord Salisbury. In 1885 he +became President of the Local Government Board. The Conservatives were +thrown out of power for a short time at this juncture, but when they +were restored in 1886 Balfour became Secretary for Scotland. Shortly +after he was promoted to be Chief Secretary for Ireland. + +Despite his gentle manners and quiet ways, the new Chief Secretary ruled +the then disturbed Ireland with an iron hand. He was known as "Bloody +Balfour" by the Irish agitators until he began to show his milder ways +upon the restoration of peace. He remained in Ireland until 1891. He had +endured abuse and faced threats and had come away triumphant. From +Ireland Mr. Balfour went to England as First Lord of the Treasury. + +Arthur James Balfour showed his friendship for the United States when, +in 1897, as Acting Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he refused to give +England's consent to a continental proposal that Spain be permitted to +govern Cuba as she chose. + + +LIBERALS COME INTO POWER. + +When Lord Salisbury died in 1902 Mr. Balfour succeeded him as Prime +Minister. He remained in that office until 1905, when the Liberals came +into power. In the coalition Ministry formed since the outbreak of the +European War, he was nominated First Lord of the Admiralty. He showed +remarkable ability in this office. Upon the resignation of Mr. Asquith's +Cabinet, Mr. Balfour became Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He is an +enthusiastic sportsman and has written a book on golf. + +The other English envoys who accompanied Mr. Balfour to Washington were +Rear Admiral Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair, and Lord Walter +Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England. + +Rear Admiral de Chair was born August 30, 1864. He entered the Royal +Navy at the age of 14, and received his early training aboard His +Majesty's Ship Britannia. He served in the Egyptian war and was naval +attache at Washington in 1902. + +Admiral de Chair commanded the Bacchante, Cochrane and Colossus +successively in the years between 1905 and 1912. From 1912 to 1914 he +acted as Assistant Controller of the Navy and subsequently he was the +Naval Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty. At the outbreak of +the war he became Admiral of the training services and of the Tenth +Cruiser Squadron. Admiral de Chair is a member of the Royal Victorian +Order and a Companion of the Bath. + + +LORD WALTER CUNLIFFE. + +Lord Walter Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England, is 52 years old. +He received his education at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge, +from which he graduated with the degree of Master of Arts. He is a +Lieutenant of the City of London. + +Lord Cunliffe has been active in the banking field for many years and is +a member of the firm of Cunliffe Brothers. He is a Director of the North +Eastern Railway Company and has been a Director of the Bank of England +since 1895. He became Deputy Governor of the bank in 1911 and has been +Governor since 1913. Lord Cunliffe is the first Governor of the Bank of +England to receive the honor of re-election after serving his term of +two years. In 1914 he was created the First Baron of Headley. + +Among the dominating characters of the war and upon whose judgment and +ability the destinies of France and the Allies depended for a long +period is General Robert Nivelle, Commander of the French armies, and +who succeeded General Joffre. General Nivelle is a man of silence; he +speaks little. General Nivelle is four years younger than Joffre. + +As a boy of fourteen he could not take part as did Joffre and Gallieni +and Pau and Kitchener also, in the tragical war of 1870. Joffre studied +at the Ecole Polytechnique, in Paris; Gallieni, at Saint Cyr, without +the walls; Nivelle studied at both; he may claim to belong to all arms, +artillery, infantry--even cavalry. And, in his youth, he was not only a +magnificent all-round athlete, as indeed he still is, but also a +headlong rider of steeplechases, in which, had he been fated to break +his neck, his neck would infallibly have been broken. This is a trait he +shares with General Brussiloff, and, like the great Russian General, he +was famous for the skill with which he tamed and trained cavalry mounts. + + +SERVES AS JUNIOR OFFICER. + +As a junior officer Nivelle saw service in the French General Staff; his +part in the expedition to China we have recorded; he also served in +Northern Africa. So that, like Joffre, Gallieni, Lyantey, Roques and so +many leaders of French armies, Nivelle gained an invaluable element of +his training in the out-of-the-way corners of France's vast colonial +empire, which has outposts in every continent and measures nearly five +million square miles. + +At the outbreak of the World War Nivelle, with the rank of Colonel, +commanded the Fifth Regiment of Artillery, which is the artillery +element of the Seventh Army Corps, the corps of Besancon and the old +Franche-Comte, under the Jura Mountains, at the corner of Switzerland +and Alsace. + +It was, in fact, in the section of Alsace invaded and retaken by the +French army of General Pau--who lost an arm in Alsace in the war of +1870--that Nivelle struck the first of many hard blows which made him +Field Commander of the splendid army of France. He directed the guns of +his Fifth Regiment with such deadly accuracy against a group of German +guns that he first scattered their gunners in flight and put them out of +action, and then led them off in triumph, twenty-four guns in all, the +first great trophy won by the arms of France. + +In the battle of the Ourcq, fought with superb tenacity and dash by +Manoury and his men, the first decisive blow of the great battle, the +first definite victory, was gained; General von Kluck's right wing was +smashed in and out-flanked, with the result that the whole German line +was dislocated and sent hurtling backward. + +In that battle and victory Colonel Nivelle, as he then was, had his +part; but it was on the Aisne, a few days later, that a strikingly +brilliant act brought him into especial prominence. The Seventh Corps +was attacked by exceedingly strong enemy forces and forced backward over +the Aisne. Colonel Nivelle, commanding its artillery, saw his +opportunity, and, himself leading on horseback, brought his batteries +out into the open, right between the retreating Seventh Corps and the +strong German forces that were pursuing them, already sure of victory. + + +VICTORY TURNED TO SLAUGHTER. + +With that calm serenity which is his dominant characteristic in action, +he let the Germans come close up to his guns in serried masses. Then he +opened fire, at short range, with deadly precision, so that the expected +victory was turned into a slaughter. The broken German regiments, +fleeing to the woods beside the Aisne for safety, ran upon the bayonets +of the rallied Seventh Corps, inspired to splendid valor by the +magnificent action of their artillery. Of 6000 Germans who made that +charge few indeed returned to their trenches. + +This was on September 16, 1914. Before the New Year the Artillery +Colonel had been made a General of Brigade, and in January, 1915, the +new General distinguished himself by stopping the tremendous and +unforeseen German drive against Soissons. He was forthwith recommended +for further promotion, and on February 18 was gazetted General of +Division. Shortly after this be gained new laurels by capturing from the +Germans the Quenevieres salient. + +This great commander was the son of Colonel Nivelle--and an English +mother, a former Miss Sparrow, whose family lived at Deal, on the +English Channel. In his married life General Nivelle has been +exceedingly happy. + +The dominating figure in the English army when America entered the fray +was Sir Douglas Haig. He succeeded Sir John French. + +Sir Douglas Haig was born under so favorable a star that he has long +been known as "Lucky" Haig. Not that he has depended upon his luck to +push him ahead in the army, for his record as a student and a worker +wholly disproves this. But nevertheless fortune has showered many favors +upon him. Among these favors the first and by no means the least is his +very aristocratic lineage and the consequent high standing he has had in +royal and influential circles. + + +HAIG'S FAMILY TREE. + +Haig's family tree dates back at least six centuries and he comes of the +very flower of Scotch stock. The virtues of the "Haigs of Bamersyde" +were extolled by the poets of the thirteenth century. And to discuss +this feature of his career without giving due credit to the position and +influence of his wife would be ungallant as well as unfair. She was the +Hon. Dorothy Vivian, daughter of the third Lord Vivian, and +maid-of-honor to Queen Alexandra, and the pair were married in +Buckingham Palace. + +He did not enter the army until after his graduation from Oxford and +then he took service in the cavalry, the usual choice of the English +"gentleman." When twenty-four years old, he received his commission as a +Lieutenant in the Queen's Own Hussars, one of the ultra-fashionable +regiments. Six years later he was made a Captain and then decided to +take a regular military course at the Staff College. + +In 1898 he took part in Kitchener's campaign up the Nile and in the +Soudan as a cavalry officer. He was then thirty-seven years old. He +distinguished himself in several engagements, was "mentioned in the +dispatches," was awarded the British medal and the Khedive's medal and +was promoted to Major. + +His career in the Boer war, which followed that in Egypt, was +characterized by distinguished services and numerous rapid promotions. +It was during this latter war that Haig became attached to the staff of +Sir John French, whom he succeeded in France and Flanders. He came out +of the war in South Africa a full-fledged Colonel, and with a fresh +supply of medals and "mentions." Then he was sent to India as Inspector +General of Cavalry. + + +DIRECTOR OF MILITARY TRAINING. + +He remained in the Indian service three years, and then was given a post +at the war office in London, with the title of "Director of Military +Training." He remained in London three years, when he was sent to India +as Chief of the Staff of the Indian Army. Three years later he returned +to England and was given what was known as the "Aldershot Command," +which, in fact, was the command of the real active British army. He had +this post when the war broke. His assignment as Commander of the First +Army Corps under Sir John French soon followed. + +The man, who next to the Kaiser had more to do with Germany's plans for +world domination, is Dr. Theobold von Bethmann-Hollweg, Imperial +Chancellor of Germany. + +The elevation of Hollweg to the Chancellorship came when Prince Bulow +stood in the way of complete domination of Germany's policies by the +militarists, headed by the Kaiser. Prince Bulow was dismissed and +Bethmann-Hollweg became Chancellor in 1909. From that time on he +dedicated his life to the achievement of a single aim--the completion of +Germany's plans of aggression. + +Bethmann-Hollweg comes from an old Prussian family ennobled in 1840. He +was born about 1855 and was a student with the Kaiser at the University +of Bonn. He studied law at Gottingen, Strassburg and Berlin, and for +several years followed the law and was appointed a judge at Potsdam. + + +APPOINTED PRUSSIAN HOME SECRETARY. + +In 1905 he was appointed Prussian Home Secretary, and it was then that +his name first became familiar to the man in the street in Berlin. +Shortly afterward he was appointed Assistant Chancellor of Prince Bulow, +who was then Chancellor. + +It was during his service as Home Secretary that Bethmann-Hollweg became +largely converted to all that the most advanced Prussian militarism +stood for. Ultimately he became a far more ardent Pan-German even than +Prince Bulow. In a speech at Munich in 1908 he declared that though +Germany was then happily free of all immediate anxiety so far as her +foreign relations were concerned, her present and future position as a +great Power must ultimately rest on her strong arm and though the +strength of her arm was greater than it ever had been it must grow yet +stronger. + +It was a speech after the Kaiser's own heart--provocative and boasting +to a degree. It had, as a matter of fact, it is said, been prepared by +the Emperor, and was delivered by the Kaiser's order for the special +benefit of Prince Bulow, who had at that time fallen out of favor with +the Emperor. + +Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz is said to be the man who made the German +navy. Having won the recognition of the Kaiser in 1894 he was promoted +to Chief of Staff in the German navy, and was placed in command of Kiel. +He was made Secretary of State in 1898 and immediately began the +building up of the navy. New and modern methods of engineering were +developed and finally he made such an impression with the Kaiser that he +was ennobled. Von Tirpitz was the principal advocate of Germany's plans +during a decade for having the navy powerful enough to equal the +combined powers of any three great naval powers. + +Sir John Jellicoe, Vice Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the British +Naval Home Fleet had served more than forty years in the navy when the +war broke out. He was a Lieutenant at the bombardment of Alexandria and +was a member of the Naval Brigade which participated in the battle of +Tel-el-Kebir, for activity in which he was presented with the Khedive's +Bronze Star for gallant service. He was in command of the naval brigade +which went to China in 1898 to help subdue the Boxers and was shot at +Teitsang, where he was decorated by the German Emperor, who conferred +upon him the Order of the Red Eagle. He was Rear-Admiral of the Atlantic +Fleet in 1907-08, and Commander of the Second Home Squadron in 1911-12. +To Admiral Jellicoe is given credit for having developed a high degree +of efficiency among the gunners in the English navy. + + +ADMIRAL HUGO POHL. + +Admiral Hugo Pohl, of the German navy, was born at Breslau in 1855. He +became a Lieutenant in the Imperial German navy when but 21 years of +age. He gained rapid promotion, and within a few years was Commodore in +charge of the scouting ships. He had charge of setting up the now famous +German naval stations from Kiel to Sonderberg in Schleswig in 1908 and +was afterwards made Vice Admiral. He wears the medal of the Order of the +Crown, bestowed upon him by the Kaiser for admirable service. + +One of the men whose names will be forever linked with the war, +particularly with relation to the adoption of new methods of warfare, is +that of Count Zeppelin, who died on March 8, 1917, and who was the +father of the Zeppelin or dirigible balloon. The idea for the big +airship did not originate with Count Zeppelin, but with David Schwartz, +a young Austrian, who built his first dirigible in 1893. He tried to +arouse interest in his aircraft in Russia, but failed and finally went +to Berlin, where he interested the then Baron Zeppelin. A balloon was +made, but Schwartz fell ill and died. Zeppelin was later accused of +attempting to steal the young Austrian's patents, and the courts made an +award to Schwartz's widow of $18,000. + +Count Zeppelin's first airship came out about 1898. It was 300 feet long +and had an aluminum frame. Short cruises were made in 1899 and 1900, and +the craft maintained a speed of about sixteen miles an hour. A second +airship was completed in 1905, and later a third aircraft was finished. +This dirigible made a cruise of 200 miles at an average speed of twenty +miles. The success led Count Zeppelin to make his most ambitious attempt +and he tried to cross the Alps carrying sixteen passengers. + + +IN THE AIR THIRTY-SEVEN HOURS. + +He succeeded and passing through hailstorms, crossing eddies and +encountering cross-currents he traveled 270 miles at an average speed of +twenty-two miles an hour. Subsequently he made a flight to England, +remaining in the air thirty-seven hours. Fate played him false, however, +in many of his ventures and he returned home after making remarkable +voyages, only to have his craft destroyed at its very landing place. + +The German Government and the Kaiser joined in giving him a grant of +money to carry on his work, and a plant was built at Frederichshafen. +But while Count Zeppelin's name will be forever identified with +aeronautics the successes which he attained were not enduring, for the +Zeppelins proved not entirely satisfactory in military warfare in +competition with the aeroplane. + +In the counsels of Greece the outstanding figure from the beginning of +the war was Eleutherois Venizelos. He is credited with being responsible +for the national revival in Greece when the country seemed doomed after +the Turkish war of 1897. He was the leader of the country in the +movement to join the Allies in the fight against German domination and +he swayed the nation and held them as few men have. He was born in the +Island of Crete in 1864, and according to tradition, his family +descended from the medieval Dukes of Athens. He was educated in Greece +and Switzerland and became active in Cretan politics, and won +recognition as the strong man of the "Great Greek Island." + + +TRANSFORMS A NATION. + +In less than three years after the distress in which the country found +itself in 1909 he transformed the nation into one of solidarity. There +had been meaningless squabbles of corrupt politicians and a sordid +struggle for preferment. The army was degenerating and the popular fury +became so great that there was an uprising of the army, which under the +title of the "Military League," ousted the Government and took control +of the country. The heads of the League brought forward Venizelos. The +League dissolved and reforms were instituted which started the country +on a new path, and when the Balkan war broke in 1912 Greece made a +record and emerged in many respects the leader of the Balkan states. + +Sir John French is one of the English commanders who have rendered +yeoman service in the war. He is one of the most striking military +figures in England. He has seen service in India, Africa and Canada, and +was one of the uniformly successful commanders in the Boer war. At the +Siege of Kimberly he was shut up in Ladysmith with the Boer lines +drawing closer. He managed to secrete himself under the seat of a train +on which women were being carried to safety. Outside the lines he made +his way to the Cape, where he was put in charge of cavalry and in a +terrific drive he swept through the Free State and reached Ladysmith in +time to save the day. + +He originally entered the navy, but remained for a short time. He +commanded the 19th Hussars from 1889 to 1903 and then rose steadily in +rank until he was made General Inspector of the Forces and finally Field +Marshal in 1903. + +There should be no discrimination in naming those who have represented +America in the country's activities at war, but because they came into +the world's line of vision by being sent abroad for service there are +some American commanders whose names will ever be remembered. + +Vice-Admiral William S. Sims is one of these. He is a Pennsylvanian who +was born in Canada. His father was A.W. Sims, of Philadelphia, who +married a Canadian and lived at Port Hope, where Admiral Sims first saw +the light of day. He went to Annapolis when he was 17 years of age and +was graduated in 1880. After this he secured a year's leave of absence +and went to France, where he studied French. Subsequently he was +assigned to the Tennessee, the flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron +and passed through all grades of ships. He received promotion to a +Lieutenancy when he was about 30 years of age. For a time he was in +charge of the Schoolship Saratoga, and later was located at Charleston +Navy Yard, and also with the receiving ship at the League Island Navy +Yard, Philadelphia. After this he went to Paris as Naval Attache at the +American Embassy. He was similarly Attache at the American Embassy at +St. Petersburg. + +Admiral Sims was relieved of his European assignment in 1900 and joined +the Asiatic fleet, and while abroad studied the methods of British +gunnery. When he returned to America later he inaugurated reforms which +increased the efficiency of the gunnery in the service 100 per cent. His +successful efforts led to his appointment as Naval Aide to President +Roosevelt. He made a report on the engagement between the British and +German naval fleets at Jutland which was startling, and declared that +the British battle cruisers had protected Great Britain from the +invasion of the enemy. + +When he reached the European waters in command of the United States +naval forces, with a destroyer flotilla, and the British officers who +greeted him asked when the flotilla would be ready to assist in chasing +the submarine and protecting shipping, Admiral Sims created a surprise +by tersely replying: "We can start at once." And he did. Admiral Sims +married Miss Anne Hitchcock, daughter of Former Secretary of the +Interior. The couple have five children. + +Major General John J. Pershing, of the United States Army, Commander of +the forces in France and Belgium, is one of the most picturesque figures +in American military circles. "Black Jack" Pershing is what the officers +call him, because he was for a long time commander of the famous Tenth +Cavalry of Negroes, which he whipped into shape as Drillmaster, and +which saved the Rough Riders from a great deal of difficulty at San Juan +Hill in the Spanish-American War. He was also at the battle of El Caney +where he was given credit for being one of the most composed men in +action that ever graced a battlefield. He served with signal results in +the campaign against the little "brown" men in the Philippines; was in +charge of the expedition which chased Villa into Mexico. + +General Pershing was born in 1864 in Laclede, Missouri, and is tall, +wiry and strong. Every inch of his six feet is of fighting material. He +is a man of action and has a penchant for utilizing the services of +young men rather than staid old officers of experience. Pershing is a +real military man, and has been notably absent from such things as +banquets and other functions where by talking he might get into the lime +light. It is true that he was jumped over the heads of a number of +officers by President Roosevelt, but he has carved his way by his own +efforts, and no man could have more fittingly been sent to take charge +of the American forces abroad than "Jack" Pershing. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +CHEMISTRY IN THE WAR. + +SUBSTITUTES FOR COTTON--NITRATES PRODUCED FROM AIR--YEAST A REAL +SUBSTITUTE FOR BEEF--SEAWEED MADE TO GIVE UP POTASH--A GANGRENE +PREVENTATIVE--SODA MADE OUT OF SALT WATER--AMERICA CHEMICALLY +INDEPENDENT. + + +It is when men are put to the test that they develop initiative and are +inspired to great things. In the stress of circumstances there were +created through and in the great war many unusual devices and much that +will endure for the benefit of mankind in the future. It is probable +that the advancements made in many lines would not have been attained in +years but for the necessity which demanded the exertion of men's +ingenuity, and in no field was this advancement greater than in that of +chemistry. + +Any struggle between men is, in the last analysis, a battle of wits, but +it remained for those planning and scheming to defeat their fellow men +or protect themselves in the world conflict to make for the first time +in history the fullest use of the chemist's knowledge. Largely the +successes of the war have been due to the studies and activities of the +chemists, working in their laboratories far from the actual field of +strife. + +Not only has their knowledge been turned to the creation of tremendously +destructive explosives, the like of which have never before been known +in warfare, but the same brains which have been utilized to assist man +in his death-dealing crusades have been called upon to thwart the +efforts of the warring humans and save the lives of those compelled to +face the withering fire of cannon, the flaming grenade and the +asphyxiating gas bomb. + +In the food crisis which confronted the nations, chemists drew from the +very air and the waters of the river and sea, gases and salts to take +the place of those which became limited in their supply because of the +demands of the belligerents. + +The chemist is one of those who fights the battles at home. The +resisting steel, the penetrating shell, the poisonous gas, the +power-producing oil, the powerful explosive--all these are his +contributions to the war's equipment, but he also is the magician who +waves the wand and out of the apparently useless weeds and vegetable +matter produces edibles. He turns waste products into valuable chemicals +or extracts needed chemicals from by-products. + + +GERMANY'S GREAT PRIVATION. + +Germany, deprived of many imports by the sea power of England, first +transformed herself into a self-supporting nation through the agency of +the chemist. Substitutes had to be provided for food products which the +Germans could not get, and it is said that the ability of the Kaiser and +his henchmen to withstand the attacks of the Allied forces was due as +much to the service rendered by the chemists as by the army and navy. + +Not only were artificial foodstuffs manufactured, but natural food +products previously neglected were prepared for use. What had been +regarded as useless weeds were found to possess food value. A dozen +wild-growing plants were found that might be used as a substitute for +spinach, while half a dozen others were shown to be good substitutes for +salads. Starches were obtained from roots, and cheap grades of oils and +fatty wastes of all sorts were turned into edibles. + +Up until the advent of the present war cotton formed the base of most of +the so-called propellant explosives used in advanced warfare. Such +terrible explosives as trinitrotoluene occasionally mentioned in the +published war reports, as well as many others, have as the principal +agent of destructive force guncotton, which is ordinary raw cotton or +cellulose treated with nitric or sulphuric acid, though there are, of +course, other chemicals used in compounding the various forms of deadly +explosives. + +At the same time there are innumerable explosives which are of a +distinct class. Lyddite, mentioned occasionally as one of the modern +death-dealing explosives, has for a base picric acid. The Lyddite shells +referred to occasionally in various articles about the war are shells in +which Lyddite is used as the explosive. The largest percentage of +explosives used in modern gunnery are those formed of nitrated +cellulose--guncotton. + + +TWO GREAT FACTORS. + +Therefore any shortage in the supply of cotton and cellulose is a +serious matter in war time, for the country which has the most plentiful +supply of ammunition is the one that has the greatest relative +advantage. It was, for instance, stated from Washington several times +after the war started and the United States commercial and industrial +forces were being mobilized, that America could make enough almost +unbelievably powerful explosives to blow Germany off the face of the +European map, were it possible to transport the dangerous materials. +Dozens of new explosive compounds were placed before the Government for +consideration and in application for patents. One of the new ones, it +was said, was so powerful that little more than a pinch of it exploded +beneath such an immense structure as the Woolworth Building, New York, +would destroy the entire edifice. + +The curtailment of the supply of cotton to Germany when the war started, +because of England's blockade, and later when America entered the +conflict, threatened disaster to the "Fatherland." The German chemists +began working immediately to supply substitutes for cotton, to be used +both in the manufacture of explosives and fabrics. They developed the +processes of producing cellulose from wood pulp to take the place of +cotton for making guncotton, and certain forms of wood fiber and paper +were used in the textile trades. Willow bark was one of the substances +utilized to a limited degree in making fabrics. + +Likewise synthetic--or artificial--camphor to take the place of that +secured from nature's own laboratory--the camphor tree--was also +produced of necessity, for camphor is an ingredient largely used in +making smokeless powder. Before the war most of the camphor was obtained +from Japan. + +Compounds--alloyed steel, iron and aluminum--have also been used in the +industrial world to supplant copper. In America we have been educated to +regard copper as the ideal metal for conducting electrical power, but in +Europe aluminum was used successfully in a large way, even before the +war. After the conflict started in all of the countries where there was +a scant supply of copper, substitutes were developed by the +metallurgists and chemists. + + +POTENCY OF MODERN CHEMISTRY. + +The acids and salts used in powder making and the creation of explosives +were also secured from new places. Nitric acid, which is necessary to +the manufacture of guncotton, for many years was made principally with +saltpeter and sulphuric acid. Modern chemists, however, made it from +nitrogen of the very air we breathe, and in Germany it was made during +the war from ammonia and calcium cyanamide, both of which may be +obtained from the air. + +Many such methods of obtaining acids were known and tested before the +war, but the processes had not been perfected to such an extent as to +make them commercially profitable. However, the increased prices of +chemicals, due to the excessive demands of war, and the absolute +necessity for producing them inspired the chemists to get the required +results, and Germany by the development of these sources of supply found +the acids necessary for her own use in war, whether for explosive making +or medical purposes. + +Great quantities of sugar are used in making powder and explosives, too, +and when the supply became limited the German chemists began producing +in larger quantities the chemical substitute--saccharine. Later even +this sweet was denied the population because the chemicals were needed +for war uses. So in every line Germany found use for everything which +its chemists and chemical laboratories could produce. + +The terrible gas and liquid fire bombs which the Germans were first +reported using contained chemical compounds invented for the purpose by +the chemists. Some of the chemicals and the gases produced when the +bombs exploded were so powerful that men and animals in the range of the +fumes were killed instantly. The effect was to paralyze them in some +cases and it was reported that many of the soldiers were found dead +standing upright in the trenches or in the attitudes which they had +assumed at the moment they were overcome. + + +BASIC PRINCIPLE OF BOMBS. + +Nitrous-oxide, or chlorine, in some chemical form is supposed to have +been the base of the bombs, and concerning the liquid fire it was +reported in connection with the dropping of bombs on London from a +Zeppelin, that some of the bombs contained what is chemically known as +Thermit, which is a mixture of aluminum and iron oxide used in brazing +and welding. When ignited the oxygen is freed from the iron and combines +with the aluminum with great rapidity. During the chemical reaction an +intense heat is produced--a heat so great that it almost equals that of +an electric arc. + +So in the world of agriculture and industry the German chemists, +recognized leaders of the world, actually made or produced from the air +and other unsuspected sources things without which they could not have +withstood the siege against them for a single year. In the absence of +concentrated foods for cattle and humans, the chemists produced absolute +substitutes. They took the residue or waste from the breweries and +extracting the bitter hops taste from the dried yeast produced a +substitute for beef extract. + +So also they secured ammonium sulphate by a direct combination of +nitrogen and hydrogen in the air. At the same time they utilized other +minerals than those usually available for the manufacture of sulphuric +acid and placed the country on an independent footing. + +But Germany was not alone in its advancement. The United States, which +found itself without quantities of dye-stuffs and many other chemically +produced things when the war came on, took the lesson unto itself and is +today nearer self-supporting than it ever was in the history of the +nation. The Department of Agriculture has experimented and produced from +yeast, vegetable boullion cubes, which taste like beef extract and +contain greater nutriment. + + +DOMESTIC DYE-STUFFS. + +America, too, has extracted sulphate of ammonium from the air and the +dye-stuffs which we could not get from abroad are being made at home. +Two of the things which America found lacking when war developed were +potash and acetone, both of which are factors in powder and explosive +making. The former is used in the ordinary black gunpowder, but the +latter is necessary in the making of the smokeless powder. England +wanted Cordite, one form of this powder which the British think is the +best propellant in the world. It is made of guncotton and nitroglycerine +and acetone is one of the chemicals required in its manufacture. England +turned to the United States for quantities of this explosive and also +for the acetone, but America did not produce anywhere near enough, and +England wanted this country to make something like 20,000,000 pounds of +the explosive. + +A number of mushroom chemical plants were developed by the powder +company to produce the desired acetone--one very much like a vinegar +plant near Baltimore, and another at San Diego, California, where the +munitions maker's chemists refined acetone and potash extracted from +kelp, or sea weed, and besides supplying the powder and the chemicals +which the English needed America developed a permanent industry. + + +RELIEVED BY AMERICAN INGENUITY. + +Carbolic acid, too, was one of the badly needed chemicals of the war, +not only for medical purposes, but also for explosive making. Again the +ingenuity of America asserted itself and Thomas A. Edison produced the +plans for two benzol-absorbing plants which were erected at great steel +works and within a few months these plants were turning out benzol and +Mr. Edison's carbolic-acid plant was being supplied with the raw +material. + +And then it was believed that America could not make dyes to take the +place of those which came from Germany. All the United States, it was +said, would have to wear white stockings. The country just could not +produce the dyes necessary, and the product of the American plants was +inferior. But America could make the same dyes. She is making them. +Right now she is making practically as great a variety as Germany ever +sent over here. + +A few miles outside of Philadelphia, at Marcus Hook, on the busy +Delaware river where the ships of the world are being made, the Benzol +Products Company turns out large quantities of aniline oil. The aniline +oil, the essential basis of aniline dyes, is made into tints as fair and +perfect as any the wizards of Germany ever conjured out of their test +tubes. + +The tale about America's inability was proved to be a fable. The Marcus +Hook plant is one of three which sprang up when the war began. Others +are the Schoellkopf Aniline and Chemical Works at Buffalo and a third is +the Becker Aniline and Chemical Works at Brooklyn. The three are now +merged into one great operating company and Germany will have some +difficulty in getting back her dye trade when she is ready to again +fight for the world markets. + +Moreover, the world-famous duPont Company, which has made powder and +chemicals for all the nations, turned in and purchased the Harrison +Chemical Works in 1917, and besides making "pigments" has entered the +coal tar dye industry. The company made an intensive study of the dyeing +industries--cotton, calico printing, wool, silk, leather, paper, paints, +printing inks, &c., and made plans to meet the requirements of each. The +Harrison plant is but one of the immense group operated by the duPont +Company and it has been famous for the manufacture of white lead and +acids. + + +A CHEMICAL DISCOVERY. + +There is in fact no line in which the chemists of America did not rise +to the emergency and the "romances of the industrial" world are not more +entrancing than are those of the medical and other fields. Chemistry, +for instance, discovered an antitoxin for the deadly gangrene, or gas +bacillus, poisoning of the battlefields. The discovery was made by +research workers in Rockefeller Institute. + +It is one of the most important discoveries in medical research as +applied to war, having an even greater bearing on the treatment of war +wounds than the Dakin-Carrel treatment of sluicing wounds previously +referred to. The serum works on the same principle as the anti-tetanus +serum used to prevent lockjaw. The gangrene antitoxin is injected to +prevent the development of gangrene poisoning. + +The serum was developed by Dr. Carrel Bull and Miss Ida W. Pritchett, of +the Rockefeller Institute, by immunizing horses by the application of +the bacillus germs, then obtaining the resultant serum from the horses. +The new serum displaces, in a measure, the Dakin-Carrel method of +treating wounds. As soon as a soldier is picked up wounded, the plan is +to give him an injection of the serum so that he can be rushed to the +rear ambulances with no fear that the deadly gas infection will develop. + +The use of the serum means the wiping out of the big death rate from +infection, with death resulting merely from wounds that are in +themselves fatal. The gas bacillus was discovered by Dr. William H. +Welch, of Johns Hopkins University, 25 years ago. The bacillus +frequently is present in soil and when carried to an open wound +germinates quickly, developing into bubbles of gaseous matter, whence +comes the name "gas bacillus." The bubbles multiply rapidly, a few hours +often being sufficient to cause death. + + +A WOUND-FLUSHING SYSTEM. + +Possible gangrene poisoning has been offset by the Dakin-Carrel system +of constantly flushing the open wounds, but patients are frequently too +far off to be given the advantage of the flushing method and this is +where the serum is chiefly valuable. The ambulance or medical corps +"shoots" the serum into the wounded soldier even before they douse his +wound with iodine. + +The progress that has been made along these lines is indicated by the +statement of Lord Northcliffe, who after a visit to the front declared +that the annual death rate in the English army was 3 per cent of 1000 +and that the average illness, including colds and influenza, was less +than in London, despite the discomforts of the trenches. + +In the past disease has been as destructive as battles. Biology and +pathology, to say nothing of surgery and therapeutics, have made such +strides that disease has been virtually eliminated as a factor in +warfare. War takes medical science into the field, where the control of +large masses of men enables it to develop the highest efficiency. + +Even in normal peace conditions biological and pathological science has +been accomplishing results not popularly understood. Individual cures by +surgery and medicine appeal to personal interests, but these are +negligible compared to the prevention of plagues like smallpox, typhus +and tuberculosis. If such diseases had not been successfully combated by +science three out of four of the present civilized population would not +be in existence at all. The organized and intensive application and +developments of science, of preventive medicine, constitute the strictly +neutral work in this war by which all humanity will profit for all time +to come. + +In passing it is interesting to note that the great power supplied by +Niagara Falls is being utilized to produce some of the chemical marvels. +One great industry there is making soda by the electrolytic process. +That is, salt brine is pumped from the saline deposits in western New +York and piped to the works. This is run into electric cells and through +these a current of electricity is led. The salt, which is composed of +chlorine and sodium, decomposes under the electric attack. The sodium +goes to one pole and combines with water to form caustic soda, whereas +the chlorine escapes at the other pole. Let us follow the chlorine, +which is a yellowish-green gas, more than twice as heavy as air, and has +found a new use as poison gas in the great war--for which all the world +should be ashamed. + +It is collected and compressed to a liquid form and shipped in +containers under pressure for use in chemical works and bleacheries and +for the purification of drinking water. It has been found above all +things effective in destroying noxious bacilli. A surprisingly small +amount of the gas dissolved in the water is enough. In New York city the +water has been chlorinated and no single case of typhoid fever has been +traced to the supply. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +OUR NEIGHBORING ALLY. + +CANADA'S RECRUITING--RAISE 33,000 TROOPS IN TWO MONTHS--FIRST +EXPEDITIONARY FORCE TO CROSS ATLANTIC--BRAVERY AT YPRES AND +LENS--MEETING DIFFICULT PROBLEMS--QUEBEC AROUSED BY CONSCRIPTION. + + +The world has marvelled at the achievement of Canada at Valcartier camp +near Quebec and the dispatch across the Atlantic Ocean of a fully +equipped expeditionary force of 33,000 men within two months of the +outbreak of war between Great Britain and Germany. But the magnitude of +that feat cannot be appreciated properly until one considers that on +August 4, 1914, Canada had a permanent force of only about 3500 men. + +These soldiers, who for the most part were instructors and men on guard +duty, provided a nucleus for a training organization. In addition to its +"standing army," the Dominion had an active militia numbering +approximately 60,000 men. Their training consisted of what has been +aptly called "after-supper soldiering." Members of city regiments +drilled for one night each week, participated in an annual church parade +and spent two weeks every year in summer camp. + +The training of the rural regiments consisted almost entirely of the two +weeks in summer camp. Yet from these militia units were drawn a large +proportion of the men in the first Canadian oversea contingent, while +the militia regiments, to a large extent, formed the basis of Canada's +recruiting organization after the outbreak of hostilities. + +Enlistments during the first two years in the expeditionary force +numbered approximately 415,000, while probably 150,000 applicants were +rejected as physically unfit. + +Immediately upon the declaration of war Major General Sir Sam Hughes, +Minister of Militia, telegraphed the officers commanding the militia +regiments to commence recruiting for oversea service. After the +recruits were signed up and accepted, they lived at home and drilled +during the day at the armories throughout the Dominion. + +Meanwhile, Valcartier camp was being prepared for the gathering army. +The building of this great military center almost overnight was an +engineering feat of no mean magnitude. Two weeks after work was started, +troops recruited by the militia regiments began to arrive, and before +the end of a month Valcartier was a tented city of 25,000 soldiers. + +There were some complaints, of course. They were inevitable in an +encampment so hastily prepared. But the essentials were there, and when +the contingent sailed from Gaspe, on the coast of Quebec, on October 3, +it was a well-trained, efficient body of soldiers, besides being the +largest army that ever crossed the Atlantic at one time. + + +AN EFFICIENT COMMANDER. + +The contingent was in command of Lieutenant-General Edwin Alfred Hervey +Alderson. He was born at Ipswich in 1859 and began his military career +with the Militia, going to the regular army in 1878. He joined the Royal +West Kent Regiment as Second Lieutenant and rapidly won promotion. He +served in the Transvaal, later in Egypt and participated in actions at +Kassassin and Tel-el-Kebir, receiving the Khedive's bronze star. Service +in South Africa and in India followed, during which General Alderson +successively became Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel. He became a +Colonel in 1903 and was placed in charge of the Second Infantry Brigade, +and in 1908 commanded the Sixth Division, Southern Army of India, having +meantime been given the rank of Major General. + +After the departure of the first contingent recruiting was continued by +the militia regiments, and during the winter the men were quartered in +exhibition grounds, Y.M.C.As., sheds, etc. In the spring of 1915 +existing camps were enlarged and new ones opened. + +During this period the recruiting machinery developed from the militia +regiments. Through the latter officers were recommended to command new +battalions. These O.Cs. selected most of their subordinate officers from +their own militia regiments and used the parent organization as a +general basis for recruiting operations, headquarters being located at +the regimental armories. + +The keen competition existing between the militia units was maintained +between the new oversea formations, and battalions were raised in a few +weeks. For months enlistments all over Canada averaged more than 1000 +men daily, and with recruits coming forward at this rate, there was no +necessity of protracted delay in bringing battalions up to strength. + + +DIFFICULTY OF RECRUITING. + +There was a disposition, especially in military circles, to attribute +the increasing difficulty of the recruiting situation during the winter +of 1915-16 and since to a change of system and the introduction of the +so-called "political colonels." The change, however, was rather the +result of new conditions than the cause of it. Recruiting had slowed +down--largely from natural causes. + +A new appeal was needed to reach a class of eligible men who had not yet +enlisted. The recruiting problem apparently had outgrown the facilities +of the militia organizations. Rightly or wrongly, the government +commissioned a number of well-known men, without military experience, to +raise battalions. Their popularity and local confidence in them were the +excuses for their appointment--and the experiment was in the main +successful. + +Perhaps there was a suggestion of politics about it, although it may be +stated emphatically that politics had not been a serious influence in +connection with the recruiting, training or leadership of Canada's +oversea forces. That such is the case stands to the enduring credit of +Major General Hughes. + +The attempt to "popularize" recruiting was soon found to entail serious +evils. Competition for recruits in an already well-combed field became +very keen. The new political colonels realized that their reputations +were at stake, and in the effort to fill up their battalions various +undignified and regrettable expedients were employed. Cabarets, +bean-counting contests, lotteries and callithumpian methods generally +marked a period in Canada's recruiting history not pleasant to review, +and which brought discredit upon the entire voluntary enlistment system +as a permanent method of filling up armies. + + +TRAINING SERIOUSLY DELAYED. + +Besides the moral influence of such schemes to get men in khaki, the +recruiting efforts of the political colonels had a serious effect in +delaying the training of new men. With their personal reputations as +organizers involved, the commanding officers were reluctant to admit +inability to fill up the ranks of their units, and repeatedly pleaded +for more time. + +For months partly recruited battalions made little or no progress with +their training, while the officers devised new recruiting "stunts" and +while men were being sought in the highways and byways. + +The situation was complicated by allowing a number of infantry +battalions to recruit in the same area at the same time, with the result +that the new men came in driblets, valuable time was lost and much money +wasted. In some cases it has taken well over a year from the date when +they were authorized before battalions were dispatched oversea--due very +largely to ineffective recruiting methods. Battalions were allowed to +continue the heart-breaking quest for recruits long after they should +have been amalgamated and sent to England. Such amalgamations came +ultimately, battalions retaining their identity when leaving Canada only +when 600 or more strong. + +The high cost of recruits was a direct consequence of competition among +battalions recruiting independently in the same territory at the same +time. The government allowance was not adequate to maintain the pace and +had to be supplemented by private funds. + +There was in Toronto a certain group of fifty recruits referred to as +the "$10,000 squad," because it is estimated that the cost of recruiting +them averaged nearly $200 each, the money coming from private funds of +officers and their friends. Perhaps the estimate involves some +exaggeration, but many units added to their ranks only at a cost of $50 +or more per recruit. + +Some idea of the waste of such a system may be secured when it is stated +that, with men coming forward freely, the cost of recruiting is +considerably less than $10 per man, even after allowing a generous bonus +to the recruiting sergeants. More serious than the cost in money was the +delay in training men needed at the front. + + +A POLITICAL IMPOSSIBILITY. + +Canada's experience constitutes a severe indictment of the voluntary +system of recruiting, although sterner measures at the outset were a +political impossibility. The free-will enlistment plan had to be given a +thorough test, and its inadequacy demonstrated and repeatedly emphasized +before public opinion would support resort to compulsion. + +English-speaking Canada at least learned that lesson, and it is +extremely doubtful whether the United States would have adopted the +selective draft system at the commencement of its participation in the +war, if it had not been that the experience of Canada and the United +Kingdom established the weakness inherent in the voluntary system. + +Besides the camp at Valcartier, a great artillery camp was set up at +Petewawa, where the best facilities existed for long range gun practice. +Ontario saw two camps at Niagara and Camp Borden; Manitoba saw one on +the plains, Alberta another in the picturesque district near Calgary, +while British Columbia had its camp at Vernon. + + +INADEQUATE RECRUITING. + +The volunteer recruiting in Canada, in its incipiency, while resultful, +was soon found to be not adequate. Under it, however, there was a +widespread response that stirs the blood, for men hurried to the lines +from the Yukon and the Peace Rivers; from Hudson's Bay and the farther +hinterlands, from prairie and mountain; white men and the red men; +cowboys and city chaps, harvesters and hunters, mechanics and +mountaineers, backwoodsmen and frontwoodsmen. And also among the +enlisters were thousands of Americans who fought side by side with +Canadian, Briton and Frenchman. + +Canada has large German settlements, including 300,000 German and +Austrian settlers in the western provinces. Prompt action was taken on +the outbreak of the war to deal with the alien element that might prove +dangerous and disloyal. Nearly 10,000 were speedily interned, from Nova +Scotia to British Columbia. A large proportion were Austrian laborers +who had been railway navvies. These were placed in western camps and +used in building trails and roads in national parks, or in clearing the +forest for future settlement in Northern Ontario. + +Many individuals of known pro-German sympathies were also put out of +harm's way, and some famous trials were held which served to give +salutary warnings to all others that freedom of speech has its +limitations in times of war, and that the rumors that the sinking of the +Lusitania was being celebrated behind closed doors was hardly palatable. + +Others, again, were caught in attempts to destroy property and it is to +the credit of police and military vigilance that few succeeded in their +nefarious designs. The internment camp proved a wholesome example, and +the pro-German in Canada took the advice of the United States Government +to its German subjects "to keep their mouths shut." It is also a fact +that the occupants of the detention camps in the Dominion were well fed +and treated, in striking contrast to the disturbing reports that leaked +through as to the way Canadian war prisoners in Germany fared. + + +CANADA'S WAR FINANCIERING. + +Next, the story of how Canada is financing her share of the war, for it +is a costly business. Three domestic war loans, totaling $450,000,000, +were voluntarily subscribed, each in fact being doubly underwritten, and +yet the savings of the people in the banks is (1917) the highest on +record--over a billion and a quarter. Part of the war revenue is being +raised by war taxes on letters, checks, legal documents and some +articles of import. Happily the normal revenue of the country was never +so large nor the trade of the Dominion so buoyant. All these factors are +helping to carry the war burden. + +The generosity of the people, under the heavy strain, was most marked. +Many millions were given to the various war help funds, chiefly to the +Red Cross and the Canadian Patriotic Fund, of 700 branches, which +supplements the Government separation allowance to soldiers' dependents +by other grants. Canada had, up to that time, by the way, the highest +paid soldiery in the world, privates getting $33 a month. + +It is interesting to note that there are several branches of the +Canadian Patriotic Fund in the United States, which looked after the +families and dependents of Americans who enlisted in the Canadian ranks. + +Canadian total givings in cash and kind to their own, as well as to the +Belgians, French, Servian, Armenian and other funds and Governmental +grants of grain and provision, would represent a very much larger figure +than that here mentioned. + +The orders placed in Canada averaged $1,500,000 worth for every day in +the year. + +The women of Canada in every way render practical patriotic service. +Hundreds of nurses were placed in overseas and home hospitals. The +farmers' wives raised large sums of money as did the school children. +Organizations of all kinds came into existence, not alone collecting +money, but contributing vast quantities of war material and soldiers' +comforts, and sending packages of food and clothing regularly to +Canadian prisoners in German camps. + +Still another war problem was the care of the returned wounded soldiers, +and a serious problem it was. The procession of the disabled was a +pathetic one. Military convalescent hospitals were set up in many +centres, in addition to the opening of private homes for the same +beneficent purpose. + + +CANADA PART OF AMERICA. + +Canada may be an English possession, but to us it is part of America, +and certainly no two countries have rested side by side in greater +friendship than the "Dominion" and the United States. You can find no +great fortifications along the 3000 odd miles of border between Canada +and the United States. The countries have lived in peace and harmony and +together, or side by side they have battled for peace on the fields of +Flanders. + +All the world knows what Canada has done on the battlefields abroad, +fighting with those troops from Australia, New Zealand, India and lesser +English territory, to drive the ruthless Germans back and crush the +Empire to which they swear allegiance. + +The Canadian troops were taken after landing in France to a point within +the country between St. Omer and Ypres, where they served with honor to +themselves, their presence having a salutary effect on the British +soldiery, who had been facing the German forces. At the battle of Neuve +Chapelle the Canadians held part of the line allotted to the first army, +and while not engaged in the main attack, rendered valuable help, their +artillery being very active, and at the battle of Ypres in April, 1915, +they took a notable part. + +In the latter part of April, the Canadian division held a line of about +5000 yards, connecting with that of the French troops, and faced the +memorable gas attack of the Germans, which was the first noted in the +war. The asphyxiating gas was projected into the trenches by means of +force pumps and pipes laid under the parapets, the German sappers having +carefully placed these conductors. The bulk of the gas was directed +against the French, largely made up of Turcos and Zouaves, who were +driven back, suffering agonies. + + +POSITION BRAVELY HELD. + +The Canadians suffered to some extent from the poison, and though there +were in the commands lawyers, college professors, business men, clerks +and workers of all sorts, who had been turned into soldiers within a few +months, and without previous military experience, they held their +position bravely. The Canadians were, of course, compelled to change +their position after the French fell back, and the Allied troops were, +to all effects and purposes, routed. But when the Germans, recognizing +the weakened position of the Canadians, attempted to force a series of +attacks, the Canadian division, as a matter of record, fought through +the day and through the night, for forty-eight consecutive hours, and +finally, in a counter-attack, drove the Germans back and regained a +position which had been lost by the British troops in the earlier +conflict. + +Later, in the face of a devastating fire, in which many officers were +killed, battalions of the Canadians carried warfare to the first line of +German trenches, and in a desperate hand-to-hand struggle won the +trench. This attack, it is said, secured and maintained during the most +critical moment of the campaign the integrity of the Allied line. + +In connection with the experience of the Canadians with the gas fumes, +it is necessary to note that at that time they were unprovided with gas +masks, or means of protecting themselves against the fumes, and the best +they could do was to stuff wet handkerchiefs in their mouths. The fumes, +although extremely poisonous, were not so effective with the Canadians +as on the French lines, largely because of the position of the +Canadians, and the direction of the wind, but in the several attacks a +number of the Canadians were asphyxiated. + + +HEROES WIN RECOGNITION. + +So, all through the Ypres campaign, the Canadians faced the shot, shell +and poisonous gases of the Germans, and won recognition for their heroic +conduct which will stand to the credit of Canada for all time. At +Festubert, Givenchy, and, last but not least, Lens, the Canadians, step +by step, kept pace with the Allied advances. + +In their general advance on Lens the Canadians occupied the strongest +outpost in the defense of that place, and pushing their troops on toward +La Coulotte, entered that village. The Germans withdrew in this +neighborhood from a line about one and three-quarters miles long. + +The task of the Canadians was to capture German outposts southwest of +Reservoir Hill. The attack was evidently expected. The Germans scuttled, +abandoning ground upon which machine gun fire was immediately turned by +Germans located on the hill. This was speedily followed by heavy +artillery fire, which continued during the night in the vicinity of the +Lens electric station. + +The enemy's dugouts were searched, found to be empty, and wrecked. + +The German retirement ceased during the night. Patrols sent out opposite +Mericourt and to the south found the enemy's front line strongly held. +The Germans made huge craters at all cross roads in Avion and leading +towards Lens. + +Patrols which were sent out reached the summit of Reservoir Hill without +opposition and pushed on down the eastern slope and the strong Lens +outpost was effectively occupied. Meanwhile, south of the Souchez River +the Canadians drove forward on the heels of the retiring Germans. +Railway embankments east of Lens electric station were occupied. The +advance was then continued toward La Coulotte. As night fell strong +parties were sent out to consolidate the positions occupied, while +patrols were sent forward to keep in touch with the Germans. + + +WANTON DESTRUCTION. + +Several days previous the Germans were known to be destroying houses in +the western part of Lens, with the object of giving a wider area of fire +for their guns. It was their intention of clinging to the eastern side +of the city and prolonging the struggle by house-to-house fighting. + +Under a protecting concentration of artillery fire, Canadian troops +successfully stormed and captured the German front line before Avion, a +suburb of Lens. By the advance the British line was carried forward to +within one mile of the centre of Lens. + +The Canadians, heartened by successes gained in a few days at a +relatively small cost, decided to attack across the open ground sloping +upwards to Avion and the village of Leauvette, near the Souchez River. +They met with opposition of a serious character at only one point, where +a combination of machine gun fire and uncut wires delayed the advance. +The attack was not intended to be pressed home at this particular spot, +as the ground specially favored the Germans, so that the delay did no +harm. The assaulting troops comprised men from British Columbia, +Manitoba, Central Ontario and Nova Scotia. + +The attack was made along a two-mile front. On the extreme left, Nova +Scotians pushed their way up the Lens-Arras road to the village of +Leauvette. Here they took a number of prisoners. At the other end of the +line, east of the railway tracks, enemy dugouts were bombed. Their +occupants belonged to the crack Prussian Guards Corps, the Fifth Guard +Grenadiers, who refused in most cases to come out and surrender. + +At daybreak, Canadian airplanes, flying low over Avion, saw few Germans +there. Craters which had been made by mine explosions at the crossroads, +seriously hindered them in bringing up troops from Lens for +counter-attacks. + + +GERMAN AVIATIK DEFEATED. + +In an air duel fought at probably the highest altitude at which +aviators, up until that time, had met in combat, nearly four miles, a +Canadian triplane pursued and defeated a German two-seated Aviatik. The +German machine had sought safety by climbing upward and the triplane +pursued. At a height of 20,000 feet the pilot of the German craft either +fell or jumped from it and disappeared at the moment of the first burst +of fire from the gun on the Canadian. The German observer then was seen +to climb out upon the tail of the machine, where he lost his hold and +plunged headlong. The Aviatik turned its nose down and fell. + +It is meet that some note be taken of the fact that while the Canadian +soldiers were battling for humanity and the preservation of the British +Empire in Flanders there was being celebrated in their native land the +fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Dominion. All Canada took +part in the celebration on June 1, 1917, as did large numbers of men +from the United States officers' training camp at Niagara, where +recruits were preparing to receive Commissions in Uncle Sam's Army. + +Up until 1867 Canada had been the scene of bitter strife between the +French and British. At that time the provinces were brought quite +closely together, and commenced a new era of prosperity. The foundation +was then laid for a wonderfully prosperous country, one filled with +almost limitless possibilities. + +The confederation of Canada had its birth in a meeting of delegates +from all over British North America, which was held in 1864, and these +delegates, after deliberating for nearly three weeks, passed a large +number of resolutions which formed the basis of what eventually became +the Act of Union. In the following January these resolutions were +submitted to the Legislature of Canada and after due debate there was +passed in both chambers of Parliament a measure for the purpose of +uniting the provinces in accordance with the provisions of the Quebec +resolutions. The meeting was in Quebec. + + +PLAN OF UNION PASSED. + +A number of difficulties were encountered, so that it was 1867 before +the plan of union was submitted to the Imperial Parliament, where it was +warmly received and passed without alteration of any description within +a few days. The royal assent was given on March 29, and the act +constituting the new Canada went into effect on July 1, which day has +since become known as Dominion Day, and is the chief of all Canadian +holidays. + +The federal Constitution of Canada is contained in an Imperial Act of +Parliament, known as the British North America Act, and it is based very +largely upon that of the mother country. The ministry of the day holds +office at the pleasure of the House of Commons, the members of which are +elected by the people. At the head of the affairs is a Governor-General, +who is appointed by the Crown and paid by the people of Canada. As is +the case with the British sovereigns, he acts with and on the advice of +the ministers for the time being, and also like the King, he can +dissolve the Parliament. + +The number of members of the House of Commons is regulated by the +following clauses of the act: "On the completion of the census in the +year 1871, and of each subsequent decennial census, the representation +of the four provinces shall be readjusted by such authority in such a +manner, and from such time as the Parliament of Canada from time to +time provides." + +Previous to the passing of the British North America Act, the great +Dominion had consisted of a conglomeration of provinces, some of them of +almost fabulous extent, into which the white man from the West had +penetrated. Tradition has it that some thousand years ago a Norseman, by +name Leif Ericson, coming in his great beaked galley, through the +northern seas, from Greenland, was the first white man to stand on +Canadian soil. + +Another five centuries were, however, to pass before John Cabot, sailing +from Bristol, in the days of Henry Bolingbroke, brought the first +British ship into a Canadian port. After him the fishermen of Europe +came in increasing numbers to the great banks, with the result that +little by little, as their tiny vessels touched the American shores, the +great continent began to be known to the people of Europe. + + +DOMINION'S FOUNDATIONS LAID. + +It was not really, however, until the year 1534 that the foundations of +the Dominion may be said to have been sunk. In that year Jacques Cartier +sailed from the port of St. Malo, with two little ships, intending to +attempt the northwest passage to Japan. Francis the First was then +ruling in Paris, and there was great adventure in the air of France. +Cartier did not make the northwest passage, but he did touch the coast +of Canada, or, to be more exact, the coasts of Labrador and +Newfoundland. It was then the 10th of May, and having sailed around the +island, he steered south, and crossing the gulf entered the bay which, +by reason of the great heats of midsummer, he named Des Chaleurs. +Holding along the coast, he came to the little inlet of Gaspe, and here, +at the entrance to the harbor, he erected a huge cross surmounted by the +arms and lilies of France. He could find no passage, however, to the +northwest, and so he turned his ship, and sailed back to St. Malo. + +The Court in Paris heard his story with interest. His cause was taken up +by the King; and, as a result, in the succeeding May, he sailed again to +the new world with three well found ships. On the day of Saint Lawrence +he entered the great bay, to which he at once gave the name of the +Saint, and passing on came, in September, to anchor in the Isle of +Orleans. + + +REAL FOUNDER OF CANADA. + +The man, however, with whose name the early history of Canada is most +fully connected, had not as yet been born. Nor was it until the year +1567 that, at Brouage in Saintonge, Samuel de Champlain came upon the +scene. In the year 1603, when Elizabeth was ruling in England, and Henry +of Navarre in France, Champlain came to Canada. He had been a soldier of +le Bearnais, in the great wars with the League, an officer of marine, +and a man with no little knowledge of natural science, as knowledge was +then accounted. He came now in command of an expedition, fitted out by +the merchants of Rouen, with the idea of forming a Canada company, as +England had her Barbary Company, her Eastland Company, her Muscovie +Company, or her Turkey Company. And in this way the French came into +Canada. + +Thus there began those American wars between the two countries, divided +at home only by the English Channel, which went on century by century, +largely through the employment of the Indian tribes, until that +September night when Wolfe's boats drifted in, from the fleet to the +shore, and the battle on the Plains of Abraham permanently settled the +question of domination in favor of the British. + +The British conquest of Canada did not, however, mean the cessation of +fighting. There came, presently, the war between Great Britain and the +American colonies, one of the most amazing exploits of which was the +marvelous march of Arnold and Montgomery through the forests of Maine +to the St. Lawrence, ending in the wonderful siege, of the year 1775, +and the heroic failure to storm the defenses by scaling the rocks from +the river bed. Eventually the boundary between the United States and the +British possessions was settled by the Treaty of Paris, in 1783, just +twenty years after an earlier Treaty of Paris had recorded the surrender +of Canada by France to Great Britain. + + +CANADA, FROM COLONY TO DOMINION. + +For the last century and a half the story of Canada has been the story +first of a British colony and then of a British Dominion. A great flood +of new colonists had come into the country after the victory of the +States in the War of Independence, when many of the royalists of New +England crossed the border. As a result, there had grown up the two new +provinces of Upper Canada, now known as Ontario, and New Brunswick. The +relations between all the provinces were, however, far from harmonious, +with the result that what between quarrels among themselves and risings +against the British authority, the condition of Canada was anything but +promising, when, after the Rebellion of 1837, Lord Durham was sent over +to try to evolve order out of chaos. + +He found the "habitant" still unreconciled to the British rule; he found +a condition of many little Pontiacs, all very much as was that famous +village on the summer evening when Valmond threw the hot pennies to the +children, as the auctioneer and monsieur le cure came down the street; +he found another Canada of British colonists with so little sympathy for +the habitant, that, he declared, the two never met save in the jury box, +and there only to obstruct justice. + +It was then that Lord Durham, by a great stroke of statesmanship, +brought peace to Canada. A democratic form of representative government +was bestowed on the people. The division of Quebec into two provinces, +which the habitant had desired when they were one, and resented when +they were two, was annulled, with the result that the ground was +prepared for the union which was to come just thirty years later. + +Lord Durham made history and made a nation, for the confederation, when +it came, was the inevitable superstructure built upon the foundations of +his laying, but he ruined a reputation. His contempt for the conventions +of politics, the radicalism of his methods, his failure to make any +obeisance to the governmental deities, official or ex-official, combined +with his almost superhuman tactlessness, gave his enemies every +opportunity they could desire. + +He was viciously attacked, and finally throwing up his mission, returned +to England and gave up politics. + + +REPORT NOT TO BE DISPOSED OF. + +The good, however, men do lives after them. Lord Durham's report, +drafted for him by two master hands, those of Charles Buller and Edward +Wakefield, could not be disposed of by perfervid orators or ill-informed +editors. It passes into the category of historic and illuminating state +papers. And, though Lord Durham fell, when, on the first of July, 1867, +the British North America Act became operative, it was the handle of his +trowel that struck that great cornerstone of liberty and empire, and +declared it well and truly laid: the first of the Dominions, now having +a population of approximately 8,000,000. + +Thrown upon their own resources, when Great Britain began to draw in its +loans of 1911-12, the people of Canada were temporarily at a loss as to +how to meet the situation; the hardships which followed, however, +prepared them to meet, with resolute determination, the greater problems +that crowded upon them in 1915-16. Canada, through all the past, had +been a dependent and a debtor nation; the war made it self-reliant, +spurred its people on to the development of natural resources, and +assured them, not only that the Dominion could stand alone, but that, +throughout all the future, it can be a pillar of strength to the Empire +and to democracy. + +There were times when she was threatened by more than the ordinary +difficulties which come to a nation, as when it became necessary in 1917 +to pass a Conscription Act, the Province of Quebec threatened to secede. +Quebec is a French territory, and it was a matter of world-wide comment +that the volunteer enlistments for the Canadian army from the province +were insignificant. + +While the French Canadians were proud of France and their cousins across +the seas, they were opposed to being compelled to fight for England, and +the proposal to secede was largely advocated by the French-Canadian +clergy. + + +RECIPIENTS OF UNSTINTED HONORS. + +Among the heroic troops that faced the Germans in Flanders none was more +honored in all Canada and England than the Princess Patricia's Light +Infantry. Out of this battalion, which sailed away from Canada's shores +with the first expeditionary force, scarcely one-fourth of the proud +number lived through the terrible campaigns of Flanders, in which the +Dominion forces participated. + +The battalion constituted what was regarded as one of the most efficient +military units in Canada, and in August, 1914, had been presented with +colors wrought by the hand of Princess Patricia, daughter of the +Governor General of Canada, the Duke of Connaught. The Princess, +standing beside her mother, the Duchess of Connaught, in Lansdowne Park, +Ottawa, presented the colors to the little force, wishing them a safe +return, while thousands applauded and the spirit of patriotism ran high. + +The "Princess Pats," as they came to be known, had within the +organization a large portion of men of military experience who had seen +service in South Africa and elsewhere, and consequently when they landed +in France they were the first to be sent into the trenches and to +action. In the winter and spring of 1914-15 they had some bitter +experiences and participated in several desperate attacks and defenses, +but it was not until the campaign at Ypres that the organization was +almost annihilated, when it faced one of the most terrific bombardments +of the war, and fought in a section largely cut off from the main line. +Here Lieutenant-Colonel Farquhar, commander of the battalion, lost his +life and nearly all of the officers were wounded. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE HEROIC ANZAC. + +FORCES THAT STIRRED THE WORLD IN THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGNS--FAMOUS AS +SAPPERS--THE BLASTING OF MESSINES RIDGE--TWO YEARS TUNNELING--30,000 +GERMANS BLOWN TO ATOMS--1,000,000 POUNDS OF EXPLOSIVES USED--TROOPS THAT +WERE TRANSPORTED 11,000 MILES. + + +When the final history of the war is written, and the years have passed +into ages, the story of the Anzac will form a brilliant passage in the +book of nations. The Anzac in the campaigns at Gallipoli, the +Dardanelles, and in Flanders served England with a loyalty and heroism +not excelled by any other force. And what were the Anzacs? They were the +soldiers of Australia and New Zealand. Let A represent Australia, N.Z., +New Zealand, and A.C., army corps, and you have the basis of the word +Anzac. + +Generally in the news dispatches, the Anzacs have been referred to as +Australians. They are described as fearless, daring and fierce fighters, +whose presence added pep to every engagement in which they participated. +No more picturesque group has ever been written into the history of +armies. Composed of men who were bushrangers, cattlemen, miners and +hardy outdoor workers, many of whom served in Egypt, India and wherever +the British flag floats, their character is indicated by the fact that +they have been at times called the "Ragtime Army." + +The description of the landing of these troops at the Dardanelles, where +in a rain of artillery fire, they dashed into the Turkish trenches, is +one of the most thrilling of the war. With the shells from the ships +falling upon the Turkish forces the Anzacs chased the Turks step by step +inland, engaging in the most desperate hand-to-hand encounters. + +Perhaps the story of that first battle might have been different had not +Turkish reinforcements appeared upon the scene. As it was the British +men of Anzac were temporarily driven back, retiring with terrible loss. +For hours the Australians engaged in solid fighting through a broken and +hilly country, digging at night to establish entrenchments, with a +renewal of the defense at daybreak, and then repeating the program. This +is what the Australians and New Zealanders did, living upon short +rations the while. + +In all of the campaigns in which the Anzacs have participated their work +as sappers has been a feature. Sappers, by the way, are those men who, +in modern warfare, burrow in the earth, planting mines, digging +trenches, dugouts and fortifications. The Australians are fitted for +this work for a large percentage of them had civil experience in the +mines, and on extensive contract and excavation work. + + +AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND SAPPERS. + +Probably one of the most effective attacks of the English against a +German stronghold in Belgium was made possible through the work of the +Australian and New Zealand sappers. That was the blowing up of the +Messines Ridge in June, 1917. In this action the Anzac shone in a manner +that can never be forgotten. + +On June 7, 1917, the British, with one terrible stroke, tore asunder the +strong German position south of Ypres. This stroke was in a little +corner of Belgium, where the armies of the Allies had successfully +outgeneralled the enemy for two and a half years. + +During almost two years of this time several companies of Australian, +New Zealand and British sappers were busily but silently engaged in +mining the hills of the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge, on which were the +guns of the Germans which had been raking the troops of the Allies all +this time. Nineteen great mines which contained a total of 1,000,000 +pounds of ammonite upon their completion, had been dug into the vitals +of these hills. Great charges of this new and powerful explosive had +been placed in the mines nearly one year before their completion, yet no +one except those actually engaged in the work knew of it. The secret was +kept and the troops of Australia and New Zealand worked directly beneath +the great German fortifications. + +Then came the crucial moment. At exactly 3.10 o'clock in the morning of +June 7, the whole series of mines were discharged by electrical contact, +and the hilltops were blown high in the air in one terrific burst of +flame, which poured forth as from craters of volcanoes. The ground for +miles around was rocked as in an earthquake, and the roar emitted was +distinctly heard in England by Lloyd George, the Prime Minister, +listening for it at his country home 140 miles away. + + +A PRE-ARRANGED SIGNAL. + +The explosion of the mines was a pre-arranged signal for the beginning +of a heavy shell fire by the artillery. The whole section affected by +the mines was subjected to a most intense shellfire, and following up +this death-dealing storm came the troops of General Haig, under Sir +Herbert Plumer, who finished the work of the great mines and big guns +with a brilliant charge of men, who used rifle and bayonet most +effectively. Within a few hours the whole of the Messines Ridge was +securely in the hands of the British, and they had captured 7000 +prisoners and many guns. The German casualties were estimated at 30,000, +those of the British being about 10,000. + +Rushing the whole sector south of Ypres, from Observation Ridge to +Ploegsteert Wood, north of Armentieres, the British forces succeeded in +capturing that position with little loss. Then came the assault of the +rear defenses, which were formed by the ridge itself. The natural +formation of the land greatly helped the Germans in arranging their +defenses, and the fighting was very fierce. The work of British troops, +in which were many Australians and New Zealanders, together with English +and Irish, all under the command of General Sir Herbert C.O. Plumer, +was given great credit in the reports of the commander to the War +Office. + +The British War Office summarized the attack as follows in its report of +June 8: + +"The position captured by us yesterday was one of the enemy's most +important strongholds on the western front. Dominating as it did the +Ypres salient and giving the enemy complete observation over it, he +neglected no precautions to render the position impregnable. These +conditions enabled the enemy to overlook all our preparations for +attack, and he had moved up reinforcements to meet us. The battle, +therefore, became a gauge of the ability of the German troops to stop +our advance under conditions as favorable to them as an army can ever +hope for, with every advantage of ground and preparation and with the +knowledge that an attack was impending. + + +GERMAN FORWARD DEFENSE. + +"The German forward defenses consisted of an elaborate and intricate +system of well-wired trenches and strong points forming a defensive belt +over a mile in depth. Numerous farms and woods were thoroughly prepared +for the defense, and there were large numbers of machine guns in the +German garrisons. Guns of all calibers, recently increased in numbers, +were placed to bear not only on the front but on the flanks of an +attack. Numerous communicating trenches and switch lines, radiating in +all directions, were amply provided with strongly constructed concrete +dugouts and machine-gun emplacements designed to protect the enemy +garrison and machine gunners from the effect of our bombardment. In +short, no precaution was omitted that could be provided by the incessant +labor of years, guided by the experience gained by the enemy in his +previous defeats on the Somme, at Arras, and on Vimy Ridge. + +"Despite the difficulties and disadvantages which our troops had to +overcome, further details of yesterday's fighting show that our first +assault and the subsequent attacks were carried out in almost exact +accordance with the timetable previously arranged. * * * + +"Following on the great care and thoroughness in preparations made under +the orders of General Sir Herbert Plumer, the complete success gained +may be ascribed chiefly to the destruction caused by our mines, to the +violence and accuracy of our bombardment, to the very fine work of the +Royal Flying Corps, and to the incomparable dash and courage of the +infantry. The whole force acted in perfect combination. Excellent work +was done by the tanks, and every means of offense at our disposal was +made use of, so that every arm of the service had a share in the +victory." + +A good description of the Australian soldier, as he follows up his +victory, was given in a story of an American war correspondent, who +wrote concerning Flanders: + + +NEW LAND OF WARFARE. + +"After these many months of trench warfare there is keen delight for the +Australian soldier in this new land of warfare which the German +retirement has opened up. The fighting is in open country now, over +gently rolling downs of what looks like grass land. It is really most of +it wheat or turnip land which has not been cultivated for a year or two. +The country is as open as the Australian central plains. + +"It is quite a new sort of battlefield for the Australians. They march +down to it through valleys almost exactly like the valleys in the +peaceful parts of France. There are whole acres in which one cannot see +a single shell hole. Back across the green country or down the open +roads come men in twos or threes occasionally, sauntering as one might +find them on a country road. They are the wounded helping one another +back to the dressing station. The walking wounded have to help each +other back in these modern battles. It is no longer looked upon as +meritorious for an unwounded combatant to leave the field and help a +wounded comrade to the rear. + +"Nearest the front the country becomes more feverish. Angry bursts of +tawny color are seen in a haphazard sort of way dotting the horizon and +the countryside. Here and there are Australians standing behind mounds +of earth with their rifles pointed over the top, bayonets always fixed. +Frequently, when there is no other shelter there are hastily scooped +trenches. A quarter of a mile away another party is lining a roadside, +flat on their stomachs in the ditch, bayonets peeping over the top. +Shells are whizzing by at the rate of two or three a minute, high +explosives bursting on contact behind their backs about as far away as +the other side of a cottage parlor. + + +PRISONER AND ESCORT. + +"Frequently one meets a prisoner being escorted to the rear. There is +something very impressive about these little processions of two men, +prisoner and escort. The prisoner, usually a young German private in +neat gray uniform and steel helmet, walks in front. After him, grasping +his rifle with both hands across his chest, his weatherbeaten brows +puckered as he picks his way over the tumbled stones, comes the living +embodiment of the Australian back country. Nine cases out of ten, +somehow, the soldier who escorts a prisoner seems to be that bit of pure +Australian, either Western Australia or South Australia, the Warrego or +the Burdskin. + +"He is an earnest man, intent on executing his errand with dispatch and +exactitude. 'Can you tell me the way to headquarters?' he asks as he +passes. Then he disappears slowly up the street on the heels of his +silent companion. + +"These Australians are just as good fighters in this new warfare as they +were at Gallipoli or in the trenches, perhaps even better. They had +their first encounter with German cavalry the other day, but it was only +a feint at a flank and lasted but a few minutes." + +Australia is ambitious, some might even say self-centered, and Germany +undoubtedly made the mistake of considering that Australia was awaiting +a chance to become unfriendly to Great Britain when she started to +fight. But no nation ever made a greater mistake. As soon as the House +of Hohenzollern placed the mother country in a perilous position +Australia was at the command of Great Britain. Notwithstanding the fact +that the Australians are primarily peace-loving, most intent on +attending to their own affairs, the response to the call was immediate +and whole-hearted. + + +AUSTRALIA'S COMMENDABLE PROMPTNESS. + +The Australian centers buzzed with activity, and within two months after +war was declared the Australian fleet, which consisted of five unarmored +cruisers, three torpedo-boat destroyers, and three light gunboats, which +had been built and manned at the expense of the Australians, were in +possession of the German Pacific Islands--Samoa, Marshall, Carolines, +Pelew, Ladrones, New Guinea, New Britain--had broken the wireless system +of the Germans, and had captured eleven of the vessels of Germany. She +also forced twenty-five other ships to intern, and prevented the +destruction of a British ship in Australian waters. + +Then came the scouring of the seas by the German ship Emden, and her +trip to Australian waters, with the object of carrying on the work of +destruction which had marked her career in South American waters. She +lay in wait for Australian transports, with the result that the +Australian warship Sydney sent her to the bottom but three months after +war had been declared. Shortly after this the Australian fleet drove von +Spree's squadron from the Pacific directly into the trap set by Admiral +Sturdee at the Falkland Islands. + +The fact that all the troops of Australia must be transported to +London--a distance via the Suez route of approximately 11,000 miles, and +through the Panama Canal of 12,734 miles--did not keep back these brave +men from quickly enlisting. The great distance made fighting extremely +expensive, but the task was loyally assumed by the military of the far +continent. Universal military service was inaugurated for the first time +by an English-speaking community, and war loans were offered and quickly +accepted. Transports were immediately constructed out of seventy +steamers which were requisitioned. + +At the declaration of war in November, 1914, the entire Australian army, +which consisted of 20,000 men, left Australia for Egypt, and at the end +of the first year of the conflict there were 76,000 men in the field. By +July, 1916, nearly 300,000 volunteers had been recruited and had crossed +the seas. The creation, equipment, and supplying of this army by the +people of Australia, a task involving enormous cost and personal +sacrifice, constitutes a thrilling chapter in the history of loyalty. + + +GEOGRAPHICALLY ALIKE. + +To those who think that Australia is a little island situated in the +Pacific ocean it might be interesting to know that this continent, in +size and shape, is almost the exact duplicate of the United States. +There are also outlying provinces, that of Papua, a tropical land, +offsetting Alaska. Then there is the rich little Lord Howe Island, and +Norfolk Island. The surface of Australia is the most level in surface +and regular in outline of all the continents, and is the lowest +continent, with an average elevation of Ohio. + +There are 2,974,581 square miles in Australia, while the land area of +the United States is 2,973,890 square miles, a difference of 691 square +miles. This, of course, is only the continental United States. Only +about one-twentieth of the total area of Australia lies in a latitude +farther removed from the Equator than Chattanooga, Tennessee; Clarendon, +Texas; and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and there is less than one-third of +the area of this unique continent which lies in a cooler latitude than +the sugar-cane lands of Louisiana. + +The streams of Australia are fewer and carry less water than those of +any other continent. The heart of this great island is dry and barren +and thinly populated. Most of the inhabitants are found within easy +reach of the coastline. The population of this great land, at the census +of 1911, was 4,568,707 persons. + +New Zealand is situated a little more than 1200 miles to the east of +Sydney, which is in the southeastern section of Australia. It consists +of three fairly large islands, together with a number of small adjacent +islands. The area is 105,340 square miles, the population being, in +1911, 815,862. The surface of the principal islands is diversified, +being mountainous in some parts, and undulating in others. The best +harbors are in the northern district. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +AMERICA STEPS IN. + +PRESIDENT WILSON'S FAMOUS MESSAGE TO CONGRESS--THE WAR RESOLUTION--APRIL +6, 1917 SEES THE UNITED STATES AT WAR--REVIEW OF THE NEGOTIATIONS +BETWEEN GERMANY AND AMERICA--THE U-BOAT RESTRICTED ZONE ANNOUNCEMENT OF +GERMANY--PREMIER LLOYD GEORGE ON AMERICA IN THE CONFLICT. + + +The hoisting of the American flag to the top of the staff as the emblem +of world-wide Liberty followed the action of Congress in authorizing +President Wilson to declare a state of war existed between Germany and +the United States. What the conditions were which developed during the +months in which Germany to all intents and purposes "laughed up her +sleeve" at the United States, ignored our protests against her wanton +disregard of human rights on land and sea, can no better be told than in +the words of President Wilson himself in his message stating the +position which the Government took. + +His message to Congress will go down in history, not only as an +instrument of world-wide importance, but as a classic in literature. Its +effect on the Nations was greater than that of any other message issued +by any one country, probably in the history of the world, and while +there were critics who regarded some of President Wilson's utterances as +too idealistic, time proved that his vision was greater than that of +those who criticised him, and within a short time the eyes of the entire +world were turned toward Washington, which became the active centre from +which the campaign for world-wide democracy was waged. + +The hands of Liberty stretched out to Russia, Serbia, Italy, France, +Belgium, England, little Montenegro, and they were given help in the +most critical periods of their careers. The President's message was +presented to Congress on April 3, 1917, as follows: + +"I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there +are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made +immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally permissible +that I should assume the responsibility of making. + +"On the third of February last I officially laid before you the +extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and +after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all +restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every +vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and +Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled +by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. + + +COMMANDERS UNDER RESTRAINT. + +"That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare +earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Government +had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in +conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger boats should +not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels +which its submarines might seek to destroy when no resistance was +offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given +at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats. + +"The precautions taken were meager and haphazard enough, as was proved +in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and +unmanly business; but a certain degree of restraint was observed. + +"The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every +kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their +destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom +without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, +the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. + +"Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved +and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with +safe-conduct through the prescribed areas by the German Government +itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have +been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle. + +"I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would in +fact be done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to the +humane practices of civilized nations. International law had its origin +in the attempt to set up some law which would be respected and observed +upon the seas, where no nation had the right of domination and where lay +the free highways of the world. + +"By painful stage after stage has that law been built up, with meager +enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be +accomplished, but always with a clear view, at least, of what the heart +and conscience of mankind demanded. + + +SWEEPS RIGHT ASIDE. + +"This minimum of right the German Government has swept aside under the +plea of retaliation and necessity and because it had no weapons which it +could use at sea except those which it is impossible to employ as it is +employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity or +of respect for the understandings that were supposed to underlie the +intercourse of the world. + +"I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and +serious as this is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of +the lives of non-combatants, men, women and children, engaged in +pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern +history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for; +the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be. + +"The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare +against mankind. It is a war against all nations. American ships have +been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very +deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and +friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the +same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all +mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. + +"The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of +counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our +motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will +not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the +nation, but only the vindication of human right, of which we are only a +single champion. + + +ARMED NEUTRALITY IMPRACTICABLE. + +"When I addressed the Congress on the twenty-sixth of February last I +thought it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with arms, our +right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to keep +our people safe against unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, it now +appears, is impracticable. + +"Because submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German +submarines have been used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to +defend ships against their attacks as the law of nations has assumed +that merchantmen would defend themselves against privateers or cruisers, +visible craft giving chase upon the open sea. It is common prudence in +such circumstances, grim necessity, indeed, to endeavor to destroy them +before they have shown their own intention. They must be dealt with upon +sight, if dealt with at all. + +"The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all +within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the defense +of rights which no modern publicist has ever questioned their right to +defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed guards which we have +placed on our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of law +and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. + +"Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best; in such circumstances +and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual; it is +likely once to produce what it was meant to prevent; it is virtually +certain to draw us into the war without either the rights or the +effectiveness of belligerents. + +"There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making; we will +not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of +our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. The wrongs against +which we now array ourselves are not common wrongs; they cut to the very +roots of human life. + + +A CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY. + +"With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the +step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, +but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I +advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial +German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the +Government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the +status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it and that it +take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough +state of defense, but also to exert all its power and employ all its +resources to bring the Government of the German Empire to terms and end +the war. + +"What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable +co-operation in counsel and action with the Governments now at war with +Germany, and as incident to that, the extension to those Governments of +the most liberal financial credits, in order that our resources may, so +far as possible, be added to theirs. It will involve the organization +and mobilization of all the material resources of the country to supply +the material of war and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the +most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way possible. + +"It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in all +respects, but particularly in supplying it with the best means of +dealing with the enemy's submarines. It will involve the immediate +addition to the armed forces of the United States already provided for +by law in case of war at least 500,000 men, who should, in my opinion, +be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service, and also +the authorization of subsequent additional increments of equal force so +soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training. + + +WELL-CONCEIVED TAXATION. + +"It will involve, also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to +the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be +sustained by the present generation, by well-conceived taxation. I say +sustained so far as may be equitably by taxation because it seems to me +that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now be +necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most +respectfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may against the +very serious hardships and evils which would be likely to arise out of +the inflation which would be produced by vast loans. + +"In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be +accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of interfering +as little as possible in our own preparation and in the equipment of our +own military forces with the duty--for it will be a very practical +duty--of supplying the nations already at war with Germany with the +materials which they can obtain only from us by our assistance. They are +in the field and we should help them in every way to be effective there. + +"I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several executive +departments of the Government, for the consideration of your committees +measures for the accomplishment of the several objects I have mentioned. +I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as having been +framed after very careful thought by the branch of the Government upon +which the responsibility of conducting the war and safeguarding the +nation will most directly fall. + +"While we do these things--these deeply momentous things--let us be very +clear, and make very clear to all the world, what our motives and our +objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its habitual and +normal course by the unhappy events of the last two months, and I do not +believe that the thought of the nation has been altered or clouded by +them. + + +FIRM STAND FOR VINDICATION. + +"I have exactly the same things in mind now that I had in mind when I +addressed the Senate on the twenty-second of January last; the same that +I had in mind when I addressed the Congress on the third of February and +on the twenty-sixth of February. Our object now, as then, is to +vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world +against selfish and autocratic power and to set up among the really free +and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and +action as will henceforth insure the observance of those principles. + +"Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the +world is involved and the freedom of its peoples and the menace to that +peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments backed +by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the +will of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality in such +circumstances. + +"We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the +same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrongdoing shall be +observed among nations and their Governments that are observed among the +individual citizens of civilized States. + +"We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling toward +them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse +that their Government acted in entering this war. It was not with their +previous knowledge or approval. + +"It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined upon in the +old, unhappy days when peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers +and wars were provoked and waged in the interest of dynasties or of +little groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to use their +fellow-men as pawns and tools. + +"Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor States with spies, or +set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of +affairs which will give them an opportunity to strike and make conquest. +Such designs can be successfully worked out only under cover and where +no one has the right to ask questions. + + +PRECONCEIVED DECEPTION. + +"Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression carried it may be +from generation to generation, can be worked out and kept from the light +only within the privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded +confidences of a narrow, privileged class. They are happily impossible +where public opinion commands and insists upon full information +concerning all the nation's affairs. + +"A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a +partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic Government could be +trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. It must be a +league of honor, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals +away; the plotting of inner circles who could plan what they would and +render account to no one would be a corruption seated at its very heart. +Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady to a +common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest of +their own. + +"Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope +for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening +things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia? +Russia was known by those who know it best to have been always in fact +democratic at heart in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the +intimate relationships of her people that spoke their natural instinct, +their habitual attitude toward life. + + +POLITICAL AUTOCRACY. + +"The autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long +as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not, +in fact, Russian in origin, character or purpose; and now it has been +shaken off and the great, generous Russian people have been added in all +their native majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for +freedom in the world, for justice and for peace. Here is a fit partner +for a league of honor. + +"One of the things that have served to convince us that the Prussian +autocracy was not and could never be our friend, is that from the very +outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and +even our offices of Government with spies and set criminal intrigues +everywhere afoot against our national unity and counsel, our peace +within and without our industries and our commerce. + +"Indeed, it is now evident that its spies were here even before the war +began; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture, but a fact proved +in our courts of justice, that the intrigues which have more than once +come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the +industries of the country have been carried on at the instigation, with +the support, and even under the personal direction of official agents of +the Imperial Government accredited to the Government of the United +States. + +"Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them, we have +sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them +because we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or +purpose of the German people toward us (who were, no doubt, as ignorant +of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish designs of a +Government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. But +they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that that +Government entertains no real friendship for us and means to act against +our peace and security at its convenience. That it means to stir up +enemies against us at our very doors the intercepted note to the German +Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence. + +"We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that +in such a Government, following such methods, we can never have a +friend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying in +wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured +security of the democratic Governments of the world. + + +NATURAL FOE TO LIBERTY. + +"We are now about to accept gage of battle with this natural foe to +liberty, and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to +check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that +we see the facts with no veil of false pretense about them, to fight +thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its +peoples, the German peoples included; for the rights of nations great +and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of +life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its +peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. + +"We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. +We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the +sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the +rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been as +secure as the faith and the freedom of the nations can make them. + +"Just because we fight without rancour and without selfish object, +seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all +free people, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as +belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio +the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for. + + +UNDISGUISED WARFARE. + +"I have said nothing of the Governments allied with the Imperial +Government of Germany because they have not made war upon us or +challenged us to defend our right and our honor. The Austro-Hungarian +Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified indorsement and +acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now +without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has, +therefore, not been possible for this Government to receive Count +Tarnowski, the Ambassador recently accredited to this Government by the +Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; but that Government +has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United +States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of +postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. +We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there +are no other means of defending our rights. + +"It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents +in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, +not in enmity toward a people or with the desire to bring any injury or +disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible +Government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of +right and is running amuck. + +"We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and +shall desire nothing so much as the early re-establishment of intimate +relations of mutual advantage between us, however hard it may be for +them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our +hearts. + +"We have borne with their present Government through all these bitter +months because of that friendship, exercising a patience and forbearance +which would otherwise have been impossible. We shall, happily, still +have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and +actions toward the millions of men and women of German birth and native +sympathy who live among us and share our life, and we shall be proud to +prove it toward all who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the +Government in the hour of test. + + +TRUE AND LOYAL AMERICANS. + +"They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had +never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand +with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different +mind and purpose. + +"If there should be disloyalty it will be dealt with with a firm hand of +stern repression; but if it lifts its head at all it will lift it only +here and there, and without countenance except from a lawless and +malignant few. + +"It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the Congress, +which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, +many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful +thing to lead this great, peaceful people into war--into the most +terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be +in the balance. + +"But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the +things which we have always carried nearest our hearts--for democracy, +for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their +own government, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a +universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall +bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last +free. + +"To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything +that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who +know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood +and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and +the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no +other." + +While all the world knew that an actual state of war had existed between +the two countries for months, the resolution declaring war as adopted by +Congress on the plea of President Wilson and signed by the President +shortly after 1 o'clock on the afternoon of April 6, 1917--Good +Friday--was as follows: + +"Whereas, The Imperial German Government has committed repeated acts of +war against the government and the people of the United States of +America; therefore, be it + + +A WAR RESOLUTION. + +"Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States of America, in Congress assembled, that the state of war between +the United States and the Imperial German Government which has thus been +thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and that the +President be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to employ the +entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources +of the government to carry on war against the Imperial German +Government; and to bring the conflict to a successful termination all of +the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the +United States." + +Immediately President Wilson issued a proclamation in which he called +upon the people of the country to co-operate and give their support, +pointing out the necessity for doing things other than putting men upon +the firing line. And in his brief proclamation he outlined the entire +comprehensive plan which, within a few months, was well under way. + +The placing of the navy upon a war footing; the creating and equipping +of an adequate army; the supplying of ships; creating of loans; the +financing of the Allies; the conservation of food products; the +development of food and material resources; the providing of munitions +and supplies for the fighting forces abroad--all of these things were +pointed to as necessary in the President's proclamation. + +Thus America, which had endeavored to remain neutral during months when +Germany was arrogant and insulting, became aligned with the Allies in +the struggle which for nearly three years had been waged in Europe. + + +NEGOTIATIONS CARRIED ON. + +The negotiations between this country and Germany over the question of +submarine warfare as affecting the lives of non-combatants and the +rights of neutrals on the high seas in time of war had been carried on +for two years. They had their origin on February 10, 1915, when, +following the German announcement of February 4 that "the waters around +Great Britain and Ireland, including the whole English Channel, are +declared a war zone on and after February 18, 1915," William J. Bryan, +then Secretary of State, sent the "strict accountability" note to +Berlin. + +Through successive stages the exchange of diplomatic papers continued, +with growing feeling on both sides, because of the acts of German +submarines, until the torpedoing of the cross-Channel steamer Sussex, on +March 24, 1916, when the lives of twenty-five American citizens were +imperiled and several suffered bodily injuries or shock. This attack +resulted in the "Sussex note," or so-called "ultimatum" to Germany. + +The Sussex note, signed by Secretary Lansing, and sent to Germany April +19, 1916, concluded with the following declaration: + +"Unless the Imperial Government should now immediately declare and +effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare +against passenger and freight-carrying vessels, the Government of the +United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with +the German Empire altogether." + + +QUESTIONS GERMANY'S RIGHT. + +The first American note to the Imperial Government, of February 10, +1915, disputed the right of Germany to declare such a war zone as it had +announced the week before, and contended for the international procedure +of "visit and search" before attack on or capture of a neutral vessel. +It embodied this phrase: + +"If such a deplorable situation should arise (wanton destruction of an +American ship) the Imperial German Government can readily appreciate +that the Government of the United States would be constrained to hold +the Imperial German Government to a strict accountability for such acts +of their naval authorities and to take any steps it might be necessary +to take to safeguard American lives and property and to secure to +Americans the full enjoyment of their acknowledged rights on the high +seas." + +In reply the German Government sent a note under date of February 16, +1915, setting forth that the war zone proclamation was in reprisal for +the "blockade" of Great Britain and that if "at the eleventh hour" the +United States should prevail upon Germany's enemies to abandon their +methods of maritime warfare, Germany would modify its order. It charged +misuse of neutral flags and the arming of merchant ships by Great +Britain. + +On February 20, in an identic note to Germany and Great Britain, the +American Government suggested that both Powers cease their illegal +activities. Such an agreement this Government proposed as a "modus +vivendi" giving opportunity for further discussion of the points in +controversy. Berlin accepted this note as "new evidence of the friendly +feelings of the American Government," but reserved a "definite +statement" of the position of the Imperial Government until it learned +"what obligations the British Government are on their part willing to +assume." + +Subsequently, on March 28, the British steamship Falaba was sunk, with +the loss of 163 lives, including one American. On April 28 the American +steamship Cushing was attacked by an aeroplane, and on May 1 the +American tanker Gulflight was attacked by a submarine and three United +States citizens were lost. + +On May 1, also, the German Embassy at Washington caused to be inserted +in many of the leading American newspapers the now famous advertisement +warning Americans and others from taking passage on the Cunard liner +Lusitania, intimating that it would be attacked. This was the day the +Lusitania sailed on her ill-fated voyage. A number of the prominent +passengers received personal notes when they reached the pier, advising +them not to go, but most of them scouted the thought of danger. + + +SUBMARINE ISSUE AND DIPLOMACY. + +After the sinking of the Lusitania, on May 7, off Fastnet, Ireland, with +the loss of more than 1100 persons, among them 115 Americans, the +submarine issue assumed a large and gravely important place in the realm +of diplomacy. + +The accumulation of cases affecting Americans was taken up in the first +"Lusitania note" to Germany, which was dispatched May 15, 1915. It +characterized the attacks on the Falaba, Cushing, Gulflight and +Lusitania as "a series of events which the United States has observed +with growing concern, distress and amazement." It pointed to Germany's +hitherto expressed "humane and enlightened attitude" in matters of +international right, and expressed the hope that submarine commanders +engaged in torpedoing peaceful ships without warning were in such +practice operating without the sanction of their Government. The note +closed with these words: + +"The Imperial German Government will not expect the Government of the +United States to omit any word or act necessary to the performance of +its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its +citizens and of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment." + +On May 28, 1915, Germany replied with a note which covered a wide range +of argument and was in every respect unsatisfactory. It alleged that the +Lusitania had masked guns aboard; that she in effect was a British +auxiliary cruiser; that she carried munitions of war; that her owning +company, aware of the damages she risked in the submarine war zone, was +in reality responsible for the loss of American lives, and referred to +the fact that the British Admiralty had offered large rewards to ship +captains who rammed or destroyed submarines. + + +PROMISED TO PAY DAMAGES. + +The note met none of the contentions of the United States so far as the +Lusitania and Falaba incidents were concerned, although a supplementary +note did acknowledge that Germany was wrong in the attacks on the +Cushing and the Gulflight, expressed regret for these two cases and +promised to pay damages. While the American reply to the note was being +framed dissension in the Cabinet resulted in the resignation of +Secretary Bryan, who contended for a policy of warning Americans off +belligerent ships. He resigned because he thought he could not sign the +next note to Germany, which he feared would lead the United States into +war. + +Meanwhile several sensational incidents cropped up in connection with +the negotiations, chief of which was the sending of a message to the +Berlin Foreign Office by Doctor Dumba, the Austrian Ambassador, +afterward recalled at the request of President Wilson, which was +represented as stating substantially that Mr. Bryan had intimated to the +Ambassador that the vigorous tone of the American notes should not be +regarded in Berlin as too warlike. + +Secretary Lansing took office as Mr. Bryan's successor, and his reply to +the German note took issue with every contention Germany had set up in +the Falaba and Lusitania cases, denied flatly the contention that the +Lusitania was armed or was to be treated as other than a peaceful +merchant ship. + +The note averred that the declaration of a submarine war zone could not +abbreviate the rights of Americans on lawful journeys, and added: "The +Government of the United States therefore very earnestly and solemnly +renews the representations of its note transmitted to the Imperial +German Government on May 15, and relies in these representations upon +the principles of humanity, the universally recognized understandings of +international law and the ancient friendship of the German nation." + + +JAGOW'S EVASIVE ANSWER. + +To that note Germany did not reply until July 8, and the German +rejoinder was preponderately characterized by American newspapers not as +a note, but as an address by Foreign Minister von Jagow to the American +people. In official circles it was said to come no nearer to meeting the +American contentions than did the former German note. + +The nature of the reply was regarded officially as convincing evidence +that Germany was holding the submarine warfare negotiations as a club +over the United States to force this Government into some action to +compel Great Britain to relax the food blockade. President Wilson +steadfastly refused to permit the diplomatic negotiations of the United +States with one belligerent to become entangled with the relations with +another. + +To that the United States replied on July 21 that the German note was +"very unsatisfactory," because it failed to meet "the real differences +between the two Governments." The United States, it declared, was keenly +disappointed with Germany's attitude. Submarine attacks without warning, +endangering Americans and other neutrals, were characterized as illegal +and inhuman and manifestly indefensible. The German retaliation against +the British blockade, it maintained, must not interfere with the rights +of neutrals, which the note declared were "based upon principles, not +expediency, and the principles are immutable." It declared that the +United States would continue to contend for the freedom of the seas +"from whatever quarter violated, without compromise and at any cost." +The American note concluded with these words of warning: + +"Friendship itself prompts it (the United States Government) to say to +the Imperial Government that repetition by the commanders of German +naval vessels of acts in contravention of those rights must be regarded +by the Government of the United States, when they affect American +citizens, as deliberately unfriendly." + + +"INFORMAL CONVERSATIONS." + +The negotiations at this point seemed to have come to such an impasse +that the exchanges of notes between Washington and Berlin were stopped +and the controversy was brought into the realm of "informal +conversations" between Secretary Lansing and Count von Bernstorff, the +German Ambassador. It was thought that much could be accomplished by +personal contact which was lost in a cold exchange of documents. + +Meanwhile the Arabic was sunk on August 19. Coming close on the +unsuccessful Lusitania negotiations and a continuation of submarine +attacks in which Americans had suffered, it seemed that the United +States and Germany had at last reached the point of a break. Then, on +September 1, came the first rift in the threatening situation. Count von +Bernstorff presented this written assurance to Secretary Lansing: + +"Liners will not be sunk by our submarines without warning and without +safety of non-combatants, provided that the liners do not try to escape +or offer resistance." + +The United States had agreed all along that ships hailed for visit and +search by a war vessel took a risk if they attempted to flee, but it +contended not for the safety of "liners" alone, but for the immunity of +all peaceful merchant vessels. The word "liners" was the perplexing +point in Germany's assurances and a complete agreement on what it +actually meant never was finally reached. + +More hopefulness was added to the situation when, on October 5, the +Arabic case was disposed of by Germany disavowing the sinking and giving +renewed assurances that submarine commanders had been again instructed +to avoid repetition of the acts which provoked American condemnation. +Count von Bernstorff delivered to Secretary Lansing this communication: + + +BERNSTORFF'S COMMUNICATION. + +"The orders issued by his Majesty the Emperor to the commanders of +submarines--of which I notified you on a previous occasion--have been +made so stringent that the recurrence of incidents similar to the Arabic +case is considered out of the question. The Imperial Government regrets +and disavows this act and has notified Commander Schneider accordingly." + +With that the negotiations reverted to the Lusitania case. Germany +already had agreed to pay indemnity for American lives lost, but the +negotiations were delayed by a seeming deadlock over the words in which +Germany should acknowledge the illegality of the destruction of the +liner. Germany, unwilling to use the word "illegal," substituted a +declaration that "reprisals must not be directed at others than enemy +subjects." A formal communication, including such a declaration and +expressing regret for loss of American lives, assuming liability and +offering reparation in the form of indemnity, was submitted to Secretary +Lansing. + +A favorable settlement of the long and threatened controversy seemed to +be in sight when all the progress that had been made was reduced to +nothing by Germany's declaration of a new submarine policy of sinking +without warning all armed merchant ships. That precipitated a new +situation so vitally interwoven with the whole structure of the +Lusitania case that President Wilson declined to close the Lusitania +settlement while the other issue was pending, and there the whole matter +rested while German submarine warfare was contained and new cases +involving loss of American lives piled up. + +Finally the accumulation of evidence reached such proportions with the +torpedoing of the Sussex that President Wilson, convinced that +assurances given in the Lusitania and Arabic cases were being violated, +dispatched another note to Germany, and went before Congress, reviewed +the entire situation from the beginning, and made this declaration: + + +PRESIDENT'S DECLARATION. + +"I have deemed it my duty to say to the Imperial German Government that +if it is still its purpose to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate +warfare the Government of the United States is at last forced to the +conclusion that there is only one course it can pursue; and that, unless +the Imperial German Government should now, immediately, declare and +effect an abandonment of its present methods of warfare against +passenger and freight-carrying vessels this Government can have no +choice but to sever diplomatic relations altogether." + +It will be noted that the President went further than "liners," and said +"passenger and freight-carrying vessels." + +In the note sent at this time the President said: + +"No limit of any kind has in fact been set to the indiscriminate pursuit +and destruction of merchantmen of all kinds and nationalities within the +waters constantly extending in area where these operations have been +carried on, and the roll of Americans who have lost their lives on ships +thus attacked and destroyed has grown month by month until the ominous +toll has mounted into the hundreds. Again and again the Imperial German +Government has given this Government its solemn assurances that at least +passenger ships would not be thus dealt with, and yet it has again and +again permitted its undersea commanders to disregard those assurances +with entire impunity." + + +OPPOSED TO SUBMARINE WARFARE. + +During all the negotiations the Berlin Foreign Office looked to Count +von Bernstorff to prevent a break. His attitude was represented as +propitiatory from the viewpoint of the United States and opposed to the +submarine warfare of Von Tirpitz. On several occasions he is said to +have warned his Emperor personally that a continuance of the warfare +against which the United States protested would surely lead to a break. +Meanwhile the Ambassador's own position was embarrassed by the +operations of German sympathizers in the United States plotting against +American neutrality. Some of these operations were traced directly to +the military and naval attaches of the embassy, who were withdrawn. + +Germany's final note in the Sussex case, received in Washington on May +5, said that "the German naval forces have received the following +order": + +"In accordance with the general principles of visit and search and the +destruction of merchant vessels recognized by international law, such +vessels, both within and without the area declared a naval war zone, +shall not be sunk without warning and without saving human lives, unless +the ship attempts to escape or offers resistance." + +Contending that the Imperial Government was unwilling to restrict an +effective weapon if "the enemy is permitted to apply at will methods of +warfare violating the rules of international law," the note expressed +the hope that the United States would "demand and insist that the +British Government shall observe forthwith the rules of international +law." The communication added: + +"Should the steps taken by the Government of the United States not +attain the object it (the German Government) desires, to have the laws +of humanity followed by all belligerent nations, the German Government +would then be facing a new situation in which it must reserve to itself +complete liberty of decision." + +To any such reservations the United States demurred in no uncertain +terms. + + +PRESIDENT WILSON'S REPLY. + +"The United States feels it necessary to state," said President Wilson's +reply, "that it takes it for granted that the Imperial German Government +does not intend to imply that the maintenance of its newly announced +policy is any way contingent upon the course or result of diplomatic +negotiations between the Government of the United States and any other +belligerent Government, notwithstanding the fact that certain passages +in the Imperial Government's note might appear to be susceptible of that +construction." + +In completing the declaration that there must be no misunderstanding +that rights of American citizens must not be made subject to the conduct +of some other Government, the note concluded by saying: "Responsibility +in such matters is single, not joint; absolute, not relative." + +The climax came on February 1, 1917, when Count von Bernstorff, German +Ambassador at Washington, handed to Secretary Lansing a note from +Germany on the U-boat policy, supplemented by the "order" and +declaration that the Imperial Government proposed to stop sea traffic in +the "zones" which it marked as prohibited, by every means at its +command. This is the restricted zone order: + +"From February 1, 1917, sea traffic will be stopped with every available +weapon and without further notice in the following blockade zones +around Great Britain, France, Italy and in the Eastern Mediterranean. + +[Illustration: THE BLOCKADE ZONES.] + +"In the North: The zone is confined by a line at a distance of twenty +sea miles along the Dutch coast to Terschelling fireship, the degree of +longitude from Terschelling fireship to Udsire (Norway), a line from +there across, the point 62 degrees north 0 degrees longitude to 62 +degrees north 5 degrees west, further to a point three sea miles south +of the southern point of the Farve (Faroe?) Islands, from there across a +point 62 degrees north 10 degrees west to 61 degrees north 15 degrees +west, then 57 degrees north 20 degrees west to 47 degrees north 20 +degrees west, further to 43 degrees north, 15 degrees west, then along +the degree of latitude 43 degrees north to 20 sea miles from Cape +Finisterre and at a distance of 20 sea miles along the north coast of +Spain to the French boundary. + +"In the south (Mediterranean): + +"For neutral ships remains open: The sea west of the line Pt des' +Espiquette to 38 degrees 20 minutes north and 6 degrees east, also north +and west of a zone 61 sea miles wide along the North African coast, +beginning at 2 degrees longitude west. For the connection of this sea +zone with Greece there is provided a zone of a width of 20 sea miles +north and east of the following line: 38 degrees north and 6 degrees +east to 38 degrees north and 10 degrees west to 37 degrees north and 11 +degrees 30 minutes east to 34 degrees north and 22 degrees 30 minutes +east. From there leads a zone 20 sea miles wide west of 22 degrees 30 +minutes eastern longitude into Greek territorial waters. + + +NEUTRAL SHIPS' RISK. + +"Neutral ships navigating these blockade zones do so at their own risk. +Although care has been taken that neutral ships which are on their way +toward ports of the blockade zones on February 1, 1917, and which have +come in the vicinity of the latter, will be spared during a sufficiently +long period, it is strongly advised to warn them with all available +means in order to cause their return. + +"Neutral ships which on February 1 are in ports of the blockade zones +can with the same safety leave them. + +"The instructions given to the commanders of German submarines provide +for a sufficiently long period during which the safety of passengers on +unarmed enemy passenger ships is guaranteed. + +"Americans en route to the blockade zone on enemy freight steamships are +not endangered, as the enemy shipping firms can prevent such ships in +time from entering the zone. + +"Sailing of regular American passenger steamships may continue +undisturbed after February 1, 1917, if + +"(a) The port of destination is Falmouth. + +"(b) Sailing to or coming from that port course is taken via the Scilly +Islands and a point 50 degrees north, 20 degrees west. + +"(c) The steamships are marked in the following way, which must not be +allowed to other vessels in American ports: On ship's hull and +superstructure three vertical stripes one meter wide each to be painted +alternately white and red. Each mast should show a large flag checkered +white and red and the stern the American national flag. Care should be +taken that during dark national flag and painted marks are easily +recognizable from a distance, and that the boats are well lighted +throughout. + +"(d) One steamship a week sails in each direction, with arrival at +Falmouth on Sunday and departure from Falmouth on Wednesday. + +"(e) United States Government guarantees that no contraband (according +to German contraband list) is carried by those steamships." + +Immediately after the signing of the Congressional resolution declaring +America at war, President Wilson ordered the mobilization of the United +States Navy, and the Senate voted an emergency war fund of $100,000,000 +for the use of the President. The forces of the United States on land +and sea and in every country under the sun were notified that a state of +war existed. + +The entrance of America was regarded throughout the world as one of the +most significant moves in the history of nations, and it filled the +Allied forces with enthusiasm. Typical of the expressions on the part of +the representatives of the Governments at war with Germany was that of +Lloyd George, Premier of England, who said: + +"America has at one bound become a world power in a sense she never was +before. She waited until she found a cause worthy of her traditions. The +American people held back until they were fully convinced that the fight +was not a sordid scrimmage for power and possessions, but an unselfish +struggle to overthrow a sinister conspiracy against human liberty and +human rights. + +"Once that conviction was reached, the great Republic of the West has +leaped into the arena, and she stands now side by side with the European +democracies, who, bruised and bleeding after three years of grim +conflict, are still fighting the most savage foe that ever menaced the +freedom of the world. + +"The glowing phrases of the President's noble deliverance illumine the +horizon and make clearer than ever the goal we are striving to reach. + + +DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM AND PEACE. + +"There are three phrases which will stand out forever in the story of +this crusade. The first is that 'the world must be made safe for +democracy,' the next, 'the menace to peace and freedom lies in the +existence of autocratic governments backed by organized force, which is +controlled wholly by their will and not by the will of their people,' +and the crowning phrase is that in which he declares that 'a steadfast +concert for peace can never be maintained except by the partnership of +democratic nations.' + +"These words represent the faith which inspires and sustains our people +in the tremendous sacrifices they have made and are still making. They +also believe that the unity and peace of mankind can only rest upon +democracy, upon the right to have a voice in their own Government; upon +respect for the right and liberties of nations both great and small, and +upon the universal dominion of public right. + +"To all of these the Prussian military autocracy is an implacable foe. + +"The Imperial War Cabinet, representative of all the peoples of the +British Empire, wish me on their behalf to recognize the chivalry and +courage which call the people of the United States to dedicate the whole +of their resources to the greatest cause that ever engaged human +endeavor." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +UNCLE SAM TAKES HOLD. + +MAKES WORLD'S BIGGEST WAR LOAN--SEIZE GERMAN SHIPS--INTRIGUE +EXPOSED--GENERAL PERSHING AND STAFF IN EUROPE--THE NAVY ON DUTY IN NORTH +SEA--FIRST UNITED STATES TROOPS REACH FRANCE--GERMANY'S ATTEMPTS TO SINK +TROOP SHIPS THWARTED BY NAVY'S GUNS. + + +Scarcely had the ink had time to dry on the Nation's command to begin +war than Congress voted an appropriation of $7,000,000,000 for war +purposes. This, the largest single appropriation ever made by a +government in the world, was passed without a dissenting vote. Still +later, a deficiency bill of $2,827,000,000 for war expenses was passed. +Other legislative measures provided for the increase of the army and +navy and for "selective conscription," although the latter was passed in +the face of considerable opposition on the part of many who believed +that in a democracy armies should be raised by volunteer recruiting. +Many felt that compulsory service was not in accordance with the ideals +of liberty. + +The Conscription Act provided for the registration of every male citizen +or resident in the United States between the ages of 21 and 31 years, +and was enacted on May 19, 1917. Registration of these military +available was made on June 5, when 10,000,000 names were entered on the +rolls as subject to draft by the Government. The principle of "selective +conscription" is that the authorities shall have the right to exempt +from military duty among those registered such persons whose employment +in civil life is necessary to the maintenance of the industries and +business of the country, as well as those who, though physically fit, +have others dependent upon them for support. + +One of the first acts of the Government after the declaration of war was +the seizure of the German merchant vessels interned in United States +ports. These vessels had a tonnage of upward of 629,000 tons and were +estimated as being worth in the neighborhood of $100,000,000. The +seizure was notable in that it was the largest ever made by a country at +war. + +When the Government went to take charge of the vessels it was found that +the German officers had destroyed parts of the machinery in many of them +in an attempt to put them out of commission. The condition of the boats +was such that all of them had to be put in drydock, and it was several +months before some of them could be put in condition for use. + + +SIXTY RINGLEADERS ARRESTED. + +Immediately the ships had been seized an order was issued by Attorney +General Gregory for the arrest of sixty alleged ringleaders in German +plots, conspiracies and machinations throughout the United States. The +Department of Justice, which had long been gathering evidence in +connection with the suspects, had complete reports about their +activities. They were all German citizens, had participated in German +intrigues, and all were regarded as dangerous persons to be at large. + +They were all arrested, bail was refused them, and they were locked up +for safekeeping. This was the first step in the general rounding up of +the conspirators throughout the country. The men were placed in three +groups: Those having previously been arrested charged with violation of +American neutrality in furthering German plots of various sorts and who +were at liberty under bond awaiting the action of higher courts; those +who had been indicted by Federal Grand Juries for similar offenses and +were at liberty under bond awaiting the action of the higher courts, and +persons who, although they had never been indicted or convicted, had +long been under surveillance by the Secret Service, or the investigators +of the Department of Justice. + +These arrests were the first of alien enemies made in this country in +more than a century, under the direct order of the Attorney General +without reference to the courts or obtaining warrants. Under an act of +Congress passed in 1798 the President is empowered to adopt this course. +The right had not been invoked, however, since the war with Great +Britain in 1812. + + +ARREST OF GERMAN PLOTTERS. + +The arrests were only the beginning of the work of the Secret Service +Department in a complete investigation of the activities of the +thousands of German reservists, stationed in the United States, and +suspected of being connected with plots which daily were cropping out. +These plots were being exposed constantly. Some were abandoned before +being completely worked out, owing to the fact that the Germans +suspected they were being shadowed. It was estimated that there were in +the United States at the time of the discoveries of conspiracies between +15,000 and 18,000 German reservists in the prime of life, whose energies +were undoubtedly being employed in the spreading of the German +propaganda. It was upon this army that the Secret Service men kept a +close watch, and who were generally found to have within their ranks the +men wanted at various times in connection with the advancement of German +plans. + +Many of the Germans arrested were quasi-officials of the German +government. Some of them, it is alleged, were the instrumentalities +through which Captain Boy-Ed and Captain von Papen had carried out their +activities in this country against the Allies. A number of those +arrested were properly classed as spies. Camps were established for the +sailors taken from the interned German vessels, and many of them were +sent to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, where they were held. + +The far-reaching influence of the German spy system was at this time +laid before the American public, with all of its startling +ramifications. For months there had been stories of German intrigue and +conspiracies, and the Secret Service had unearthed innumerable plots to +destroy ammunition plants and industrial establishments, which would +have the effect of making it difficult for America to supply ammunition +to the Allies. + +The most insidious scheme unearthed by the government was that which had +to do with the attempt of Germany to secure the alliance of Mexico and +Japan to make war on the United States. + +Japan, through Mexican mediation, was to be urged to abandon her allies +and join in the attack on the United States. + +Mexico, for her reward, was to receive general financial support from +Germany, reconquer Texas, New Mexico and Arizona--lost provinces--and +share in the victorious peace terms Germany contemplated. + + +MACHINATIONS OF GERMAN MINISTER. + +Details were left to German Minister von Eckhardt in Mexico City, who by +instructions signed by German Foreign Minister Zimmerman, at Berlin, +January 19, 1917, was directed to propose the alliance with Mexico, to +General Carranza, and suggest that Mexico seek to bring Japan into the +plot. + +These instructions were transmitted to von Eckhardt through Count von +Bernstorff, former German Ambassador. + +Germany pictured to Mexico, by broad intimation, England and the entente +allies defeated, Germany and her allies triumphant and in world +domination by the instrument of unrestricted submarine warfare. + +A copy of Zimmerman's instructions to von Eckhardt, sent through von +Bernstorff, is in possession of the United States government. It is as +follows: + + "Berlin, January 19, 1917. + + "On the first of February we intend to begin submarine warfare + unrestricted. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor to + keep neutral the United States of America. + + "If this attempt is not successful we propose an alliance on the + following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and + together make peace. We shall give general financial support, and + it is understood that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in + New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. The details are left to you for + settlement. + + "You are instructed to inform the President of Mexico of the above, + in the greatest confidence, as soon as it is certain that there + will be an outbreak of war with the United States, and suggest that + the President of Mexico, on his own initiative, should communicate + with Japan, suggesting adherence at once to this plan; at the same + time, offer to mediate between Germany and Japan. + + "Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the + employment of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel + England to make peace in a few months. + + "ZIMMERMAN." + + +BETHMANN-HOLLWEG'S FALSE STATEMENT. + +This document was in the possession of the government at the very time +Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg was declaring that the United States had +placed an interpretation on the submarine declaration "never intended by +Germany," and that Germany had promoted and honored friendly relations +with the United States "as an heirloom from Frederick the Great." + +Of itself, if there were no other, it is considered a sufficient answer +to the German Chancellor's plaint that the United States "brusquely" +broke off relations without giving "authentic" reasons for its action. + +The document supplies the missing link to many separate chains of +circumstances, which until then had seemed to lead to no definite point. +It shed new light upon the frequently reported but indefinable +movements of the Mexican government to couple its situation with the +friction between the United States and Japan. + +It added another chapter to the celebrated report of Jules Cambon, +French Ambassador in Berlin before the war, of Germany's world-wide +plans for stirring strife on every continent where they might aid her in +the struggle for world domination, which she dreamed was close at hand. +It added a climax to the operations of Count von Bernstorff and the +German Embassy in this country, which had been colored with passport +frauds, charges of dynamite plots and intrigue, the full extent of which +never had been published. + +And last but not least, it explained in a very large degree the attitude +of the Mexican government toward the United States on many points. + + +UNCLE SAM NOT BOTHERED. + +But the efforts of the German enthusiasts, which carried them beyond the +bounds of reasonable safety in the United States, did not bother Uncle +Sam much in the prosecution of his war plans. Within a short period +after the declaration of war the country had written a chapter in +national achievement unrivalled in the history of the world. + +American destroyers were mobilized, outfitted and sent to the North Sea +within a few days after the nation entered the conflict. With them went +their own supply vessels and numerous converted craft adapted to naval +use. Their number and the exact duty they have assumed never have been +revealed, but that they have been recognized as a formidable part of the +grand allied fleet was evidenced by the designation of American Vice +Admiral Sims to command all the forces in the important zone off +Ireland. + +The fleet began actual duty in the European waters on May 4, and the +presence of the vessels and the American sailors was the subject of +official correspondence. The British admiralty announced the arrival of +the American destroyers as follows: + +"The British Admiralty states that a flotilla of United States +destroyers recently arrived in this country to co-operate with our naval +forces in the prosecution of the war. + +"The services which the American vessels are rendering to the allied +cause are of the greatest value and are deeply appreciated." + +Vice Admiral Sir David Beatty, commander of the British Grand Fleet, +sent the following message to Admiral Henry T. Mayo, commander of the +United States Atlantic Fleet: + +"The Grand Fleet rejoices that the Atlantic Fleet will now share in +preserving the liberties of the world and maintaining the chivalry of +the sea." + +Admiral Mayo replied: + +"The United States Atlantic Fleet appreciates the message from the +British Fleet and welcomes opportunities for work with the British Fleet +for the freedom of the seas." + + +GENERAL PERSHING IN ENGLAND. + +Less than a month later Major General John J. Pershing, with his staff, +were safely in England ready to take command of the first expeditionary +force that ever set foot on the European shores to make war. General +Pershing's personal staff and the members of the General Staff who went +to perform the preliminary work for the first fighting force, numbered +57 officers and about 50 enlisted men, together with a civilian clerical +force. + +The party landed at Liverpool on June 8, after an uneventful trip on the +White Star liner Baltic. The party was received with full military +honors and immediately entrained for London, where it was welcomed by +Lord Derby, the Minister of War; Viscount French, commander of the +British home forces, and a large body of American officials. + +In London General Pershing was later received at Buckingham Palace by +King George. + +He was presented to the King by Lord Brooke, commander of the Twelfth +Canadian Infantry Brigade. General Pershing was accompanied to the +palace by his personal staff of twelve officers. After the audience the +officers paid a formal call at the United States embassy. + + +PERSHING RECEIVES ROYAL GREETING. + +After the formal reception the King shook hands with General Pershing +and the members of his staff, and expressed pleasure at welcoming the +advance guard of the American army. King George chatted for a few +moments with each member of General Pershing's staff. In addressing +General Pershing the King said: + +"It has been the dream of my life to see the two great English-speaking +nations more closely united. My dreams have been realized. It is with +the utmost pleasure that I welcome you, at the head of the American +contingent, to our shores." + +Major General Pershing's staff has been characterized as "one of live +wires." Most of the officers are West Pointers, but there are among them +some who rose from the ranks, including Major James G. Harbord, chief of +staff. + +General Pershing reached France on June 13, where he was given a +tumultuous welcome. He landed at Boulogne in the morning and was met by +General Pelletier, representing the French government and General +Headquarters of the French army; Commandant Hue, representing the +Minister of War; General Lucas, commanding the northern region; Colonel +Daru, Governor of Lille; the Prefect of the Somme and other officials. + +Among the latter were Rene Besnard, Under Secretary of War, representing +the Cabinet; Commandant Thouzellier, representing Marshal Joffre, and +Vice-Admiral Ronarch, representing the navy. + +The scene in the harbor as General Pershing set foot on French soil was +one of striking beauty and animation. The day was bright and sunny. The +quays were crowded with townspeople and soldiers from all Entente +armies, with French and British troops predominating. + +The shipping was gay with flags and bunting, many merchant craft +hoisting American flags, while along the crowded quays the American +colors were everywhere shown as a token of the French welcome. + + +PERSHING RECEIVES AN OVATION. + +A great wave of enthusiasm came from the crowds as General Pershing +stepped upon the quay and as the band played the "Marseillaise" he and +the members of his staff stood uncovered. M. Besnard, in greeting the +American commander in behalf of the government, said the Americans had +come to France to combat with the Allies for the same cause of right and +civilization. General Pelletier extended a greeting to the Americans in +behalf of the army. + +General Dumas, commandant of the region in which Boulogne is located, +said: + +"Your coming opens a new era in the history of the world. The United +States of America is now taking its part with the United States of +Europe. Together they are about to found the United States of the World, +which will definitely and finally end the war and give a peace which +will be enduring and suitable for humanity." + +General Pershing stood at parade as the various addresses were delivered +and acknowledged each with a salute. + +British soldiers and marines lined up along the quays had rendered +military honors as the vessel flying the Stars and Stripes, preceded by +destroyers and accompanied by hydroplanes and dirigible balloons, +steamed up the channel. Military bands played "The Star-Spangled +Banner" and the "Marseillaise" as General Pelletier and his party +boarded the boat to welcome General Pershing. + +After the representatives of the French authorities had been presented +to the American officers, the party landed and reviewed the French +territorials. The Americans then entered motor cars for a ride around +the city. All along the route they were followed by crowds of people who +greeted General Pershing with the greatest enthusiasm. + + +PERSHING IN PARIS. + +The General and his staff were taken in a special train to Paris, where +General Pershing was received by Marshal Joffre, Ambassador Sharp and +Paul Painleve, French Minister of War. In the French capital General +Pershing and staff were received by the populace with wild enthusiasm, +and for several days they were feted and entertained. + +There were, during the short period of entertainment, several incidents +which will long be noted in history, as when General Pershing visited +the Tomb of Napoleon and when he took from its case the sword of the +world conqueror and kissed it, and again when he placed a wreath on the +grave of Lafayette. + +Within a few days General Pershing had established the army headquarters +in the Rue De Constantine and began the work preliminary to the campaign +on the firing line. + +Second only to the enthusiastic reception tendered General Pershing and +his staff was that accorded the first United States Medical Unit, which +reached London in June. The vanguard of the American army, composed of +26 surgeons and 60 nurses, in command of Major Harry L. Gilchrist, was +received by King George and Queen Mary, the Prince of Wales and Princess +Mary, at Buckingham Palace. + +The reception to General Pershing and the Medical branch was, however, +nothing as compared to the popular demonstration which marked the +arrival of the first of the American armed forces on European shores to +participate in war. The vanguard of the army reached France on June 27. +No official announcement was ever made of the number of men in the first +expeditionary force, but it is an incident of modern history that the +United States made a record for the transportation of troops across the +seas scarcely equalled by that of any other country. + + +ABSOLUTE SECRECY OBSERVED. + +All America knew that troops were being sent to France, but no +information had been given as to the time of departure or as to their +destination. The world was, therefore, fairly electrified when the +announcement was made that in defiance of the German submarines, +thousands of seasoned regulars and marines, trained fighting men, with +the tan of long service on the Mexican border, in Haiti, or Santo +Domingo still on their faces, had arrived in France to fight beside the +French, the British, the Belgians, the Russians, the Portuguese and the +Italian troops on the Western front. + +Despite the enormous difficulties of unpreparedness and the submarine +dangers that faced them, the plans of the army and navy were carried +through with clock-like precision. + +When the order came to prepare immediately an expeditionary force to go +to France, virtually all of the men who first crossed the seas were on +the Mexican border. General Pershing himself was at his headquarters in +San Antonio. There were no army transports available in the Atlantic. +The vessels that carried the troops were scattered on their usual +routes. Army reserve stores were still depleted from the border +mobilization. Regiments were below war strength. That was the condition +when President Wilson decided that the plea of the French high +commission should be answered and a force of regulars sent at once to +France. + +At his word the War Department began to move. General Pershing was +summoned quietly to Washington. His arrival created some speculation in +the press, but at the request of Secretary Baker the newspapers +generally refrained from discussion of this point. + +There were a thousand other activities afoot in the department at the +time. All the business of preparing for the military registration of +10,000,000 men, of providing quarters and instructors for nearly 50,000 +prospective officers, for finding arms and equipment for millions of +troops yet to be organized, of expanding the regular army to full war +strength, of preparing and recruiting the National Guard for war was at +hand. + + +PERSHING SETS UP HEADQUARTERS. + +General Pershing dropped quietly into the department and set up the +first headquarters of the American expeditionary forces in a little +office, hardly large enough to hold himself and his personal staff. +There, with the aid of the general staff, of Secretary Baker and of the +chiefs of the War Department bureaus, the plans were worked out. + +Announcement of the sending of the force under General Pershing was made +May 18. The press gave the news to the country and there were daily +stories. + +There came a day when General Pershing no longer was in the department. +Officers of the general staff suddenly were missing from their desks. No +word of this was reported. Then came word from England that Pershing and +his officers were there. All was carried through without publicity. + +Other matters relating to the expedition were carried out without a word +of publicity. The regiments that were to go with General Pershing were +all selected before he left and moving toward the seacoast from the +border. Other regiments also were moving north, east and west to the +points where they were to be expanded, and the movements of the troops +who were to be first in France were obscured in all this hurrying of +troop trains over the land. + +Great shipments of war supplies began to assemble at the embarkation +ports. Liners suddenly were taken off their regular runs with no +announcement. A great armada was made ready, supplied, equipped as +transports, loaded with men and guns and sent to sea, and all with +virtually no mention from the press. + +The navy bore its full share in the achievement. From the time the troop +ships left their docks and headed toward sea, responsibility for the +lives of their thousands of men rested upon the officers and crews of +the fighting ships that moved beside them or swept free the sea lanes +before them. As they pushed on through the days and nights toward the +danger zone, where German submarines lay in wait, every precaution that +trained minds of the navy could devise was taken. + + +A BRILLIANT CLIMAX. + +The brilliant climax to the achievement was made public when it was +announced that not only had the last units of the expeditionary force +been landed on July 3, but that the American navy had driven off two +German submarines, probably sinking one of them, when the transport +ships and convoys had been attacked. + +The last units of the American expeditionary force, comprising vessels +loaded with supplies and horses, reached France amid the screeching of +whistles and moaning of sirens. Their arrival, one week after the first +troops landed, was greeted almost as warmly as the arrival of the troops +themselves. + +Many of the American soldiers crowded down to the wharf to greet the +last ships of the expedition and the American vessels in the harbor, +which had made up previous contingents of the force, joined in the +welcome. The late arrival of the supply ships was due not only to later +departure from America, but also to the fact that the vessels were +slower than those which had come before. The delay caused little +anxiety, although it worked temporary inconvenience to the troops, who +had been waiting for materials with which to work. + +Probably the happiest man in port was Rear Admiral Gleaves, commander of +the convoy. From the bridge of his flagship he watched the successful +conclusion of his plans with characteristic modesty and insisted upon +bestowing the lion's share of credit for the crossing on the navigating +officers of his command. + + +ADVANCE PLANS BRIEFLY SKETCHED. + +Sketching briefly the advance plans whereby all units of the contingent +had to keep a daily rendezvous with accompanying warships, he said, +that, thanks to his navigating officers and despite overcast skies, +which made astronomical observations impossible, each rendezvous had +been minutely and accurately kept by each unit. The orders he issued at +the outset, which comprised scores of details, were observed, the +Admiral declared, with such exactness that the contingent units and +convoying warships invariably met each other within half an hour of the +appointed time. + +A big contributing factor in the crossing, according to officers of both +branches of the service, was the hearty co-operation between the army +and navy. From the time of the departure until the landing there was not +the slightest suggestion of friction, and co-ordination played its part +distinctively in the success of the expedition. + +The startling fact of the entire journey across the sea was that the +Navy had won its first victory in driving off attacking submarines. The +news of the fight was given out by the Navy Department and the Committee +on Public Information, with the announcement of the final landing of the +troops and the safe arrival of the supply ships. + +The announcement, sponsored by Secretary Daniels, of the Navy, shows +beyond the shadow of doubt that the Berlin Admiralty had been "tipped +off" that the American expeditionary force was on its way, and had +carefully planned to send the transports to the bottom of the Atlantic. + +Realizing that an attack might be expected in the war zone, and that +every precaution would be taken to ward it off, the Germans moved far +out from land, in the hope of catching the American gunners napping. +They were fooled. Uncle Sam's jackies were at the guns when the fleet of +submarines stuck their periscopes above the waves and trained their +torpedo tubes on the lines of transports. + + +WAVES COVERED WITH SHELLS. + +The torpedo boats and other craft opened up and covered the waves with +shells. The Germans soon lost at least one submarine and, having had +enough of the fight, they disappeared. As the little destroyers dashed +straight at the submarines and shot under water explosives in their wake +as they submerged, the transports dashed through the night at top speed +without having been scratched. + +The extreme degree to which the Germans had prepared to destroy the +American force is shown by the second part of the official announcement, +which tells how another section of the transport fleet was waylaid under +cover of darkness, but how the American gunners were too quick for the +Germans. + +The text of Secretary Daniels' announcement was: + +"It is with the joy of a great relief that I announce to the people of +the United States the safe arrival in France of every fighting man and +every fighting ship. Now that the last vessel has reached port, it is +safe to disclose the dangers that were encountered and to tell the +complete story of peril and courage. + +"The transports bearing our troops were twice attacked by German +submarines on the way across. On both occasions the U-boats were beaten +off with every appearance of loss. One was certainly sunk, and there is +reason to believe that the accurate fire of our gunners sent others to +the bottom. + +"For purposes of convenience, the expedition was divided into +contingents, each contingent including troopships and a naval escort +designed to keep off such German raiders as might be met. + +"An ocean rendezvous had also been arranged with the American destroyers +now operating in European waters in order that the passage of the danger +zone might be attended by every possible protection. + +"The first attack took place at 10.30 on the night of June 22. What +gives it peculiar and disturbing significance is that our ships were set +upon at a point well this side of the rendezvous, and in that part of +the Atlantic presumably free from submarines. The attack was made in +force, although the night made impossible any exact count of the U-boats +gathered for what they deemed a slaughter. + + +HIGH SEAS CONVOY. + +"The high seas convoy, circling with their searchlights, answered with +heavy gunfire, and its accuracy stands proved by the fact that the +torpedo discharge became increasingly scattered and inaccurate. It is +not known how many torpedoes were launched, but five were counted as +they sped by bow and stern. + +"A second attack was launched a few days later against another +contingent. The point of assault was beyond the rendezvous and our +destroyers were sailing as a screen between the transports and all harm. +The results of the battle were in favor of American gunnery. + +"Not alone did the destroyers hold the U-boats at a safe distance, but +their speed also resulted in the sinking of one submarine at least. +Grenades were used in firing, a depth charge explosive timed to go off +at a certain distance under water. In one instance, oil and wreckage +covered the surface of the sea after a shot from a destroyer at a +periscope, and the reports make claim of sinking. + +"Protected by our high seas convoy, by our destroyers and by French war +vessels, the contingent proceeded and joined the others in a French +port. + +"The whole nation will rejoice that so great a peril is passed for the +vanguard of the men who will fight our battles in France. No more +thrilling Fourth of July celebration could have been arranged than this +glad news that lifts the shadow of dread from the heart of America." + +Upon receipt of the announcement, Secretary Baker wrote the following +letter to Secretary Daniels, conveying the army's thanks to the navy: + +"Word has just come to the War Department that the last ships conveying +General Pershing's expeditionary force to France arrived safe today. As +you know, the navy assumed the responsibility for the safety of these +ships on the sea and through the danger zone. The ships themselves and +their convoys were in the hands of the navy, and now that they have +arrived, and carried, without the loss of a man, our soldiers who are +the first to represent America in the battle for democracy, I beg leave +to tender to you, to the Admiral and to the navy, the hearty thanks of +the War Department and of the army. This splendid achievement is an +auspicious beginning and it has been characterized throughout by the +most cordial and effective co-operation between the two military +services." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +A GERMAN CRISIS. + +THE DOWNFALL OF BETHMANN-HOLLWEG--THE CROWN PRINCE IN THE LIME +LIGHT--HOLLWEG'S UNIQUE CAREER--DR. GEORG MICHAELIS APPOINTED +CHANCELLOR--THE KAISER AND HOW HE GETS HIS IMMENSE POWER. + + +The active participation of the United States in the war, as distinctly +marked by the sending of troops to France, aside from giving needed +inspiration to the Allied forces, may be said to have had a decided +effect in Germany. While the German subjects are loyal, there has +developed in the country, as in every other country, a large element of +Socialists and progressives. + +Something of a climax was reached in the affairs of the Hohenzollern +dynasty just when the United States troops were preparing to take their +places on the battle line in France and when the first of the +conscripted forces of the country were being summoned to the colors. + +With a suddenness that startled the entire world, Dr. von +Bethmann-Hollweg, the German Imperial Chancellor, resigned on July 14, +thus ending his career as the spokesman of the Kaiser, which he had +maintained for a surprisingly long period. At the same time Dr. Alfred +Zimmermann, Foreign Minister, who was responsible for the correspondence +which revealed the fact that Germany was trying to induce Mexico and +Japan to form an alliance against the United States, also quit his post. + +The resignation of the Chancellor came quite unexpectedly, for von +Hollweg, in the prolonged party discussion and heated debates of the +main committee of the Reichstag which had been in progress, seemed to +have triumphed over his opponents. + +His opponents had been clamoring for his head, but he made concessions, +and by the declaration that Germany was fighting defensively for her +territorial possessions evolved a formula which for a time seemed +satisfactory to both those who clamored for peace by agreement and those +who demanded repudiation of the formula, "no annexation and no +indemnities." In this position Dr. von Hollweg was backed by the +Emperor. + +The advent of the Crown Prince upon the scene--summoned by his imperial +father to share the deliberations affecting the future of the +dynasty--seems to have changed entirely the position with regard to the +Imperial Chancellor. The Crown Prince at once took a leading part in the +discussions with the party leaders, and his ancient hostility toward Dr. +von Bethmann-Hollweg, coupled with his notorious dislike for political +reform, undoubtedly precipitated the Chancellor's resignation. + + +APPOINTMENT OF DR. GEORG MICHAELIS. + +The resignation of Dr. von Hollweg was followed by the appointment of +Dr. Georg Michaelis, Prussian Under Secretary of Finance and Food +Commissioner. + +The fall of Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg removed the last of the +statesmen who were in charge of the great Powers of Europe at the +beginning of the war, and brought to an end a career which in successful +playing of both ends against the middle was almost without parallel in +recent history. + +Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, an aristocrat and personal friend of +the Emperor, stood out strongly against democratic agitation before the +war, and at times was sharply outspoken in his defiance of socialism and +his rejection of any move toward making the Chancellor and his +subordinates, the other Ministers, responsible to the Reichstag. Yet in +the early stages of the war he became known as a moderate, and it has +been generally accepted that his influence was usually employed against +the breaking of relations with America and ruthless submarine warfare. + + +PRESERVES A JUDICIOUS BALANCE. + +When the opposition of the parties favoring the most desperate measures +became too strong for him, he conceded a little ground, taking up a +middle position in which he balanced himself for a long time against +both the Conservative Junkers and the National Liberal trust magnates on +the one side and the radical Socialists on the other. Neither side could +claim him; neither could interpret his ambiguous utterances as support +of its policies, and between the antagonisms of the two he maintained +his position until at last he was overthrown by the attack of Erzberger, +leader of the more liberal wing of the Catholic party, the traditional +holders of the middle ground. + +Bethmann-Hollweg's agility was demonstrated by the fact that he survived +Asquith and Grey, Viviani, Sazonoff, Berchtold, Salandra, Jagow, and all +the rest of the statesmen who were in power in Europe in August, 1914. + +In personality the Chancellor was studious, scholarly and pleasant, +lacking the brilliance of his predecessor, Von Buelow, but generally +regarded as one who was if anything too mild rather than too severe. + +Dr. Georg Michaelis, the successor to Hollweg, was the first commoner to +be appointed to that high office, without even a "von" before his name. + +The son of a Prussian official, he was born on September 8, 1857, in +Haynan, Silesia. He received a university education, making the law his +profession. In 1879 he became a court referee in Berlin, and in 1884 was +attached to the District Attorney's office in that city. Several years +later he went as professor of law and political economy to the +University of Tokio. + +Returning to Germany in 1889, he was chosen District Attorney for +Berlin. His services won much praise and he was afterward sent by the +government as an official in the provisional government at Trevas, +Germany. In 1897 he was transferred to Westphalia, where he was Chief +Councilor for the government there. + +In 1900 he was made Provisional President of Liebnitz and in 1902 First +Privy Councilor in Breslau. His work there won him an appointment as +Under Secretary of State in the Department of Finance, which post he +held in connection with his work as Food Commissioner. + +Doctor Michaelis was selected for the post of Prussian Food Commissioner +in February, 1917, after all efforts of Adolph von Batocki's +organization--the food regulation board--had failed to lay hands on +large supplies of grain, potatoes and other produce which the Prussian +landlords were holding for the fattening of cattle and swine instead of +making them available for general consumption. + + +GOVERNMENT ORDERS DISREGARDED. + +The orders of Herr Batocki and the Central Government for the surrender +of these supplies were disregarded or evaded at least, if not, as +charged in Germany, with the actual assistance and support of the +reactionary Prussian Minister of Agriculture, Baron von Schorlemer. + +Doctor Michaelis was eventually selected as Food Controller as the +result of an agreement between von Bethmann-Hollweg and the military +authorities as a fearless, determined official, who would execute his +mission without fear or favor and produce results if such were possible. +The selection was justified. + +The conditions in Germany which marked the ascendancy of the Crown +Prince in the deliberations of the Imperial Government and brought about +the upheaval in the Ministry are the logical result of the system under +which the country is ruled. + +There is, in the mind of the public generally, a theory that Germany +with its Bundesrath and Reichstag has a government akin to that of +England and even the United States, but the impression is an erroneous +one. It is true that Germany has a dual system of government and +independent state sovereignties. There is, however, nothing democratic +about the system. + +To begin with, the Kaiser is a constitutional monarch in his capacity as +German Emperor, but as King of Prussia he is a self-appointed and +arrogant ruler--all that he advertises himself to be in the way of a +God-chosen ruler. + + +STATUS OF GERMAN SOVEREIGNTY. + +To understand the difference in relationship between the King of Prussia +and the German Emperor it is necessary to realize that the German +constitution describes the Emperor thus: "The presidency of the Union +belongs to the King of Prussia, who bears the title of German Emperor." +On the other hand the King of Prussia, who happens to be the Kaiser, has +his right to rule by birth. When the first king was crowned, about 1701, +he placed the crown upon his own head, and that right has descended to +King William. But as German Emperor the duties of the Kaiser are as +clearly defined as those of the ruler of a modern democracy. + +The difference between the Kingdom and the Empire is that the German +Empire is a creation of sovereign states, ruled over by German Grand +Dukes, Princes, and whatnot, who trace their lineage back to the days +when might was right, and who won their power to rule by defeating their +fellow men. At one time there were several hundred of these ruling +princes. When Napoleon got through in Germany there were about +twenty-two left. The German Empire today consists of these twenty-two +states, and three free cities, comprising in all a group of twenty-five +communities. It is a bond or association. It consists, in fact, of the +twenty-five communities, of which it is composed, and represented by +twenty-five kings, dukes, princes, etc., and not by the 65,000,000 +population of the communities themselves. The sovereignty rests with +the princes of the several states, who have bestowed a fixed power upon +the Kaiser. As Emperor his office dates back to 1871. + +The legislative machinery which has been devised for the use of these +German sovereigns consists of the Bundesrath and the Reichstag. +Sometimes the Bundesrath is likened to our Senate, or to the hereditary +English House of Lords, while the Reichstag is compared to the House of +Representatives or the House of Commons. But comparisons are odious. + + +THE BUNDESRATH. + +The Bundesrath is an assembly in which the German kings, grand dukes, +dukes, princes, etc., come together (by proxy) to direct the affairs of +the Empire. Each of these sovereigns sends a specified number of +delegates, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. Thus +the Kaiser, as the King of Prussia, sends seventeen delegates, while the +King of Bavaria sends six. The total number of delegates is fifty-eight, +so right in the beginning the Kaiser has a pretty good representation. + +The delegations in the Bundesrath vote en masse--that is the "unit rule" +prevails. The seventeen delegates from Prussia must vote as instructed +by the Kaiser, and if there chanced to be but one member present he +still would cast seventeen votes for the delegation. The members of the +Bundesrath are referred to quite frequently as ambassadors. There is no +need for discussion in the body since the delegations vote, in any +event, as a unit. + +The power of the German Bundesrath is, however, astonishing. Usually the +lower house is supposed to be the one in which originates legislation, +such as finance, affecting the people. But in Germany it is the +Bundesrath which has the power to tax, and the lower chamber, the +Reichstag, merely has the vetoing power. + +This makes the taxing power in Germany primarily the privilege of the +crown. + +The financial program is prepared by the Chancellor, who is the direct +representative of the Kaiser, and responsible only to him. In other +governments members of the ministry are appointed by the legislative +bodies, but the Chancellor is personally named by the Kaiser, and is not +even a member of the Reichstag. He has the right, however, to address +this body, as the privilege of a member of the Bundesrath of which, as +the personal representative of the Kaiser, he is the presiding officer. + +Since the Bundesrath, as already shown, practically controls the German +Empire, and the King of Prussia, with his seventeen votes in the +Bundesrath holds sway in that body, it is easy to see how the Kaiser is +the dominating figure in the German Empire. + + +THE KAISER'S DUAL PREROGATIVE. + +A unique provision of the German constitution is that fourteen votes in +the Bundesrath can defeat any proposed amendment, and since the Kaiser +controls seventeen votes, as King of Prussia, besides several others, he +has a voting strength which can block any attempt to change the regime. +Also, as King of Prussia, he can instruct his Chancellor to prepare laws +to be introduced in the Bundesrath. + +It is the power which the Kaiser possesses, as the King of Prussia, +which gives him his control as the German Emperor. Prussia is the +largest of the German states, and when the Kaiser, as King of Prussia, +says that he is master in Prussia, he speaks the truth. + +There is a ministry in Prussia, and the head of this body is usually the +same person who occupies the position of Imperial Chancellor, and the +Kaiser appoints this Minister as well as his associates, whom he can +remove without reference to the Ministry as a body. There are two +chambers in Prussian Ministry commonly known as the House of Peers, and +the House of Representatives. + +Just to give the King of Prussia a little more control, he has the right +to appoint all the members of the House of Peers, and also to designate +the number. The House of Representatives, on the face of it, is a +popular body, because the members are supposed to be elected by +universal suffrage. The taxpayers vote for representation in this +chamber, but they do not vote directly nor on equal terms. + +Members of the House of Representatives are chosen by an electoral +college, and several hundred of these colleges are selected at each +election. Though taxpayers vote for the electors, all the votes do not +have the same relative value. The taxpayers whose combined taxes +represent one-third of the whole amount of taxes in an electoral +district choose one-third of the members from that district to the +House. Those who pay the next one-third of the taxes choose another +third of the electors, and the remaining body of voters choose the last +third. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +UNCLE SAM AND THE NEUTRALS. + +PRESIDENT WILSON PUTS EMBARGO ON FOOD SHIPMENTS--SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES +FURNISHING SUPPLIES TO GERMANY INSPIRES ORDER--THE DIFFICULT POSITION OF +NORWAY, DENMARK, HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND. + + +When America first declared its intentions there were in the United +States thousands who held to the theory that "America in War" simply +meant that we should shut ourselves within our borders, perhaps furnish +supplies to the Allied forces, lend money to England, France, Belgium +and Russia, use our navy to protect our merchant shipping and go about +our business, leaving the fighting to the forces joined in conflict +against Germany. + +They were disabused when the English and French Commission and the +representatives of Belgium and Russia made it apparent that it would be +necessary for America to actually raise a fighting army and General +Pershing was sent to France. But they learned, too, that mobilizing the +forces of the country and waging warfare were not simple matters. The +truth was brought home that the whole nation must fight; that it must +use its brains, its money, its resources of every sort, its whole power, +both in an offensive and in a defensive way. + +Not only must its soldiers and sailors face the guns of the Teutons, but +the machinery of government must be used to bring the arrogant +Hohenzollerns to their knees. Some startling things were discovered, and +the brains of the diplomatic force of the government were put to the +test. International problems arose which were never before encountered +in the history of nations. + +England, with its blockade against Germany, and Germany with its +submarine warfare against British and neutral shipping, developed +problems which had to be solved relative to keeping Germany from +getting supplies which would enable her to withstand the siege, and also +as to the sending of supplies to England, Belgium, France and Russia, +and particularly to our own forces fighting with the Allies in France. + + +A BIG FACTOR IN WAR. + +Unfortunate as it may seem, one of the biggest factors in waging +successful war is to prevent the enemy from getting food supplies. It is +a frequently repeated truism that "an army travels on its stomach," and +in the pleas for conservation and efficient management the leaders in +every country declared frequently that "the war would be won by the last +loaf of bread," or that it was not a question of ammunition, but of +wheat. + +One of the serious problems which the government was therefore called to +face within a very short period after the American troops were first +landed in France was that of dealing with the food situation, both at +home and abroad. At that time the German U-boats had sunk merchant ships +having a total of more than 5,000,000 tonnage, and the food situation +was precarious in the Allied countries. Germany, on the other hand, +because of long preparation for the struggle, coupled with efficient +management and practices, was more largely independent of other +countries. + +At this time it was learned that Germany was securing large quantities +of foodstuffs through the medium of some of the neutral countries. +America was, therefore, called upon to take steps to prevent the Germans +getting supplies from this country, through the intermediary of Holland +and the Scandinavian countries. As a result the government placed an +embargo on a long list of articles including fuel, oils, grains, meats +and fodder. The embargo, which was made effective by a proclamation of +President Wilson, forbade the carrying of such supplies as were +mentioned from the United States or its territorial possessions to +neutral countries. + +The purpose of the embargo was not to prevent the neutral countries from +securing foodstuffs from America for their own consumption, but to +prevent their reselling such supplies at a profit to Germany. The +position of the government was made plain in the statement of President +Wilson, who said: + + +DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN NEEDS. + +"It is obviously the duty of the United States in liberating any surplus +products over and above our own domestic needs to consider first the +necessities of all the nations engaged in war against the central +empires. As to neutral nations, however, we also recognize our duty. The +government does not wish to hamper them. On the contrary, it wishes and +intends, by all fair and equitable means, to co-operate with them in +their difficult task of adding from our available surpluses to their own +domestic supply and of meeting their pressing necessities or deficits. +In considering the deficits of food supplies, the government means only +to fulfill its obvious obligation to assure itself that neutrals are +husbanding their own resources, and that our supplies will not become +available, either directly or indirectly, to feed the enemy." + +While the conservation of our resources had a great deal to do with the +issuing of the embargo, the action was partly taken as the result of +information lodged by England that Holland, Sweden and Norway had been +supplying Germany and her allies with food, despite the latter's hostile +action in sinking ships owned by the neutrals. The government made an +investigation and discovered that the shipment to these neutral +countries had become abnormally large. It was reported, particularly, +that many Holland business men had become fabulously wealthy by trading +in the supplies which came from America, and which they resold to +Germany. + +The embargo became operative under a method of license procedure, so +that all shipments could be watched by the government authorities. The +order compelled all persons seeking to export goods to make application +for a license to the Secretary of Commerce, or bureaus designated in +various parts of the country. + +In support of the contentions that the neutral countries were supplying +Germany, Great Britain furnished the Government with the following table +as representing the minimum of food exports from Scandinavia and Holland +to Germany in 1916: Butter, 82,600 metric tons; meat, 115,800 tons; pork +products, 68,800 tons; condensed milk, 70,000 tons; fish, 407 tons; +cheese, 80,500 tons; eggs, 46,400 tons; potato meal, 179,500 tons; +coffee, 58,500 tons; fruit, 74,000 tons; sugar, 12,000 tons; vegetables, +215,000. + +These figures are most impressive, it is asserted, in relation to fats, +the scarcest thing in Germany. Fat, it is claimed, is the only food +seriously lacking now in the diet of the German people. Imports of this +food, the British declare, furnish one-fourth of the daily German fat +ration. + + +NATIONS WHO SUFFER FROM EMBARGO. + +There are five neutral countries whose positions were anything but +enviable during the war, and it is perhaps worth interpolating a little +something about them at this particular point. Norway, Sweden, Holland, +Denmark and Switzerland were the neutrals at the time the embargo was +placed on foodstuffs. + +Switzerland, as all the world knows, is one of the most picturesque +countries in Europe, and is a republic in the west central part of the +continent, bounded on the north by Baden, Wurtemburg and Bavaria; on the +east by the Tyrol, on the south by Italy and on the west by France. +There is no national tongue, three languages being spoken within the +boundaries of the republic. Where it comes in contact with the French +frontier, the French language is largely spoken; while Italian is the +language spoken in the southern part, where it is bounded by Italy. In +the northern section the German language is spoken. The country has an +area of 15,992 square miles. + +In the main, Switzerland is mountainous, the chief valley being that of +the Rhone, in the southern part. The most level tracts are in the +northwestern section, where there are a number of mountain-locked +valleys. Mountain slopes comprise about two-fifths of the area of the +country, and practically all of the rivers are rapid and unnavigable. +The forests are extensive and consist of large trees. Cereals, along +with hemp, flax and tobacco, are raised, and the pasture lands are +fertile and abundant. Hence, the dairy products, as well as hides and +tallow, are produced in profusion. Fruits of the hardier varieties grow +well and profitably. + + +A FEDERAL UNION. + +The republic consists of twenty-two States or Cantons which form a +Federal Union, although each is virtually independent in matters of +politics. The Swiss Constitution, remodelled in 1848, vests the ruling +executive and legislative authority in a Diet of two houses--a State +Council and a National Council. The former consists of 44 members--two +from each Canton--and corresponds in its functional action with the +United States Senate. The National Council is the more purely +representative body, and is composed of 128 members elected triennially +by popular suffrage. Both chambers combine and form what is called the +Federal Assembly. + +The chief executive power is exercised by the so-called Federal Council, +or Bundesgericht, which is elected triennially. Its governing officers +are the President and Vice President of the republic. International and +inter-cantonal questions are discussed before and adjudicated by the +Bundesgericht, which serves as a high court of appeal. The army consists +of 142,999 regulars and 91,809 landwehr; total, 231,808 men of all arms. +Every adult citizen is de facto liable to military service, and +military drill and discipline are taught in all the schools. The +Protestant faith forms the ruling form of religion in 15 of the cantons, +Roman Catholicism prevailing in the rest. Education is well diffused by +numerous colleges and schools of a high grade; and its upper branches +are cared for at the three universities of Berne, Basle and Zurich. + +Denmark, whose home possessions comprise 14,789 square miles, is, by the +way, barely one-half the size of Scotland. It consists of a peninsular +portion called Jutland, and an extensive archipelago lying east of it. +It has a number of territorial possessions in the Atlantic ocean, among +them the islands of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe islands in the +north. + + +GERMAN AMBITION FRUSTRATED. + +One of its possessions in the West Indies was purchased by the United +States almost at the time America entered the war, and created a +situation which was not calculated to inspire the friendship of Germany +for the little country, since it was intimated that Germany would liked +to have had the island for a base. The islands cost the United States +about $25,000,000. Including the colonial possessions, the total area of +the Danish possessions is 80,000 square miles, the population being +2,726,000 persons. + +Copenhagen is the capital, the other chief cities being Odense, Aarhuus, +Aalborg, Randers and Horsens. For administrative purposes Denmark is +divided into 18 provinces or districts, besides the capital, nine of +these making up Jutland and the other nine comprising the island +possessions. On the south Denmark is bounded by Germany and the Baltic, +on the west it is washed by the North Sea; while to the north lies +Norway, separated by the Skagerrack, and on the east lies Sweden, +separated by the Cattegat and the Sound. + +The line of seaboard is irregular and broken, and the low, flat nature +of the country necessitates the construction of dykes, in many places, +in order to prevent the ocean from making inroads. There are few +rivers, and these are small and not of value commercially. Timber is not +abundant, and minerals are scarce and of little value. The climate is +generally moist and cold, fogs are frequent and the winters generally +severe. Cereals, potatoes, wool and dairy products are the principal +products. Cattle raising is carried on extensively, much of the beef +being exported. + +The Danes, physically, are sturdy, and represent the truest physical +characteristics of Scandinavian types. The people are brave, sober and +industrious, and the sailors from this country are among the leading +navigators of the world. The government is a constitutional monarchy, +with the executive power vested in a king and a ministry, who are held +responsible to the Rigsdag, which is the parliament. + + +LANDSTHING AND FOLKSTHING. + +This parliament consists of a Senate, or Landsthing, and a lower house, +or Folksthing. The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the State religion, +but all other persuasions are fully and freely tolerated. Education is +compulsory, and is largely disseminated. The army consists of 60,000 +men, while the navy is quite small, having a personnel of about 4000 +officers and men. + +The authentic history dates from 1385, the year of the accession of +Margaret, the "Semiramis of the North," and wearer of the triple +Scandinavian crowns. The latest monarch, Frederick VIII, came to the +throne in 1906. + +Holland, the most picturesque of the neutral countries, aside from +Switzerland with its wonderful scenery, is credited with having profited +very largely by the war. It rests along the North Sea and adjoins the +German Empire on the east and borders Belgium on the South. It contains +about 11 provinces, with a total area of 12,582 square miles and a +population of about 6,000,000. + +Always one thinks of windmills, dykes, fat cattle, butter, eggs, ducks +and green farms when Holland is mentioned, and it is in many respects +one of the most highly developed commercial countries in the world. The +country manufactures many articles of world-wide distribution, including +chocolate, linens, fine damasks, pottery, chemical and pharmaceutical +products, and Amsterdam is a center of diamond-cutting. + +It has a large mercantile marine and was at one time a tremendous +maritime power, doing an immense trading business in many waters. It +still has rich and extensive colonies, including the Dutch possessions +in the East Indies, comprising the Sunda Islands, except a portion of +Borneo and Eastern Timor, and New Guinea. Java and Madura are two of the +richest of the group and have a population of more than 30,000,000. +There are also possessions in the West Indies and in South America. + + +A SMALL BUT EFFICIENT ARMY. + +The Dutch army has approximately 40,000 officers and men and is regarded +as one of the most efficient armies in the world of its size. There is +also a colonial army in the East Indies with 1300 officers and 35,183 +men. Its navy has 4000 officers and men and has about 200 vessels of all +sorts, none of them of the modern dreadnought or super-dreadnought type. + +The history of the rich little country is one of the most interesting in +literature. It was originally part of the Empire of Charlemagne. +Subsequently, it became divided into a number of petty principalities, +and by heritage became a possession of the Austrian monarchy. In the +long struggle against the Spanish power it became one of the Seven +United Provinces. The country made rapid progress, and during the 17th +century withstood the power of Louis the XIV of France, but later was +overrun by the French, and finally in 1806 was made a kingdom by +Napoleon, in favor of his brother Louis. Under the Treaty of Paris +Belgium and Holland were united to form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, +and this arrangement remained until 1830, when Belgium broke away. +Holland attempted to reduce the revolting province by force, but the +powers intervened and an adjustment was made. The last King was William, +III, who died in 1890, leaving his daughter Wilhelmina, then but 10 +years old, Queen. + +Of the neutral countries none endured more than heroic Norway. With a +long coast line practically undefended and with the full force of the +German navy anchored but a few hours away, and a none too friendly +country on her land border, possessing an army greater than her own, +Norway's position was extremely difficult. + +Had she flung herself into the war with the Allies when the breach came +she would have been of little help to them, for she would have placed +them in the position of being called upon to help defend her long coast +line. It is probable also that a break with Germany would have let loose +the Swedish army on the side of the Teutons. + + +BETWEEN TWO FIRES. + +The little country was between two fires, and she suffered great strain. +In the first place, while Norway attempted to maintain her export trade +and her shipping, the Allies inspected her import invoices and subjected +her to much annoyance, while Germany, without provocation, ruthlessly +attacked her merchant ships and sent many of them to the bottom of the +ocean. + +There were intimations that Germany's real intent was to precipitate a +rupture which would justify her attack on the little country, which she +would be able to subdue with ease and seize the rugged coast and ports +of vantage. But Norway remained neutral, and was not at all pleased with +the embargo placed upon shipments by the United States, though it +developed that the restrictions would not prevent the country from +getting its share of grain and other supplies from America. + +Norway is the western portion of the Scandinavian peninsula, and has an +area of about 125,000 square miles. Its northern coast is washed by the +cold waters of the Arctic Ocean, and against the northeast is Lapland, +while Sweden bounds it on the east and the famed North Sea on the south +and the broad Atlantic on the west. + +The rugged country is separated from Sweden by the Kiolen, or the Great +Scandinavian chain of mountains, and in the hills and mountains are +found the wonderful Norway spruce and fir trees familiar in commerce. +Its fisheries and shipbuilding industry are also of great importance in +the world of business. + + +DEMOCRACY OF NORWAY. + +The constitution of Norway is one of the most Democratic in all Europe. +Although a monarchy, its executive and legislative power is vested in +the parliament, called the Storthing, and the King has merely a nominal +command over the army and navy, with power to appoint the +governor-general only. The latter has a limited right to veto acts of +the parliament. Hereditary nobility was abolished in 1821. + +Under the treaty of Vienna in 1814, and following the defeat of +Napoleon, it was arranged that Denmark must give up Norway, and the two +countries were united under the Swedish Crown. Norway demanded a +separate consular service in 1905, and the Storthing declared the union +with Sweden at an end. Prince Charles of Denmark then became King, +reigning as Haakon VII. + +The country has a population of 2,340,000, and her full military force +mobilized for war is only 110,000 men. + +Sweden, Norway's next-door neighbor on the Scandinavian peninsula, in +contradistinction to the latter, is a constitutional monarchy, with +extraordinary powers vested in the King, who is assisted in the +administration of affairs by a council of ministers. The Diet, or +legislature, consists of two chambers, or estates, both elected by the +people. + +Like Norway, the country is very rugged. Lapland and Finland are at the +northeast, and on the east is the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic, and on +the south the Baltic, the Sound and the Cattegat. It joins Norway on the +west. Its area is 172,875 square miles, and its coast line is more than +1400 miles long. + +Sweden, while it does not have a first-class navy, possesses a score of +armored vessels of small displacement, besides torpedo boats, +destroyers, etc., and has an army of 40,000 at peace strength. The +country is particularly rich in minerals, and some of the finest iron +ore in the world comes from its mines. Nickel, lead, cobalt, alum and +sulphur are also produced in large quantities; while it gives to the +world, too, immense quantities of lumber and larger quantities of hemp, +flax and hops. + +The reigning monarch is King Gustavus V, who succeeded his father, Oscar +II, who died in 1907. The population of the country is about 5,000,000. + +Of these neutrals, both Holland and Switzerland did a great deal for the +suffering Belgians when Germany pounded through the country of King +Albert, sending money for the relief of the sufferers and offering +refugees shelter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE ACTIONS OF THE WAR. + +FROM BOSNIA TO FLANDERS--MARNE THE TURNING POINT OF THE CONFLICT--THE +CONQUESTS OF SERVIA AND RUMANIA--THE FALL OF BAGDAD--RUSSIA'S WOMEN +SOLDIERS--AMERICA'S CONSCRIPTS. + + +The end of August, 1917, found twenty-one nations in a state of war and +five in what might be termed a condition of modified neutrality, with +nearly 40,000,000 summoned to arms and 5,000,000 killed in bitter +warfare. + +This was the fiery reflection of the shots which caused the death of the +Archduke Francis Ferdinand, of Austria, in the quiet little town of +Serajevo, the capital of Bosnia, in June, 1914. And so, with their backs +to the wall, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Turkey and Bulgaria faced Servia, +Russia, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Montenegro, Japan, Italy, +Portugal, Rumania, the United States, Cuba, Brazil, Greece, Siam, China +and little Liberia, while Guatemala, Panama, Haiti, Uruguay and Bolivia +stood by in a position of neutrality, but for the most part indicating a +willingness to help the Allies. + +And in those elapsed three years after the Bosnia tragedy an Emperor of +Austria had died; a Czar had stepped from his throne, and a King had +been compelled to toss aside his crown. Prime Ministers and Ministers of +War in all of the principal countries, who held the confidence of their +peoples when the war started, were no more. + +Cabinets had been dissolved and new ones set up, statesmen brushed aside +and commanders of the war forces compelled to step out that others might +carry on the battles. + +Though it was Austria's ultimatum to Servia which precipitated the +world-wide struggle, it was Germany that took the first step and crossed +the French frontier with its armed forces. After Servia refused to +accede to all of the demands of Austria-Hungary and war had formally +been declared by the latter country, Russia began a partial mobilization +of her armed forces, since she had given warning that she would extend +protection to Servia. Germany retaliated by calling together her warring +forces and declaring war on the Czar; France came to Russia's aid. Then +when Belgium refused to permit the German army to pass through the +country and Germany disregarded international treaties and invaded the +territory, Great Britain declared war upon the Kaiser, and Montenegro +aligned itself with the Allies. + + +GERMANY'S DESIGNS ON PARIS. + +Germany's action and subsequent events prove that the war lords had +planned to capture Paris by a swift attack from the north, before France +could gather her forces to resist and before Russia was prepared to +assist. Belgium, however, proved a stumbling block. The natives, +battling like demons for the protection of their homes and honor, held +the Teuton hordes at Liege for several weeks, or until the famous +fortifications there were reduced, and then the terrible machine of the +Germans swept forward until the soldiers were within fifteen miles of +the French capital. + +It was here, within a few hours' march of Paris, that the French and +Allied troops showed their real metal. General Joffre met the German +hordes beside the River Marne and with his troops began the battle which +was to guarantee the security of the French capital and result in the +routing of the army of Von Kluck, regarded as the pick of the Prussian +forces. In the famed battle of the Marne there were fought a number of +separate engagements, which have been termed the battles of Meaux, +Sezanne, Vitry and Argonne. + +The German forces were driven back step by step to the north bank of the +Aisne, where the army was able to entrench itself and the Germans and +the Allied forces began digging themselves into the ground in a manner +that had never before been practised in warfare. + +While Germany was striking at France, the Russians had invaded Austria, +capturing Tarnapol and Lemberg and investing the great fortress of +Prezemsyl. Austria was compelled to call upon Germany for assistance and +four German army corps, under Von Hindenburg, were drawn from East +Prussia and went to the rescue. Instead of trying to stem the progress +of the Russians, he made a counter offensive with Warsaw as the +objective. Russia was compelled for a time to abandon its positions and +retreat, and Von Hindenburg got within seven miles of Warsaw before the +Russians rode down upon his forces with 100,000 horsemen and compelled +retreat. Von Hindenburg's strategy had, however, been successful, and +his action on the Eastern front at this time marked the first step +toward his pre-eminence as a military commander. + + +BRITISH AND GERMAN FORCES COMPARED. + +During 1915 the Allied forces were able to do little more than hold +their positions. Lord Kitchener had builded up a British volunteer army +in which great hopes were placed, but in the matter of offensive +military tactics they could not cope with the formidable German forces, +nor had the Allies developed an offensive which would win without +terrible sacrifice, and in the encounters the very flower of Great +Britain's manhood, as well as thousands of the best fighting men of +France, were lost to the world forever. It was in this year, when +Germany made use of asphyxiating gas for the first time, that Canada +received its most stinging blow. The famous Princess Pats, the finest +military body of the Dominion, was practically annihilated, and in the +final formidable attack of the year made by the French against the +Germans in September, the latter were driven back several miles, but at +a cost of more than 100,000 French lives. + +In this year, too, the Germans succeeded in capturing much territory and +a number of valuable positions which had been taken by the Russians, and +the combined forces of Von Hindenburg and Von Mackensen finally +conquered Poland. Warsaw was evacuated in July, and in August Prince +Leopold led the Bavarian into the Polish capital. On August 19 the great +stronghold of Kovno fell, and the conquest was made complete with the +surrender of Brest-Litovsk. + + +CONQUEST OF SERVIA. + +The conquest of Servia by the Teutons also marked the year 1915. Among +the first shots of the war were those fired by the Austrians when they +bombarded Belgrade, the capital of Servia, and made an attempt to invade +the country. The Servians and Montenegrins almost annihilated Austrian +troops which attempted to cross the Danube into Servia, and the Austrian +invasion fell. But the combined Austro-German forces invaded the country +later as part of the Prussian program to conquer all the territory from +the Baltic to the Bosporus. The Entente Allies made an effort to save +the little country by landing troops at Salonica, but it was too late. +Just before winter set in, the Austro-German forces and the Bulgarian +forces, invading from opposite sides, met, and the conquest of the +country was complete. + +It was in 1915, too, that what is conceded to have been one of the most +disastrous and futile campaigns of the war was attempted by England. +Constantinople was to be captured and the Turks crushed, with a view of +opening communication with Russia by way of the Black Sea. The British +fleet was sent out to bombard the Dardanelles, and the now famous +Anzacs--Australian and New Zealand troops--were landed on the peninsula +of Gallipoli to strike at the Turkish capital from behind. The campaign +was waged through the summer, but with little hope of success, and +finally abandoned after the British had lost more than 100,000 of its +most daring, hard-fighting and loyal Colonial soldiers. + +After this came "Verdun"--that conflict in which France won immortal +glory and the German's attack upon the French fortress town of Verdun +was successfully repulsed. The battle raged for four months, beginning +in February, 1916. The German troops, with the German Crown Prince in +command, captured two forts close to Verdun, but little by little the +French troops drove them back, and finally, in command of General +Nivelle, with General Petain looking after the defense of Verdun, the +French, co-operating with the British, made an attack on the Somme, and +the Germans were compelled to abandon the Verdun offensive. In the +Verdun campaign the Germans lost more than 500,000 men, while the French +lost not half the number. + + +RUSSIA'S CONQUEST OF ARMENIA. + +Russia's conquest of Armenia was one of the features of 1916. The troops +under General Brussiloff renewed their endeavors in Galicia and for +several months made great progress; then Rumania entered the war and the +Russian forces in Galicia slowed down. In Caucasus, however, Russian +troops gained Erzerum, one of the Turk fortresses, and captured the +seaport of Trebizond, practically gaining Armenia. Like the Germans in +retreat from Flanders, the Turks practiced unspeakable horrors. Their +cruelties were such as to almost exterminate the race. + +The tragedy of the Balkans in 1916 was Rumania. With an army of more +than half a million men, she entered the war with the approval of the +Entente and entered Transylvania. But the Germans began a counter-attack +in Dobrudja, and the Rumanians were compelled to withdraw some of their +forces from Transylvania. The German commander then threw his forces +across the remaining Rumanians and drove them across the border, after +which he swung his own troops through the mountain passes into Rumania. +The two German forces invading Rumania met at Bucharest, and the +Rumanian capital was occupied. + +Another fiasco was that of the British expeditionary force which was +sent from India by way of the Persian Gulf and up the Tigris river to +Bagdad. General Townsend succeeded in getting within 15 miles of Bagdad, +but he was defeated by a superior Turkish force and compelled to fall +back to Kut-el-Amara. Here his inadequate force, lacking medical and +transport facilities, was fairly starved out before he was relieved. He +was finally compelled to surrender the last week in April, 1916. + +Little more than a year after the collapse of this expedition, however, +the famous old city of Bagdad was captured by the English after a +well-directed campaign under General Maude. + + +ITALY'S HELP TO THE ALLIES. + +Italy, having begun active warfare with the Allies in 1915, waged war +along the Austrian border, compelling the Austro-German forces to +concentrate a larger body of troops for duty on the Italian frontier, +and to that extent materially assisted the Allies. At the same time the +Italians fought their way up over the mountains and won more than 500 +square miles of territory and took nearly 90,000 prisoners. + +The final alignment of the Greeks with the Allies marked the progress of +affairs in the middle of 1917, when Constantine was forced from his +throne in favor of his second son, and Venizelos was returned as +Premier. But the entrance of the Greeks did not materially alter the +situation. + +The two most important events of 1917 were the entrance of America into +the conflict and the revolt in Russia, which caused the abdication of +the Czar and turned the great country into a republic. The ultimate in +Russia's history is still to be written, but the change was fraught with +disaster. The people let free, and unaccustomed to self-government, +could not be controlled, and the army became demoralized. + +The element which had been loyal to the Romanoffs refused to fight for +liberty, and the Germans, taking advantage of the situation, drove the +Russian troops back over the frontiers and gained all that the Russians +had once taken in conflict. And out of this grew one of the most +picturesque incidents of the entire war. Russian women and girls, filled +with ideals and with a deep sense of the responsibilities which rested +upon the nation, formed a corps, and, dressed in full military costume, +went to the front and attacked the German troops. No soldiers of any +nation have shown more heroism, or more capability, for the women faced +the bullets, and, while they were being mowed down by the German guns, +they urged their men to face the enemy and fight--fight--fight. + + +BRITISH NAVY AN EFFECTIVE ASSET. + +While there have been few of the picturesque battles on the seas, which +the world has long regarded as a necessary adjunct to a successful war, +the work of the British Navy has proved through the period of the +conflict to be one of the most powerful and effective assets of the +Allied forces. Through the operation of the British fleet, later +augmented by an American war fleet, the German ships have been corked up +in their home ports and chased from the seas. + +The first naval battle of the war was an engagement between portions of +the British squadron in the Pacific and a superior German force. The +engagement occurred off the coast of Chili in November, 1915. Two +British vessels were lost and a third badly damaged. However, a few +months later, the German squadron, in command of Admiral von Spee, was +met off the Falkland Islands by a second British squadron, and in the +engagement four of the German vessels were sunk and a fifth damaged. +This vessel was later sunk. + +The most important naval engagement was the battle of Jutland in May, +1916, when Admiral Beatty met a German fleet in the North Sea. The +German boats made a dash from the Kiel canal and engaged the British off +the coast of Denmark. Both England and Germany claimed victory, the +former declaring that Germany lost eighteen ships, while the German +Government claimed that the British lost fifteen vessels. Berlin +admitted a loss of 60,720 tons and 3966 men, while England conceded a +loss of more than 114,000 tons and 5613 men. But the English fleet which +engaged the German fighting ships was but a small portion of the force +on guard outside of Helgoland and the Kiel Canal, and the effect was to +keep the German navy from venturing forth again. + +These are the main events which had punctuated the action of the world's +fighting machines at the close of August, 1917, when America was +preparing to thwart the German U-boats in their destruction of the +world's shipping, and had under actual call to arms more than 1,000,000 +men, a minor part of which had been safely landed in France. + + +WORLD'S AWFUL MARITIME LOSS. + +In the three months prior to August the German underseas boats had sunk +464 vessels, or an average of 426,000 tons of shipping a month, while +America, working with her fleets in conjunction with the British Navy to +foil the submarine in its endeavors, was also building more than 12,000 +cargo-carrying craft and submarine chasers with which to flood the +traffic lanes of the sea. + +Likewise, contracts had been awarded for 10,000 flying machines with +which to drive the "eyes of the German army," as the air machines are +called, from the heavens. Finally, as the Allies in the closing days of +August were driving the German hordes back under avalanches of shells, +629,000 of the youth of America, called to fight under the conscript +act, were preparing to move to camps in a dozen different sections of +the country to train themselves for invading foreign countries and +facing the brutal Teutons. Likewise, some 20,000 picked men were +training to officer these civilian forces, and half a million men of the +National Guards of the various States, formally mustered into the +service of the country, were moving by orders of the Government to +points whence they would find their way to the side of the loyal French +soldiers and the sturdy English, Scotch, Canadian, Australian and virile +Italian fighters. + +The records of three years show that the American ambulance drivers; +daring thousands of our countrymen who fought with the French and +English because they believed the war was a just one, and without +compulsion; scores of Red Cross nurses, and aviators who hunted the +Teutons in the air, all Americans, have had their names written high in +the roster of heroes. Americans have always been pioneers and history +makers, and they are making history now. + +With the approach of cold weather, and following months of intensive +training under the direction of French and English soldiers, the +American expeditionary forces began actual participation in the great +world war as a unit. Previously their achievements were principally in +connection with the French aviation corps and ambulance sections. + + +SINKING OF FIRST AMERICAN WAR BOAT. + +The first untoward incident involving America's forces on land or sea +was the sinking of the transport Antilles on October 27, 1917, by a +German submarine, when 67 men--officers, seamen and soldiers--were lost. +The vessel was returning from a French port after having landed troops +and supplies. This was the first loss sustained by the United States, +and the event brought home the seriousness of the country's +participation in the war as no previous event had done. + +Almost immediately following this the world awoke one morning to learn +that silently and unheralded the American soldiers had marched from +their quarters in a French village to the "front" and in a slough of mud +had entered the trenches, and for the first time in history United +States troops launched shells against the forces of Germany. + +The initial shot was fired by artillerists at the break of day on +October 24, and America was formally made an active agent in the horrors +of warfare on "No Man's Land." Ten days later the brave Americans, +occupying a position in the trenches for instruction, early on the +morning of Saturday, November 3, received their baptism of fire, and in +the cause of Democracy 3 soldiers were killed, 5 wounded and 12 captured +by the Boche forces. + +Cut off from the main line of the Allied forces, the Americans were +stormed under the protection of a heavy barrage fire by a German raiding +party and engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand encounter. The 20 +Americans, with several French instructors, according to official +report, were pitted against 210 picked Germans. A rain of shells from +Boche guns was laid back of the American section so that there was no +retreat. The lieutenant in command made a heroic attempt to reach the +main fighting line, but was caught in the barrage fire and rendered +unconscious from shell-shock. + +Previously American scouts had captured a German prisoner--a mail +runner; Lieutenant de Vere H. Harden, of the Signal Corps had been +wounded by a bursting German shell, and a German gunner was reported +killed by an American sharpshooter, as opening incidents of the +skirmish. + +And so at the beginning of November, 1917, with the whole United States +giving support to the Government in subscribing upwards of five billions +of dollars to the second Liberty Loan, and all forces working to +conserve food, furnish men, ships, ammunition, clothing and supplies to +her own troops and to her Allies, the world found America true to +traditions, battling for the right and giving her best that liberty +might endure and the burden of Prussianism be lifted from humanity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +AMERICAN FORCES BECOME FACTOR. + +UNITED STATES SOLDIERS INSPIRED ALLIED TROOPS--RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT +COLLAPSES--ITALIAN ARMY FAILS--ALLIED WAR COUNCIL FORMED--FOCH COMMANDS +ALLIED ARMIES--PERSHING OFFERS AMERICAN TROOPS--UNDER FIRE--U-BOAT BASES +RAIDED BY BRITISH. + + +The influence exerted by the actual presence of the American troops on +the western front was soon apparent. The spirits of the English, French +and Canadian troops were raised and the presence of the Americans was +heralded to the world as an evidence of complete unity on the part of +the Allies that meant ultimate death to Kaiserism. + +The advent of Uncle Sam's fighting men on the firing line had, however, +one serious effect, viewed from the Allied standpoint. Germany realized +that every day she delayed in making attack meant the strengthening of +the Allied forces by the arrival of additional United States troops, and +it was seen by the English and French leaders that the Kaiser would make +an early drive to annihilate, if possible, the stubbornly resisting, +though somewhat tired and weakened, lines opposing his brutal soldiery. +Not for months, therefore, was it permitted the world to know anything +about the numerical strength of the American troops sent into France. + +Simultaneously with the action of American troops in entering the +resisting line of Allied troops on the western front the Austro-German +troops had swept into the Italian plains, capturing 100,000 prisoners +and upward of 1,000 guns, taking several towns and compelling the +retreat of the Second and Third Italian armies. The Italian forces were +opposed by four times their number, but it was also said that the unity +of the Italian forces was broken by the spreading of German propaganda. + +The failure of some of the troops was shown in an official dispatch from +Rome, in which it was stated: + +"The failure to resist on the part of some units forming our second +army, which in cowardice retired without fighting or surrendered to the +enemy, allowed the Austro-German forces to break into our left wing on +the Julian front. The valiant efforts of other troops did not enable +them to prevent the enemy from advancing into the sacred soil of our +fatherland. We now are withdrawing our line according to the plan +prepared. All stores and depots in the evacuated places were destroyed." + + +ITALIAN HEADQUARTERS CAPTURED. + +These troops were compelled to fall back along a front almost 125 miles +long and Undine, the Italian headquarters, was captured. Germany had +found the weakest spot in the Italian line and occupied about 1,000 +square miles of territory before General Cadorna's forces were able to +establish a line of strong defense. + +The retirement of the Italian troops was one of the most picturesque in +the history of the war, and Germany made her gains at terrible cost. + +The retirement was accompanied by shielding operations of the rear +guard, which poured a deadly fire into the advancing columns and at the +same time destroyed powder depots, arsenals and bridges with the double +purpose of giving time for the withdrawal of the Italian heavy guns and +of preventing military stores falling into the hands of the enemy. + +The Germans encountered stubborn resistance on the Bainsizza plateau, +and heaps of enemy dead marked the lines of their advance. Around Globo +ridge a bersaglieri brigade, outnumbered five to one, held back the +enemy while the main line had an opportunity to get its retreat in +motion. In one of the mountain passes a small village commanding the +pass was taken and retaken eight times during desperate artillery, +infantry and hand-to-hand fighting. + +Before the Italians were able to establish a line of resistance they +were compelled to fall back to the Piave, and at some points to a much +greater distance. Meantime the Allies rushed assistance to the retiring +forces, and while the collapse of Cadorna's line was unfortunate, it had +the effect of making it more obvious that there should be more unity of +operation between the Allied forces. + +Russia's republic, under the leadership of Premier Kerensky, collapsing +at the same moment, intensified the seriousness of the Allied situation, +and largely at the suggestion of America an Inter-Allied War Council was +formed. + + +REVOLT IN PETROGRAD. + +Premier Kerensky called upon the United States to help Russia bear the +burdens of conflict until the forces could be reorganized by the new +government. Almost immediately there was revolt in Petrograd, and the +radicals under the leadership of Leon Trotsky, president of the +Executive Committee of the Petrograd Council of Soldiers' and Workmen's +Delegates, seized the telegraph wires, the State bank and Marie Palace, +where the preliminary parliament had suspended proceedings in view of +the situation. + +The Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates assumed control of the City of +Petrograd and Kerensky was compelled to flee. The Winter Palace was +bombarded. A General Council of the Soldiers' and Workmen's Delegates +announced the taking over of government authority: + +"We plan to offer an immediate armistice of three months, during which +elected representatives from all nations and not the diplomats are to +settle the questions of peace," said Nikolai Lenine, the Maximalist +leader, in a speech before the Workmen's and Soldiers' Congress today. + +"We offer these terms," M. Lenine added, "but we are willing to +consider any proposals for peace, no matter from which side. We offer a +just peace, but will not accept unjust terms." + +Meantime General Cadorna was relieved of command of the Italian armies +and General Diaz put at the head of the Italian forces, while General +Foch, chief of staff of the French War Ministry, and General Wilson, +sub-chief of the British Staff, were made members of an Inter-Allied +Military Committee serving with General Cadorna to straighten out the +Italian situation. This was the first step looking to the unifying of +the Allied forces which was brought about shortly thereafter by the +formation of the Inter-Allied War Council at Versailles. It was chiefly +at the suggestion of President Wilson that the War Council was called, +the President issuing a stirring appeal in which he pointed out the +necessity of unity of control, if the resources of the United States +were to be of the greatest value to the Allied interests. + + +SUPREME WAR COUNCIL. + +The Supreme War Council, which was made a permanent body, was composed +of the Prime Minister and a member of the Government of each of the +Great Powers whose armies were fighting at the front. Each Power +delegated to the Supreme Council a permanent military representative +whose function was to act as adviser to the Council. As the result of +the deliberations of the War Council, and following the suggestion of +General Pershing, General Foch was made Commander-in-Chief of the Allied +Armies. General Foch was Commander of the French troops at Verdun and a +recognized authority on military strategy. + +While the problem of solving the military phases of the situation was +being considered by the Allied War Council the Russian forces under +Kerensky and those under Trotzky, known as the Bolsheviki, clashed again +and again at Petrograd, Moscow and other points, and the hope of the +Allies as to any help from Russia sank. Germany entered into a peace +compact with Ukrainia, and the hand of the Kaiser was seen in the +Russian situation when officers of the German Army were reported in +Petrograd in conference with the representatives of the various Russian +factions. Russia suggested a separate armistice, or a separate peace, +against which both the U.S. and France protested. + +The failure of the Russian Government to assume any degree of stability +made it possible for the Germans to withdraw many troops and transfer +them to the Italian and Western Fronts. + +One result of the Allied War Council deliberations was to show the +necessity of rapid action on the part of the United States and get +troops into France so that they might take over a definite sector. While +it was estimated that several hundred thousand Americans were in France, +the necessity for a larger force was made apparent by the statement that +90 reserves are required for every 400 fighters on the line. + + +DROPPED THEIR TOOLS FOR RIFLES. + +The first bitter attack in which American troops figured was when a +company of United States engineers, caught between cross-fires, dropped +their tools for rifles and joined the English troops in helping to +repulse the Germans near Cambrai. + +A notable event in the progress of the war was the declaration of war +upon Austria by the U.S. on Dec. 8, 1917, Congress adopting a resolution +of war with but one dissenting vote. + +Events which brought the seriousness of the war home to America began at +this point to occur rapidly. First the Torpedo Boat Destroyer Jacob +Jones was sunk in the war zone when nearly 30 men were reported lost. +This was followed shortly by a report to the War Department that 17 +Americans caught in the cross-fire by the Germans at Cambrai were +missing or killed. The report of the sinking of the Alcedo, a patrol +boat, with the loss of several officers, was also received, as was that +of the sinking of the U.S. Destroyer "Chauncey" rammed in a collision, +when two officers and eighteen men were lost. + +One of the high spots of the war and one of the notable events in the +history of the world, was the surrender of the City of Jerusalem to the +British on Saturday, December 8, 1917. Gen. Allenby entered the famed +city and established his troops on the ancient Jerico Road. + +The capture of Jerusalem by the British forces marked the end, with two +brief interludes, of more than 1200 years' possession of the seat of the +Christian religion by the Mohammedans. For 673 years the Holy City had +been in disputed ownership of the Turks, the last Christian ruler of +Jerusalem being the German Emperor, Frederick, whose short-lived +domination lasted from 1229 to 1244. + + +THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. + +Apart from its connection with the campaign being waged against Turkey +by the British in Mesopotamia, the fall of Jerusalem marked the definite +collapse of the long-protracted efforts of the Turks to capture the Suez +Canal and invade Egypt. Almost the first move made by Turkey after her +entrance into the war was a campaign against Egypt across the great +desert of the Sinai Peninsula. In November, 1914, a Turkish army, +variously estimated at from 75,000 to 250,000 men, marched on the Suez +Canal and succeeded in reaching within striking distance of the great +artificial waterway at several points. For several months bitter +fighting took place, the canal being defended by an Anglo-Egyptian army +aided by Australians and New Zealanders and French and British forces. + +For the greater part of 1915 conflicting reports of the situation were +received from the belligerents, but in December of that year definite +information showed that the Turks had been driven back as far as El +Arish, about eighty-five miles east of the canal. A lull occurred then +which lasted for six months, and in June, 1916, the Turks again advanced +as far at Katieh, about fifteen miles east of the canal. Here they were +decisively defeated, losing more than 3000 prisoners and a great +quantity of equipment. + +Another period followed in which the situation was greatly confused +through the vagueness and contradictory character of the official +statements, but in December, 1916, the British stormed El Arish and a +few days later severely defeated the Turks at Maghdabah, about sixty +miles to the south on the same front. Two weeks later the invaders had +been driven out of Egypt and the British forces crossed the border into +Palestine. On March 7 they captured El Khulil, southeast of Gaza. + +By November 22 the British had pushed within five miles of Jerusalem, on +the northwest, and on December 7 General Allenby announced that he had +taken Hebron. Jerusalem thus was virtually cut off on all sides but the +east. + + +HISTORICAL INTEREST TO CHRISTIANS. + +In sentimental and romantic aspect the capture of Jerusalem far exceeds +even the fall of fable-crowned Bagdad. The modern City of Jerusalem +contains about 60,000 inhabitants, and is the home of pestilence, filth +and fevers, but in historic interest it naturally surpasses, to the +Christian world, all other places in the world. Since the days when +David wrested it from the hands of the Jebusites to make it the capital +of the Jewish race Jerusalem has been the prize and prey of half the +races of the world. It has passed successively into the hands of the +Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Arabs, Turks, the +Crusaders, finally to fall before the descendants of that Richard the +Lion-hearted who strove in vain for its possession more than 700 years +ago. + +Early in January, 1918, evidence was forthcoming that Germany was +preparing to make a final drive on the Western Front to break through +and capture some English and French channel ports before America could +be of any great assistance to the Allied forces. As a result Great +Britain determined to call 500,000 more men to hold the Huns, and +Premier Lloyd George issued a stirring appeal to Labor affected by the +Manpower Bill, which provided for the increase taken largely from the +labor forces. + +The German intent to launch an offensive was indicated by the withdrawal +of German lines north of Italy when important defensive positions were +abandoned, and dummy soldiers were left in trench to conceal movement to +the rear. Warnings of a great submarine offensive on American boatlines +to France, to be joined with a big drive on land, were received by +Secretary of War Baker, and on February 2, the American troops occupying +a sector of the Lorraine front in France faced the first big bombardment +in what was preliminary to the most bitter drive Germany had attempted +in four years of warfare. + + +SINKING OF THE TUSCANIA. + +True to their promise the German submarines started their portion of the +offensive and sunk the U.S. troopship "Tuscania" a few days later off +the coast of Ireland. The liner carried 2,179 U.S. troops of various +divisions besides a crew of 200. The total number of persons lost was +113. The troops included engineers, members of the aero-squadron, and +regulars. + +The Tuscania was the first troopship to be sunk en route to France, +though the Antilles was sunk in October, 1917. This boat, however, it +must be noted, was returning from France. At this time 70 lives were +lost. The comparatively small loss of life on the "Tuscania" was +accepted as evidence of the efficient training and bravery of American +troops under all conditions. + +The Tuscania was torpedoed when entering what until that time were +considered comparatively safe waters. The ships were within sight of +land, which was just distinguishable in the dusk of evening when the +torpedo hit the Tuscania amidships. This was at about 7 o'clock. + +When the crash came the khaki-clad young heroes of the American army +lined up as though on parade, and sang the "Star Spangled Banner" at the +top of their voices as the Tuscania sank by inches under them. Across +from them their British cousins of the crew came back with the echoing +"God Save the King," which too cool-headed exponents of what occurred in +a crisis of a sea disaster say accounts for the fact the Germans took +only a toll of 113 lives out of the 2,397 souls on board the Cunarder +when she met her fate. + + +AMERICAN COURAGE PRAISED. + +If the singing man is a fighting man, he also is hopeful, and in the +combination of fight and hope there came the baffling of the German +attempt to reduce the American war forces by almost a full regiment. +Taking stock after the disaster, the officers of both the army and navy +praised the courage of the Americans as the chief reason for the saving +of more than 90 per cent of the men on board. + +No submarine was seen until the torpedo struck the Tuscania fairly +amidships. A moment later another torpedo passed astern of the vessel. +There was a terrific explosion, and it is believed most of the +casualties were caused by this and by subsequent difficulties in +lowering the boats. + +The vessel immediately took a heavy list and the men were called to +their lifeboat stations, but the list prevented the boats from being +properly lowered, some of the upper-deck boats falling to the lower +deck. Many of the men jumped into the water, and the difficulty in +lowering the boats was responsible for many casualties. + +The survivors of the Tuscania landed at points in Ireland were received +with great honor in the various communities, and great tribute was paid +to the surviving soldiers by the Mayor of Dublin. + +The American troops on the Tuscania were part of the forces being +hurried to France to hold the Germans in check, and at the time American +troops were holding a sector with the French in Lorraine, northwest of +Toul, while American artillery were supporting the French in Champagne. +The date set for the big German drive was announced as January 28, and +the fact that Germany made an open proclamation of the fact that they +proposed to wage offensive warfare was somewhat puzzling to the minds of +those studying the situation. Making her position more impregnable, +Germany halted her armies in Russia upon the acceptance of peace terms +by the Russian delegation at Brest-Litovsk, which were concluded on +March 1, 1918, and daily the activities of the German forces on the +Western Front grew in intensity. On March 6, in anticipation of the +drive, it was for the first time publicly stated that 81,000 troops of +American soldiers were holding an eight mile line on the Lorraine front, +with three full divisions in the trenches. The gathering together of +this force and other American troops in France drew Secretary of War +Baker to the scene of activities. He was the first American Cabinet +officer to cross the ocean after America entered the war. + + +SEIZURE OF ALL DUTCH VESSELS. + +Holland having proved herself unwilling to come to a satisfactory +agreement at this time on the British-American demand regarding the use +of ships, President Wilson ordered the seizure of all Dutch vessels +within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States; the Allies +ordered a similar seizure abroad. The President's proclamation +authorized the navy to take over the vessels to be equipped and operated +by the Navy Department and the Shipping Board. A total of 77 ships were +added to the American Merchant Marine. + +Holland's failure to act was on the propositions that the United States +and the Allies should facilitate the importation into Holland of +foodstuffs, and other commodities required to maintain her economic +life, and that Holland should restore her Merchant Marine to a normal +condition of activity. + +On March 21 the greatest German offensive of the war actually began on a +front 50 miles long, running west and southwest of Cambrai. The +preliminary German bombardment covered a front from the River Serre +below St. Quentin, and the River Scarpe east of Arras. + + +FIERCEST BATTLE IN WORLD'S HISTORY. + +Field Marshal Haig's report from British headquarters in France +described the German offensive as comprising an intense bombardment by +the artillery and a powerful infantry attack on a front of more than +fifty miles. Some of the British positions were penetrated, but the +German losses were exceptionally heavy. + +It was reported at the end of the first day that the fiercest battle of +the world's history was in progress, and that 80,000 Germans were lost +in battle; while Berlin reported the capture of 16,000 Allied prisoners +and 200 guns. + +The Associated Press correspondent reported that at least forty +divisions of German soldiers were identified as actively participating +in the attack. No such concentration of artillery had been seen since +the war began. The enemy had 1,000 guns in one small sector--one for +every twelve yards. The Germans in many sections attacked in three waves +of infantry, followed up by shock troops. As a result they suffered very +heavy casualties. + +The German massed artillery was badly hammered by the British guns. + +In the first stage of their offensive the Germans failed badly in the +execution of their program, as was attested by captured documents +showing what they planned to do in the early hours of their offensive. + +By March 24 the attacks of the Germans had been redoubled, and it was +estimated that more than 1,000,000 Huns had been thrown into the +struggle against the British forces on which the attack was +concentrated. + +The most notable feature of the attack from the spectacular viewpoint +was the bombardment of Paris by monster German cannon, located in the +forest of St. Gobain, west of Laon, and approximately 76 miles away from +Paris. + + +BIG GUN ONE HUNDRED FEET LONG. + +Though no official description of the big gun was ever given, it was +stated by military authorities that it was approximately 100 feet in +length, and that several were in use, and more being built by the +Germans. At first the statement that a gun could shoot such a distance +was doubted, but when 75 persons were killed in Paris and one of the +shells hit a church doubt no longer existed. It also developed that the +gun was originally an American invention, and that similar weapons were +being built by the United States. + +The use of the big gun was in the nature of a "side-issue" to bring +terror to the French, and in line with the policy of frightfulness +instituted by the German militarists. Its use was continued daily. +Meantime the German hordes swept on marching in close formation into the +very mouths of the rapid-fire guns and against the strongly fixed +British lines. + +For ten days the hostilities continued, without cessation, with fighting +along a whole front such as had never been known before. + +The Germans continued to hurl great forces of infantry into the +conflict, depending largely on weight of numbers to overcome the +increasing opposition offered by the heroically resisting British. + +The battle on the historic ground about Longueval was perhaps the most +spectacular of any along the front. It was a battle of machine gunners +and infantry. The Germans were pursuing their tactics of working forward +in massed formation, and the British rapid-firers' squads and riflemen +reaped a horrid harvest from their positions on the high ground. +Notwithstanding their terrible losses, the Germans kept coming on, +filling in the places of those who had fallen and pressing their attack. +The British artillery in the meantime poured in a perfect rain of shells +on the enemy, carrying havoc into their ranks. In this section the +Germans operated without the full support of their guns, because of +their rapid advance. + + +ENEMY LOSES HEAVILY. + +A fierce engagement was also waged about Le Verguier, which the Germans +captured, but not until the British infantry holding the place had +fought to the last man and inflicted extremely heavy losses on the +enemy. The British again fell back, this time to a line through +Hervilly, just east of Roisel and Vermand. + +The work of the British airmen during the battle was one of the +brightest pages. Bitter battles in the air were fought by scores of +aviators and the service proved fully its ability to smother the German +airmen at a crucial time. + +Within a few days it was stated that at least 130 German airplanes were +brought down. This compilation of losses has reference to only one +section of the battle front, comprising perhaps two-thirds of the line +affected. + +An official statement regarding British aerial operations said their +airplanes were employed in bombing the enemy's troops and transport +massed in the areas behind the battlefront, and in attacking them with +machine-gun fire from low heights. Twenty-two tons of bombs were dropped +in this work, and more than 100,000 rounds were fired from the machine +guns. + +By March 28 the German losses were estimated at 400,000. The forces of +the Germans were almost overwhelming, the Kaiser sacrificing the +manpower of his nation in a last desperate attack. + +In consequence no greater stories of heroism have ever been told than +are related of the English, French and American troops. The Germans were +set for a drive against the English and French channel points with +Amiens as an objective, with the idea of breaking through the British +lines where they join the French. + + +AMERICAN FORCES OFFERED TO FRANCE. + +The earnestness of the Americans in the situation was proclaimed to the +world by the English and French, and General Pershing placed his name +and that of his country and men high on the wall of fame by unselfishly +offering to France at the most critical period the use of his entire +force, to be disposed of and assigned wherever General Foch and his +staff decided to use them. Within a few days thereafter the American +troops which had been in training were marched in to relieve the +stressed English and French. + +Everywhere the raging battle was marked by spectacular features not the +least of which were provided by a corps of thirty tanks, which waded +into the German hordes near Ephey and other points, recovering positions +which had been lost by the British. + +Canadian armored motorcars also played an important part in checking the +Huns, the cars armed with rapid-fire guns being rushed up to support +weakening troops. + +The progress of the Germans was halted on April 3, and in the following +days the British regained several lost positions and the French made +gains. But after a pause, during which several hundred thousand new +troops were brought in, the Huns renewed the offensive, delivering an +attack against the French near Montdidier on a front about 15 miles +long. An attack along a front of similar length was made against the +British on the Somme. + +The first battalion of American troops answering to the call of the +French for support reached the British front-line in France, on April +10, on the very anniversary of the entrance of the United States into +the war, and within a few days the Americans began to bear the brunt of +battle, holding the Germans like veterans. + +The first big attack of the Germans launched directly against an +American line occurred on April 30, in the vicinity of Villers-Bretonneaux, +below the Somme, where the Huns were repulsed with heavy losses. The German +preliminary bombardment lasted two hours and then the infantry rushed +forward, only to be driven back, leaving large numbers of dead on the +ground in front of the American lines. + + +AMERICANS BOMBARDED. + +The German bombardment opened at 5 o'clock in the afternoon and was +directed especially against the Americans, who were supported on the +north and south by the French. The fire was intense and at the end of +two hours the German commander sent forward three battalions of +infantry. There was hand-to-hand fighting all along the line, as a +result of which the enemy was thrust back, his dead and wounded lying on +the ground in all directions. Five prisoners remained in American hands. + +"Tell them back home that we are just beginning," said an American lad +who was in the thick of the fight and severely wounded with shrapnel. +"It was fine to see our men go at the Huns. All of us, who thought +baseball was the great American game, have changed our minds. There is +only one game to keep the American flag flying--that is, kill the Huns. +I got several before they got me." + +Details of the engagement show the Americans stuck to their guns while +the Germans were placing liquid fire, gas and almost every other +conceivable device of frightfulness on them. One of them, who lay +wounded in an American hospital, had kept his machine gun going after +the chief gunners had been killed two feet away and he himself had been +wounded, thus protecting a turn in the road known as Dead Man's curve, +over which some of the American couriers passed in the face of a +concentrated enemy fire. + +As indicating the violence of the offensive, French ambulance men who +went through the famous battle of Verdun declared today that, +comparatively speaking, the German artillery fire against the Americans +was heavier than in any single engagement on the Verdun front at any +time. + +The German barrage began just before sunrise. In an attempt to put the +American batteries out of action the Germans used an unusually large +number of gas shells, but the American artillery replied vigorously, +hurling hundreds of shells across the Teuton lines. Though successful in +resisting the German attack, the Americans lost 183 men captured by the +Huns, according to the British report. + +Nothing in the history of naval warfare is more picturesque than the +story of the raid made by English ships on the German submarine bases at +Ostend and Zeebrugge, on the Belgian coast, on April 22. Obsolete +cruisers filled with concrete were run aground and blown up in the +harbors. An old submarine filled with explosives was used to blow up the +piling beside the Mole at Zeebrugge. + +One German destroyer was torpedoed, and the British lost a destroyer, +two coastal motorboats and two launches. + +A fortnight later the old cruiser Vindictive was taken into the +submarine base at Ostend and sent to the bottom, blocking the channel, +making the attack thoroughly effective. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +AMERICANS TURN WAR'S TIDE + +BRILLIANT AMERICAN FIGHTING STOPS HUN ADVANCE--FRENCH AND BRITISH +INSPIRED--FAMOUS MARINES LEAD IN PICTURESQUE ATTACK--HALT GERMANS AT +CHATEAU-THIERRY--USED OPEN STYLE FIGHTING--THOUSANDS OF GERMANS +SLAIN--UNITED STATES TROOPS IN SIBERIA--NEW CONSCRIPTION BILL +PASSED--ALLIED SUCCESSES ON ALL FRONTS. + + +All history contains no greater story of bravery and heroism than that +which echoed around the world concerning the exploits of the American +soldiery in France as the war entered its fifth year. + +Casting aside all precedent, ignoring the practices which had been +developed by the English, French and German commands during four years +of stubborn fighting, a little force of Americans--barely a handful, led +by the picturesque Marines--brought the Huns to a standstill in their +drive upon Paris and turned the tide of war. + +Once again history repeated itself, for the Germans were turned back at +the beautiful river Marne, where the brave Americans and heroic French +smashed their lines. The spectacular event in which the Americans +participated was a mere incident of the great conflict raging across +France, but the story must ever be one of the outstanding features of +the war because of the effect it produced upon the whole situation. + +In the struggle against the Huns the Belgian army had been reduced to +its lowest ebb; the manpower of France and England had been sapped by +constant call for reserves, and the Allied forces, while resisting and +fighting heroically, were without reserves to draw upon to effect a +decisive blow when the opportunity presented. + +The German hordes had swept forward with hammer-like blows toward Paris +in what was a continuation of the giant offensive started in March. The +second movement was launched under the personal command of the German +Crown Prince on May 27, and was directed against four divisions of the +British troops and the Sixth French Army. Concentration was on a front +stretching from Soissons to Rheims, a distance of about 30 miles. + +The Huns were driving on the entire front, but the Crown Prince with +crack troops was to have the honor for which he had long been +striving--that of crossing the famous Marne and taking Paris. His troops +had reached the river between Dormans and Chateau-Thierry at the very +spot where the Third German Army had swept across the stream on August +25, 1914. Paris was less than 50 miles away. + +Here and there at other points the Germans had been held by the French +and English, but as part of the strategy of the French command the enemy +had been permitted to advance at this point through lines which would +cost him a terrible toll of lives. The French meantime were +concentrating on the enemy's flank with the hope of breaking through and +pocketing part of the Crown Prince's advancing forces. + +Whatever the intent, the Germans were resisting the efforts to stop +them. The question was, where would the advance end? The answer was +furnished by America. + +The enemy had attempted to broaden his Marne salient and had stretched +as far south as Chateau-Thierry. It is supposed his purpose was to +compel General Foch to meet shock with shock by throwing in his reserve +forces, since the German advance had then almost reached shelling +distance of Paris. + +But the German command had not taken the Americans into their +calculations, for here the Prussians met Uncle Sam's fighting men and +their French supports and were smashed and thrown back. + +Fighting in their own way, in the open, against superior forces, the +Marines and troops of the National American Army fought their way to +victory, routing the enemy and wresting from them positions absolutely +necessary to their further advance. + +Immense forces of Germans had been thrown into the fray when the +American division, to which the Marines were attached, was ordered into +the breach. The bulk of the forces, called to help halt the Huns, were +hours away from the fighting front and were being brought up for the +purpose of holding a secondary position where they would take up the +fighting when the French fell back. + +They had captured Cantigny after elaborate preparations under the +direction of the French, but here there were no preparations. The +American commanders wanted to attack the advancing enemy. The Allied +leaders doubted the ability of the Americans to stop the Boche in open +combat. + +The American commanders pleaded to make war in their own way. Doubting, +yet hopeful, the Allied commanders gave consent. The Americans were +moved into position. There was no time for rest and they came forward +under forced draft, so to speak. Infantry, machine gun companies and +artillery swung into position and faced the enemy which aimed a blow at +the line where it was supported by the French on the left. + +The Boche hordes swarmed across fields. The American gunners raked them +with hell's fire. The reputation of the Americans as sharpshooters and +marksmen was sustained. Under the most stressful circumstances and while +the French observers stood amazed, the Americans took careful aim and +shot as though at rifle practice. Every possible shot was made to tell. + +The Germans wavered, then halted under the withering fire of machine +guns and rifle. On again they came, only to again be repulsed. The +ground was strewn with their dead and wounded. Then they began to break +and to crawl back to safer positions. + +The enemy had been stopped but not driven. They had fallen back to +strong positions, the names of which must go down in history as scenes +of terrific fighting--Bouresches and Bois de Belleau--the latter a +wooded, rocky parcel of land on which German machine guns were +hidden--hundreds of them--while more than a thousand of the enemy's best +men were concealed in the thicket and underbrush and in the rocky +fissures. + +The Americans drove into the wood and charged the stronghold. Sacrifice! +Yes, hundreds of brave young Americans died fighting, but not in vain. +American artillery swept the woods; little companies of men charged the +enemy machine-gun nests, silencing the guns and killing the operators or +taking them prisoners. There was no going forward in mass formation +under barrage or protecting curtain of fire, but out in the open the +Marines and infantrymen rushed on facing terrific fire. + +Bois de Belleau was cleared of the Boche. Bouresches fell to the +Americans. The capture of the town was a repetition of the taking of the +first position. Machine guns protected the town everywhere. In cellar +windows, doorways and on roofs the Germans had set up their weapons. But +it was the old story--no hail of shot could stop the Americans. Almost +without sleep, unable to bring up supplies, the Americans had fought +four days with only canned foodstuffs to sustain them. + +Stories of the fights are reminiscent of those in which American troops +engaged the Indians on the plains in the frontier days. Indeed American +Indians--children of the famous old Sioux and Chippewa tribes of Red +Men--acted as scouts for Uncle Sam in many of his troops' activities in +France, and the methods of the old Indian fighters proved too much for +the Germans. + +It is estimated that 7000 were killed or wounded by the Americans in +this action, and that their prisoners numbered more than 1000. How +privates took command of squads and continued to outbattle the enemy +when officers were killed; how lone Americans or small groups of them +captured squads of Huns or annihilated them, are common stories of +heroism written into the official war records of the American +Expeditionary Forces in France, and sealed by medals of honor presented +to young Americans or confirmed by official words of commendation. + +Let the words of General Pershing in an official order to his troops on +August 27, stand as part of the record: + +"It fills me with pride to record in General Orders a tribute to the +service achievements of the First and Third Corps, comprising the First, +Second, Third, Fourth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-second and +Forty-second Divisions of the American Expeditionary Forces. + +"You came to the battlefield at a crucial hour for the Allied cause. For +almost four years the most formidable army the world has yet seen had +pressed its invasion of France and stood threatening its capital. At no +time has that army been more powerful and menacing than when, on July +15, it struck again to destroy in one great battle the brave men opposed +to it and to enforce its brutal will upon the world and civilization. + +"Three days later, in conjunction with our Allies, you counter-attacked. +The Allied armies gained a brilliant victory that marks the turning +point of the war. You did more than to give the Allies the support to +which as a nation our faith was pledged. + +"You proved that our altruism, our pacific spirit and our sense of +justice have not blunted our virility or our courage. + +"You have shown that American initiative and energy are as fit for the +tasks of war as for the pursuits of peace. You have justly won unstinted +praise from our Allies and the eternal gratitude of our countrymen. + +"We have paid for successes with the lives of many of our brave +comrades. We shall cherish their memory always and claim for our +history and literature their bravery, achievement and sacrifice. + +"This order will be read to all organizations at the first assembly +formations following its receipt." + +Aside from being largely responsible for stopping the Huns once again at +the Marne, the exploits of the Americans filled the French and English +with confidence, aroused their spirits and gave them renewed hope. +Incidentally their efforts and methods made apparent the value of +surprise attacks and quick blows in dealing with the stolid Huns. + +The Allied commanders, quick to take advantage of the situation, gave +the enemy no chance to consolidate their positions. The unified forces +of Allies attacked with renewed energy all along the line, and the Huns +were forced back with a sweep that astonished the world. + +By September 1, the Germans had lost practically all that they had +gained in their drive from March 21, and in many places they had been +driven back across the famous Hindenburg line, the furthest point of +retreat of the Germans in 1914, when they were forced back by General +Joffre from the Marne, and dug themselves into pit and trench. Dozens of +towns were taken and more than 120,000 prisoners were bagged. + +Almost as spectacular in its effect on the minds of the French and +English, as was the demonstration of American fighting, was the work +accomplished in France in providing for the transportation and care of +the incoming troops. Here great docks, storage plants, training camps, +aviation schools, motor assembling plants, base hospitals and +reclamation establishments and railroads, built in less than a year and +still growing, represented an investment of $35,000,000 on the part of +the United States Government in August, 1918. + +Early in May the number of Americans in France was about 500,000. That +this number should have been sent across the ocean within the space of +one year after America entered the war was regarded as a distinct +achievement, but by September it was officially announced that the +number had increased to 1,500,000. + +Some of these were sent to the Italian front to help in the drive +against the Austrians, and about 15,000 troops from the Philippines were +sent by the United States into Siberia to give moral support to the +Czecho-Slovaks. + +The decision to send troops to Siberia was by agreement with the +Japanese, and followed a statement issued by the United States on August +4, in which it was stated that "military action was admissable in Russia +only to render such protection and help as possible to the +Czecho-Slovaks against armed Austrian and German prisoners who were +attacking them, and to steady any efforts at self-government or +self-defense in which the Russians themselves may be willing to accept +assistance." It was stated that the troops were for guard duty, and +under the agreement with Japan, the only other country in a position to +act in Siberia, each nation sent a small force to Vladivostok. + +The British, French and United States Governments gave recognition to +the Czecho-Slovaks as an Allied nation--a geographical, political and +military entity--with three armies, one in Siberia, one in Italy and one +in France, where they had been fighting with the Allies to crush the +Huns. The territory which the Czecho-Slovaks claim as their own to +govern independently comprises Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Slavonika, +which lie between and are part of Austria-Hungary and Germany. + +With the facilities for handling the troops abroad thoroughly organized +and the obvious necessity for furnishing greater manpower to bring about +an early defeat of Germany, the United States decided to increase the +scope of its conscription and to raise an army of 3,000,000 for +immediate service and adopted a new manpower bill which was passed by +Congress the last week in August and signed by President Wilson on +August 30. + +The measure provided for the registration and drafting of all male +citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 years, allowing for deferred +classification of those engaged in essential work or having obligations +which made it impossible for them to render active military service. + +Not only the Allied successes on the western front, but also those on +the Italian front and in the Balkans, where the French, Italians and +Greeks in Albania, with a million troops, advanced against the Germans, +Austrians and Turks, made apparent the necessity for further +concentration of manpower. + +While losing ground on the western front and rapidly being forced to the +wall, Germany gave another spectacular twist to her military program by +carrying the war to America's doors. With her submarines she sank nearly +two score of ships, schooners, barges, tugs, and even a lightship, +within a few miles of New York, Boston, Norfolk, Charleston and the +Delaware Capes. + +But while the U-boats were harassing, no effective assaults were made +against the ships which carried American troops abroad. In this +connection it should never be forgotten in the glamour of war that while +America performed wonders in getting her soldiers overseas, England +provided most of the ships, and that it was England's Navy which kept +the German Navy in check while America's war vessels and destroyers +convoyed the troopships and protected them from the submarines. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +VICTORY--PEACE. + +THE GERMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSES--FOCH'S STRATEGY WINS--AMERICAN INSPIRATION +A BIG FACTOR--BULGARIA, TURKEY AND AUSTRIA QUIT WAR--MONARCHS FALL--- +KAISER ABDICATES AND FLEES GERMANY--ARMISTICE SIGNED--NOVEMBER 11, +PEACE. + + +Then came the fall of autocracy-- + +Victory! Peace! + +With a crash that echoed around the world the autocratic governmental +structure builded by the Kaiser and his forebears gave way and came +tumbling to the earth in ruins on Monday, November 11, 1918. + +The most momentous event in ages had come to pass and victory was +perched upon the banner of democracy. + +Out of the sacrifice of millions of lives, the desolation of homes and +countries, the expenditure of untold energy and incomprehensible +billions of dollars in money, there came everlasting, glorious peace. + +The great German Empire lay a wreck, given into the hands of the people +for remaking, and the arrogant Emperor William Hohenzollern had fled +into Holland, and his example was imitated by the Crown Prince. + + +THE COMING OF THE END. + +The end came swiftly and with dramatic action. Beaten back by the Allied +forces, which gathered strength and inspiration from the irresistible +American troops, the German army weakened all along the line from +Holland to the Swiss border. The press of power exerted against the +German strongholds on every side was felt within the domains and +produced internal strife and dissension which undermined and weakened +the military organization. Taking full advantage of this situation, the +Allied forces on every side quickened and intensified their blows. + +The brilliant strategy of Marshal Foch, generalissimo of the Allied +armies, brought defeat to the Germans in less than four months. After +bringing to an end the German advance of March 21 to July 18 with the +second battle of the Marne, he compelled a hurried retirement to the +Hindenburg line with the evacuation of practically all the territory +conquered by the Huns. + +Finally, in what may be termed the last phase of the war, he absolutely +demoralized the German forces. The thrust in this phase was started by +the Anglo-Belgian forces in Flanders and the Franco-American armies in +Lorraine on September 26. + +The British also made a gigantic and brilliant drive between Cambrai and +St. Quentin. The whole colossal defense system of the Germans was +shattered and in less than three months more than 100,000 German +prisoners and 5,000 guns were taken and 8,000 square miles of French and +Belgian territory liberated. + + +VICTORIES ON OTHER FRONTS. + +Not only was there great victory on the west, but in Syria the British +army broke the power of Turkey and liberated Syria, Mesopotamia and +Arabia. In Macedonia, too, an army made up of soldiers of many nations +under a French command compelled the surrender of Bulgaria and her +withdrawal, and swept the last vestige of German control from the +Balkans. + +On the Austrian front likewise the Italian army, strengthened and +heartened by the presence of American and Allied forces, swept the +Austrians before them in one of the most picturesque offensives of the +war, capturing more than 300,000 prisoners and great quantities of guns +and supplies. + +This in brief is the way the German command was driven to a point of +seeking peace to prevent the invasion of their territory. + +The brilliant assaults of the various units and commands of the Allies +at points along the entire 200 miles of western front will go down in +history a wonderful military achievement. + + +AMERICAN VICTORIES ON THE EAST FRONT. + +One of the wonderful attacks was that of the American First Army under +General Pershing, when St. Mihiel salient was annihilated. This salient +for four years resisted all efforts to penetrate it and stood a guardian +to great iron fields running through the Basin de Briey to the +Belgian-Luxemburg frontier. It formed a strong outpost to the fortified +city of Metz, with its twenty-eight forts, and made impossible the +invasion of German Lorraine from the west. + +The offensive of General Pershing was one of the most carefully planned +of the war. More than 1,000 tanks were operated to open the way for the +infantry and cavalry. A greater force of airplanes than were ever +concentrated in a single attack menaced the Germans overhead and in a +week the Americans encompassed a territory of 200 square miles and +threatened the mining center and the forts of Metz, capturing 20,000 +prisoners and hundreds of guns and great quantities of ammunition. +Moreover, the Verdun-Nancy railway was released. + +Support was brought to the Germans and they stubbornly resisted, but +many points were gained and held by the Americans. + + +AMERICAN VICTORIES ALONG THE MEUSE-AISNE RIVERS. + +Another corps of the First American Army, in command of General Hunter +Liggett, also made a brilliant attack between the Meuse and Aisne +rivers east of Rheims on a front twenty miles long, where the crack +Prussian Guards were routed. Here in one of the most bitterly contested +battles of the closing days the Americans made an important advance, +capturing half a dozen villages. + +As at Chateau-Thierry, the Americans in the face of withering fire and +against all the instruments of modern warfare handled by the best +soldiers in Germany, fought their way through with a bravery that won +for them the praises of the highest commands in the French and British +armies, as well as from General Pershing. + +At the very close of the struggle the Americans arose to the heights of +sublime heroism in crossing the river Meuse, capturing the town of Dun +and later the town of Sedan, famous as one of the scenes of bitter +fighting in the Franco-Prussian War. + + +GREAT VICTORY AT SEDAN. + +The Americans forced their way across a 160-foot river, a stretch of mud +flats and a 60-foot canal in the face of terrible fire. Men who could +swim breasted the stream carrying ropes, which were stretched from bank +to bank and along which those who could not swim made their way over the +river. Some crossed in collapsible boats, others on rafts and finally on +pontoon and foot bridges, which were constructed under the enemy fire. + +This difficult feat accomplished, the men waded through mud to the +canal, fighting as they went, and again plunged into the water, swimming +the canal, at the far side of which they were compelled to use grappling +hooks and scaling irons to mount the perpendicular banks of the canal, +along which were the resisting Germans. And finally, when the German +Empire fell, famed Sedan was in the hands of the Americans. With the +last forward movement they took possession of Stenay when hostilities +ceased. + +The part the American soldiers played in winning the war, merely as a +matter of increased man power, is indicated by the fact that when the +end came there were 2,900,000 men in the forces abroad. + + +COLLAPSE OF THE TEUTONIC ALLIES. + +The failure of the German submarine warfare and the ability of the +British, French and American naval forces to protect troop ships and +permit the landing of as high as 200,000 soldiers in France in a single +month, had much to do with discouraging the German command. + +The withdrawal of Bulgaria on September 27 and her unconditional +surrender to the Allies was a distinct blow to Germany. The abdication +of King Ferdinand in favor of Crown Prince Boris was shortly followed by +the surrender and withdrawal of Turkey, which further weakened Germany's +position, and peace offers were made by both Austria and by Germany. + +Austria sought a separate peace, but Germany, seeing the handwriting on +the wall, asked for an armistice through Prince Maximilian of Baden, who +had succeeded Count Von Hertling as Chancellor. But while agreeing to +accept as a basis of peace the points established by President Wilson as +necessary to an agreement, Germany's military forces continued their +ruthless and barbaric warfare. + +President Wilson submitted a set of questions to the German Government +to ascertain the sincerity and purpose of the request and finally +brought the matter to an issue by declaring that nothing short of a +complete surrender would suffice and that further negotiations must be +taken up with the Allied command. + +Meantime King Boris of Bulgaria abdicated and the Government was taken +over by the people. This was followed by the surrender of Austria on +November 8 and the abdication of the Emperor Charles. + + +THE END. + +Austria in her surrender agreed to the immediate suspension of +hostilities, the demobilization of the army of Austro-Hungary and the +withdrawal of all forces from the North Sea to Switzerland, the +evacuation of all territories invaded, the evacuation of all German +troops from Austro-Hungarian territory and the Italian and Balkan +fronts, as well as the surrender of fifteen submarines and all German +submarines in Austro-Hungarian territorial waters, together with +thirty-four warships, and also the repatriation of all prisoners of war. + +With her forces demoralized and Bulgaria, Turkey and Austria out of the +war and her power broken in Russia, Germany was driven to the necessity +of accepting terms submitted by the Allies as the basis of peace as +outlined by President Wilson. + + +SUMMARY. + +Thus came peace after fifty-two continuous months of fighting, in which +it is estimated that nearly 10,000,000 were killed and that there were +about 27,000,000 casualties, while $200,000,000 were expended by the +combined nations. + +America's casualties were 236,117, divided as follows: Killed and died +of wounds, 36,154; died of disease, 14,811; died from unassigned causes, +2,204; wounded, 179,625; missing, 1,160, and prisoners, 2,163. + +England by contrast had 658,665 killed, 2,032,122 wounded and 359,145 +missing and prisoners during the four years, while Italy had about +1,600,000 casualties; France, 3,500,000; Belgium, 400,000; Rumania, +200,000, and Russia, 6,000,000. All told, twenty-eight nations, with a +total population of approximately 1,600,000,000, or nearly +eleven-twelfths of the human race, were involved in the world struggle +at the close. + + +TERMS OF THE ARMISTICE ACCEPTED BY GERMANY. + + I. MILITARY CLAUSES ON WESTERN FRONT: + + One--Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after + the signature of the armistice. + + Two--Immediate evacuation of invaded countries: Belgium, France, + Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed within + fourteen days from the signature of the armistice. German troops + which have not left the above-mentioned territories within the + period fixed will become prisoners of war. Occupation by the Allied + and United States forces jointly will keep pace with evacuation in + these areas. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be + regulated in accordance with a note annexed to the stated terms. + + Three--Repatriation beginning at once and to be completed within + fourteen days of all inhabitants of the countries above mentioned, + including hostages and persons under trial or convicted. + + Four--Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the + following equipment: Five thousand guns (two thousand five hundred + heavy, two thousand five hundred field) thirty thousand machine + guns. Three thousand minenwerfers. Two thousand airplanes + (fighters, bombers--firstly D. Seventy-three's and night bombing + machines). The above to be delivered in situ to the allies and the + United States troops in accordance with the detailed conditions + laid down in the annexed note. + + Five--Evacuation by the German armies of the countries on the left + bank of the Rhine. These countries on the left bank of the Rhine + shall be administered by the local authorities under the control of + the Allied and United States armies of occupation. The occupation + of these territories will be determined by Allied and United States + garrisons holding the principal crossings of the Rhine, Mayence, + Coblenz, Cologne, together with bridgeheads at these points in + thirty kilometre radius on the right bank and by garrisons + similarly holding the strategic points of the regions. + + A neutral zone shall be reserved on the right of the Rhine between + the stream and a line drawn parallel to it forty kilometres + (twenty-six miles) to the east from the frontier of Holland to the + parallel of Gernsheim and as far as practicable a distance of + thirty kilometres (twenty miles) from the east of stream from this + parallel upon Swiss frontier. Evacuation by the enemy of the Rhine + lands shall be so ordered as to be completed within a further + period of eleven days, in all nineteen days after the signature of + the armistice. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be + regulated according to the note annexed. + + Six--In all territory evacuated by the enemy there shall be no + evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm shall be done to the + persons or property of the inhabitants. No destruction of any kind + to be committed. Military establishments of all kinds shall be + delivered intact as well as military stores of food, munitions, + equipment not removed during the periods fixed for evacuation. + Stores of food of all kinds for the civil population, cattle, etc., + shall be left in situ. Industrial establishments shall not be + impaired in any way and their personnel shall not be moved. Roads + and means of communication of every kind, railroad, waterways, main + roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones, shall be in no manner + impaired. + + Seven--All civil and military personnel at present employed on them + shall remain. Five thousand locomotives, fifty thousand wagons and + ten thousand motor lorries in good working order with all necessary + spare parts and fittings shall be delivered to the associated + powers within the period fixed for the evacuation of Belgium and + Luxemburg. The railways of Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed over + within the same period, together with all pre-war personnel and + material. Further material necessary for the working of railways in + the country on the left bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ. + All stores of coal and material for the upkeep of permanent ways, + signals and repair shops left entire in situ and kept in an + efficient state by Germany during the whole period of armistice. + All barges taken from the Allies shall be restored to them. A note + appended regulates the details of these measures. + + Eight--The German command shall be responsible for revealing all + mines or other acting fuses disposed on territory evacuated by the + German troops and shall assist in their discovery and destruction. + The German command shall also reveal all destructive measures that + may have been taken (such as poisoning or polluting of springs, + wells, etc.) under penalty of reprisals. + + Nine--The right of requisition shall be exercised by the Allied and + the United States armies in all occupied territory. The upkeep of + the troops of occupation in the Rhine land (excluding + Alsace-Lorraine), shall be charged to the German Government. + + Ten--An immediate repatriation without reciprocity according to + detailed conditions which shall be fixed, of all Allied and United + States prisoners of war. The Allied powers and the United States + shall be able to dispose of these prisoners as they wish. + + Eleven--Sick and wounded, who can not be removed from evacuated + territory will be cared for by German personnel who will be left on + the spot with the medical material required. + + + II. DISPOSITION RELATIVE TO THE EASTERN FRONTIERS OF GERMANY: + + Twelve--All German troops at present in any territory which before + the war belonged to Russia, Rumania or Turkey shall withdraw within + the frontiers of Germany as they existed on August 1, 1914. + + Thirteen--Evacuation by German troops to begin at once and all + German instructors, prisoners and civilian as well as military + agents, now on the territory of Russia (as defined before 1914) to + be recalled. + + Fourteen--German troops to cease at once all requisitions and + seizures and any other undertaking with a view to obtaining + supplies intended for Germany in Rumania and Russia (as defined on + August 1, 1914). + + Fifteen--Abandonment of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk + and of the supplementary treaties. + + Sixteen--The Allies shall have free access to the territories + evacuated by the Germans on their eastern frontier either through + Danzig or by the Vistula in order to convey supplies to the + population of those territories or for any other purpose. + + + III. CLAUSE CONCERNING EAST AFRICA: + + Seventeen--Unconditional capitulation of all German forces + operating in East Africa within one month. + + + IV. GENERAL CLAUSES: + + Eighteen--Repatriation, without reciprocity, within maximum period + of one month, in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter to + be fixed, of all civilians interned or deported who may be citizens + of other Allied or associated states than those mentioned in clause + three, paragraph nineteen, with the reservation that any future + claims and demands of the Allies and the United States of America + remain unaffected. + + Nineteen--The following financial conditions are required: + Reparation for damage done. While such armistice lasts no public + securities shall be removed by the enemy which can serve as a + pledge to the Allies for the recovery or repatriation for war + losses. Immediate restitution of the cash deposit, in the National + Bank of Belgium, and in general immediate return of all documents, + specie, stocks, shares, paper money, together with plant for the + issue thereof, touching public or private interests in the invaded + countries. Restitution of the Russian and Rumanian gold yielded to + Germany or taken by that power. This gold to be delivered in trust + to the Allies until the signature of peace. + + + V. NAVAL CONDITIONS: + + Twenty--Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite + information to be given as to the location and movements of all + German ships. Notification to be given to neutrals that freedom of + navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and + mercantile marines of the allied and associated powers, all + questions of neutrality being waived. + + Twenty-one--All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of war of the + Allied and associated powers in German hands to be returned without + reciprocity. + + Twenty-two--Surrender to the Allies and the United States of + America of one hundred and sixty German submarines (including all + submarine cruisers and mine laying submarines) with their complete + armament and equipment in ports which will be specified by the + Allies and the United States of America. All other submarines to be + paid off and completely disarmed and placed under the supervision + of the Allied Powers and the United States of America. + + Twenty-three--The following German surface warships which shall be + designated by the Allies and the United States of America shall + forthwith be disarmed and thereafter interned in neutral ports to + be designated by the Allies and the United States of America and + placed under the surveillance of the Allies and the United States + of America, only caretakers being left on board, namely: + + Six battle cruisers, ten battleships, eight light cruisers, + including two mine layers, fifty destroyers of the most modern + type. All other surface warships (including river craft) are to be + concentrated in naval bases to be designated by the Allies and the + United States of America, and are to be paid off and completely + disarmed and placed under the supervision of the Allies and the + United States of America. All vessels of auxiliary fleet (trawlers, + motor vessels, etc.), are to be disarmed. + + Twenty-four--The Allies and the United States of America shall have + the right to sweep all mine fields and obstructions laid by Germany + outside German territorial waters, and the positions of these are + to be indicated. + + Twenty-five--Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to be given + to the naval and mercantile marine of the Allied and associated + powers. To secure this the Allies and the United States of America + shall be empowered to occupy all German forts, fortifications, + batteries and defense works of all kinds in all the entrances from + the Cattegat into the Baltic, and to sweep up all mines and + obstructions within and without German territorial waters without + any question of neutrality being raised, and the positions of all + such mines and obstructions are to be indicated. + + Twenty-six--The existing blockade conditions set up by the Allies + and associated powers are to remain unchanged, and all German + merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture. + + Twenty-seven--All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and + immobilized in German bases to be specified by the Allies and the + United States of America. + + Twenty-eight--In evacuating the Belgian coasts and ports, Germany + shall abandon all merchant ships, tugs, lighters, cranes and all + other harbor materials, all materials for inland navigation, all + aircraft and all materials and stores, all arms and armaments, and + all stores and apparatus of all kinds. + + Twenty-nine--All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Germany, + all Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany in + the Black Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United + States of America; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be + released; all warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in + those parts are to be returned and German materials as specified in + clause twenty-eight are to be abandoned. + + Thirty--All merchant vessels in German hands belonging to the + Allied and associated powers are to be restored in ports to be + specified by the Allies and the United States of America without + reciprocity. + + Thirty-one--No destruction of ships or of materials to be permitted + before evacuation, surrender or restoration. + + Thirty-two--The German Government will notify neutral Governments + of the world, and particularly the Governments of Norway, Sweden, + Denmark, and Holland, that all restrictions placed on the trading + of their vessels with the Allied and associated countries, whether + by the German Government or by private German interests, and + whether in return for specific concessions such as the export of + shipbuilding materials or not, are immediately cancelled. + + Thirty-three--No transfers of German merchant shipping of any + description to any neutral flag are to take place after signature + of the armistice. + + + VI. DURATION OF ARMISTICE: + + Thirty-four--The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days, + with option to extend. During this period, on failure of execution + of any of the above clauses, the armistice may be denounced by one + of the contracting parties on forty-eight hours' previous notice. + + + VII. TIME LIMIT FOR REPLY: + + Thirty-five--This armistice to be accepted or refused by Germany + within seventy-two hours of notification. + + + + +THE NEGRO IN THE WORLD WAR. + +BEFORE THE WAR. + + +Civilization evolves destructive forces of change. War is change in +explosive form. World notions, points of view, and general ideas of 1914 +have spun the cycle of years with accelerated speed. At that time the +public mind gained its concept of the Negro from encyclopaedic +information. He was regarded as a "sub-species of mankind, dark of skin, +wooly of hair, long of head, with dilated nostrils, thick lips, thicker +cranium, flat foot, prehensile great toe and larkheel." + +He was described as a creature with "mental constitution very similar to +that of the child, on a lower evolutionary plane than the white man, and +more closely related to the highest anthropoids." His brain weight, we +were told, was 35 ounces as compared with the gorilla's 20 ounces and +the Caucasian's 45. + +In America, conception of the Negro has ever fluctuated in direct ratio +to the rise and fall of military domination of the affairs of the +republic. Whenever the military agencies of the government have been +exalted, the Negro has been benefited by reaction of the public mind. +From 1865 to 1870 exaltation of the military element of American life +brought along not only emancipation of the black man, but that +conception of him which resulted in the conferring of manhood rights and +privileges. In this short space of five years, so highly had the Negro +come into public estimation that, with the protection of the military +arm of the government, there were actively engaged in his interest an +Emancipation League, a Freedmen's Pension Society, a Freedmen and +Soldiers' Relief, a Freedmen's Aid Society of the M.E. Church, a Society +of Friends of Great Britain and Ireland for the Relief of Emancipated +Slaves of America, an American Missionary Association, a Freedmen's +Bureau, a Freedmen's Bank, a British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, +an American Negro Aid Commission, and other organizations, too numerous +for mention. So important, however, was military organization and +predominance to the success of any one of these organizations, that Carl +Schurz, reporting to Congress the condition of the South, declared: "If +the national government firmly and unequivocally announces its policy +not to give up the control of free labor reform until it is firmly +accomplished, the progress of the reform will be far more rapid and far +less difficult than it will be if the attitude of the government is such +as to permit contrary hopes to be indulged in." + +In 1870, as the military power of the United States weakened its control +over the nation, forces of opposition arose to pull down to the depths +the black man, who had been exalted by the agencies of military +government. The Ku Klux Klan, headed by the Grand Wizard of the +Invisible Empire, and the Grand Dragon of the Realm, with malignant +fanaticism worshipped the lost cause. Hatred of white man for Negro, +accentuated and embittered by hatred for the Yankee carpet-bagger and +the southern scalawag, resulted in the rise of a powerful southern +partisanship, stunned only so long as military power held sway. Peonage +took place of colored free labor. Disproportionate appropriation of +taxes between blacks and whites lowered the Negro measurably year by +year. With the complete removal of military supremacy, the Ku Klux +courted publicity which it had hitherto shunned. A leader, the statesman +of the new era, in the person of the late Benjamin R. Tillman, of South +Carolina, appeared. He split the loose organization of southern +aristocracy with the blacks with lily white wedge, and trampled into +dust every agency which favored the black man. He deprived the black of +all weapons of offence or defence, disfranchised him, shunted him off +into the ghetto, and called the world to mock him in his lowly position. +This southern statesman lived to see the Solid South come into national +power in 1912. From that time, until the beginning of the world war in +1914, the American negro reached the lowest point of his political and +social status. + +Compared with Anglo-Saxon, Frenchman, Italian, Austrian, German or +Russian, he was of an order and degree reputed farthest down. No +celebrity attached to his menial state. No distinction might be his as +an award from the courts of nations. Dignity, grandeur and majesty +applied to Guelphs, Hapsburgs and Hohenzollerns. Theirs was all +arrogation of supereminence. And to them all, the Negro, throughout the +world, was, if a man at all, pre-eminently the mere Man Friday. + +From such a status of debasement, existing in an intolerable atmosphere +of derogation and disrepute, the humble and humiliated American Negro +sought the exaltation of international honor. Denied and disavowed at +home, through vicissitude of international war, he hoped for affirmation +of a new world dictum in acknowledgment of his human qualities and +worth. He did not, like Toussaint, long for the high honors of the +continental emperor. He sought democratic equality, and he would as lief +think of bringing the Kaiser to his level as exalting himself to the +plane of that immortal celebrity. + +He wanted to make good in public. He wanted to demonstrate both +efficiency and initiative. He desired that popular belief conceive him +as a man, not a monkey. He wished the Caucasian world to take into its +head that he might function as a valuable and serviceable element of +twentieth century civilization. He yearned to reveal his powers in +every field of endeavor. And he expected that when the Caucasian had +arrived at a fair judgment in his behalf, he would issue to him the +warrant certifying that he was four-square with the dominant opinion of +mankind, and, therefore, entitled to the honors of superior status. + +He aimed to compensate the world by presenting a concept of beauty in +place of a general notion of repellent ugliness. Instead of being +regarded as a "Hottentot with clicking palate, whom the meanest of the +rest look down upon for all his glimmering language and spirituality," +he wished the world to find in him fitness for survival, conformity with +civilization's ideal, example of the world philosophy of forbearance, +human relationships, symmetry and poise in adaptation to the world's +tasks, and moderation in respect of the higher laws, whose harmonies +order and rectify all creation. + +He sought to neutralize the misteachings of Adam Smith, of Darwin and +Defoe. Smith's "Wealth of Nations" presumed the material debasement of +darker peoples of colonial populations, or, in lieu thereof, such +debasement of Slav, Serf or Serbian as would compensate the vanity of +the superior people. Indirectly, Darwin taught, that the Negro closely +approached the missing link between the savage beast and the human. +Defoe delighted the world with a picture of the ideal economic status +for the maintenance of white superiority over black man. These ideas the +Negro wished to topple over. + +He felt it necessary to repudiate the indoctrination of racial hatred +proclaimed throughout the world by "The Birth of a Nation." He set over +against it the reception by all civilization of the Booker T. Washington +life story. He wished to substitute recognition of worth in place of the +things that debase and make ashamed. + +His great puzzle was the Anglo-Saxon, cold, austere and uncomplaisant. +This Caucasian, fair of skin, with smooth and wavy hair, small +cheekbones and elevated forehead, appeared a worshipful master whose +station, under God, was of preordained and predestined eminence. +Occupying Eurasia from the Channel to the Ganges, together with the most +favored portions of Africa and America, he was the author and agency for +law and order for the world. St. Augustine, first archbishop and +lawgiver of Canterbury, himself of African descent, the son of Monica +and Patricius of Carthage, had left the Anglo-Saxon from semi-barbarism +to his position of world renown. Would this Anglo-Saxon ever degrade the +sons of women of Africa? + +The Negro's next puzzle was the French, urbane, amenable and suave. +Negro emotions and French sensibilities mingled even without recourse to +the vehicle of language. Imbued with all the finer Latin qualities and +characteristics, the French ever invited the black man to a social world +which the Anglo-Saxon denied him. E.W. Lightner, writing as a war +correspondent, says: + + "Long previous to the war thousands of blacks from various States + of Africa were in France, most especially Paris, at the + universities, in business and in the better ranges of service. + Everywhere and by all sorts and conditions of whites, they were + treated as equals. During several visits to the French capital I, + an American, knowing full well the prejudices of whites of this + country against the race, was amazed to see the cordial mingling of + all phases of the cosmopolitan population of the French capital. + Refined white men promenaded the streets with refined black women, + and the two races mingled cordially in studies, industries and + athletic sports. White and black artists had ateliers in common in + the Latin quarter...." + +Thus, at hob and nob with the civilities and honors and embraces of this +social life, the Negro felt an unaccustomed giddiness seize him. This +giddiness was not caused by lack of social poise, nor incited by the +French, but it arose from the dilemma, or rather peril, in which the +French intercourse placed him with relation to the adjustment of darker +races to Anglo-Saxon civilization. + +Nevertheless in 1914, the approach to this court of honour and equality +must be made by the Negro--and made under restraint sufficient to assure +Anglo-Saxon approval. This was, indeed, a complex problem. Traducers +proclaimed his undeveloped capacities; he answered with a claim of long +repressed aptitudes. They spoke of intolerable coalescence; he claimed +that the times demanded imperative coexistence. They said he had no +soul; he claimed the over-soul. They asserted his lecherous character; +he referred to statistics. But when they claimed he was pro-German, he +stripped for action. World war, and France, prostrate amid its terrors, +offered the Negro the great opportunity of the centuries to refute the +broadcast propaganda of his enemies. + +Beyond the French appeared the German, ungainly, acrimonious and +obdurate. Part Saxon, part Hun, part Vandal and Visigoth, a creature of +blood and iron, he utilized every force of nature to exterminate his +enemies. The Negro knew how to exploit none of nature's elemental +energies. But he did know that he could learn how by seizing and +mastering the weapons of the enemy. + +Of the energies of earth he lacked both scientific mastery and the +weapons which give them offensive power and direction. Of the air he +lacked all control. Fire he utilized only for purposes of cooking food, +but not for the development of machinery of warfare. He has no vessel +upon all the seven seas. To seize and master and utilize these energies +appeared a thankless job, albeit a necessary one. He voted a grim +"Aye." + +[Illustration: This is the wreath presented by the Ford-Darney Orchestra +in memory of Lieutenant Jimmy Europe, leader of the famous Jazz band +which won its laurels with the 369th Infantry in France. His funeral +took place from St. Mark's Church in West 53rd St.] + +[Illustration: The body of Lieutenant Jimmy Europe who died suddenly +this week is here seen being carried from St. Mark's Church. Europe was +the leader of the famous Jazz band which won its laurels with the 369th +Infantry in France.] + +[Illustration: NEGRO NURSES MARCH IN GREAT RED CROSS PARADE ON FIFTH +AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY.] + +[Illustration: THE ARREST OF THE ASSASSIN. + +Scene immediately after the murder of the Archduke and Archduchess of +Austria in the streets of Sarajevo, Bosnia. The arrest of Gavrio +Princip, the murderer.] + +[Illustration: NATIONAL GUARDSMAN WEARING COMPLETE EQUIPMENT, READY FOR +WAR. + +A soldier's equipment consists of a great number of articles, skillfully +packed so that they make a small bundle, considering the number of +articles. The kit includes a blanket, rifle, bayonet, kit bag, cartridge +belt, canteen, pan, plate, knife, fork, spoon, tent spikes, rubber +blanket and other miscellaneous articles. The photo shows three +views--side, front and back, with equipment attached.] + +[Illustration: THE PEACE CONFERENCE AT PARIS + +This remarkable photograph taken during the Peace Conference at Paris +shows President Wilson and President Poincare in the center background +(directly underneath the clock). Seated next to Mr. Wilson is Secretary +of State Lansing. Next to President Poincare at the right are seated +Lloyd George, Balfour and Bonar Law. At the long table to the left of +the photo we see seated Clemenceau, Pichon and Marshal Foch.] + +[Illustration: CARRYING OLD GLORY THROUGH LONDON. + +United States soldiers, carrying the Stars and Stripes and Regimental +Standard, passed cheering crowds at the head of a National army command +that marched through London on May 11th, 1918.] + +[Illustration: MARSHAL J. JOFFRE AND PARTY IN WASHINGTON, D.C. + +This photograph was taken at the State, War and Navy Building, just +after they had called on Secretary of War Baker. Joffre stands on the +lower step in the centre of the picture.] + +[Illustration: SIR DOUGLAS HAIG. + +This is a late photograph of the commander of the British armies in +France.] + +[Illustration: SOLDIERS OF THE DIFFERENT NATIONS ENGAGED IN THE WORLD +WAR. + +This picture shows the portraits and headdress of reprsentative fighters +now engaged in the European war.] + +[Illustration: CAPTURE OF BAPAUME BY BRITISH. + +Scene on the day British troops entered Bapaume, a French city evacuated +by the Germans in their retreat to the Hindenburg line. Cheerful British +soldiers are seen in a street.] + +[Illustration: FRENCH PASSING THROUGH RECAPTURED NOYON. + +They are on the heels of the Germans. The photograph shows how the town +was wrecked by the Germans before they evacuated.] + +[Illustration: HORSE AND MAN ALIKE PROTECTED FROM GAS ATTACK. + +French army horses wearing gas masks, which look at first sight like oat +bags. They are used when the animals have to cross a gas zone in drawing +the shell wagons to the batteries.] + +[Illustration: ONE OF THE METHODS OF TRANSPORTING WOUNDED. + +This man is being taken over mountainous regions, and the method of +transportation has been devised in order to minimize the shock.] + +[Illustration: "V-I-C-T-O-R-Y." + +Sailors spelling the word "VICTORY" with flags.] + +[Illustration: Sighting through the 40 power telescope on the U.S.S. +Pennsylvania. Objects at great distances are clearly distinguished +through this telescope.] + +[Illustration: BRITISH SAILORS IN NEW YORK. + +They are from the H.M.S. Roxburgh, and took part in welcoming the +arrival of Gen. Joffre in New York City] + +[Illustration: THE GREAT AMERICAN HABIT. + +French Jackies, for the first time in the United States, learn all the +delights of the great American drink, the Ice Cream Soda.] + +[Illustration: BENJAMIN BAYLOR. + +Wardroom Steward, U.S.N. Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was torpedoed +and sunk September 30, 1918.] + +[Illustration: WILLIAM GARFIELD MARSHALL. + +Wardroom Officer's Steward, U.S.N. Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was +torpedoed and sunk September 30, 1918.] + +[Illustration: SURVIAN AUSTIN WILLIAMS. + +Mess Attendant U.S.N. Lost on U.S.S. CYCLOPS, June 14, 1918.] + +[Illustration: T.A. LOUNDEO. + +Water Tender, U.S.N. 909 N. 5th St., Richmond, Va.] + +[Illustration: WM. M.T. BECKLEY. + +Mess Attendant, 1c, U.S.N. Fell overboard and drowned, U.S.S. OZARK, +July 25, 1918.] + +[Illustration: GEORGE FOWLER. + +Cabin Steward U.S.N. Lost when Liberty Boat capsized, U.S.S. LANSDALE. +December 6, 1918.] + +In doing so, he accepted the challenge of no mere enigma. Of his own +volition, he entered upon the path that led through untrod and dangerous +ground. It was his problem to cut the Gordian knot of Anglo-Saxon icy +reserve that in the end fair England might assume as a policy of world +administration the award of citizenship rights to the darker races in +the sphere of influence of the league of civilized nations. It was a +part of this problem to enter the equation with such deliberate caution +as to upset no part of the nicely calculated adjustments of white to +darker peoples. And it was also a part of his problem that he should not +relinquish his grasp upon the factors that led to honor, recognition and +equality. + +Germany was indignant as the Negro sought entry to the war. The South +was sensitive. The North was quizzical. The whole world was hesitant. +The too ardent favor which the Negro found in France gave offence to +both America and England. Indeed, for the Negro to lift himself too +rapidly by his own bootstraps would have offended England, whose law +prohibited emigration of foreign Negroes to South Africa. And it would +also offend America, strangely jealous of any sign of unwanted +assertiveness the Negro might display. The Negro accepted the challenge +to penetrate this maze and labyrinth, with no surety, save God's good +grace, of the fate that lay beyond. + +To attain the goal of Recognition, it was necessary for him to demand of +the people of England, France and Italy, that he be made subject to +every test calculated to reveal his worth or inferiority as an +individual, business, political or social equal of the allied peoples. +The goal of Honor, he had attained in every war waged by America. He was +with Jackson at New Orleans, a pioneer in the Mexican struggle, 200,000 +strong in the great civil crisis, the acme of terror to Geronimo in the +later Indian wars, the hero of San Juan in the Spanish-American combat, +and at Carrizal in the latest Mexican imbroglio. By 1914, however, he +had lost all rewards of honor which he had previously won. As for +Equality, since the Civil War, he had been guaranteed this goal by +three amendments to the Constitution of the United States. These +forgotten amendments read in part: + + "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment + for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall + exist within the United States, or any place subject to their + jurisdiction.... + + "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject + to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and + of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce + any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of + citizens of the United States; nor shall deprive any person of + life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to + any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the + laws.... + + "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States + according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of + persons in each State.... + + "The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not + be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account + of race, color or previous condition of servitude." + +America of 1914 was prone to look upon this part of the Constitution as +a mere scrap of paper. From what point of vantage might the Negro hope +for Honor, Recognition and Equality at the hands of the allied +governments? + +Land of the free and home of the brave, America is assumed to be so +openhearted, munificent and princely, so liberal and so generous that +could she but behold a man, of whatever hue, trampled in the mire, or +hear his piteous cry, she would hasten to his aid and deliver him. So +much does she admire genuine human worth that a man of heart and spirit +and fortitude cannot perish while she is nigh at hand. Such, at least, +is the assumption. + +From the debasement of industrial serfdom, the black workman wished the +American people of 1914 to stop the trend of their strenuous existence +and behold him ... and test him ... and proclaim him. He not only wished +to be given a free field and a fair chance to work at the same job, for +the same wage, during the same hours, and under the same conditions as +the white workman, but he was ready to contend for all of the industrial +privileges. + +The black man of business not only wished to enter into business +competition with members of the Caucasian race under the same conditions +as customarily pertain to such arrangements, but he was eagerly hoping +to insure adjustment of this situation. The black social outcast wished +"jim-crow" railway accommodations and signs proclaiming inequality of +race to disappear. He wished sufficient education to enable him to +develop his own society. He, too, was willing for a world war, for he +had come to the point where he desired immediate and explosive change. +Looked down upon because of his despised blood, the black American +wished to elevate the status of his womankind, too long disproved and +betrayed, to the level of free and brave womanhood of all the civilized +world. Concerning this situation he was grim. It required but a spark +applied here to explode with terrific outburst the sinister silence of +the volcano. + +But in India, in South Africa, in Nigeria, and in all countries where +English rule held sway, England was committed to the policy of the white +overseer or foreman for the black exponent of industry. Nor could she, +save through war, adopt a policy of employing either Indians or Africans +at the same job and for the same wage as that received by members of the +British Labor Party. On the other hand, France, whose political life was +convulsed from 1894 to 1899 by principles of racial prejudice exhibited +in the Dreyfus case, offered every form of equality to the darker races +under her dominion. However, such equality offered by France was not +equal in the sum total of advantage to the partial equality which the +Negro received in America. The French workman gave more hours of toil +for less monetary reward. The Negro wanted to bring the French principle +of equality to apply in American industry. But the British in 1914 could +not agree to industrial equality for black men. Such agreement would +upset the nicely calculated economic adjustments of the English system. +America would take no step until forced to do so. + +It was the problem of the Negro, alone and single-handed, to grasp the +opportunity afforded by world war to bring America to this point of +recognition and democratic equality. The Negro, hitherto regarded as the +monkey-man, the baby race, the black brute, trained by such ruthless +propaganda to disrespect himself, hesitated. + +There was no leadership. No ringleader arrayed the mob. No chief +appeared. No captain called the hosts. No generalissimo marshalled the +black phalanx. No statesman sought entanglement in the meshes of the +negro labyrinth. But the Negro proposition for a test of Negro fitness, +like Topsy, "just growed." The young Negro possessed the clear eye to +see the situation. College trained, his vision was not blinded by +proximity to issues of the Civil War, nor by financial dependence, nor +by excessive spirituality. The elder Negro possessed the oratorical and +linguistic powers to state the case. Also college trained, of long +experience, possessing a widespread oratorical clientele, he spoke with +a voice that stirred and played upon the heartstrings of all America. +Never was such a proposition advanced where men, old and young, despised +and rejected, penniless and without credit, without acclaimed leadership +or champion, sought position of honor and recognition and equality +beside the best fighting forces of the world to help defeat the greatest +military machine that hell had ever invented. + +Capital and labor, in previous years, had found the Negro wanting. State +governments had utilized him for the purpose of increasing taxes and +court fees. The national government always handled him in accordance +with political expediency, despite his unswerving loyalty. Capital, +labor, State government and national government had brought the Negro so +low that he was ready in 1914 for any form of relief. + +The Negro was ready for change, for one reason, because he had lost the +honor of ministership to Haiti, Henry W. Furniss being succeeded by a +white man. He was ready for change because, as the continental war +proceeded, it became evident that though America might participate, her +black colonel, Charles Denton Young, a graduate of West Point, and a +distinguished soldier, might receive recognition as the leader of black +forces on foreign soil. He was ready for change because it appeared that +there had been agreement that no American Negro should participate in a +test of world equality upon the field of world honor and renown. + +In the American Navy Department, in 1914, time had destroyed the wake of +Negro tradition, and the log had been deleted. The Negro has rendered +honorable service in the navy. He was with Perry on Lake Erie. During +the Civil War, Robert Smalls, a Negro, single-handed, stole the Union +cruiser "Planter" from Charleston harbor and brought her into a Union +port. Half the men who accompanied Hobson into Santiago harbor were +Negroes. Matt Henson was the only man with Peary at the Pole. John +Jordan fired the first shot from Dewey's flagship "Olympia," opening the +battle of Manila. The Negro wanted change because in 1914 the naval +administration reluctantly offered Negroes positions as messmen and +cooks. No seamen, no members of the merchant marine, no petty officers, +no lieutenants, might apply. + +In the American Treasury Department, an ex-Senator of the United States, +a colored man, Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi, was honored by having +created for him the office of register of the treasury. Subsequently the +honor was conferred as a political favor upon Judson W. Lyons, of +Georgia; William T. Vernon, of Kansas, and J.C. Napier, of Tennessee. +The democratic executive was good enough to offer this position, created +as a direct result of the Negro's activities during and after the Civil +War, to Adam E. Patterson, of Oklahoma. But so great was the pressure +from opposing political forces that the name was withdrawn and another +position of honor lost to the race. Ralph W. Tyler, auditor of the navy, +resigned his position in 1912. A white man was appointed in his place. +Screens were erected in this department, shutting the Negro from the +view of his erstwhile fellow-clerk. He was sent down in the cellar to +emphasize his degradation as he attended to his physical wants. The +Negro cried aloud for change, and in his heart he cared not how soon +this change should come, nor what form it should take. + +The American Post-office Department, by 1914, had taken over the bulk of +the express service of the United States. The Negro was found available +as a clerk, but seldom, if ever, as a foreman. The appointment of large +numbers of Negroes to mere clerical positions did not mean to the Negro +recognition of merit. The Negro postmaster had disappeared. + +The American Department of the Interior is engaged with domestic affairs +of the nation. The Negro constitutes one-tenth of the population and +requires one-tenth of the necessities of American life. In 1914, a +definite attempt was made in a bureau of this department to give the +Negro recognition, honor and near-equality by the policy of segregating +him into a Negro bureau. This policy had previously been worked out in +Negro school systems and in the army. But the Negro clerks of the +Interior Department, by unanimous vote, rejected the proposition for +this sort of change. The kind of recognition, the kind of honor and the +kind of equality which they desired had taken definite shape in their +minds. + +The American Agricultural Department, it would appear, should be made up +of a large percentage of Negroes. The Negro was essentially an +agriculturist before he came to America. He was brought to Virginia for +the specific purpose of engaging in agriculture. His development of +agricultural conferences in the South in recent years has been a great +source of production. The Negro wanted change because this department +employed messengers and clerks, but demonstrators seldom, if ever, of +his color. Agricultural strategy in 1914 might well have been exonerated +if it had employed Negro chief demonstrators and engaged them in +interstate contest for quantity production. In one Southern State the +Negro operates the greater agricultural area. In another he will operate +the greater portion of such districts at an early date. In still another +many of the communities of large Negro population have hardly had a +white foot set upon them in two decades. The Negroes of these three +states could have furnished surplus food for any nation of the allies, +but a Negro might receive honor if put in charge of their development at +the proper salary and with full authority to act. In 1914, this honor +must not be. + +In the American Department of Commerce the masters of barter and +exchange are exhibited. America seeks to develop the man who can strike +a bargain and outbid his competitors. The Negro wanted change because, +since the invention of salesmanship he has been declared out of the +scope of this department. His social status prevents him from making the +proper sales approach. The Negro of 1914 came to this department only as +a depositor of funds, or as a beggar for charity. He was not seriously +regarded. + +Lastly, in the American Department of Labor, the Negro wanted change +because he was regarded in 1914 as the man requiring a boss of another +color. He was not regarded as a master mechanic, manufacturer, artist or +journeyman, unless the labor union, to which he was ineligible, so +regarded him. + +In these many ways, by capital and labor, by state and national +government, in every department, had the Negro of 1914 been reduced to +the state of man without honor in his own country. If war be change, +however explosive in form, in 1914 the Negro wanted the world war to +come to America from whatever angle that promised him the greatest +advantage. + +Equality in citizenship, for which the Negro yearned, meant parity of +adjustment to conditions of life. Equality may be considered under three +forms, industrial, business and political. As the terms are understood +in America, the Negro was unanimous in 1914 in desiring industrial, +business and political equality. He eagerly watched the fuse of war if +perchance he might foresee from the consequent explosion the termination +of Anglo-Saxon prejudice. It is but fair to say that he was not the only +victim of discrimination at that time. The sub-dominant nations, +including the Jugo-Slavs, the Czecho-Slavs, the Serbs and the Serfs of +Russia, were subject to discrimination and deprived of the higher places +of honor in the world's society. + +But the Negro was not immediately concerned with any one's status save +his own. He was not concerned that Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese, +Filipinos, Porto Ricans or South Africans did not enjoy the advantage of +living on American soil. He was only concerned with the fact that, +living in America, performing the full duties of American citizenship, +he was denied the advantages and privileges of its possession, while +Slavs and Serbs of Europe, with white skins, were accorded the fullest +measure of democratic opportunity whenever and wherever they set foot on +American soil. The Negro wanted the world war to prove that he, too, +was a coalescent element in the civilization of the world. + +To summarize the burden of the Negro in 1914 we may include Caucasian +arrogance, hatred and prejudice of race, injustice of attitude and +treatment, personal fear for life and property, improperly requited +toil, unrewarded ambition, unmerited disfavor and debased self-respect. +What profound pathos in the love which he bore Old Glory! + + +THE WAR FOR DEMOCRATIZATION. + +Germany of 1914 aimed to throw off the yoke which she claimed England +wished to fasten on her world relationships. She aimed to dominate the +world with German efficiency. She aimed to demonstrate German +superiority and expose what she called Anglo-Saxon hypocrisy and cant. +Already possessing the world's supply of potash, she struck directly at +the coal and iron region of Belgium and Northern France. And she took +them on the initial advance. With potash, coal and iron, this was a +Teutonic coup for industrial and commercial supremacy indeed. Now well +might she dictate who should boycott English goods. Now well might she +point to the political and military dishonor of the easy defeat of +Belgium and France. Now well might she proceed to the disintegration of +these countries by the weapons of poverty, disease, hunger and bitter +cold. Little did Germany dream what moral advantage she gave these +overrun lands in the hearts of the millions of Negroes of the world. +Germany felt assured that Negroes from all Africa would gloat over the +assassination of Belgium. She was positive that American Negroes would +rejoice. She expected the blacks of the world would rise up and hail her +as the champion of a new day. + +In the twinkling of an eye she reduced Belgium to industrial serfdom. +She made the Belgian merchant a business pariah. She reduced the +Belgian citizen to a political Helot, and imprisoned the burgomaster of +Brussels, who refused to yield his citizenship honors. She made of +Belgium a desert. The Belgian woman she whistled at and made a bye-word +and reproach. And she called her treaty of Belgian neutrality a mere +scrap of paper. Namur fell, and Charleroi and lovely Louvain. Liege +succumbed in those hot August days, and Malines and Tournai and Antwerp. +Poor Belgian refugees, starved and naked, fled westward. In remembrance +of barbarities in the Congo under the international commission which +placed Belgium in control, the American Negro quoted the poet: "The sins +we borrow two by two we pay for one by one." But there was no +disposition to gloat. The American Negro, be it said, came to the +Belgian relief with money and goods and prayers and tears, and forgot +the sins of the fathers of the suffering little kingdom. The secret of +this reaction is revealed in the sympathy which the Negro bore toward +another people reduced to his American status, without honor, +recognition or equality. + +On, on, precipitate, headlong came Germany with diabolic efficiency, +thrusting viciously at the heart of France. Running amuck through St. +Quentin and Arras, Soissons fell and Laon. Rheims surrounded, astride +the Marne, France awaited her invader. Joffre at the gate! Foch in +charge of the defence! On came the Germans! They crushed his left! They +pulverized his right! He dispatched his courier to headquarters with the +famous message: "I shall attack with my centre. Send up the Moroccans!" +These black troops, thrown in at the first Marne, with the British to +their left, pushed the German right over the stream. Continuing their +action, the colonials won on the Ourcq, and the Germans evacuated Upper +Alsace. Before their terrific attack, with the British steadily pressing +beside them, General Von Stein admitted his defeat by the white and +black allies. Paris was saved and Foch discovered to the allied world. +How the hearts of black Americans thrilled as slowly the news filtered +through to them of what the black colonials had done to hold the field +for France! It was then that they took it into their hearts that if the +United States were ever called upon to participate in this struggle, +they would not be denied a place of glory equal to that which their +African brethren had achieved. + +But there was no time for resolve. The cataclysm involved in the +threatened overthrow of English law and orderly procedure throughout the +world caused the American Negro to tremble. Always conservative, if +there be anything to conserve, the Negro appreciated that English law, +when properly interpreted, meant freedom and life and hope eternal to +him. He was unwilling to take any chances with a German substitute. The +overthrow of English law he looked upon as the impending crack of doom. +On came the Germans toward Calais and the Straits of Dover! On to +Zeebrugge! On to Ostend! To Ypres! In her supreme desperation, England +looked about the world for a force to stay the invader until she could +prepare to meet the full force of the attack. She cared not whether aid +be white or black, or brown or yellow. She called for help, or else +Ypres should fall. Black men of Africa, brown men of India, white and +red men of Canada, and yellow men of the Far East heard her call. And +while America lifted not a finger, the American Negro lifted up his +heart to God and prayed that Anglo-Saxon justice, rigid and cold, so +often denied him, should not perish in triumph of the Hun, who knew no +law save his own lust and super-arrogation. + +Aboard the "Lusitania" there were no known men of color. But there were +Caucasian women and children aboard. At what moral disadvantage did +Germany put herself with the black millions of America when she +riotously celebrated the horrible death her submarines had meted out to +these weak and helpless mortals. The "Belgian Prince," first of the +vessels torpedoed without warning after President Wilson's manifesto on +the subject, had one lone black survivor to tell the tale of horror. He +told it to his black brethren and they chafed under the diplomatic +restraint, which relieved itself by polite letter writing. + +Germany threatened the Panama Canal by disruption in Mexico and Haiti. +The Mole St. Nicholas gave command of the canal to anyone of the great +powers who might seize it. German influence was at work in Port au +Prince. There occurred a riot involving both French and German +Legations. The President of Haiti was assassinated. The United States +marines stepped in and took over the situation. The American Negro heart +went out to little Haiti. Hoping for the best, he feared the worst. + +In the midst of this situation, Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New +Mexico. Overnight Negro regiments of regular army and of national guard +received word to go to the border. Black troopers of the 10th Cavalry +were reported near Casas Grandes on March 17. The 24th Infantry, +colored, set out for Mexico, and another Negro command was sent to +Columbus on March 22. Through storm and dust and desert of alkali and +cacti, the Negro troopers, led by Colonel Brown, came to Aguascalientes. +They had passed through a terrible experience that must have daunted all +save those who refuse to accept defeat. Hunger and thirst and mirage and +exposure must all be overcome. Because of hardships many cavalrymen +deserted on May 1, after three months' service in action. But every +Negro trooper with Colonel Brown held on and defeated the Villistas in +every skirmish. + +On a day in June, 1916, a troop from the 10th Cavalry approached the +Mexican town of Carrizal. They were forbidden to enter the town for +purposes of refreshment. Captain Boyd resolved to make the entry +regardless of any regulations the Mexicans might seek to enforce. He +was called upon by General Gomez to advance for a parley. As he advanced +with his troopers, Mexicans spread out in a wide circle around them. +Gomez, himself, trained the machine gun which opened fire. The parley +was a mere sham and decoy. Captain Boyd with Lieutenant Adair and eleven +soldiers were killed. The rest of the troopers fell on the Mexicans, +seized their gun, turned it upon them, and brought to death scores of +their number, including Gomez himself. Seventeen black Americans were +interned in Chihuahua, but were released eight days after upon demand by +the American government. Captain Morey reported that his men faced death +with a song on their lips. The lesson which the Mexicans learned by +turning a machine gun on Negro troopers was of such force that no +trouble has arisen since in this section of the southern republic. The +Negro fell face forward in the scorching sand for his honor's sake, and +for the honor of all America. He knew that his real enemy was not the +Mexican, but the German who had furnished Mexico the means and the will +to create disturbance on this side of the Atlantic. + +It was not until April, 1917, that President Wilson proclaimed in +Congress a state of war existing between the United States of America +and the Imperial German Government. At the call for volunteers, Negro +regiments of guard, who had served in Mexico, were found at war strength +and ready to double themselves overnight. These guard regiments +represented the cosmopolitan Negro populations of New York, Chicago, +Washington, Baltimore and the State of Ohio. Everywhere the Negro +dropped the mattock, left the ploughshare, poised himself at erect +stature, passionately saluted Old Glory, answered "Here am I!"--counted +fours, and away! Pro-German cried: "White man's war!" Propagandist +yelled: "Cannon fodder!" Reactionary declared: "It must not be." The +Negro burst the gate and entered the arena of combat in spite of all +opposition to his service in honorable capacity under the United States +government. + +The honesty of his purpose was discredited. The Anglo-Saxon mind could +not conceive any more than could the German why a man downtrodden as the +Negro should rush to arms, save as a baser means of eking out a +livelihood better than his civilian state. The Anglo-Saxon little +dreamed that the Negro approached the war not only to uphold his +cherished tradition, but also with definite ideas of honor, recognition +and equality as its outcome. Or rather the Anglo-Saxon was too busy with +his own affairs to ascertain the reason why. + +His loyalty impugned by those who did not wish to see him uniformed, his +fidelity the subject of bitter sarcasm, his trustworthiness disputed, +the Negro for once kept his own counsel. German agents were in his +midst. They came to his table. They mingled with him in all social +intercourse. They brought forward business propositions to seek to make +the interests of Negro and German one. Southerners, noting this +unaccustomed intimacy of black and white, announced that the Negro had +gone over to the enemy. But the Negro kept his own counsel. He called +upon the nation to investigate him. And when his loyalty was found +untarnished, he called upon the nation to investigate itself. It was +through the influence of Robert R. Moton, of Tuskegee, that, after +careful investigation, President Wilson put the stain of pro-Germanism +where it properly belonged. Said the President: + + MY FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN: + + I take the liberty of addressing you upon a subject which so + vitally affects the honour of the nation and the very character and + integrity of our institutions that I trust you will think me + justified in speaking very plainly about it. + + I allude to the mob spirit which has recently here and there very + frequently shown its head amongst us, not in any single region, but + in many and widely separated parts of the country. There have been + many lynchings, and every one of them has been a blow at the heart + of ordered law and humane justice. No man who loves America, no man + who really cares for her fame and honour and character, or who is + truly loyal to her institutions, can justify mob actions while the + courts of justice are open and the governments of the states and + the nation are ready and able to do their duty. We are at this very + moment fighting lawless passion. Germany has outlawed herself among + the nations because she has disregarded the sacred obligations of + law and has made lynchers of her armies. Lynchers emulate her + disgraceful example. I, for my part, am anxious to see every + community in America rise above that level, with pride and fixed + resolution which no man or act of men can afford to despise. + + We proudly claim to be the champions of democracy. If we really + are, in deed and in truth, let us see to it that we do not + discredit our own. I say plainly that every American who takes part + in the action of a mob or gives it any sort of countenance is no + true son of this great democracy, but its betrayer, and does more + to discredit her by that single disloyalty to her standards of law + and of right than the words of her statesmen or the sacrifices of + her heroic boys in the trenches can do to make suffering peoples + believe her to be their saviour. How shall we commend democracy to + the acceptance of other peoples, if we disgrace our own by proving + that it is, after all, no protection to the weak? Every mob + contributes to German lies about the United States what her most + gifted liars cannot improve upon by way of calumny. They can at + least say that such things cannot happen in Germany, except in + times of revolution, when law is swept away. + + I, therefore, very earnestly and solemnly beg that the Governors of + all the States, the law officers of every community, and, above + all, the men and women of every community in the United States, all + who revere America and wish to keep her name without stain or + reproach, will co-operate--not passively merely, but actively and + watchfully,--to make an end of this disgraceful evil. It cannot + live where the community does not countenance it. + + I have called upon the nation to put its great energy into this + war, and it has responded--responded with a spirit and a genius for + action that has thrilled the world. I now call upon it, upon its + men and women everywhere, to see that its laws are kept inviolate, + its fame untarnished. Let us show our utter contempt for the things + that have made this war hideous among the wars of history by + showing how those who love liberty and right and justice and are + willing to lay down their lives for them upon foreign fields, stand + ready also to illustrate to all mankind their loyalty to the things + at home which they wish to see established everywhere as a blessing + and protection to the peoples who have never known the privileges + of liberty and self-government. I can never accept any man as a + champion of liberty, either for ourselves or for the world, who + does not reverence and obey the laws of our own beloved land, whose + laws we ourselves have made. He has adopted the standard of the + enemies of his country, whom he affects to despise. + + WOODROW WILSON. + +The Negro braced himself, dismissed the German coldly from his household +and forbade the pro-German enter. From afar off the enemy propagandist +could resort but to derision and ridicule. What an attempt at laughter +he made when Haiti entered the side of the Allies! How he pretended to +be choking with the ridiculousness of the thing when Liberia offered her +services! He flouted the idea of Negro expertness in handling weapons of +modern warfare. He ridiculed the idea of Negro discretion in ideas of +likely foreign origin. He questioned the potency of the Negro's native +talent to meet the European situation. It was the black man's patriotic +fervor, ardent in response to the call of Old Glory, zealous with +passionate love of fireside and homeland, poignant with the throbbing +and thrilling reaction of public-spirited emotion toward France--which +overcame all. + +The South asked three questions: + +First--Shall Negroes and whites of the South both remain in America +while the North conducts the war? Second--Shall Negroes of the South +remain at home while the flower of southern chivalry, drafted for +service, is far away across the sea, annihilated in battle? Third--Shall +white men of the South be left at home while southern Negroes are +drafted and go abroad to do distinguished service? These questions were +resolved into the conclusion that southern Negroes and southern whites +both must be drafted and sent against the German foe. There was no +alternative. + +It was altogether becoming and proper that a man whose race has suffered +as the American Negro suffers today, should point the way to this goal +of recognition, honor and equality which the Negro knew but as a +tradition of those days following the Civil War when Grant administered +the affairs of the triumphant party of freedom. + +One of those New Yorkers of Hebraic origin, whose Semitic qualities are +of the highest ethical type, made the play for partial equality, for +partial recognition, for partial honor for the Negro. Joel Spingarn +suggested and propagated the idea of a military training camp for +Negroes, where they might receive instruction in all branches of +military service, be commissioned up to the grade of captain and receive +the recognition, honor and equality due to such military rank as they +might qualify for. In addressing Negro America, he said: + + "It is of highest importance that the educated colored men of this + country should be given opportunities for leadership. You must + cease to remain in the background in every field of national + activity, and must come forward to assume your right places as + leaders of American life. All of you cannot be leaders, but those + who have the capacity for leadership must be given the opportunity + to test and display it." + +Mr. Spingarn never realized what forces he would set in motion by mere +presentation of this proposition. He merely pointed out the gate. The +young Negro brushed aside the opponents among his own race of this +policy of segregation. He disregarded the moral principle which had +actuated the older Negroes of the Interior Department in refusing to +accept segregation, and seized the opportunity to produce some sort of +change and readjustment. He must go up. He could go no lower than the +policies of previous generations had brought him. + +Directly to the President of all the United States he went. "Give us a +lift!" he cried, "We want to fight!" To the Secretary of War he shouted +most unceremoniously: "Give us place!" "But," was the indirect reply, +"we have not the facilities at present. For instance, we have no bedding +for the men whom you might muster." It was a young Negro Harvard +graduate, Thomas Montgomery Gregory, of New Jersey, who advanced before +Secretary Baker. "No bedding, Mr. Secretary? We will sleep on the +floor--on the ground--anywhere--give us a lift!" + +The Anglo-Saxon mind is subject to orderly reactions. The Secretary of +War was taken aback. He realized that the young Negroes had not +approached him to sell their labor. He gleaned that it was not for the +purpose of barter and exchange they had come forward. Nor had they come +with dreams of political advantage and social eclat, nor with vague +glimmerings of spirituality. He was not ready to answer. He dismissed +the audience with a little more than the usual ceremony. One of the +older Negroes of the group, whose uncanny insight had often appeared +beyond the orbit of average intelligence, ventured this suggestion: "He +will put it up to Pershing." + +And so the word got abroad that it would be left to Pershing as to how +the Negro should be disposed of. It would be left to John J. Pershing, +who in his earlier days had been instructor in a Negro college under +the American Missionary Association. It would be left to the man who in +1892 had been a First Lieutenant in the 10th Cavalry in connection with +the Sioux campaign in the Dakotas; who had been with the 10th Cavalry in +the Santiago campaign in 1898; who had led Negro troops in the +Philippines in 1899 till 1903, commanding operations in Mindanao against +the Moros; and who had been in command of the Negro troops sent into +Mexico in pursuit of Villa in March, 1916. It would be left to the man +whose whole life had been spent in close contact with darker races. + +To this day the Negro does not know who was directly responsible for the +organization of the camp such as Spingarn proposed. It is probable that +the honor belongs as much to Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts as to any +one else. These black soldiers of Colonel Hayward's 15th New York +Regiment, already in France with other regiments of Negro troopers of +the national guard, were thrown across No Man's Land on a cold and foggy +night as a lookout, far in advance of the sleeping command of thousands +of white and colored American troops. The Hun planned their capture for +the purpose of psycho-analytic research. It was Roberts who detected +their stealthy approach. He called to Johnson. In the twinkling of an +eye, the two were surrounded by German troopers. The Negroes faced +certain death, but they had lost all claim to honor, recognition or +equality, if they did not take with them to eternity at least one German +each. Surrounded they resolved to fight it out with shot and gun. Too, +too slow! Around them the Germans swarmed like bees. Bayonets then! Too, +too close! Aye, butts! Wounded and winded, with knives, skulls, feet, +teeth and nails, prehensile toe and larkheel, Henry Johnson and Needham +Roberts defeated ten times their number of Germans and held the field of +honor. This was a great self-revelation to the Negro of his powers of +more than rudimentary culture, and a mighty incentive from the guard to +the soldiery of the 92nd Division. + +It settled forever, in the mind of the Negro, what Pershing would say as +to the advisability of training Negroes to deliver their best service +for their country. That general's report electrified the entire nation. +Said Pershing: + +"Reports in hand show a notable instance of bravery and devotion shown +by two soldiers of an American colored regiment operating in a French +sector. Before daylight on May 15, Private Henry Johnson and Private +Roberts, while on sentry duty at some distance from one another, were +attacked by a German raiding party, estimated at twenty men, who +advanced in two groups, attacking at once flank and rear. + +"Both men fought bravely hand-to-hand encounters, one resorting to the +use of a bolo knife after his rifle jammed and further fighting with +bayonet and butt became impossible. There is evidence that at least one, +and probably a second, German was severely cut. A third is known to have +been shot. + +"Attention is drawn to the fact that the colored sentries were first +attacked and continued fighting after receiving wounds, and despite the +use of grenades by a superior force. They should be given credit for +preventing, by their bravery, the capture of any of our men." + +Whether this citation arrived May 19, 1917, by design or by accident, it +served the purpose of dissolving completely all opposition to the idea +of training Negroes to halt the Hun. Immediately thereafter the War +Department created a training camp for educated Negroes at Fort Des +Moines, Iowa. + + +THE CRISIS OF THE WORLD. + +Des Moines Camp was organized in June, 1917, to train Negroes to the +military point where other military men must recognize them, honor them +and receive them on the plane of equality due their rank. The camp was +designed to develop Negroid snap and vigor to the maximum of military +efficiency. For this purpose, as at all other camps, there was created +the background of the mother's urge, and the sister's urge, and the +sweetheart's urge, the Y.M.C.A. spirit, the college fraternity spirit, +and, in addition, the spirit of the elevation of a Negroid order. + +The change which came over the men was indicated by their music. Their +first group singing of a Sunday consisted of Negro spirituals in +spondaic and trochaic verse, and phrased in many minors. The vigor of +blood produced by methodical training soon permitted of vocalization +only in iambics. "Over There," "The Long, Long Trail," "Sons of +America," were songs they sung of hope and not of sorrow. They connoted +the Negro's reaction to the cosmic urge. + +Over 1200 men took advantage of the experience of the trip to Fort Des +Moines for training. Theirs was the 17th Provisional R.O.T.C., but the +first of national proportions. Its quota was drawn from every section of +the United States. The immediate destiny of the men selected for +commission from this camp would be the training of colored draftees of +African descent. + +Mr. Baker, the Secretary of War, in late summer, referring to the Des +Moines Camp, said: + + "The work at Des Moines is progressing remarkably well, and the + reports I have from it are very good. The spirit of the men is + fine, and apparently this camp is going to do a great deal of good, + both to the country and to the men involved." + +Colonel C.C. Ballou, of the War College, in charge of the work at Des +Moines, said on August 19, in a Sunday interview: + + "The colored race constitutes more than ten per cent. of our + population, and has, since the Civil War, furnished more than its + quota of fighting men of the regular army. At home or on foreign + soil the ranks of colored regiments are always full, while the + white regiments have with difficulty been maintained at peace + strength. To question the valor of the colored soldier is to betray + ignorance of history. This is the first opportunity in his history + to prove on an adequate scale his fitness or unfitness for command + and leadership. At Fort Des Moines, Iowa, on June 16, 1917, there + assembled the largest body of educated Negroes ever brought + together for a single purpose. The candidates who survive are men + of marked intelligence and ability. Let any man who doubts the + colored men's patriotism go to Fort Des Moines and see men who have + given up professions, business and homes in order to learn to + defend their country and merit a more considerate judgment of their + race. Let any man who doubts the colored man's fidelity and loyalty + come to Fort Des Moines and revise his opinions on what he will + there learn of the spirit that has stood unswervingly behind the + commanding officer in every decision that he has been called upon + to make, even though that decision involved sore disappointment and + shattering of hopes. These men have been started out on correct + lines and will have no false ideas to unlearn." + +Hardly any one in America, black or white, believed that 700 Negroes +would be commissioned in the army of the United States to receive +positions of honor not only beside her other troops, but on the field of +battle with the flower of French and English between veteran soldiery. +Everything possible to prevent, somehow or other, seemed to arise. The +men were put through the bitterest drill in the hottest sun, under the +most scorching orders the English language might devise. They +represented every section of the United States. Not once did they +break. The acid test came, when, already pricked by the numerous +situations which arose to flout them, East St. Louis broke forth in the +most savage pogrom Anglo-Saxon culture has ever revealed. + +While 1200 Negroes, training for leadership, were undergoing the +terrific process of forced attrition, their nerves turned raw by army +usage, East St. Louis burst forth. Tidings reached Des Moines that the +Illinois militia, called in to break up a race riot at East St. Louis, +had joined the rioters and slaughtered the Negro population of the +community. White women had joined in these attacks, dragging out of +their houses colored women, girls and children, stoning and clubbing +them to death. Aged Negro mammies, afraid to come out of their homes, +had been burned to death by the mob which set fire to them. Black men +had been thrown into Cahokia Creek and stormed with bricks each time +they rose to the surface until drowned. A crowd of whites had torn a +colored woman's baby from her arms, thrown it into the fire of a blazing +dwelling, held the mother from its rescue until she, herself, was shot +nigh unto death, and then allowed her to plunge into the fire to rescue +her little one. Nor was this all. + +But out there in camp, isolated from the usual social life, July 2 and 3 +and 4, Independence Day, was indeed a test of nerve, already tried and +sore and raw, for the young Negroes in training. Why should men train to +fight for a country that permitted such barbarous atrocities against +their race with impunity. In savage Memphis charred remains of Negroes +burned at the stake before a gala mob of 15,000, were thrown from an +automobile in the Negro quarter of that city! And the Negroes at Des +Moines held on. It has not been recorded in history that there was here +proposed any hostile demonstration, or that vengeance and ruthless +retaliation was planned. Wise counsel prevailed, and the Negroes at Des +Moines held on. + +For three months they held on without audible murmur. Negroes from +civilian life, from the national guard, from the regular army, destined +for every branch of the military service, defied any propaganda, by +whomever invented, to break their morale. For three months they held on. +And then word came they would not be graduated. A number, in disgust, +left the camp. But the great bulk of them, although at the last moment +learning that they could be assigned to no military branch save +infantry, remained in camp for another month and were finally +commissioned as officers in the national army. It was the eleventh hour +of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1917 that they received +their commissions forwarded from the President of the United States. The +hour and day and month a year later became famous not only in their +history, but in the history of the civilized world. + +They were given a grade neither high nor low. The rank of captain was +granted to men who were to serve in France and England. The former +country proudly made the Negro a general when he merited promotion; the +latter was committed to the policy of white officers for colonial +troops. In assigning rank as high as the grade of captain, America took +the middle ground. In view of the international situation, she could +hardly be expected to do more. She had granted partial recognition, +partial honor, partial equality. It was for the Negro to gain the rest. + +Seven hundred American Negroes commissioned! A baker's dozen of +captains, six hundred odd lieutenants, and five hundred who dropped by +the way. German propaganda had taken contrary suggestion and forced the +Negro to this point of moral advantage. Plunder, arson, lynching and +burning at the stake were employed against him to break his morale or +incite him against America. But he held on. Seven hundred of the +"sub-species, dark of skin, wooly of hair, long of head, with dilated +nostrils, thick lips, thicker cranium, flat feet, prehensile great toe +and larkheel" had passed every physical, mental, moral and social test +and were commissioned in the American army. Doubt existed in the minds +of every American citizen, including the Negro officers themselves, that +they would ever see service overseas. + +Assigned to various camps, the problem of recognition by white soldiers +of colored officers immediately was raised, and promptly settled. In +only a few cases did open clashes occur. In far more cases was the Negro +received with full merited honors of his status, and in some sections on +the basis of complete equality. The Negro of a northern locality, +accustomed to all immunities and privileges of his home, experienced +great difficulty when first assigned to camps near Baltimore, +Washington, Houston or Norfolk. He would have passed through this state +of his development well enough, settling his difficulties himself as +they arose, had not some evil genius prompted the commanding officer of +the division in which he was finally to be assembled to issue Bulletin +35, which follows: + + "It should be well known to all colored officers and men that no + useful purpose is served by such acts as will cause the 'color + question' to be raised. It is not a question of legal rights, but a + question of policy, and any policy that tends to bring about a + conflict of the races, with its resulting animosities, is + prejudicial to the military interest of the colored race. + + "To avoid such conflicts the Division Commander has repeatedly + urged that all colored members of his command and especially the + officers and non-commissioned officers, should refrain from going + where their presence will be resented. In spite of this injunction, + one of the Sergeants of the Medical Department has recently + precipitated the precise trouble that should be avoided, and then + called on the Division Commander to take sides in a row that should + never have occurred had the Sergeant placed the general good above + his personal pleasure and convenience. The Sergeant entered a + theater, as he undoubtedly has a legal right to do, and + precipitated trouble by making it possible to allege race + discrimination in the seat which he was given. He is strictly + within his legal rights in this matter, and the theater manager is + legally wrong. Nevertheless, the Sergeant is guilty of the greater + wrong in doing ANYTHING, no matter how legally correct, that will + provoke race animosity. + + "The Division Commander repeats that the success of the Division, + with all that success implies, is dependent upon the good will of + the public. That public is nine-tenths white. White men made the + Division, and they can break it just as easily if it becomes a + trouble maker. + + "All concerned are again enjoined to place the general interest of + the Division above personal pride and gratification. Avoid every + situation that can give rise to racial ill-will. Attend quietly and + faithfully to your duties, and don't go where your presence is not + desired. + + "This will be read to all organizations of the 92nd Division. + + "By command of Major-General Ballou: + + "ALLEN J. GREER, + "Lieutenant-Colonel, General Staff, + "Chief of Staff. + + "Official: + "EDW. J. TURGEON, + "Captain, Assistant Adjutant, + "Acting Adjutant." + + +It was an altogether modern type of Negro that informed the commanding +general quietly, but firmly, that he had seriously impaired his +usefulness by the tone of his bulletin; that he had proposed a principle +which did not bode good for the future of white people of the world when +seven-tenths of the world's population was of darker hue. It is to +General Ballou's credit that he admitted the question to debate, +listened to reason, and capitulated. + +But a certain type of southern statesmanship was not amenable to reason. +Despite the wishes of the President of the United States, there were +published in the "Congressional Record" articles describing the peril +involved in arming and training any black peoples for modern warfare. +What measure of offense these articles gave to Morocco, to India, to +Latin America, to Japan, to China, to Africa, loyally supporting all the +cause of France and England, can only be judged by the rebuke which +President Wilson gave when his chance came. + +It was in the Spring of 1918 when Germany struck through the British +forces in Picardy. Then came the allies' "Hurry up!" call. The enemy +opened a tremendous drive against the British front, bombarding, +storming and attacking along fifty miles from Croiselles to La Fere. On +the first day, 16,000 British prisoners were taken. The shelling might +be heard across the Channel in Dover. The German penetrated to the third +British line, taking 25,000 more prisoners. William Hohenzollern, +himself, directed the drive from his headquarters at Spa. Peronne, Ham +and Chauny fell. Vast stores and war material was lost, including tanks. +At the Lotos club dinner, Lord Reading gave voice to a message from +Lloyd George urging the United States to rush men to fill the gap. +Albert fell. The real need of England and France became a question of +reserves. John J. Pershing, drawing no color line, offered the whole +American army. + +Germany separated France from her ally. Apprized of America's +preparations, she sought to destroy both France and England before the +new enemy might hold place. Acceleration of all fighting forces to +overseas service became the imperative duty. Not a moment was to be +lost. The American Expeditionary Force must be expeditious. Casting +about to find those ready to answer the call, America could not deny the +preparedness of her 92nd Division of colored troopers. + +On Germany came! On to Montdidier! To Amiens! To Hazebrouck! To Paris! +Montdidier gone! "Hurry! Hurry!" cried Clemenceau. "Hurry! Hurry!" +pleaded the aged Premier. He could no longer study the possible effects +of any action of his office upon the future. His concern was the very +present need. He wanted men, regardless of what adjustments their +presence might upset in future world relationships. + +So came a day when the Negro troopers could no longer be gainsaid. "Give +me these men!" cried Joffre. "I am ready for the 92nd," announced +Pershing. "We submit that they are men without honor, and of inferior +American status," warned some Americans. "We shall test them," was +Foch's laconic reply. "But they are black men with but 35 ounces of +brain--a sub-species of mankind," America warned again. + +And all France cried: "Send us men--men without fear of mortal +danger--men of intrepid heart--men of audacity--men of fortitude--men of +resolution--men of unquestioning, unreasoning, undying courage--men of +elan--men of morale! Send Jew or Gentile--white men, yellow men, brown +men, black men--it matters not! Send us men who can halt the Hun!" + +So early in May of 1918 went up to sea, partly under their own officers, +90,000 and more American Negroes, registered as of African descent, and +drafted to do battle in France. It was sub-species against super-man, +broad head against long head, flat nose against sharp nose, thick +cranium against Hun helmet. It was this unprecedented synthetic group of +black men sailing the sea of darkness on a mission concerning the vital +interests of Englishmen and Americans who had misused them for +centuries, and concerning beloved France, which laid the real claim for +honor and recognition and equality for the American Negro. + +The American Negro, as he bade his black comrades "Good-bye! Good luck! +God bless you! Take keer o' yo' self!" felt in his heart that all +America ought to forget her prejudices. He felt that if she did not do +so, she was indeed only fit to be characterized as narrow-minded, +mean-spirited, illiberal and warped--entirely unfit for the position of +leadership in democratization of the world. + +So taken up with this idea was the entire Negro race that an editorial +appearing in the "Crisis," the leading Negro magazine, from the pen of +the Negro scholar, W.E.B. Dubois, came as a dash of cold water from an +upper window. This article set the whole race agog. There was nothing in +it about America's forgetting her prejudices, the idea which filled the +Negro heart and soul and mind. It was entitled "Close Ranks!" and read +as follows: + + "This is the crisis of the world. For all the long years to come + men will point to the year 1918 as the great Day of Decision, the + day when the world decided whether it would submit to military + despotism and an endless armed peace--if peace it could be + called--or whether they would put down the menace of German + militarism and inaugurate the United States of the World. + + "We of the colored race have no ordinary interest in the outcome. + That which the German power represents today spells death to the + aspirations of Negroes and all darker races for equality, freedom + and democracy. Let us not hesitate. Let us, while this war lasts, + forget our special grievances and close our ranks shoulder to + shoulder with our own white fellow-citizens and the allied nations + that are fighting for democracy. We make no ordinary sacrifice, but + we make it gladly and willingly with our eyes lifted to the hills." + While many questioned his motive, all accepted his advice. + +While the grievance was not forgotten, it was not allowed to jeopardize +the success of the issue to weaken the black man's allegiance. Every +mother's son and father's daughter remained loyal under stress and +strain which would have caused the white man to curse and die. + + +THE FIELD OF ACTION. + +Regiments of Negro stevedores, earlier in the year, had been drafted and +sent overseas. These men were drawn from a specific locality, and did +not represent the entire nation. They were in command of white officers. +They had been destined for the Service of Supply, a service which +America performed so marvelously well that it is difficult to tell, if +not here, where her chief glory lies. + +Black stevedores from Alabama, and Louisiana, and Mississippi, Virginia +and the Carolinas, numbering far more than the entire black forces of +the 92nd Division, packed and unpacked the American Expeditionary Force +in a manner never attempted since Noah loaded the Ark. Rear Admiral +Wilson and General McClure cited several regiments for exceptionally +efficient work. The "Leviathan," formerly the German steamship +"Vaterland," was unloaded and coaled, in competition with other white +and black stevedore regiments, by Company A, 301st Stevedores, young +American Negroes, in fifty-six hours, a world record. + +What a cheer went up from the black stevedores of the far South when +there landed in their midst a mighty band of black infantry, nearly +100,000 strong who, in a few short months had learned the use of powder +and shot, of sword and broadsword, of bayonet and bludgeon, of trench +knife and battle-ax. Cold steel or blackjack, smooth bore or sawed-off, +machine gun or automatic, were all the same to them. It was a great +experience for stevedore and infantryman. And the stevedore's heart +leaped to his throat as he saw the black officers of the 92nd Division +maneuver and march away the men under their command. + +The black stevedore wondered why America had brought him so far under +white officers to behold such a sight. He beheld black quartermasters, +ranking and outranking captains, furnishing their men with provision +and supply. The handling of purveyance and cutlery on a huge scale by +black commissioned officers was a revelation to the black stevedore of +the far South who had never seen such a sight in all his days. + +The stevedore beheld arrive Negro signal men, monitors of their troops +and of a million whites behind them, death watch to the German enemy, +destined to be sentinels and patrolmen of No Man's Land. He saw pass by +black American scouts and spies and lookouts and pioneers headed for the +frontiers of France to gain an immortal halo of glory. + +The stevedore found in his midst elegantly groomed, but speechless +Negroes whom, his friends whispered to him, belonged to the United +States Intelligence Department. They had come, so the wide-mouthed +stevedore was told, to pit their 35 ounces of brain against the German's +45 ounces, and to prove that the Hun back brain is surplus overweight +and should be reduced to Negro proportions. They had come to furnish +General Pershing information, news, tidings and dispatch, embassy and +bulletin, report and rumor. And the stevedore wondered if General +Pershing would expect these Negro men to report to him information with +precision and correctitude. + +It was the Negro band, fresh from America, which gave the stevedore his +greatest delight. Preceding the black troops everywhere, it produced a +potpourri of full and semi-scores, melodies and plantation arias, that +came as a refreshing novelty to weary English hearts and to the souls of +jaded France. + +But there were no Negro "big gun" men. The stevedore wondered if the +black boys of the 92nd Division would have to get into the fight with +Germany, depending upon the kind of barrage which some of the men whom +he knew in America might lay down for him. True, the Negro artilleryman +had been left behind in America. At Camp Taylor he was spurned and +rejected. But he refused to accept rebuff. He won his way into the +heart of commanding officer and subaltern, gained his training, made a +superior record, witnessed the outpouring of the entire white soldiery +of the camp to present arms and salute him as he went away to service, +and arrived in France in breathless haste in time to lay down a perfect +barrage for his black comrades as they advanced through the terrific +fighting in the Argonne and the Marbache. Long will stevedore tradition +recite the story of how these black "big gun men" came by. + +The black stevedore represented a section of the United States. That +section was thoroughly well represented. There was work done better than +it ever had been done before. But, on the other hand, the 92nd Division +had been drawn from every possible corner of the United States where a +quota might be raised. It was the 92nd Division especially, however +great might be the deeds of local regiments of guard, that would decide +the great ultimate question. Regiments of Negro guard troops from New +York, Chicago, Washington, Baltimore, and the State of Ohio, and Negro +pioneers from the mountain regions of the Carolinas, might cover their +respective localities with the surpassing glory of their achievements. +And every regiment of them did. But the real issue was wrapped up in the +great 92nd Division, the Negro national army commanded in large measure +by Negro officers, which stepped into the international arena on that +fateful day in June, 1918. + +They landed when the German had spent his third offensive and was at the +gates of Paris. Almost the first news which they received after they had +settled on foreign soil was that Paris, the magic city which they had +come so far to see, was destined to fall into the hands of the German. +Albeit Chateau Thierry, the turning point of the decisive struggle of +1918, was only achieved when, for the war, a total of more than a +million black men of four continents had been annihilated, the 92nd +Division was eager for the fray--was anxious to tread the field of +action for the sake of honor, and recognition and equality. It was at +Chateau Thierry, on a day soon after the arrival of the 92nd Division in +France, that Foch, the eminent generalissimo, but then an almost unknown +quantity, again gave voice to laconicism: "The offensive shall begin and +shall continue. Bring up the colonials!" America was thrown into battle +holding honored position beside Gouraud's invincible Africanders. The +Hun was halted in his tracks, thrown back across the second Marne, and +hunted like a wolf over the Hindenburg line and into his native lair. + +Soissons, Rheims, Verdun, St. Dizier and Chemin des Dames, all saw Negro +troops of the United States in violent action. In the Marbache, at Belie +Farm, and in the Bois de Tege d'Or, the Negro guard regiments and the +Negro 92nd Division went over and at the Hun. + +At Voivrette Farm and in the Bois de Frehaut, other troops of this same +division smote German super-man hip and thigh. In Voivrette Woods and in +the Bois de Cheminot, at Moulon Brook and Seilie Bridge and Epley the +92nd Division again victoriously contested the field of honor, against +the best soldiers Prussia might afford. From July until November, their +brothers of the Negro guard regiments, of Negro pioneers and Negro +casuals were within earshot of the murderous rumble of contending +artillery. By November 8 every command in the Negro American division, +including the units of guard, had more than once or twice been at the +front or over the top and at them. + +Ralph W. Tyler, of Ohio, a Negro on the staff of General Pershing, +representing the Bureau of Public Information, says of Hill 304: + + "I have learned that Hill 304, which the French so valiantly held, + and which suffered such a fierce bombardment from the Germans that + there is not a single foot of it but what is plowed up by shells, + and whose sides, even today, are literally covered with the corpses + of French soldiers who still lie where they fell, was later as + valiantly held by the colored soldiers from the United States, who + fought with all the heroism and endurance the best tradition of the + army had chronicled. The colored soldiers who held that bloody and + ever historical Hill 304 had the odds against them, but like + Tennyson's immortal 'Six Hundred,' they fought bravely and well, + firm in the belief 'it was not theirs to reason why--it was theirs + to do and die.' And like the patriots they were, they did DO, and + this war's history will so record." + +The Prussian, at last, sought safety in flight. Britisher, Frenchman, +Italian, Portuguese, Canadian, black and white American were at his +heels. Italy created a debacle in Austria. And then, wonderful news came +through of what was happening in the Near East. + +It had been impossible for the Negroes of America to come to France and +preserve the nicely calculated adjustments which England had set up +through the years. The East Indian, the Arabian, the Egyptian could not +but observe, and observing, fail to understand why American Negroes +could be entrusted in command of troops, if they were not given the same +recognition and honor and equality. Quietly England prepared them all. +Under General Allenby and dark-skinned officers of the East, the black +Caucasians and the brown Caucasians and the yellow Caucasians fell upon +the Turk, until, regardless of his German master, he cried aloud for +terms. The horde of dark-skinned captors of Turkey, under the British +supreme command, threatened and attacked Bulgaria, who quickly +succumbed. So came the Turkish armistice, and the Bulgarian armistice +and the Austrian armistice. + +The Prussian fled from the field of battle. He was not swift enough. +Brought to bay, he cried for mercy. All of the Negro American force was +to be hurled at him in the greatest stronghold of the world, Metz. He +pleaded with the American President for armistice, and was referred to +Marshal Foch. It was the great war hero, with the Hohenzollern house of +cards tumbled about him, who decided that for three days, until November +11, fighting must continue, and that in those last hours the Germans +must feel at the hands of all the allies the severest punishment that +could be meted within a limited time. Britishers, Frenchmen, men of all +allied nations sought the honor. The American Negro could not be denied. +Although regiments of Negro guard and of the 92nd Division had but +recently been in action for a period of from three to five weeks, they +craved the honor of being out in front at the stern and bitter end. It +was practically the entire Negro fighting force of America which, under +its own officers, went over the top at daybreak on the final morning of +the great four years' struggle, side by side with white men of various +nationalities, who, like them, were ready and most fit for sacrifice or +service. In the last hours, when life seemed sweeter than all creation, +there thousands of black men of all regiments overseas fell in search of +the coveted honor of being nearest Berlin as the thunderous crash and +din ceased, to roll no more. Hours before the order came for the supreme +and final sacrifice, Negro signal men had caught from the air the +message which indicated what was to be their special honor. There was +not a man to desert or seek asylum elsewhere. All went over the top +together! + +At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, +the order came to cease firing. The 92nd Division of Negro troops stood +at Thann and before Metz, in advance of the progress of troops of all +America. The ground which they trod had not been occupied by other than +German troops in 40 years. It was the field of honor, and recognition +and equality, and must be theirs of necessity. Nature had ruthlessly +perfected this type of black native-born American for the high duties +of a soldier. The war was over. Allies and Americans said to him: + + "As brothers we moved together--as brothers--to the dawn that + advanced--to the stars that fled--rendering thanks to God in the + highest, that He, having hid His face through one long night behind + thick clouds of war, once again will ascend above us in the vision + of perpetual peace." + +The Negro felt that, as the ancient Romans were too faithful to the +ideal of grandeur in themselves not to relent, after a generation or +two, before the grandeur of Hannibal, so he will not ever be the mere +son of a peri. + +The Negro knew that he could do one thing as well as the best of men--a +greater thing than Milton or Marlowe or Charlemagne ever did--he could +die grandly the death. Face forward on the flats of Flanders, in Picardy +and Lorraine he died grandly, to make the world safe for democracy. For +we of America must remember, in all our getting on and up in the world, +that, as a psychological weapon, the bristling bayonet was incomplete +until a stalwart, desperate black Negro American citizen got behind it +to fight, not for his gain, but for the uplift of the masses of +humanity. + +The war was over. It was still a small voice within that told the Negro +hosts: "As this hath been no white man's war, neither shall it be a +white man's peace." + + +THE AFTERMATH. + +But yesterday the nation tried to think of the Negro as a southern +problem, the solution of which belonged to statesmanship of the South. +Often we have endeavored to think of him as a national problem, and have +tried to persuade the national government to take in hand matters of +widespread national interest wherein he was involved. But now we must of +necessity think of the Negro as an international problem, ramifications +of which are bound up in the roots of aspiration and kindred feeling and +powerful potentiality of Frenchman and Britisher, of Asiatic and Slav, +and of the great bodies of darker peoples of all the world. + +As the Negro becomes an international problem, no single section of a +country can be entrusted with the administration of matters pertaining +to him. Such administration may be assigned by international conclave to +a particular country as its national problem, but the proper channels of +administration of international policy will be up from sectional caucus, +through national agency to the international parliament, and down from +such parliament or league, through national agencies to the section +involved. And, furthermore, sectional caucus, unless it would fail in +policies of its advocacy, and suffer modification by the Congress or +parliament of its central governmental administration, must henceforth +regard the Negro not as an aggregate all in a mass, but as a synthesis, +composed of gradations from lowest to superior. This is the new concept +which the war of 1918 has forced upon America, in spite of the bias of +1914. + +Civilization left the parting of the ways when Woodrow Wilson's rallying +cry for world democratization led America into the war. It decided to +seek the path of Peace not along the lines of permitted autocracy, but +of firmly and thoroughly well administered democracy. In administering +democratic government, Negro regiments, graded from private to superior +officer, came first as an academic proposition, and, finally, as an +actuality. They came four hundred thousand strong. No group of that +number can longer be considered as a mere accumulation of black men. One +hundred thousand Negroes of the 92nd Division and regiments of guard +have been commanded on the field of action by black headmen, with white +headlight. They have taken their objectives with speed and control and +the management of both of these elements of transfused morale has been +in the hands of colored college men or their military equals. + +The hour of decision to make the world safe for democracy was the crisis +of civilization. Victory on the fields of France has been the +satisfactory denouement. The question naturally arises: Shall there be a +happy ending of the great drama for the white American and a tragic +ending for the Negro? Or, rather, as the American brotherhood gathers +about the charmed circle and smokes the pipe of peace, shall the Negro +report: "I see and am satisfied?" + +In other words, shall the 92nd Division of Negro fighters and the +greater hosts of black war workers overseas, return to America with +honor in theory, but not pursued in fact to its logical finality? Shall +these black bulwarks of the business of world war find the door of the +business world of peace slammed in their faces? Shall these black +survivors of terrific struggle for world democracy return home only to +be declared unfit to vote an American ballot? Shall the black soldier +hero be allowed to take his croix de guerre into a jim-crow car? Shall +the black Red Cross nurse, rushing to the aid of benighted humanity +regardless of color, be refused accommodation at places of public +proprietorship whither she may seek rest or refreshment? Tragedy begets +tragedy. Seventeen seventy-six begot 1861, and 1861 begot 1914. + +The times demand decisive action. Sociological error, committed today, +will cause malformation of an important member of the American body +politic. It will cause the ship of state to ride an uneven keel. This +ship of state must be brought to her ancient moorings, the Declaration +of Independence, the Gettysburg Address of Lincoln, and the Farewell of +Old John Brown on the scaffold. + +The tumult has died. Revelry and shouting fill every program. Is the +Negro to return unheralded to homeland, and with his eyes to the hills, +undergo patting and pitying and be given a place in the corner? Or are +the colored boys in khaki to announce their return by a vigorous +knocking at the gate? Shall they have cause to cry to America: "A house +divided against itself cannot stand!" And shall they knock and knock and +knock until America sets herself to wonder what has this army Negro to +do that he becomes so unceremonious? Or shall they find the gate wide +open and triumphal arches erected in every section of the country in +their honor to signify that defeat of German autocracy means +democratization of every section of the entire world? An international +conscience demands for the Negro hero a happy ending of it all. + +The Negro looks to the military agencies of America to produce a genuine +peace wherein he may live happy ever after. Regarded in America as the +most alien of aliens before the war, he demands recognition today as the +most loyal of loyalists. But yesterday Anglo-Saxon prejudice persisted +in viewing him as a physical alien, a mental alien, a moral alien and a +social alien. The Negro is willing to discuss no further this +prejudicial conception of himself forced home by libelous propaganda and +by governmental administration for hundreds of years, if the agencies of +reconstruction will perfect and put in operation a vigorous +Americanization policy in his behalf. + +Military life has taught the Negro the advantage derived from the use of +pure food and balanced ration. It has taken him from the ghetto into the +pure air of the open country, and filled his lungs with deep draughts of +the free breezes of France. It has removed him from the temptation to +imbibe the beverage that destroys human faculties and has accustomed him +in a measure to the beneficial use of purified water. It has undertaken +through carefully selected work, exercise and recreation to perfect the +habits of digestion, assimilation and elimination. The result has been +indeed marvelous. No America Negro who went to fight for humanity will +return to America as the same physical being. No American will dare +stand before the returned Negro trooper and say: "Behold a sub-species +of mankind, wooly of hair, long of head, with dilated nostrils, thick +lips, thicker cranium, flat foot, prehensile great toe and larkheel. +Yea, behold him, dark of skin, whose mentality is like unto a child, and +closely related to the anthropoid ape; whose weight of brain is only +comparable to that of the gorilla." Where is the American who will dare +stand before any Negro trooper returned from France and thus mock and +deride him? Military agency has completely destroyed the physical +concept which the white world had of the Negro in 1914, by placing him +in the focus of Caucasian binocular vision, wherein his better +attributes become visible in their synthetic relation. + +In addition, military life has sharpened the mental powers of the Negro +in command to meet the highest exactions of modern warfare. Colonel +Charles Denton Young, Negro graduate of West Point, if we may trust the +record, is capable of the same high character of mental processes as +John J. Pershing. Military test has proven before the world that the +Negro is no mental alien, but heir to all the ages of Anglo-Saxon, +Roman, Greek and Egyptian culture. + +In France the American Negro has produced no notorious offenders against +civil or military usage. He has arisen to the moral concept of high +responsibility for the future of his race in the estimation of all +mankind. There is no story of moral degeneracy which has yet come from +abroad concerning him. Pitfall, temptation and opportunity for vice and +crime have all been shunned in light of preparation for the higher +service. The Negro has proven his power of moral restraint while guided +by leadership of his own color. As a social being he has sacrificed his +life for the highest form of social existence, democracy. Who, then, is +there to call him alien? Today he is no longer Negro, nor Afro-American, +nor colored American, nor American of African descent, but he is +American--simply this, and nothing more. + +He has been raised to erect stature and made a man by the military +branch of the United States Government, because of signal service to the +American peoples. His prayer is that this military government long may +live as such to train the great mass which he calls kin into a synthetic +whole. + +As he evolved from a student in a military training camp to military +leadership, so he desires the great military organization of America to +continue to exist, that through its agency he may attend the training +camps which lead to industrial, business, political and social success. +Universal military education for me and mine and all other Americans is +his slogan, and his aim is to recreate the America of the early +Seventies, which became hardened and callous through the years by reason +of resistance to the German menace of autocracy, but now removed. + +This American has made good in public. He has demonstrated both +efficiency and initiative. He has compelled popular belief to conceive +him as a man. The Caucasian world he has caused to perceive that he +might function as a valuable and serviceable element of twentieth +century civilization. Will the Anglo-Saxon issue to him the warrant of +immunities and privileges certifying that he is four-square with the +dominant opinion of mankind, and, therefore, entitled to superior +status? + +To this dark-skinned American are attributed all elements of beauty and +racial grandeur. Forever in survival of the world's most fit, he goes +on, blending readily with civilization's high ideal, philosophically +tolerating abuse offered by the less refined, effecting a racial +consciousness of purity in inter-social relationships, adapting himself +with symmetry and poise to the tasks of the world, and bowing in humble +respect before the higher laws whose harmonies order and rectify all +creation. + +What will the black Rip Van Winkle behold as he walks through the +corridors of the American Department of State twenty years hence? Will +he behold a great black mass still at the veriest bottom of our +governmental organization, or will he be caused to marvel at the +synthetic gradations of black American from lowest to superior? As he +views progress in all departments of the government, will he see this +real American organized synthetically in all branches of the service, or +will he behold him still employed as the boy or the mere high private? +Time and the great heart of America will tell. + +The center of gravity of world interest of 1914 has shifted and come to +rest at a spot most significant for darker peoples. Victory to all +participants in its glorious achievement must be less disastrous than +defeat. In order to satisfy the liberal opinion of the world, some form +of autonomy must be devised for the newly organized man in America. +Durable peace requires that American prejudice be utterly and forever +stamped out; first by the reconstructed organization of the American +Expeditionary Force, which beheld its organizations of every race and +creed under fire and in action; second, by the American people of every +locality, who have had forced upon them by world war the new concept of +a branch of the species once considered inferior; and, third, by the +powers of the world, who must prevent the upgrowths in America from +offering malignant germs of unrest to their own systems of national +government. + +After the Negro has proved his value and worth in all of these trying +ways, when after this he asks for a full measure of equal rights, what +American will have the heart or the hardihood to say him nay? + + + + +THE NEGRO IN THE NAVY. + +ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE NEGRO IN THE AMERICAN NAVY--GUARDING THE +TRANS-ATLANTIC ROUTE TO FRANCE--BATTLING THE SUBMARINE PERIL--THE BEST +SAILORS IN ANY NAVY IN THE WORLD--MAKING A NAVY IN THREE MONTHS FROM +NEGRO STEVEDORES AND LABORERS--WONDERFUL ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF OUR NEGRO +YEOMEN AND YEOWOMEN. + + +Stranger than fiction, the story of the organization, development and +expansion of the United States navy from a mere atom, as it were, to the +present time, when her electrically propelled men-of-war, equipped with +the most luxurious compartments and modern mechanism for despatch and +communication as well as her great merchant marine, floating the emblem +of freedom and democracy in every civilized port of the world, is one of +the most fascinating pages in the history of human achievement. + +And, as it were, the very culmination of wonder and admiration, the +chain of events reciting the deeds of valor and unselfish devotion to +duty upon the part of her black sons, constitutes an illustrious record +easily marking its participants as conspicuous representatives of a +people, who have won their tardily conceded recognition in every phase +of American public life. + +The services of the Negro in the American navy very properly begin with +the stirring and thrilling events of the American Revolution, which +terminated in the independence of the colonies and the establishment of +the United States. + + +THE NEGRO IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. + +The Negro in the navy was then and has been ever since no less devoted +to duty and as fearless of death as Crispus Attucks, when he fell on +Boston Commons, the first martyr of American independence. + +In speaking of colored seamen, who showed great heroism, Nathaniel +Shaler, commander of the private armed schooner _General Thompson_, said +of an engagement between his vessel and a British frigate: "The name of +one of my poor fellows, who was killed, ought to be registered in the +book of fame, and remembered with reverence as long as bravery is +considered a virtue. He was a black man by the name of John Johnson. A +twenty-four pound shot struck him in his hip, and took away all the +lower part of his body. In this state, the poor brave fellow lay on the +deck, and several times exclaimed to his shipmates, 'Fire away, my boy! +No haul color down!' Another black by the name of John Davis was wounded +in much the same way. He fell near me, and several times requested to be +thrown overboard, saying he was only in the way of others. When America +can boast of such tars she has little fear from the tyrants of the +ocean." + +British gold and promises of personal freedom served as futile +incentives among the Negroes of the American navy; for them, the proud +consciousness of duty well done served as a constant monitor and nerved +their strong black arms when thundering shot and shell menaced the +future of the country; and, although African slavery was still a +recognized legal institution and constituted the basic fabric of the +great food productive industry of the nation, it was the Negro's trusted +devotion to duty which ever guided him in the nation's darkest hours of +peril and menace. + + +NEGROES IN THE WAR OF 1812. + +In the second period, the War of 1812, a second fight with Great +Britain, again made it necessary to call upon the Negro for his +assistance. Whether with Perry on Lake Erie, Commodore MacDonough, +Lawrence or Chauncey, the black man played his heroic and sacrificing +role, struggling and dying that American arms and valor, the security of +American lives and property, would suffer no destruction at the hands of +the enemy. The fine words of Commodore Chauncey, commending their +dauntless intrepidity and unswerving obedience and loyalty to the +rigorous demands of duty, should be read and carefully studied by all +men friendly to human excellence and courage. + + +COMMODORE CHAUNCEY'S TRIBUTE. + +The following is a statement of Commodore Perry, expressing +dissatisfaction at the troops sent him on Lake Erie: "I have this moment +received by express the enclosed letter of General Harrison. If I had +officers and men,--and I have no doubt that you will send them,--I could +fight the enemy and proceed up the lake; but, having no one to command +the _Majestic_ and only one commissioned officer and two acting +lieutenants, whatever my wishes may be, getting out is out of the +question. The men that came by Mr. Champlin are a motley set,--blacks, +soldiers, and boys. I can not think that you saw them after they were +selected. I am, however, pleased to see anything in shape of a man." + +The following is the reply from Commodore Chauncey to Commodore Perry in +answer to the above letter: "Sir, I have been duly honored with your +letters of the 23d and 26th ultimo and notice your anxiety for men and +officers. I am equally anxious to furnish you; and no time shall be lost +in sending officers and men to you as soon as the public service will +allow me to send them from this lake. I regret that you are not pleased +with the men sent you by Messrs. Champlin and Forest; for, to my +knowledge, a part of them are not surpassed by any seamen we have in the +fleet; and I have yet to learn that the color of skin, or the cut and +trimmings of the coat, can affect a man's qualifications and usefulness. + +"I have nearly fifty blacks on board this ship, and many of them are +among my best men, and I presume that you will find them as good and +useful as any on board your vessel; at least if you can judge by +comparison; for those which we have on board this ship are attentive and +obedient, and, as far as I can judge, are excellent seamen. At any rate, +the men sent to Lake Erie have been selected with the view of sending a +proportion of petty officers and seamen and I presume upon examination, +it will be found that they are equal to those upon this lake." + + +THE COLORED MAN IN THE MEXICAN WAR. + +In the Mexican War (1845-1848) we find him, in his humble positions of +service and usefulness, a positive factor in the final success and +triumph of American ideals. No insidious treacheries, no dark plots of +poison, arson and unfaithfulness characterized his conduct, and, in the +final and complete blockade of the Mexican ports, his contribution of +faithful and loyal service made effective the terms by which Generals +Scott and Taylor taught the ever-observed lesson of American dominance +upon the Western Hemisphere and thereby preserved the Monroe Doctrine. + + +IN THE DAYS OF THE CIVIL WAR. + +In the Civil War--when the violence of domestic strife menaced the +continuance of the National Union; when the preservation of slavery +constituted the subject of angry and stormy debate in every section of +the country, it was in the navy, no less than in the army, that the +Negro evinced that dauntless fidelity to duty which aided in stabilizing +the discipline of the field forces, thereby effectively contributing to +the success not alone of forcing the Mississippi, and intersecting the +Confederacy, but also in hermetically sealing all Southern ports and +reducing to imperceptible insignificance the possibility of foreign +trade with the South,--a factor which made it doubly sure that Northern +arms would ultimately triumph and the Union be saved. It was a colored +man, Robert Small, who single handed, stole the Union cruiser _Panther_ +from Charleston harbor, foiled the Confederate fleet, and navigated her +safely to a Union port. In all the annals of courage and dazzling +gallantry, this incident has been recited; and it constitutes a +commendable example, with many others, however, of devotion to duty and +undying love for freedom. Mr. Small became a successful business man, +and was one of the few Negroes who served in the Congress of the United +States. + + +THE NEGRO IN THE SPANISH WAR. + +The Spanish-American War (1898-1900) also has its roll of honorable dead +and surviving heroes--it was a Negro who fired the first shot at Manila +Bay, from the cruiser _Olympia_, flag ship of the late Admiral Dewey, +commanding the American forces on the Asiatic station. He was John +Christopher Jordan, chief gunner's mate (retired) U.S.N. His career is a +fair example of the Negro's ability. He was first enlisted in the United +States navy on June 17, 1877, as an apprentice of the third class, the +very lowest rating in which he could have entered. He advanced, despite +opposition, through the different grades in direct competition with his +white shipmates to the grade of chief gunner's mate, the highest rating +that could be reached in the enlisted status. + +It was not because of his lack of desire for further advancement that he +did not go higher, nor was it due to his not being qualified, for it was +conceded by all officers under whom he served that he was thoroughly +competent and highly qualified for advancement. He was finally +recommended by his superior officer for the position of warrant gunner, +and the papers passed up for final approval by the commander-in-chief of +the fleet, before being sent to the secretary of the navy. There he +encountered the Negro's most formidable foe--prejudice. That official +very unceremoniously forwarded the papers to the navy department with +the following endorsement: "Respectfully forwarded to the secretary of +the navy--disapproved. The explanation of disapproval will be found in +the applicant's descriptive list." + +However, this slur did not deter Jordan in his determination to go +higher, for at the battle of Manila he was a gunner's mate of the first +class, and his record was so conspicuous that it could not go unnoticed +by the officials in Washington. + + +FINAL RECOGNITION. + +The following letter was then addressed to Jordan's commanding officer +by the bureau of navigation: "The Bureau notes that John C. Jordan, +gunner's mate first class, has served as such with a creditable service +since August 6, 1899. The chief of bureau directs me to request an +expression of opinion from the commanding officer as to whether Jordan +possesses that superior intelligence, force of character and ability to +command, necessary for a chief petty officer and particularly as to +whether he is in all respects qualified for the position of chief +gunner's mate of a first-class modern battleship." + +[Illustration: COLORED YEOWOMEN. + +Employees of Navy Department, Washington, D.C.] + +[Illustration: ROBERT McCRAY. + +Seaman. Lost on the U.S.S. ALCEDO, November 5, 1917.] + +[Illustration: LEWIS H. HARDWICK. + +Mess Attendant, 3c, U.S.N. Lost on U.S.S. CYCLOPS, June 14, 1918.] + +[Illustration: ERCELL WILLIAM MARTIN. + +Mess Attendant, 3c, U.S.N. Killed when shell exploded on board U.S. Von +STEUBEN, March 5, 1918.] + +[Illustration: PRINCE A. JOHNSON. + +Mess Attendant, 2c, U.S.N.R.F. Died from exposure after Lake Moor was +sunk, April 11, 1918.] + +[Illustration: HUBERT ALFRED JOHNSON. + +Mess Attendant, 2c, U.S.N. + +Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was torpedoed and sunk, September 30, +1918.] + +[Illustration: LYNN COCHRANE. + +Ship's Cook, 1c, U.S.N.R.F. Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was +torpedoed and sunk September 30, 1918.] + +[Illustration: E. HARRISON. + +Mess Attendant. Lost on the U.S.S. ALCEDO, November 5, 1917.] + +[Illustration: HERMAN STALLINGS. + +Ship's Cook, 2c, U.S.N.R.F. Accidentally drowned while in swimming, May +19, 1918.] + +[Illustration: WILSON C. SAMPSON. + +Fireman 1st Class, U.S.N. Commended for seamanlike conduct and services +rendered when boiler was disabled. S.S. MacDONOUGH, Oct. 27, 1916.] + +[Illustration: ANDREW THEODORE ASKIN. + +Mess Attendant 3c, U.S.N. Lost on U.S.S. CYCLOPS, June 14, 1918.] + +[Illustration: EARLE B. WHITESELL. + +Fireman, 3c, U.S.N. Lost on U.S.S. CYCLOPS, June 14, 1918.] + +[Illustration: HENRY McCORKLE. + +Mess Attendant, 3c, U.S.N. Killed on U.S.S. Von STEUBEN, April 10, +1918.] + +[Illustration: WALLACE SIMPSON. + +Employee U.S. Navy.] + +[Illustration: HE WAS PATRIOTIC, TOO.] + +The reply to this letter was to the effect that Jordan was in all +respects qualified, and by order of the secretary of the navy, he was +advanced to the grade of chief petty officer, filling this position with +efficiency to the service and with credit to his race, until December 1, +1916, at which time he was retired, after serving thirty years in the +navy of the United States. The following letter was addressed to him by +the secretary of the navy upon this occasion: + +"The department desires to congratulate you upon the completion of +thirty years' service in the navy. The fact that you started as an +apprentice and now retire as a chief petty officer, your several +honorable discharges and good conduct medals, show that you were a +valuable man in the upbuilding of the navy, and while the department is +glad to know that you will now enjoy the benefits of the retirement law, +yet it regrets very much to see you retire from active life in the navy. +The department hopes that you will always take a lively interest in +naval affairs, and wishes you many years of good health and usefulness." + + +OTHER INSTANCES. + +Another very interesting character of the navy during this period was +Mr. C.D. Tippett of Washington D.C., who enlisted in the navy in 1875, +and who served honorably and faithfully, until recently, when he was +retired for honorable service. Mr. Tippett enjoys the distinction of +having crossed the equator on two different occasions, and holds a +certificate from Neptune, a relic highly treasured by all naval men +fortunate enough to hold one. + +It has been the object of the preceding paragraphs to briefly recite +some few instances of the Negro's activity in the American navy from its +beginning up to the present struggle. Space and time will not permit a +more detailed and accurate exposition of the many other cases equally as +interesting, instructive, and illustrative of the superb discipline and +devotion to duty of this race whenever and wherever called upon to +serve. + + +THE NEGRO SEAMAN IN THE WORLD WAR. + +The extent of the Negro's work in the army and the record of its +brilliant achievements may in some degree obscure the service rendered +our country and its Allies by the Negro in the navy, but the Negro was +represented in this branch of the military service almost in the same +proportion, and, just as with Perry on Lake Erie, Farragut on the +Mississippi, Dewey at Manila Bay, Hobson at Santiago, and Peary at the +North Pole, he rendered efficient heroic and honorable service during +the World War. It must be remembered that our ships were a part of the +great war forces which kept open the highways of the deep and made +possible the final triumph of the Allied armies, for, had the command of +the ocean slipped from our hands those armies would have languished and +been beaten back for lack of support in men and material. Had the +sceptre of the seas passed to our foes, our own black boys would never +have inscribed on their banner the imperishable name of Chateau-Thierry, +The Argonne, and Hill 304. The one essential and indisputable element of +victory was the supremacy of the Allied fleet. + + +NEGROES IN THE GRAND FLEET. + +The Negro's part in the organization of the Grand Fleet is far from +being inconsiderable, his services were utilized in the complement of +every vessel and shore station and at this time as in the past, black +blood was among the very first to be gloriously shed in the American +navy, that free government should live imperishably among the sons of +men. + +On November 4, 1917, the _U.S.S. Alcedo_ proceeded to sea from Quiberon +Bay on escort duty to take convoy through the war zone; she had as +members of her crew two young Negroes, just in the prime of life and +patriotic to the core. It was the crew of this vessel that was first +called upon to make the supreme sacrifice. Robert McCray and Earnest +Harrison were their names, and the following report fully indicates the +manner in which they gave their lives in order that democracy might not +perish from the earth: "At or about 1:45 A.M., November 5th, while +sleeping in emergency cabin, immediately under upper bridge, I was +awakened by a commotion and immediately received a report from some man +unknown, 'Submarine, Captain.' + +"I jumped out of bed and went to the upper bridge, and the officer of +the deck, Lieutenant Paul, stated he had sounded 'General quarters,' had +seen submarine on surface about three hundred yards on port bow, and +submarine had fired a torpedo, which was approaching. I took station on +port wing of upper bridge and saw torpedo approaching about two hundred +yards distant. Lieutenant Paul had put the rudder full right before I +arrived on bridge, hoping to avoid the torpedo. The ship answered slowly +to her helm however, and before any other action could be taken the +torpedo I saw struck the ship's side immediately under the port forward +chain plates, the detonation occurring instantly. + +"I was thrown down and for a few seconds dazed by falling debris and +water. Upon regaining my feet I sounded the submarine alarm on the +siren, to call all hands if they had not heard the general alarm gong, +and to direct their attention of the convoy and other escorting vessels. +Called to the forward gun's crew to see if at stations, but by this time +realized that the forecastle was practically awash. The foremast had +fallen, carrying away radio aerial. I called out to abandon ship. + + +THE SINKING SHIP. + +"I then left the upper bridge and went into the chart house to obtain +ship's position from the chart, but, as there was no light, could not +see. I then went out of the chart house and met the navigator, +Lieutenant Leonard, and asked him if he had sent any radio; he replied +'No.' I then directed him and accompanied him to the main deck and told +him to take charge of cutting away forward dories and life rafts. I then +proceeded along starboard gangway and found a man lying face down in +gangway. I stooped and rolled him over and spoke to him, but received no +reply and was unable to learn his identity, owing to the darkness. It is +my opinion that this man was dead. I then continued to the after end of +ship, took station on after gun platform. + +"I then realized that the ship was filling rapidly and her bulwarks +amidships were level with the water. I directed the after dories and +life rafts to be cut away and thrown overboard and ordered the men in +the immediate vicinity to jump over the side, intending to follow them. +Before I could jump, however, the ship listed heavily to port, plunging +by the head and sunk, carrying me down with the suction. + + +STRUGGLE IN THE WATER. + +"I experienced no difficulty, however, in getting clear and when I came +to the surface I swam a few yards to a life raft, to which were clinging +three men. We climbed on board this raft and upon looking around +observed Doyle, chief boatswain's mate, and one other man in the whale +boat. We paddled to the whale boat and embarked from the life raft. The +whale boat was about half full of water and we immediately started +bailing and then to rescue men from the wreckage, and quickly filled the +whale boat to more than its maximum capacity, so that no others could +be taken aboard. We then picked up two overturned dories which were +nested together, separated them and righted them, only to find that +their sterns had been broken. + +"We then located another nest of dories, which were found to be +seaworthy. Transferred some men from the whale boat into these dories +and proceeded to pick up other men from wreckage. During this time cries +were heard from two men in the water some distance away who were holding +on to wreckage and calling for assistance. It is believed that these men +were Earnest M. Harrison and John Winne, Jr. As soon as the dories were +available, we proceeded to where they were last seen but could find no +trace of them. + +"About this time, which was probably an hour after the ship sank, a +German submarine approached the scene of torpedoing and lay to, near +some of the dories and life rafts. She was in the light condition, and +from my observation of her I am of the opinion that she was of the +U-27-31 type. This has been confirmed by having a number of men and +officers check the silhouette book. The submarine was probably one +hundred yards distant from my whale boat, and I heard no remarks from +anyone on the submarine, although I observed three persons standing on +top of conning tower. After laying on surface about half an hour the +submarine steered off and submerged. I then proceeded with the whale +boat and two dories searching through the wreckage to make sure that no +survivors were left in the water. No other people being seen, at 4:30 +A.M. we steered away from the scene of disaster. The _Alcedo_ was sunk, +near as I can estimate, seventy-five miles west true of north end of +Belle Ile. The torpedo struck ship at 1:46 by the officer of the deck's +watch and the same watch stopped at 1:54 A.M. November 5th, this +showing that the ship remained afloat eight minutes. The flare of +Penmark Light was visible, and I headed for it and ascertained the +course by Polaris to be approximately northeast We rowed until 1:15, +when Penmark Lighthouse was sighted. Continued rowing until 5:15 P.M., +when Penmark Lighthouse was distant about two and one-half miles. We +were then picked up by French torpedo boat number 257, and upon going on +board I requested the commanding officer to radio immediately to Brest +reporting the fact of torpedoing and that three officers and forty men +were proceeding to Brest. The French gave all assistance possible for +the comfort of the survivors. We arrived at Brest about 11 P.M. Those +requiring medical attention were sent to the hospital and the others +were sent off to the _Panther_ to be quartered. Upon arrival at Brest I +was informed that two other dories containing Lieut. H.R. Leonard, +Lieut. H.A. Peterson, P.A. Aurgeon, Paul O.M. Andreae, and twenty-five +men had landed at Pen March Point. This is my first intimation that +these officers and men had been saved, as they had not been seen by any +of my party at the scene of torpedoing." + + +DISAPPEARANCE OF THE CYCLOPS. + +The next contribution of life on the part of the Negro in the American +navy was made when the U.S.S. war vessel _Cyclops_ so mysteriously +disappeared. Loaded with a cargo of manganese, with fifty-seven +passengers, twenty officers, and a crew of two hundred and thirteen +enlisted men (twenty-three of whom were Negroes). The vessel was due in +port March 13, 1918. On March 4, the _Cyclops_ reported at Barbadoes, +British West Indies, where she put in for bunker coal. Since her +departure from that port there has not been the slightest trace of the +vessel, and long continued and vigilant search of the entire region +proved utterly futile, as not a vestige of wreckage has been discovered. +No responsible explanation of the strange and mysterious disappearance +of this vessel has ever been given by the officials of the Navy +Department. It was known that one of her two engines was damaged, and +that she was proceeding at reduced speed; but, even if the other engine +had become disabled, it would not have had any effect on her ability to +communicate by radio. + +Many theories have been advanced, but none seems to account +satisfactorily for the ship's complete vanishment. After months of +search and waiting, the _Cyclops_ was finally given up as lost and her +crew officially declared dead. This vessel was under the command of a +German-born officer, who, prior to his connection with the Navy +Department, was an officer of the merchant marine. Many accusations were +made reflecting upon his loyalty. Some even going as far as suggesting +that he had intimidated the crew and delivered the vessel into the hands +of the enemy; but, it is strange to note that none of these insinuations +was directed to the loyal and ever true Negroes who formed a part of its +crew and presumably went to their watery graves in order that German +militarism might be crushed. + +What a strange episode if, indeed, these are the facts in this most +unfortunate incident. In intelligent circles, it should and will mark +the beginning of a period of racial justice and equity. When one's deeds +and character will invariably constitute the exponent of one's +appreciation. + + +THE NEGRO TRUE AND LOYAL. + +Caucasian treachery in some of our national perils presented no charms +for the Negro whose proven fidelity everywhere and on every occasion +marks him the great American advocate in fact as well as in profession. + +If these accusations should in the end prove true, which is highly +possible, would it not have been wiser on the part of the directors of +our naval policy, when the urgent pressure for manpower to officer the +expanding navy of the United States asserted itself, to have recognized +the ability and merit of scores of black men, whose years of faithful +and efficient service in the navy of the United States and unquestioned +fidelity to duty justly entitle them to the command of a vessel of this +character, instead of utilizing the services of men of questioned +loyalty and doubtful allegiance to command our naval vessels? For such +an act of base and unpardonable treachery is unthinkable to a Negro. +Rather would he most willingly have seen his last drop of rich loyal +blood flow in torrents of effusion than to leave to his progeny such a +record of shame and infamy. + + +THE JACOB JONES. + +Another incident in which the Negro displayed his constant willingness +to die for the cause of America and its ideals was when the United +States torpedo boat destroyer _Jacob Jones_ was destroyed by a torpedo +fired from a German submarine. This ship was one of six of an escorting +group which was returning independently from Brest, France, to +Queensland, Ireland. The following extract from the report of its +commanding officer gives in brief detail the manner in which the +majority of its crew met their death in an effort to uphold the +principles of democracy. On this vessel, as well as all others that were +lost, the Negro served, bled, and died, side by side with white men in a +desperate struggle to subdue the German U-boat. + +"I was in the chart house and heard some one cry out, 'Torpedo.' I +jumped at once to the bridge and on the way up saw the torpedo about +eight hundred yards from the ship approaching from about one point abaft +the starboard beam headed for a point about amidships, making a +perfectly straight surface run (alternately broaching and submerging to +approximately four or five feet), at an estimated speed of at least +forty knots. No periscope was sighted. When I reached the bridge, I +found that the officer of the deck had already put the rudder hard left +and rung up the emergency speed on the engine room telegraph. The ship +had already begun to swing to the left. I personally rang up the +emergency speed again and then turned to watch the torpedo. The +executive officer left the chart house just ahead of me, saw the torpedo +immediately on getting outside the door, and estimates that the torpedo +when he sighted it was one thousand yards away, approaching from one +point, or slightly less, abaft the beam and making exceedingly high +speed. + +"After seeing the torpedo and realizing the straight run, line of +approach, and high speed it was making, I was convinced that it was +impossible to maneuver to avoid it. The officer of the deck took prompt +measures in maneuvering to avoid the torpedo. The torpedo broached and +jumped clear of the water at a short distance from the ship, submerged +about fifty or sixty feet from the ship and struck approximately three +feet below the water-line in the fuel oil tank between the auxiliary +room and the after crew space. + + +THE SLOWLY SINKING SHIP. + +"The ship settled aft immediately after being torpedoed to a point at +which the deck just forward of the after deck house was awash, and then, +more gradually, until the deck abreast the engine room hatch was awash. +A man on watch in the engine room attempted to close the water-tight +door between the auxiliary room and the engine room, but was unable to +do so against the pressure of water from the auxiliary room. The deck +over the forward part of the after crew space and over the fuel oil +tanks just forward of it was blown clear for a space athwartships of +about twenty feet from starboard to port, and the auxiliary room was +wrecked. The starboard after torpedo tube was blown into the air. No +fuel oil ignited and apparently no ammunition exploded. + +"The depth charges in the chutes aft were set on ready and exploded +after the stern sank. It was impossible to get to them to set on safe as +they were under the water. + +"As soon as the torpedo struck, it was attempted to send out an S.O.S. +message by radio, but the mainmast was carried away and antennae falling +and all electric power had failed. I then tried to have the gun sight +lighting batteries connected up in an effort to send out a low power +message with them, but it was at once evident that this would not be +practicable before the ship sank. There was no other vessel in sight, +and it was therefore impossible to get through a distress signal of any +kind. Immediately after the ship was torpedoed every effort was made to +get rafts and boats launched. Also, the circular life belts from the +bridge and several splinter mats from the outside of the bridge were cut +adrift and afterwards proved very useful in holding men up until they +could be got to the raft. + + +STRUGGLING MEN IN THE WATER. + +"The ship sank about 4:29 P.M. (about eight minutes after being +torpedoed). As I saw her settling rapidly, I ran along the deck and +ordered everybody I saw to jump overboard. At this time, most of those +not killed by the explosion had got clear of the ship and were on rafts +or wreckage. Some, however, were swimming and a few appeared to be about +a ship's length astern of the ship, at some distance from the rafts, +probably having jumped overboard very soon after the ship was torpedoed. + +"Before the ship sank, two shots were fired from No. 4 gun with the hope +of attracting the attention of some nearby ship. As the ship began +sinking I jumped overboard. The ship sank stern first and twisted slowly +through nearly one hundred and eighty degrees as she swung upright. From +this nearly vertical position, bow in the air, to about the forward +point, she went straight down. Before the ship reached the vertical +position the depth charges exploded, and I believe them to have caused +the death of a number of men. They also partially paralyzed, stunned, or +dazed a number of others, some of whom are still disabled. + + +SAFEGUARDING THE SURVIVORS. + +"Immediate efforts were made to get all survivors on the rafts and then +get the rafts and boats together. Three rafts were launched before the +ship sank and one floated off when she sank. The motor dory, hull +undamaged but engine out of commission, also floated off and the punt +and wherry also floated clear. The punt was wrecked beyond usefulness +and the wherry was damaged and leaking badly, but was of considerable +use in getting men to the rafts. The whale boat was launched but +capsized soon afterwards, having been damaged by the explosion of the +depth charges. The motor sailor did not float clear, but went down with +the ship. + +"About fifteen or twenty minutes after the ship sank, the submarine +appeared on the surface about two or three miles to the westward of the +raft, and gradually approached until about eight hundred or one thousand +yards from the ship, where it stopped and was seen to pick up one +unidentified man from the water. The submarine then submerged and was +not seen again. + + +BY MOTOR DORY TO THE SCILLY ISLANDS. + +"I was picked up by the motor dory and at once began to make +arrangements to reach the Scillys in that boat in order to get +assistance to those on the rafts. All the survivors then in sight were +collected and I gave orders to one of the officers to keep them +together. The navigating officer had fixed the position a few minutes +before the explosion and both he and I knew accurately the course to be +steered. I kept one of the officers with me and four men who were in +good condition to man the oars, the engine being out of commission. With +the exception of some emergency rations and a half bucket of water, all +provisions, including medical kit, were taken from the dory and left on +the rafts. There was no apparatus of any kind which could be used for +night signalling. + +"After a very trying trip, during which it was necessary to steer by +stars and by direction of the wind, the dory was picked up about 1 P.M. +by a small patrol vessel about six miles south of St. Mary's. The +commander informing me that the rest of the survivors had been picked +up. I deeply regret to state that out of a total of several officers and +one hundred and six enlisted men on board at the time of the torpedoing, +two officers and sixty-four enlisted men were killed in the performance +of duty. The behavior of the men under the most exceptional and trying +conditions is worthy of praise, and the following cases are a sample of +the spirit of the men under these conditions. + + +INSTANCE OF RARE SELF-DENIAL. + +"One man removed parts of his clothing (when all realized that their +lives depended upon keeping warm), to try to keep alive men who were +more thinly clad than himself. Another man at the risk of almost certain +death, remained in the motor sailor and endeavored to get it clear for +floating from the ship. While he did not succeed in accomplishing this +act (which would have undoubtedly saved twenty or thirty lives) he stuck +to his duty until the very last. He was drawn under the water with the +boat, but later came to the surface and was rescued." + +Wallace Simpson, a young Negro, was a petty officer aboard this vessel. +Young Simpson was a graduate of the high school, Denver, Colorado, and +at the call of his country, when but in the prime of his life, made the +supreme sacrifice in order that the world might be made safe for +democracy. + + +NEGRO FIREMEN AND COAL PASSERS. + +It seems that fate always throws the Negro in a line of service wherein +he can by some method, peculiarly his own, have an opportunity to +display his ability, loyalty and usefulness, in spite of prejudice and +opposition. I particularly refer here to the positions of firemen and +coal passers, because of the physical strength required for work of that +kind. The Negro can serve better in the American navy in this capacity +than in any other, with the possible exception of the messman branch of +service; but, nevertheless, in the former positions he has a decidedly +better opportunity to bring into play originality and foresight, for the +fire-room is the life of the ship and especially so when attacked. + +When one of the vessels of our navy had been hit with one torpedo from +an enemy submarine and was about to be hit with a second, the commanding +officer had the following statement to make: "I realized that the +immediate problem was to escape a second torpedo. To do so, two things +were necessary, to attack the enemy, and to make more speed than he +could submerged. The depth charge crew jumped to their stations and +immediately started dropping depth bombs. A barrage of depth charges +was dropped, exploding at regular intervals far below the surface of the +water. This work was beautifully done. The explosions must have shaken +the enemy up, at any rate he never came to the surface again to get a +look at us. + +"The other factor in the problem was to make as much speed as possible, +not only in order to escape an immediate attack, but also to prevent the +submarine from tracking us and attacking us after nightfall. + +"The men in the fire rooms knew that the safety of the ship and our +lives depended on their bravery and steadfastness to duty. It is +difficult to conceive a more trying ordeal to one's courage than was +presented to every man in the fire room that escaped destruction. The +profound shock of the explosion, followed by instant darkness, falling +soot and particles, the knowledge that they were far below the water +level, practically enclosed in a trap, the imminent danger of the ship +sinking, the added threat of exploding boilers--all these dangers and +more must have been apparent to every man below, and yet not one man +wavered in standing by his post of duty. + + +WONDERFUL DEVOTION TO DUTY. + +"No better example can possibly be given of the wonderful fact that with +a brave and disciplined body of American men, white or black, all things +are possible. However strong may be their momentary impulses for +self-preservation in extreme danger, their controlling impulses are to +stand by their stations and duty at all hazards. + +"In at least two instances in this crisis below, men who were actually +in the face of death did actually forget or ignored their impulse of +self-preservation and endeavored to do what appeared to them to be their +duty. One man was in one of the flooded fire rooms. He was thrown to +the floor and instantly enveloped in flames from the burning gases +driven from the furnaces, but instead of rushing to escape, he turned +and endeavored to shut a water-tight door leading into a large bunker +abaft the fire room. But the hydraulic lever that operated the door had +been injured by the shock and failed to function. Three men at work at +this bunker were drowned. If this man had succeeded in shutting the +door, the lives of these men would have been saved as well as +considerable buoyancy saved to the ship. The fact that he, though +profoundly stunned by the shock and almost fatally burned by the furnace +gases, should have had presence of mind and the courage to endeavor to +shut the door is a great example of heroic devotion to duty as is +possible for one to imagine. Immediately after attempting to close the +door he was caught in the swirl of inrushing water and thrust up a +ventilator leading to the upper deck. + + +STRANGE EFFECT OF THE EXPLOSIONS. + +"The torpedo exploded on a bulkhead separating two fire rooms, the +explosive effect being apparently equal in both fire rooms, yet, in one +fire room not a man was saved, while in the other fire room two of the +men escaped. The explosion blasted through the outer and inner skin of +the ship and through an intervening coal bunker and bulkhead, hurling +overboard seven hundred and fifty tons of coal. The two men saved were +working the fires within thirty feet of the explosion and just below the +level where the torpedo struck. + +"It is difficult to see how it was possible for these men to have +escaped the shower of debris, coal and water that must instantly have +followed the explosion. However, the two men were not only saved but +seemed to have retained full possession of their faculties. Both of them +were knocked down and blown across the fire room. Their sensations were +at first a shower of flying coal, followed by an overwhelming inrush of +water that swirled them round and round and finally thrust them up +against the gratings of the top of the fire rooms." + + +THE ATTACK UPON THE TORPEDO BOAT CASSIN. + +Another instance of self-sacrifice and unparalleled heroism is contained +in the account of the attack upon the torpedo boat _Cassin_ by a German +submarine, while on patrol duty off the coast of Ireland. The following +is the story briefly related in the official report of her commanding +officer: + +"When about twenty miles south of Minehead, at 1:30 P.M., a German +submarine was sighted by the lookout aloft four or five miles away, +about two points on the port bow. The submarine at this time was awash +and was made out by officers of the watch and the quartermaster of the +watch, but three minutes later submerged. The _Cassin_ which was making +fifteen knots continued on its course until near the position where the +submarine had disappeared. When last seen the submarine was heading in a +southeasterly direction, and when the destroyer reached the point of +disappearance the course was changed, as it was thought the vessel would +make a decided change of course after submerging. At this time the +commanding officer, the executive officer, engineer officer, officer of +the watch, and the junior watch officers were all on the bridge +searching for the submarine. + + +THE ATTACK. + +"About 1:57 P.M., the commanding officer sighted a torpedo apparently +shortly after it had been fired, running near the surface and in a +direction that was estimated would make a hit either in the engine or +fire room. When first seen the torpedo was between three or four hundred +yards from the ship, and the wake could be followed on the other side +for about four hundred yards. The torpedo was running at high speed, at +least thirty-five knots. The _Cassin_ was maneuvering to dodge the +torpedo, double emergency full speed ahead having been signalled from +the engine room and the rudder put hard left as soon as the torpedo was +sighted. It looked for the moment as though the torpedo would pass +astern. When about fifteen or twenty feet away the torpedo porpoised, +completely leaving the water and sheering to the left. Before again +taking the water the torpedo hit the ship well aft on the port side +about frame one hundred sixty-three and above the water line. Almost +immediately after the explosion of the torpedo the depth charges, +located on the stern and ready for firing, exploded. There were two +distinct explosions in quick succession after the torpedo hit. + +"But one life was lost. Osman K. Ingram, gunner's mate, first class, was +cleaning the muzzle of number 4 gun, target practice being just over +when the attack occurred. With rare presence of mind, realizing that the +torpedo was about to strike the part of the ship where the depth charges +were stored and that the setting off of these explosions might sink the +ship, Ingram, immediately seeing the danger, ran aft to strip these +charges and throw them overboard. He was blown to pieces when the +torpedo struck. Thus, Ingram sacrificed his life in the performance of a +duty which he believed would save his ship and the lives of the officers +and men on board." + + +TORPEDOING THE PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +One of the most spectacular and thrilling incidents of our naval warfare +in which more than a score of colored men bravely and heroically +participated, was the attack and sinking of the _U.S.S. President +Lincoln_, the commanding officer of which reports as follows: + +"On May 31, 1918, the _President Lincoln_ was returning to America from +a voyage to France, and was in line formation with the _U.S.S. +Susquehanna_, _Antigone_, and _Ryndam_, the latter being on the left +flank of the formation and about eight hundred yards from the _President +Lincoln_. The ships were about five hundred miles from the coast of +France and had passed through what was considered to be the most +dangerous part of the war zone. At about 9 A.M. a terrific explosion +occurred on the port side of the ship about one hundred and twenty feet +from the bow and immediately afterwards another explosion occurred on +the port side of the ship about one hundred and twenty feet from the +stern, these explosions being immediately identified as coming from +torpedoes fired by a German submarine. + +"It was found that the ship had been struck by three torpedoes, which +were fired as one salvo from the submarine, two of the torpedoes +striking practically together near the bow of the ship and the third +striking near the stern. The wake of the torpedo had been sighted by the +officers and lookouts on watch, but the torpedoes were so close to the +ship as to make it impossible to avoid them; and it was also found that +the submarine at the time of firing was only about eight hundred yards +from the _President Lincoln_. There were at the time seven hundred and +fifteen persons on board, some of these were sick and two men were +totally paralyzed. + + +COOLNESS AND DISCIPLINE. + +"The alarm was immediately sounded and everyone went to his proper +station which had been designated at previous drills. There was not the +slightest confusion and the crew and passengers waited for and acted on +orders from the commanding officer with a coolness which was truly +inspiring. Inspections were made below decks and it was found that the +ship was rapidly filling with water, both forward and aft, and that +there was little likelihood that she would remain afloat. The boats were +lowered and the life rafts were placed in the water and about fifteen +minutes after the ship was struck all hands except guns' crews were +ordered to abandon the ship. + +"It had been previously planned that in order to avoid the losses which +have occurred in such instances by filling the boats at the davits +before lowering them, that only one officer and five men would get into +the boats before lowering and that everyone else would get into the +water and get on the life rafts and then be picked up by the boats, this +being entirely feasible, as everyone was provided with an efficient +life-saving jacket. One exception was made to the plan, however, in that +one boat was filled with the sick before being lowered and it was in +this boat that the paralyzed men were saved without difficulty. + + +THE SHIP ABANDONED. + +"The guns' crews were held at their stations hoping for an opportunity +to fire on the submarine should it appear before the ship sank, and +orders were given to the guns' crews to begin firing, hoping that this +might prevent further attack. All the ship's company except the guns' +crews and the necessary officers were at that time in the boats and on +the rafts near the ship, and when the guns' crews began firing, the +people in the boats set up a cheer to show that they were not +downhearted. The guns' crews only left their guns when ordered by the +commanding officer just before the ship sank. The guns in the bow kept +up firing until after the water was entirely over the main deck of the +after half of the ship. + +"The state of discipline which existed and the coolness of the men is +well illustrated by what occurred when the boats were being lowered and +were about half way from their davits to the water. At this particular +time, there appeared some possibility of the ship not sinking +immediately, and the commanding officer gave the order to stop lowering +the boats. This order could not be understood, however, owing to the +noise caused by escaping steam from the safety valves of the boilers +which had been lifted to prevent explosion, but by motion of the hand +from the commanding officer the crews stopped lowering the boats and +held them in mid air for a few minutes until at a further motion of the +hand the boats were dropped into the water. + + +INSPECTED BY THE SUBMARINE. + +"Immediately after the ship sank the boats pulled among the rafts and +were loaded with men to their full capacity and the work of collecting +the rafts and tying them together to prevent drifting apart and being +lost was begun. While this work was under way and about half an hour +after the ship sank, a large German submarine emerged and came among the +boats and rafts, searching for the commanding officer and some of the +senior officers whom they desired to take prisoners. The submarine +commander was able to identify only one officer, Lieut. E.V.M. Isaacs, +whom he took on board. The submarine remained in the vicinity of the +boats for about two hours and returned again in the afternoon, hoping +apparently for an opportunity of attacking some of the other ships which +had been in company with the _President Lincoln_, but which had, in +accordance with standard instructions, steamed as rapidly as possible +from the scene of attack. + +"By dark the boats and rafts had been collected and secured together, +there being about five hundred men in the boats and about two hundred on +the rafts. Lighted lanterns were hoisted in the boats and flare-up +lights and signal lights were burned every few minutes, the necessary +detail of men being made to carry out this work during the night. The +boats had been provided with water and food, but none was used during +the day, as the quantity was necessarily limited, and it might be a +period of several days before a rescue could be effected. + + +THE RESCUE. + +"The ship's wireless plant had been put out of commission by the force +of the explosion, and although the ship's operator had sent the radio +distress signal, yet it was known that the nearest destroyers were two +hundred and fifty miles away, protecting another convoy, and it was +possible that military necessity might prevent their being detached to +come to our rescue. At about 11 P.M. a white light flashing in the +blackness of the night,--it was very dark--was sighted, and very shortly +it was found that the destroyer _Warrington_ had arrived to our rescue +and about an hour afterwards the destroyer _Smith_ also arrived. The +transfer of the men from the boats and rafts to the destroyers was +effected as quickly as possible and the destroyers remained in the +vicinity until after daylight the following morning, when a further +search was made for survivors who might have drifted in a boat or on a +raft, but none were found, and at about 6 A.M., the return trip to +France was begun. + +"Of the seven hundred and fifteen men present all told on board, it was +found after the muster that three officers and twenty-three men were +lost with the ship, and that one officer had been taken prisoner. + + +CONDUCT OF THE SUBMARINE COMMANDER. + +"Although the German submarine commander made no offers of assistance of +any kind, yet otherwise his conduct for the ship's company in the boat +was all that could be expected. We naturally had some apprehension as to +whether or not he would open fire on the boats and rafts. I thought he +might probably do this, as an attempt to make me and other officers +disclose their identity. This possibility was evidently in the minds of +the men of the crew also, because at one time I noticed some one on the +submarine walk to the muzzle of one of the guns, apparently with the +intention of preparing it for action. This was evidently observed by +some of the men in my boat, and I heard the remark, 'Good night, here +comes the fireworks.' The spirit which actuated remarks of this kind, +under such circumstances, could be none other than that of cool courage +and bravery." + + +CAPTURED BY SUBMARINE, NAVAL OFFICER ESCAPES. + +(Condensed from report by Lieutenant Edouard Victor M. Isaacs on his +capture and escape from a German prison camp.) + +"The _President Lincoln_ went down about 9:30 in the morning, thirty +minutes after being struck by three torpedoes. In obedience to orders I +abandoned ship after seeing all hands aft safely off the vessel. The +boats had pulled away, but I stepped on a raft floating alongside, the +quarter deck being then awash. A few minutes later one of the boats +picked me up. The submarine U-90 returned and the commanding officer, +while searching for Captain Foote of the _President Lincoln_, took me +out of the boat. I told him my captain had gone down with the ship, +whereupon he steamed away, taking me prisoner to Germany. We passed to +the north of the Shetlands into the North Sea, the Skaggerak, the +Cattegat, and the Sound into the Baltic. Proceeding to Kiel, we passed +down the canal through Heligoland Bight to Wilhelmshaven. + +"On the way to the Shetlands, we fell in with two American destroyers, +the _Smith_ and the _Warrington_, who dropped twenty-two depth bombs on +us. We were submerged to a depth of sixty meters and weathered the +storm, although five bombs were very close and shook us up considerably. +The information I had been able to collect was, I considered, of enough +importance to warrant my trying to escape. Accordingly in Danish waters +I attempted to jump from the deck of the submarine but was caught and +ordered below. + + +MADE A PRISONER OF WAR. + +"The German navy authorities took me from Wilhelmshaven to Karlsruhe, +where I was turned over to the army. Here I met officers of all the +Allied armies, and with them I attempted several escapes, all of which +were unsuccessful. After three weeks at Karlsruhe I was sent to the +American and Russian officers' camp at Villinen. On the way I attempted +to escape from the train by jumping out of the window. With the train +making about forty miles an hour, I landed on the opposite railroad +track and was so severely wounded by the fall that I could not get away +from my guard. They followed me, firing continuously. When they +recaptured me they struck me on the head and body with their guns until +one broke his rifle. It snapped in two at the small of the stock as he +struck me with the butt on the back of the head. + + +PLACED IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. + +"I was given two weeks' solitary confinement for this attempt to escape, +but continued trying, for I was determined to get my information back to +the navy. Finally, on the night of October 6th, assisted by several army +officers, I was able to effect an escape by short-circuiting all +lighting circuits in the prison camps and cutting through barbed wire +fences surrounding the camp. This had to be done in the face of a heavy +rifle fire from the guards. But it was difficult for them to see in the +darkness, so I escaped unscathed. In company with an American officer in +the French army, I made my way for seven days and nights over mountains +to the Rhine, which to the south of Baden forms the boundary between +Germany and Switzerland. After a four-hour crawl on hands and knees I +was able to elude the sentries along the Rhine. Plunging in, I made for +the Swiss shore. After being carried several miles down the stream, +being frequently submerged by the rapid currents, I finally reached the +opposite shore and gave myself up to the Swiss gendarmes, who turned me +over to the American legation at Berne. From there I made my way to +Paris and then London and finally Washington, where I arrived four weeks +after my escape from Germany." + +The accounts and incidents heretofore mentioned are but a few of the +exceptionally meritorious cases, of the many, in which the devotion to +duty and the unquestioned heroism characterized the conduct of the Negro +under the galling fire of danger and death. + + +CAN NOT SPECIFY THE WORK OF THE NEGRO SEAMEN. + +Primarily due to the difference in organization between the army and +navy of the United States, it is well nigh impossible to point out and +record with any degree of accuracy the signal and patriotic sacrifices +of any great body of Negroes as a unit in the naval service. While in +the army, where segregation and discrimination of the rankest type force +the Negro into distinct Negro units; the navy, on the other hand, has +its quota of black men on every vessel carrying the starry emblem of +freedom on the high seas and in every shore station. The operations of +the navy of the United States during the World War has covered the +widest scope in its history without a doubt. It carried the Negro in +European waters from the Mediterranean to the White Sea. At Corfu, +Gibraltar, along the French Bay of Biscay, in the English Channel, on +the Irish coast, in the North Sea, at Murmansk and Archangel, he was +ever present to experience whatever of hardships were necessary and to +make whatever sacrifices demanded, that the proud and glorious record of +the navy of the United States should remain untarnished. + + +WORK OF COLORED SEAMEN. + +He formed a part of the crew of nearly two thousand vessels that plied +the briny deep, on submarines that feared not the under sea peril, and +wherever a naval engagement was undertaken or the performance of a duty +by a naval vessel, the Negro, as a part of the crew of that vessel, +necessarily contributed to the successful prosecution of that duty; and, +whatever credit or glory is achieved for American valor, it was made +possible by the faithful execution of his duty, regardless of his +character. For, on a battleship where the strictest system of +co-ordination and co-operation among all who compose the crew is +absolutely necessary, each man is assigned a particular and a special +duty independent of the other men, and should he fail in its faithful +discharge the loss of the vessel and its enterprise might possibly +result. + + +TRAINING FOR SERVICE. + +Far be it from the intention of this article to condone the existing +policy of the navy of the United States as regards the Negro, where +unwritten law prescribes and precludes him from service above a +designated status. It is well known that no Negro has ever graduated +from the United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Maryland, which is +primarily essential to receive a commission as a line officer of the +navy. It is true that some three or four Negroes have attempted to +complete the course of instruction at this academy, but, their +treatment, as a result of race prejudice, made their efforts futile, as +well as their stay there more miserable than a decade of confinement in +a Hun penitentiary. Intimidation, humiliation, and actual physical +violence, notwithstanding their determination, finally resulted in the +conclusion to abandon the coveted goal of becoming officers in the great +navy of the United States. + +It is also known that notwithstanding the urgent pressure for +experienced men to officer the expanding navy as a result of the World +War, it became necessary to commission hundreds of men, who as a result +of their experience as enlisted men, are temporary officers. But none of +these commissions was given to a Negro, despite the fact that scores of +them had rendered honorable service of from ten to twenty years and were +exceptionally qualified as stated by their commanding officers for these +commissions. During the war there were approximately eleven thousand men +commissioned as officers. A great majority of this number were +commissioned as pay clerks, paymasters, medical officers, and other +ranks, wherein no technical naval knowledge or experience is required. +And it is strange to note that not a single Negro received one of these +commissions. + + +INSUFFICIENT NUMBER OF OFFICERS. + +In his annual report to the Congress of the United States, the secretary +of the navy department made the following statement: "The regular navy +personnel as it existed at the beginning of the war has been repeatedly +combed for warrant officers and enlisted men competent for advancement +to commissioned rank, and this source furnished experienced and capable +officers. But more were needed and they came from new recruits. It early +became evident that as the new men came into the service they should be +tried out for officer qualifications and that those having talent should +receive special instruction to prepare them for officer duty. Officer +material schools were hastily improvised in the various naval districts +at the outbreak of war to train the new men coming in, etc." + +In the face of the above admission of the serious shortage of qualified +men, it can not be understood why the awarding of commissions was made +to inexperienced white boys with no prior naval experience or +demonstrated ability in preference to the Negro, who has demonstrated +his fitness and ability by years of faithful service in every phase of +naval activity to which he has been given access. + + +GERMAN PROPAGANDA EFFORT. + +But, in spite of these outward and open acts of prejudice and +oppression, the Negro never wavered in the loyal performance of any +duty, however humble or arduous with which he was charged. And it might +be mentioned that these acts of oppression were brought to his attention +and emphasized by subtle German propagandists, who hoped to alienate his +affections and devotion from his native country. As an example of this +diabolical scheme, the following letter, which was dropped from German +balloons over a sector held by Negro troops, in September, 1918, is +quoted: + +"To the Colored Soldiers and Sailors of the United States: Hello, boys! +What are you doing over here? Fighting the Germans? Why? Have they ever +done you any harm? Of course, some white folks and the lying +English-American papers told you that the Germans ought to be wiped out +for the sake of humanity and democracy. What is democracy? Personal +freedom, all citizens enjoying the same rights socially and before the +law. Do you enjoy the same rights as the white people do in America, the +land of freedom and democracy? Or, are you not rather treated over there +as second-class citizens? Can you go into a restaurant where white +people dine? Can you get a seat in the theatre where white people sit? +Can you get a berth or a seat in the railroad car, or can you even ride +in the South in the same street car with white people? And how about the +law? Is lynching and the most horrible crimes connected therewith, a +lawful proceeding in a democratic country? + +"Now, all this is entirely different in Germany, where they do like +colored people, where they treat them as gentlemen and as white men, and +quite a number of colored people have fine positions in business in +Berlin and other German cities. Why, then, fight the Germans only for +the benefit of Wall Street robbers and to protect the millions they have +loaned to the English, French and Italians? You have been made the tool +of the egotistical and rapacious rich in England and America and there +is nothing in the whole game for you but broken bones, horrible wounds, +spoiled health, or death. No satisfaction whatever will you get out of +this unjust war. You have never seen Germany. So you are fools if you +allow people to make you hate us. Come over and see for yourself. Let +those do the fighting who make the profits out of the war. Don't allow +them to use you as cannon fodder. To carry a gun in this service is not +an honor, but a shame. Throw it away and come over to the German lines. +You will find friends who will help you along." + + +THE PROPAGANDA FAILS. + +Such a piece of infamous treachery scarcely deserves comment; for, if +the Negro had been the least inclined to be a traitor, he could not +forget the atrocious treatment accorded the black man in the African +colonies controlled by Germany. For the Negro well remembers the +treachery of von Trotha, who invited the Herero chiefs to come in and +make peace and promptly shot them in cold blood. And the words of his +cruel and inhuman "Extermination Order" directing that every Herero man, +woman, child or babe was to be killed and no prisoners taken. All of +which had the sanction of Berlin. + +But, aside from his intimate knowledge of German treachery and +duplicity, a still higher principle inspired the Negro; for to forget +the loyalty to his own native country in this hour of trial and darkness +would be scandalous and shameful and would blacken the Negro in the eyes +of the whole world. Of this class of treachery, the Negro is absolutely +incapable. They have endured some of the greatest sacrifices and +humiliations that could be demanded of a people, but, they always have +kept before them ideals, founded on loyalty and devotion to duty, and +never, in their darkest days, have they sought to gain their ends by +treasonable means. For the path of treason is still an unknown path to +the Negro. Their duty and their conscience alike bade them be faithful +and true to their government and their flag in this hour of darkness and +trouble. + + +NUMBER OF NEGROES ENGAGED. + +During the World War, there were approximately ten thousand Negroes who +voluntarily enlisted in the navy of the United States. They were +distributed throughout the various ratings of the enlisted status. Many +of them were chief petty officers who had rendered years of faithful +service and were regarded as experts in their profession, and, +consequently, played an important part in the organization and function +of the battle units. In the transport service, his powerful physical +endurance and strength made him a determining factor in the Herculean +efforts to supply men, munitions, and provisions for the battlefields of +France. In order to appreciate the magnitude of his service, let us +briefly note the following facts: + +Two million American fighting men were safely landed in France. To do +this the transport force of the Atlantic fleet of the United States had +to be utilized. At the outbreak of the war the transport force was +small, but it now comprises twenty-four cruisers, forty-two troop +transports, and scores of other vessels, manned by three thousand +officers and forty-one thousand enlisted men, two thousand of whom are +Negroes. + + +PERIL AND DANGER. + +To think of the peril and dangers of this service at best, even in peace +times, seamanship is a comfortless and cheerless calling. But in war, to +the ordinary perils of the sea are added unusual hardships which reach +their maximum in the dangers and perils of the war zone--the attack +without warning of the invisible foe whose presence is too frequently +known only by a terrific explosion, which casts the hapless crew adrift +on surging seas, leagues from a friendly shore. Think of the terrific +strain under which these men perform their perilous tasks. Gun crews on +continuous duty, ever ready with the shot that might save the ship; the +black men below in the fire room, expecting every moment to receive the +fatal blast which would entrap them in a hideous death; the watch, +ceaseless in its vigil by day and by night, peering through the darkness +and the mist, conscious that upon their alertness depended the lives of +all. Yet under these conditions of unprecedented hardships every black +man performed his duty with the highest degree of courage and +self-sacrifice. + +We will mention one of the many instance of the matchless intrepidity of +the men engaged in this hazardous service. In September, 1918, a +transport with several hundred sick and wounded soldiers on board, was +torpedoed when a short distance out from Brest. Thirty-six men of the +fire room met their death in the fire and steam and boiling water of the +stokehold. With two compartments flooded, their comrades dead and dying, +with a seeming certainty that the attack would continue, which would +mean that every man in the compartment where the torpedo struck would be +drowned or burned to death. Yet despite all, when volunteers were called +for to man the still undamaged furnaces to keep up steam for the run +back to port, every man in the force stepped forward and said he was +ready to go below. + + +HARD AND GRINDING WORK. + +There was nothing spectacular about this grinding duty. Winter and +summer, by day and by night, in the fog and in the rain and in the ice, +it demanded constant vigilance, unceasing toil, and extreme endurance. +The work of this dangerous service was endless and its hardships and +hazards are barely realized. During the winter storms of the north +Atlantic the maddened seas all but engulfed these tiny but staunch +transports, when for days they breasted the fury of the gale and defied +the very elements in their struggle for mastery. No sleep then for the +tired crew; no hot food; no dry clothes. Yet despite it all, with each +hour perhaps the last, with death stalking through the staggering hulls, +not a man--black or white--to the everlasting glory of the American +navy, not a man but felt himself especially favored in being assigned +that duty. + + +CEASELESS VIGILANCE. + +Since this country entered the war practically all the enemy's naval +forces, except the submarines, have been blockaded in his ports by the +naval forces of the Allies, and there has been no opportunity for naval +engagements of a major character. The enemy's submarines, however, +formed a continual menace to the safety of all our transports and +shipping, necessitating the use of every effective means and the utmost +vigilance for the protection of our vessels. Concentrated attacks were +made by enemy U-boats on the ships that carried the very first +contingent to Europe, and all that have gone since have faced this +liability to attack. Our destroyers and patrol vessels, upon all of +which Negroes served in addition to convoy duty, have waged an unceasing +offensive warfare against the submarine. In spite of all this, our naval +losses have been gratifyingly small. Not one American troop ship, as +previously stated, has been torpedoed on the way to France, and but +three, the _Antilles_, _President Lincoln_, and the _Covington_, were +sunk on the return voyage. + + +GRATIFYING RESULTS OF NAVAL ACTIVITY. + +Only three fighting ships were lost as a result of enemy action--the +patrol ship _Alcedo_, a converted yacht sunk off the coast of France, +November 5, 1917; the torpedo boat destroyer _Jacob Jones_, sunk off the +British coast, December 6, 1917, and the cruiser _San Diego_, sunk off +Fire Island, off the New York coast, July 18, 1918, striking a mine +supposedly set adrift by a German submarine. The transport _Finland_ and +the destroyer _Cassin_, which were torpedoed, reached port and were soon +repaired and placed back in service. The transport _Mount Vernon_ struck +by a torpedo on September 5th, proceeded to port under its own steam +and was repaired. + +The most serious loss of life due to enemy activity was the loss of the +coast guard cutter _Tampa_, with all on board, in Bristol Channel, +England, on the night of September 26, 1918. The _Tampa_, which was +doing escort duty, had gone ahead of the convoy. Vessels following heard +the explosion, but when they reached the vicinity there were only bits +of floating wreckage to show where the ship had gone down. Not one of +the one hundred and eleven officers and enlisted men of her crew were +rescued; and though it is believed she was sunk by a torpedo from an +enemy submarine, the exact manner in which the vessel met its fate may +never be known. Among the number of men lost on this vessel were at +least a score of black men. Taking into consideration all the dangers +and difficulties attending this service of the transport force, the +comparatively light casualty list is eloquent testimony of an efficient +personnel organized and trained under a wise administrative command. + + +THE NEGRO IN THE MERCHANT MARINE. + +Now let us briefly consider the contribution of the Negro to the +construction and development of the merchant marine, a force vitally +essential to the successful prosecution of the war. When America entered +the war, it is a well-known fact that her merchant marine was +insignificant; and, to respond to the urgent appeal of France and her +allies to hurry men, provisions and munitions, a gigantic task of +constructing the necessary ships stared her in the face. For the Germans +at this time were making a desperate effort to starve England, France +and the other Allies by destroying their commerce with America and the +world, by a resort, as was brazenly announced to the world, to a +heartless campaign of ruthless submarine warfare. Therefore, the very +first efforts of the United States were to use every power of the navy +to destroy and neutralize the effect of the lurking submarine and enter +upon a policy of ship construction, which in its gigantic magnitude and +comprehensiveness was unprecedented. + +The manner in which the Negro generously contributed to the +effectiveness of this policy is well known to all the world. For the +very first record breaking riveting feat was won by a Negro crew at +Sparrows Point, Maryland. His ability in this field of endeavor was ably +demonstrated in all of the great industrial plants in which his services +were so generously utilized. Heretofore, he had been debarred from +identification in the capacity as a laborer in these plants; but, now, +that war in all of its desperation was threatening the very existence of +the country, the barriers of prejudice gave way and he again proved the +falsity of the statement that the Negro could not handle machinery. The +managers of great shipbuilding plants along the Atlantic seaboard +testified before the Federal Shipbuilding Labor Adjustment Board that +Negroes had worked on machines, gauged to as fine a degree as one +one-thousandth of an inch with perfect satisfaction. + + +WONDERFUL ACHIEVEMENTS. + +To the achievements of the navy, in erecting great training camps, +destroyer and aviation bases, hospitals, in training thousands of men +for oversea duty, the army of merchant ships, the building of a vast +fleet of smaller vessels, the construction of great warehouses at home +and abroad, the manufacture of heavy guns and their mounts, the +production of powder and technical ordnance must be added the most +spectacular achievement of all--the repair of interned German ships, in +all of which the Negro participated with zeal and enthusiasm and in +many instances won the admiration and commendation of his superior +officers. + +When these vessels, many of them of the largest type of trans-Atlantic +liners, were taken over by our government, it was found that the +machinery of several had been seriously damaged by the maliciously +planned and carefully executed sabotage of the crews. The principal +injury was to the cylinders and other parts of the engines, and, as the +passenger ships were potent factors in the transportation of troops, +their immediate repair was of vital necessity. Nothing daunted by the +magnitude of the task, our navy undertook the repair of these broken +cylinders by employing the system of electric welding, and so successful +was this work, in which scores of black men were utilized, that during +all the months of service in which these vessels have been engaged, not +a single defect has developed. + + +HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE. + +All honor to the officers who risked their professional reputations and +carried forward to complete success and accomplishment, which expert +engine manufacturers considered impossible; and all honor to the +patience, zeal, industry and intelligence of the noble band of laborers +whose persistence and ceaseless endeavor made possible the +accomplishment of these world-renowned examples of constructive and +inventive American genius. + +Let us not forget the mighty and tireless work of those in the +department whose efforts were as assiduous as their success was +complete. From the humblest yeowoman upward to the secretary of the +navy, through the bureaus and their chiefs, all were animated by the +same spirit of energy, of foresight, and determination to place the +fleet on the highest basis of efficiency and strength. In this generous +and sacrificing spirit, black men and black women, working side by side, +shared in proportion and never wavered or faltered in the task of +measuring up to the expectations of those whose confidence and regard +are so highly esteemed. + + +GENEROUS RECOGNITION OF SERVICE. + +Another just and appreciated evidence of the generous recognition with +which the consistency and faithfulness of his service was awarded, may +be noted in the organization and development of the muster roll section +of the bureau of navigation of the navy department. Owing to a +widespread demand upon the part of the citizens of the country shortly +after we entered the war, for accurate and specific information +concerning the whereabouts of their kinsmen in the naval service, a +demand which it was practically impossible to comply with in view of the +ancient methods in vogue at the time in the file section of the bureau +of navigation, and in further view of the fact of the unprecedented +expansion of the enlisted personnel of the navy, the secretary of the +navy found it absolutely necessary to convene a conference of all the +officials who had any positive and direct knowledge as to the details +and operation of the file section. + +This was done in order to evolve out of the multiplicity of seasoned +counsel a competent and successful solution of the very important and +grave problem which so heavily weighed upon the mind of the civil +population of the country, when they were offering freely upon its altar +their most treasured blood, as a precious sacrifice. Indeed, so +important and so urgent became the necessity for an immediate and +satisfactory solution of this problem that there was no evasion in a +high browed manner of any creditable source of needed information. +Accordingly, the bureau of navigation, in obedience to the inevitable +expansion necessitated in all the bureaus of the navy by the exigencies +of war, determined to organize and operate a muster roll section, +charged primarily with the duty of apprehending the present whereabouts +of every man of the enlisted personnel in a systematic and scientific +manner. + + +ORGANIZATION OF THE MUSTER ROLL SECTION. + +The execution of the very essential duty of chief of the muster roll +section was entrusted to John T. Risher, a colored man, to whom was +given plenary power to engage and select his corps of assistants. Of +course, Mr. Risher determined immediately in the face of all opposing +precedents, to fully utilize the services, abilities and talents of the +colored youth of the country, upon whose educational development +millions of dollars had been spent in the past. In consequence, more +than a dozen young colored women have been engaged in the capacity of +yeowomen in this muster roll section. This is quite a novel experiment, +as it is the first time in the history of the navy of the United States +that colored women have been employed in any clerical capacity. And it +may be noted that while many young colored men have enlisted in the mess +branch of the service, it was reserved to young colored women to invade +successfully the yeoman branch, thereby establishing a precedent. They +are all cool, clear-headed and well-poised, evincing at all times, in +the language of a white chief yeowoman: "A tidiness and appropriate +demeanor both on and off duty which the girls of the white race might do +well to emulate." The work of this section has proven highly efficient +and satisfactory, as the plans in vogue there under its modern +management are both scientific and accurate. Many of the superior +officials have scrutinized the experiment very closely and are a unit in +the sincerity of their admiration of its success and effectiveness. + + +PERSONNEL OF THE MUSTER ROLL SECTION. + +The personnel of the muster roll section is divided in three classes, to +wit: + +(a) Civil service employes, who are Messrs. Albert D. Smith of Texas; +David C. Johnson of Texas; George W. Beasley of Massachusetts, and W.T. +Howard of Louisiana. All of the above have had years of valuable +experience and are considered expert in all matters pertaining to the +enlisted personnel of the navy of the United States. + +(b) Yeowomen, who are as follows: Misses Armelda H. Greene of +Mississippi; Pocahontas A. Jackson of Mississippi; Catherine E. Finch of +Mississippi; Fannie A. Foote of Texas; Ruth A. Wellborn of Washington, +D.C.; Olga F. Jones, Washington, D.C.; Sarah Davis of Maryland; Sarah E. +Howard of Mississippi; Marie E. Mitchell, Washington, D.C.; Anna G. +Smallwood, Washington, D.C.; Maud C. Williams of Texas; Carroll E. +Washington of Mississippi; Joseph B. Washington of Mississippi; Inez B. +McIntosh of Mississippi. + +(c) Young men of the naval reserve force, who are: Messrs. William R. +Minor of Virginia; L.D. Boyd, Brown Boyd of Virginia; Minter G. Edwards +of Mississippi; Fred Jolie of Louisiana; M.T. Malvan, Washington, D.C.; +U.S. Brooks; Thomas C. Bowler; Albert L. Gaskins, Washington, D.C.; +Daniel Vickers of Alabama, and Mr. Fuller. + + +SIGNING OF THE ARMISTICE. + +On November 11, 1918, there came that long expected and welcome message +announcing to an anxious and war-weary world that an armistice had been +concluded, by the terms of which actual hostilities were to cease. + +On November 21, 1918, five American dreadnaughts were in that far-flung +double line of Allied ships, through which passed in surrender the +dreadnaughts, cruisers and destroyers of the second most powerful navy +in the world. When Admiral Beatty sent his famous signal, "The German +flag is to be hauled down at 3:57 and is not to be hoisted again without +permission," the work of our navy as a battle unit in the war zone was +over. And the following tribute from Gen. John J. Pershing, +Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, was +sent to the commander of the United States naval forces: "Permit me to +send to the force commander, the officers, and men of the American navy, +in European waters, the most cordial greetings of the American +Expeditionary Force. The bond which joins together all men of American +blood has been mightily strengthened and deepened by the rough hand of +war. + +"Those of us who are privileged to serve in the army and navy are to one +another as brothers. Spaces of land and sea are nothing where a common +purpose binds. We are so dependent one upon another that the honor, the +fame, the exploits of the one are the honor, the fame, the exploits of +the other. If the enemy should dare to leave his safe harbor and set his +ships in battle array no cheers would be more ringing, as you and our +Allied fleets move to meet him, than those of the American Expeditionary +Forces in France. We have unshaken confidence in you and are assured +that when we stand on the threshold of peace your record will be one +worthy of your traditions." + +Eloquent and memorable, indeed, are these beautiful sentiments expressed +in behalf of every man, black and white who had the rare good fortune to +be a participant in the conflicts of these illustrious and ever +memorable times. They should be indelibly carved upon the heart and soul +of every loyal citizen, whose anxiety to serve his day and generation +easily outvies all other sentiments of which he is capable. + + +RETURN OF THE VICTORIOUS FLEET. + +Out of the mist and the snow of the morning of December 26, a great +battle fleet entered the harbor of New York and in the majesty of its +power steamed past the Statue of Liberty. It came as a messenger of a +conflict won, a silent victory, but a triumph as complete and +overwhelming as any ever won by the American navy. + +Too high a tribute can not be paid the black men of the American navy, +who faced the dangers of war and the perils of the sea with exalted +courage and unfaltering determination. Their loyalty and patriotism have +never been questioned, their valor and heroism never doubted. By their +deeds they have added new lustre to the glorious annals of the American +navy and have fully demonstrated that the color of the skin is but a +feeble indication of the depth of love and affection with which the +heart and soul of every loyal black man of America beats in sympathy +with the loftiness of her ideals. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +THE OLD ILLINOIS 8th REGIMENT + +THE TRAINING CAMP--THE BLACK DEVILS--THEY DIED THAT OUR REPUBLIC MAY +LIVE--THE LAST SOLDIERS TO CEASE FIGHTING--TAKING THE BIT BETWEEN THEIR +TEETH--THE HINDENBURG LINE COULD NOT STOP THEM--THEY CROSS THE AILETTE +CANAL--DESPERATE DEEDS OF DARING--ONE MAN ROUTS A MACHINE GUN CREW--THE +BAND PLAYED ON--SUMMARY OF DEEDS OF THE ILLINOIS EIGHTH. + + +At the beautiful city of Rockford, Illinois, was located Camp Grant +where thousands of Negro recruits gathered from cities and factories, +farms and plantations of our country, were given the needed intensive +training to fit them to sustain the glorious traditions of the American +soldiers. We take pride in all our soldiers--never once did they retreat +but carried Old Glory ever onward until the armistice of November 11, +1918. + + +"THE BLACK DEVILS" + +The old Illinois 8th Regiment was one of these colored units which +henceforth will be referred to whenever the heroic deeds of this war are +mentioned. The Prussian guards gave them a name which tells us of the +respect and fear they inspired. They were "The Black Devils." The guards +were seasoned veterans who had participated in the fiercest fighting of +the war, yet these Negro heroes of the West did not falter before them. +They were brigaded with the choicest troops of France and fought by +their side through the final stages of the war. By them they were given +a name indicative of the respect and confidence, their soldierly bearing +and actions inspired. To the French they were the "Partridges," the +proudest game bird of Europe, and when the decimated ranks of the +regiment paraded before cheering thousands on their return, there +marched in their ranks, twenty-two men wearing the American +Distinguished Service Cross while sixty-eight others were decorated with +the French "Croix de Guerre." + + +THEY DIED THAT OUR REPUBLIC MIGHT LIVE + +The regiment went to France with approximately 2,500 men from Chicago +and Illinois; they came back with 1,260. Those figures convey an +eloquent story of suffering and death. Nearly a hundred were killed in +battle. They were sleeping on the shell scarred fields of France. Many +others are enrolled in the great army of maimed heroes, who however, are +facing the future with calm courage, though many of them are deprived of +arms or limbs, or possess bodies cruelly disfigured by shot and shell, +with physical health wrecked as a result of hardship in trenches, or +deadly gas inhaled. + + +THE LAST SOLDIERS TO CEASE FIGHTING + +The old 8th probably made the last capture of the war. The morning of +November 11, they were with their French comrades in Belgium. The +objective given them to attain that day was not arduous and so, having +achieved the same, the boys simply kept on going. The French division +commander sent a messenger to the Colonel in command to cease firing at +11 A.M., but by the time the messenger caught up with the rushing troops +it was ten minutes after the Huns had ceased firing on the Western +front, and those colored boys were just putting the finishing touches on +one of the neatest captures of the war--a German army train of fifty +wagons. + + +TAKING THE BIT BETWEEN THEIR TEETH + +Their commander had one criticism to make which, however, will not be a +mark against the old 8th: "My greatest difficulty was in keeping my boys +from going on after they had obtained their objective," he complains. +The boys had formed the habit of "getting there" so strongly that +inertia kept them going. Discipline in this respect seems to have been +lacking among the American soldiers generally. We heard this same +complaint at Chateau Thierry, at St. Mihiel and in the Argonne. These +doughboys, like all genuine Americans, evidently believed it good policy +while getting, to get enough. + + +FIRST AS WELL AS LAST + +It will be noticed the 8th was among the last to quit doing things, but +they were among the first to start things going. Laon is an important +city of France about eighty miles northeast of Paris. For four long +years it remained in German hands. Allied troops recaptured the town +October 13, 1918. At the head of the column of troops entering the city +was a colored sergeant of this regiment carrying a French flag while, +not to be outdone in courtesy a French Sergeant walked beside him +carrying the Stars and Stripes. The French people of Laon knelt by the +roadside and kissed the hand of this colored sergeant of the 8th +regiment. The torture of four years was over and they saw in this proud +young soldier a representative of the Great Republic of the West +rescuing France from the rapacious soldiers of Germany. + + +THE HINDENBURG LINE COULD NOT STOP THEM + +The Hindenburg Line was the most celebrated battle line of history. It +passed through Laon, LaFere, St. Quentin, Cambrai and Lille, a total +distance of about ninety miles. Every foot of that distance was +fortified with such massive trenches, supporting lines of trenches, and +elaborate lines of wire entanglements that it was supposed to be +impregnable. Nothing known to warfare ever equalled such strong +defenses. Every avenue of approach was defended by machine guns and +heavy artillery, and in the trenches and at easy supporting distances to +the rear were massed the best soldiers of Germany, yet that line was +crossed by the Allies September 29 and 30 and the Illinois Negro +regiment was among those that accomplished that feat. + + +THEY CROSS THE AILETTE CANAL + +To accomplish this they traversed an open ground through a German +barrage fire. A barrage fire is such a focusing of shot and shell that +it forms a veritable descending curtain of projectiles. Then when they +crossed the open they came to the Ailette Canal, in which wire +entanglements had been placed. Pontoon bridges were thrown across and so +the Hindenburg Line was reached and crossed. The regiment had two +hundred casualties as a result of that frightful but victorious advance. +The smashing at that line was final notice to Germany that the end was +at hand. Colored soldiers of this great republic with but a few months +of training had forced their way up to and through the most strongly +fortified military line in all history, against the desperate defense of +veterans with years of experience, the supposed unconquerable soldiers +of Germany. + + +DESPERATE DEEDS OF DARING + +Where all with calm courage faced death it is almost out of place to +mention individual cases, but some deeds of daring better illustrate the +desperate chances taken when duty called. One regimental surgeon went +out in No Man's Land amid a hail of machine gun bullets--it seemed sure +death to face guns sending a spray of bullets searching the entire +area--and calmly attended wounded men where they lay knowing that +probably every minute would be his last. One D.S.C. was bestowed on a +private whose life had been sacrificed in the vain attempt to get a +message through the inferno of fire. He was off duty at the time, but +that did not matter. That message ought to go through. He was blown to +pieces in the attempt. But when he failed another volunteer stepped +forward. He was a Negro lad only eighteen years old. You would not have +noticed him among the workers of Chicago, but in his veins flowed the +blood of heroes. He got the message through but was killed trying to +return. + + +ONE MAN ROUTS A MACHINE GUN CREW + +The entire regiment was being held up because a machine gun was so +favorably located for defense that it could incapacitate all who +attempted to cross its line of fire. Then one lone lieutenant concluded +that gun had done enough mischief, anyway what would one more life +amount to? So he charged it single handed, and kindly fate as if in +admiration of his daring decreed his safety. The gun was put out of +action, the advance continued. Victory came. But let it be understood +these instances simply illustrate the spirit that enthused all. The +officers were in the very thick of the fight, leading--not +following--the men. In that battle twenty-seven officers were wounded +the first two hours. + + +THE BAND PLAYED ON + +The band of the "Black Devils" was justly celebrated. After the regiment +returned to the state--after their part in the great victory was +history--that band toured the United States, and delighted citizens bore +testimony to the inspiring nature of its music. But the music amid the +stern realities of war was no less helpful. The Colonel testified: "That +band was everywhere. In the final pursuit when we had the Germans +running back at the rate of thirty-five kilometers a day, that band with +all its pack and instruments would keep right up with the troops." But +if other duties seemed more pressing, the musicians were ready to do +what they could. "Time and time again," continued the Colonel, "I asked +its members to serve as stretcher bearers and every time they went right +out where the fighting was the hottest and brought the wounded in." +After all the true criterion of service is to do what ever seems +necessary and right to do, at the moment, not counting self. It is not +so much great occasions that prove men but faithfulness in duty. + + +BORROWING HIS ORDERLY'S EYES + +One captain found that while trenches were real life saving inventions, +it required a good deal of time to traverse their windings when it was +necessary to inspect his command. So he got a bicycle and raced up and +down in front of his trenches taking short cuts across No Man's Land. Of +course, the Germans in the opposite line all went gunning for this +daring rider. Ordinarily it was death to expose oneself on No Man's +Land, but fate made another exception in his case and they "never +touched him," though they did ruin his fine bicycle by shooting out the +spokes of its wheels. However, a mustard gas shell "got him" one day. He +was temporarily blinded in addition to suffering excruciating pains. Did +he temporarily retire? No, on the contrary, he borrowed his orderly's +eyes, in other words had him lead him around, report on what he saw +while the disabled captain issued necessary orders. No wonder this +regiment acquired appreciative names from friend and foe. + + +WHERE THE FATE OF CIVILIZATION WAS DECIDED + +That part of France where the great battles of the World War were fought +has been the scene of battles in the past that profoundly influenced +civilization. In the valley of the Somme nearly fifteen centuries ago, +Clovis laid the foundation of French history by defeating the Romans in +a world deciding battle at Soissons, and ten years later near the same +place the German forces were utterly defeated by the same king. More +than five centuries ago the great Battle of Crecy, between the English +and French was fought, ending in a great victory for the Black Prince. +But none of the ancient battles equalled in importance the series of +great victories won by the Allied force over those of Germany in 1918. +Modern civilization and medieval conceptions of government then met in +conflict. The point we wish all to notice is, that Negro soldiers from +America had a part in these great battles and so are entitled to +recognition as among those that saved the modern world when threatened +with an eclipse akin to the Dark Ages that supervened on the culture of +early centuries. + + +FIELDS OF GLORY + +It is well to bear in mind some of the crucial fields of glory where our +Negro soldiers upheld the best traditions of our armies, such as Chateau +Thierry, Belleau Woods, St. Mihiel and the Argonne. The Illinois 8th was +conspicuous in many of these battles. In the Argonne against superior +forces, amid a baptism of shell fire from hidden machine gunners, they +advanced to victory. They can tell us of scenes where their comrades +fell, torn by shrapnel, cruelly wounded, dying, yet with their last +breath singing a snatch of the "Hymn of Freedom." They can tell of +instances in which these dying heroes urged the survivors on. "Go, get +them" was their parting words. + + +RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES + +Following the armistice the regiment went to Brest, France, whence it +sailed for the United States, February 2, 1919. Most of our cities had +become accustomed to the enthusiastic greetings of returned soldiers. +None were given a more enthusiastic welcome than the old 8th Illinois. +Even New York, where most of returning soldiers land, grown so +accustomed to marching soldiers just from Europe, stopped to pay signal +respect to these Negro lads. On their arms were service stripes and in +the passing ranks were many whom France had delighted to honor. In +Chicago the entire city paused in its business to shout words of welcome +to those who had earlier served them in many forms--but had dropped all +and faced death that Chicago, New York and our galaxy of states might be +among the great democracies which "made the world safe for democracy." + + +THIS REGIMENT A REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL + +We have mentioned the 8th Illinois especially because this regiment was +gathered principally from Chicago and the West. Let it be understood, +however, that it is simply a representative regiment of Negro soldiers. +They deserve well of our country. They too crossed the seas and faced +death with a smile. Why? Because their country called them. In the +peaceful days of progress ahead we are sure they will ever remember the +experiences of war and by acts and words continue to labor for the good +of our country. + + +SUMMARY OF DEEDS OF THE ILLINOIS 8th + +Let us sum up in an easily remembered form the work of this regiment in +France: + +Suffered 50 per cent casualties; lost ninety-five men and one officer +killed outright. + +Lost only one prisoner to the Germans in all the months they fought. + +Captured many German cannon and many German machine guns. + +Participated in the final drive against the Germans on the French +sector, advancing in the final stages of the war as far as thirty-five +kilometers in one day. + +Were the first Allied troops to enter the French fortress of Laon when +it was wrested from the Germans after four years of war. + +Won twenty-two American Distinguished Service Crosses and sixty-eight +French War Crosses. + +Fought the last battle of the war, capturing a German wagon train of +fifty wagons and crews, a half hour after the armistice went into +effect. + +Refused to fraternize with the Germans even after the armistice was +signed. + + + + +THE TERMS IMPOSED ON GERMANY + + +With the signing of the armistice terms, November 11, 1918, the actual +fighting in the world war came to an end but the statesmen of the allied +nations were faced by a task of extraordinary difficulty. We must +remember that not until after the armistice was signed was any of German +soil exposed to invasion. Her cities and villages were intact, her land +had not been churned by exploding shells. Not only were her factories in +good working condition, but they were packed with costly machinery +stolen from French and Belgian factories. Her very churches were adorned +with masterpieces of art from plundered cathedrals of Western Europe and +innumerable private homes possessed articles of furniture and +bric-a-brac stolen from wrecked homes in France and Belgium, before they +were totally destroyed. War on the part of Germany in the invaded +territories of the allies had degenerated into brigandage. + +The task before the allied statesmen was to frame conditions of peace +that would make it impossible for Germany to devote her energies to +preparations for another war of conquest. That in itself was a most +difficult thing to arrange. In addition, among the allied nations were +many cross currents of national interests that had to be taken into +consideration and compromises effected. Probably no gathering of +statesmen ever had more momentous questions to consider. The allied +nations sent their premiers and most influential statesmen to the +congress in Paris. The president of the United States broke the customs +that had prevailed from the time of Washington to the present and was +one of the delegates from this country to the most important peace +council that the world had ever seen. + + +THE PEACE CONGRESS + +The peace congress began its formal sessions January 12, 1919. Mr. +Clemenceau, premier of France, was elected chairman. The difficulties in +the way of an agreement among themselves as to the terms to be imposed +on Germany were so great that it was almost exactly four months before +the terms of peace were laid before the delegates from Germany. A +singular coincidence is to be noticed. It was almost four years to a day +from the sinking of the Lusitania. That act of piracy was one of the +acts that roused America and led to our intervention. The sinking of the +ship was made the occasion for a school holiday in Germany. The fourth +anniversary of the sinking was a day of gloom and despair for the +fallen nation. That country stood arraigned before the highest tribunal +in the world as the aggressor in the mightiest war of history and read +the stern decrees of the allies that stripped her of lands and powers. +History knows of no more startling changes in wealth and power than that +experienced by Germany as a result of the worlds war. + +The treaty is the most voluminous one ever drawn. It contains about +90,000 words, or sufficient to make a volume half as large as this one. +That gives us an idea of the immense number of points that had to be +considered. For our purpose it is only necessary to present an analysis +of its principal provisions. No one except delegates of the nations +expressly concerned care for the entire text, but all desire a general +understanding of what the treaty sets forth. It re-draws the map of +Central Europe, and contains stipulations that will profoundly affect +the future of the nations composing the Teutonic Alliance. + + +WHY TERMS ARE SO SEVERE + +Before considering the terms themselves, let us make a general +observation. The terms are undoubtedly severe, perhaps the most drastic +ever imposed on a conquered people. We do well to reflect that many +wrongs in the past committed by Germany had to be righted. Not to +mention her colonial empire Germany loses nearly one-third of her +territory in Europe. The part restored to France is simply a return of +territory wrongly taken from France in 1871. The larger part of her lost +territory goes to Poland from whom it was taken two hundred years ago in +the utterly unjust partition in the days of Frederick the Great. But +what the treaty seeks to safeguard is the safety of the world. Germany's +record since the days of Bismark is that of one continuous grasping +after territory at the expense of surrounding nations. It was absolutely +necessary to impose such terms as would render her powerless in this +matter. It will be noticed that the terms imposed spell the end of +German militarism. That menace to the peace and safety of the world is +removed. + + +THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS + +An attempt is made in this treaty to constitute a League of Nations that +will hence forth put an end to war. The curious student is reminded of +these difficulties that confronted the Constitutional Convention of 1787 +when it met to form our National Constitution. In that case, however, +the separate nations that united to form the United States were one in +blood and history and had been drawn together by common dangers. Those +who would form a League of Nations seek to draw into one compact, of +course with very loose restraining bonds, nations utterly adverse in +blood and history. The mere effort to form such a league is a wonderful +step in advance. It remains for the future to determine the success of +the movement. + + +THE COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE + +The covenant of the League of Nations constitutes Section 1 of the peace +treaty, which places upon the league many specific, in addition to its +general duties. It may question Germany at any time for a violation of +the neutralized zone east of the Rhine as a threat against the world's +peace. It will appoint three of the five members of the Saar commission, +oversee its regime, and carry out the plebiscite. It will appoint the +high commissioner of Danzig, guarantee the independence of the free +city, and arrange for treaties between Danzig and Germany and Poland. It +will work out the mandatory system to be applied to the former German +colonies, and act as a final court in part of the plebiscites of the +Belgian-German frontier, and in dispute as to the Kiel Canal, and decide +certain of the economic and financial problems. An international +conference on labor is to be held in October under its direction, and +another on the international control of ports, waterways, and railways +is foreshadowed. + + +MEMBERSHIP OF THE LEAGUE + +The membership of the league will be the signatories of the covenant and +other natures invited to accede, who must lodge a declaration of +accession without reservation within two months. A new state, dominion, +or colony may be admitted, provided its admission is agreed by +two-thirds of the assembly. A nation may withdraw upon giving two years' +notice, if it has fulfilled all its international obligations. + + +HOW THE LEAGUE WILL ADMINISTER ITS TRUST + +A permanent secretariat will be established at the seat of the league +which will be at Geneva. The assembly will consist of representatives of +the members of the league and will meet at stated intervals. Voting will +be by states. Each member will have one vote and not more than three +representatives. This assembly may be considered as the House of +Representatives of the league. The council may be considered as the +senate. It will consist of representatives of the five great allied +powers, together with representatives of four members selected by the +assembly from time to time; it may co-operate with additional states and +will meet at least once a year. Members not represented will be invited +to send a representative when questions affecting their interests are +discussed. Voting will be by nation. Each nation will have one vote and +not more than one representative. Decision taken by the assembly and +council must be unanimous except in regard to procedure, and in certain +cases specified in the covenant and in the treaty, where decisions will +be by a majority. + + +REDUCTION OF ARMAMENT + +The council will formulate plans for a reduction of armaments for +consideration and adoption. These plans will be revised every 10 years. +Once they are adopted, no member must exceed the armament's text without +the concurrence of the council. All members will exchange full +information as to armaments and programs, and a permanent commission +will advise the council on military and naval questions. + + +STEPS TAKEN TO PREVENT WAR + +Upon any war, or threat of war, the council will meet to consider what +common action shall be taken. Members are pledged to submit matters of +dispute to arbitration or inquiry and not to resort to war until three +months after the award. Members agree to carry out an arbitral award, +and not go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with it; +if a member fails to carry out the award the council will propose the +necessary measures. The council will formulate plans for the +establishment of a permanent court of international justice to determine +international disputes or to give advisory opinions. Members who do not +submit their case to arbitration must accept the jurisdiction of the +assembly. If the council, less the parties to the dispute, is +unanimously agreed upon the rights of it, the members agree that they +will not go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with its +recommendations. + + +INTERNATIONAL PROVISIONS FOR LABOR + +Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of international +convention existing or hereafter to be agreed upon, the members of the +league will in general endeavor through the international organization +established by the labor convention to secure and maintain fair +conditions of labor for men, women, and children in their own countries +and other countries, and undertake to secure just treatment of the +native inhabitants of territories under their control; they will intrust +the league with the general supervision over the execution of agreements +for the suppression of traffic in women and children, etcetera, and in +the control of the trade in arms and ammunition with countries in which +control is necessary. + + +LABOR CONFERENCE + +In order to accomplish these ends, "Members of the league of nations +agree to establish a permanent organization to promote international +adjustment of labor conditions, to consist of an annual international +labor conference and an international labor office." + +"The former is composed of four representatives of each state, two from +the government and one each from the employers and the employed; each of +them may vote individually. It will be a deliberative, legislative body, +its measures taking the form of draft conventions or recommendations for +legislation, which, if passed by two-thirds vote, must be submitted to +the lawmaking authority in every state participating." + + +THE FIRST MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE + +The first meeting of the conference will take place in October, 1919, at +Washington, to discuss the eight-hour day or 48-hour week; prevention of +unemployment; extension and application of the international conventions +adopted at Berne in 1906, prohibiting night work for women and use of +white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches; employment of women and +children at night or in unhealthy work, employment of women before and +after child birth; maternity benefits and employment of children as +regards to minimum age. + + +PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE THE CONFERENCE + +Nine principles of labor conditions are recognized on the ground that +"the well-being, physical and moral of the industrial wage-earners is of +supreme international importance." Exceptions are necessitated by +differences of climate, habits, and economic development. They include +the guiding principle that labor should not be regarded merely as a +commodity or article of commerce; right of association of employers and +employees; a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life; +the eight-hour day or 48-hour week; a weekly rest of at least 24 hours, +which should include Sunday wherever practicable; abolition of child +labor, and assurance of the continuation of the education and proper +physical development of children; equal pay for equal work as between +men and women; equal treatment of all workers lawfully resident therein, +including foreigners; and a system of inspection in which women should +take part. + + +NO MORE SECRET TREATIES + +All treaties of international engagements concluded after the +institution of the league will be registered with the secretariat and +published. The assembly may from time to time advise members to +reconsider treaties which have become inapplicable or involve danger of +peace. The covenant abrogates all obligations between members +inconsistent with its terms, but nothing in it shall affect the validity +of international engagement such as treaties of arbitration or regional +understandings like the Monroe Doctrine for securing the maintenance of +peace. This last clause is of special interest to the United States. + + +NEW BOUNDARIES OF GERMANY + +After thus providing for the League of Nations, the treaty takes up the +provisions of special importance to the various belligerent nations. It +is well to notice the new boundaries of Germany. That nation cedes to +France, Alsace-Lorraine, 5600 square miles, and to Belgium two small +districts between Luxembourg and Holland and totaling 382 square miles. +She also cedes to Poland the southeastern tip of Silesia beyond and +including Oppeln, most of Posen and West Prussia, 27,680 square miles. +She loses sovereignty over the northeasternmost tip of East Prussia, 40 +square miles north of the River Memel, and the internationalized areas +about Danzig, 729 square miles, and the basin of the Saar, 738 square +miles, between the western border of the Rhenish Palatinate of Bavaria +and the southeast corner of Luxembourg. + +The southeastern third of East Prussia and the area between East Prussia +and the Vistula north of latitude 53 degrees 3 minutes is to have its +nationality determined by popular vote, 5,785 square miles, as is to be +the case in part of Schleswig, 2,787 square miles. + + +BETWEEN BELGIUM AND GERMANY + +Germany is to consent to the abrogation of the treaties of 1839, by +which Belgium was established as a neutral state, and to agree in +advance to any convention with which the allied and associated powers +may determine to replace them. + +Germany is to recognize the full sovereignty of Belgium over the +contested territory of Morenet and over part of Prussian Morenet, and to +renounce in favor of Belgium all rights of the circles of Eupen and +Malmedy, the inhabitants of which are to be entitled, within six months, +to protest against this change of sovereignty, either in whole or in +part, the final decision to be reserved to the league of nations. + +A commission is to settle the details of the frontier, and various +regulations for change of nationality are laid down. + + +LUXEMBOURG SET FREE + +Germany renounces her various treaties and conventions with the Grand +Duchy of Luxembourg, recognizes that it ceased to be a part of the +German zollverein from Jan. 1, last, renounces all right of exploitation +of the railroads, adheres to the abrogation of its neutrality, and +accepts in advance any international agreement as to it, reached by the +allied and associated powers. + + +THE EAST BANK OF THE RHINE + +Germany will not maintain any fortifications or armed forces less than +50 kilometers to the east of the Rhine, hold any maneuvers, nor maintain +any works to facilitate mobilization. In case of violation, "she shall +be regarded as committing a hostile act against the powers who sign the +present treaty and as intending to disturb the peace of the world." "By +virtue of the present treaty Germany shall be bound to respond to any +request for an explanation which the council of the League of Nations +may think it is necessary to address to her." + + +ALSACE-LORRAINE + +After recognition of the moral obligation to repair the wrong done in +1871 by Germany to France and the people of Alsace-Lorraine, the +territories ceded to Germany by the treaty of Frankfort are restored to +France with their frontiers as before 1871 to date from the signing of +the armistice, and to be free of all public debts. + +Citizenship is regulated by detailed provisions distinguishing those who +are immediately resorted to full French citizenship, those who have to +make formal applications therefor, and those for whom naturalization is +open after three years. The last named class includes German residents +in Alsace-Lorraine, as distinguished from those who acquire the position +of Alsace-Lorrainers as defined in the treaty. All public property and +all private property of German ex-sovereigns passes to the French +without payment or credit. France is substituted for Germany as regards +ownership of the railroads and rights over concessions of tramways; the +Rhine bridges pass to France with the obligation for their upkeep. + +Several clauses now follow providing for trade between Alsace-Lorraine +and Germany; the sanctity of existing contracts etc. French law replaces +German law. A convention to be made between France and Germany is to +settle many details. + + +THE VALLEY OF THE SAAR + +In compensation for the destruction of coal mines in northern France and +as payment on account of reparation, Germany cedes to France full +ownership of the coal mines of the Saar Basin with their subsidiaries, +accessories, and facilities. Their value will be estimated by the +reparation commission and credited against that account. The French +rights will be governed by German law in force at the armistice +excepting war legislation, France replacing the present owners whom +Germany undertakes to indemnify. France will continue to furnish the +present proportion of coal for local needs and contribute in just +proportion to local taxes. The basin extends from the frontier of +Lorraine as reannexed to France north as far as St. Wendel, including on +the west the valley of the Saar as far as Saarholzbach and on the east +the town of Homburg. + + +A MIXED GOVERNMENT PROVIDED + +In order to secure the rights and welfare of the population and +guarantee to France entire freedom in working the mines, the territory +will be governed by a commission appointed by the League of Nations and +consisting of five members, one French, one a native inhabitant of the +Saar, and three representing three different countries other than France +and Germany. The league will appoint a member of the commission as +chairman to act as executive of the commission. The commission will +have all powers of government formerly belonging to the German Empire, +Prussia, and Bavaria, will administer the railroads and other public +services and have full power to interpret the treaty clauses. The local +courts will continue, but subject to the commission. Existing German +legislation will remain the basis of the law, but the commission may +make modification after consulting a local representative assembly which +it will organize. + + +THE PEOPLE'S RIGHTS SECURED + +The people will preserve their local assemblies, religious liberties, +schools, and languages, but may vote only for local assemblies. They +will keep their present nationality except so far as individuals may +change it. Those wishing to leave will have every facility with respect +to their property. The territory will form part of the French customs +system with no export tax on coal and metallurgical products going to +Germany nor on German products entering the basin, and for five years no +import duties on products of the basin going to Germany or German +products coming into the basin for local consumption. French money may +circulate without restriction. + + +POSSIBLE RETURN TO GERMANY + +After 15 years a plebiscite will be held by communes to ascertain the +desires of the population as to the continuance of the existing regime +under the League of Nations, union with France or union with Germany. +The right to vote will belong to all inhabitants over 20 resident +therein at the signature of the treaty. Taking into account the opinions +thus expressed, the league will decide the ultimate sovereignty in any +portion restored to Germany. The German Government must buy out the +French mines at an appraised valuation, if the price is not paid within +six months thereafter this portion passes finally to France. If Germany +buys back the mines the league will determine how much of the coal shall +be annually sold to France. + + +GERMAN RELATIONS WITH FORMER AUSTRIAN STATES + +"Germany recognizes the total independence of German Austria in the +boundaries traced." Germany recognizes the entire independence of the +Czecho-Slovak State including the autonomous territory of the Ruthenians +south of the Carpathians, and accepts the frontiers of this State as to +be determined, which in the case of the German frontier shall follow the +frontier of Bohemia in 1914. The usual stipulations as to acquisition +and change of nationality follow. + + +GERMAN RELATIONS WITH NEW POLAND + +Germany cedes to Poland the greater part of upper Silesia, Posen, and +the Province of West Prussia on the left bank of the Vistula. A field +boundary commission of seven, five representing the allied and +associated powers, and one each representing Poland and Germany, shall +be constituted within 15 days of the signing of peace to delimit this +boundary. Such special provisions as are necessary to protect racial, +linguistic, or religious minorities, and to protect freedom of transit +and equitable treatment of commerce of other nations shall be laid down +in a subsequent treaty between the five allied and associated powers and +Poland. + + +EAST PRUSSIA + +East Prussia presents a peculiar problem since it is cut off from +Germany proper. The boundaries between East Prussia and Poland are to be +determined by a plebiscites or a referendum vote of the people, +specifying what sections are affected, the treaty sets forth that in +each case German troops and authorities will move out within 15 days of +the peace and the territories will be placed under an international +commission of five members appointed by the five allied and associated +powers, with the particular duty of arranging for a free, fair and +secret vote. The commission will report the results of the plebiscites +to the five powers with a recommendation for the boundary and will +terminate its work as soon as the boundary has been laid down and the +new authorities set up. + + +THE RIGHTS OF EAST PRUSSIA GUARDED + +The five allied and associated powers will draw up regulations assuring +East Prussia full and equitable access to and use of the Vistula. A +subsequent convention, of which the terms will be fixed by the five +allied and associated powers will be entered into between Poland, +Germany and Danzig to assure suitable railroad communication across +German territory on the right bank of the Vistula between Poland and +Danzig, while Poland shall grant free passage from East Prussia to +Germany. + +The northeastern corner of East Prussia about Memel is to be ceded by +Germany to the associated powers, the former agreeing to accept the +settlement made, especially as regards the nationality of the +inhabitants. + + +DANZIG MADE A FREE CITY + +Danzig and the district immediately about it are to be constituted into +the "free City of Danzig" under the guarantee of the League of Nations. +A high commissioner appointed by the league and resident at Danzig shall +draw up a constitution in agreement with the duly appointed +representatives of the city and shall deal in the first instance with +all differences arising between the city and Poland. The actual +boundaries of the city shall be delimited by a commission appointed +within six months from the signing of peace, and to include three +representatives chosen by the allied and associated powers, and one each +by Germany and Poland. + + +RELATIONS BETWEEN DANZIG AND POLAND + +A convention, the terms of which shall be fixed by the five allied and +associated powers, shall be concluded between Poland and Danzig, which +shall include Danzig within the Polish customs frontiers though a free +area in the port; insure to Poland the free use of all the city's +waterways, docks, and other port facilities, the control and +administration of the Vistula and the whole through railway system +within the city, and postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communication +between Poland and Danzig; provide against discrimination against Poles +within the city and place its foreign relations and the diplomatic +protection of its citizens abroad in charge of Poland. + + +GERMAN RELATIONS WITH DENMARK + +The war with Denmark in the days of Bismark resulted in the loss of +Schleswig and Holstein to Germany. This treaty provides for a +conditional return to these provinces to Denmark, the country is divided +into zones in each of which the people are to vote on the question of +being returned to Denmark. The international commission will then draw a +new frontier on the basis of these plebiscites and with due regard of +geographical economic conditions. Germany will renounce all sovereignty +over territories north of this line in favor of the associated +governments, who will hand them over to Denmark. + + +HELIGOLAND TO BE DISMANTLED + +Heligoland was a very strongly fortified island guarding the approaches +to the Kiel Canal. The treaty sets forth that the fortifications, +military establishment and harbors of the islands of Heligoland and Dune +are to be destroyed under the supervision of the Allies by German labor +and at Germany's expense. They may not be reconstructed for any similar +fortifications built in the future. + + +STRIPPED OF HER COLONIAL EMPIRE + +Germany's vast colonial empire--totaling more than 1,000,000 square +miles in area--is now a thing of the past. Outside of Europe Germany +renounces all rights, titles, and privileges as to her own or her +allies' territories to all the allied and associated powers, and +undertakes to accept whatever measures are taken by the five allied +powers in relation thereto. In addition Germany surrenders all +concessions she had wrung from other countries,--as China, Siam, +Liberia, Morocco and Egypt. + + +GERMANY LOSES HER ARMY + +The demobilization of the German Army must take place within two months +of the peace. Its strength may not exceed 100,000, including 4,000 +officers, with not over seven divisions of infantry and three of +cavalry, and it is to be devoted exclusively to maintenance of internal +order and control of frontiers. Divisions may not be grouped under more +than two army corps headquarters staffs. The great German General Staff +is abolished. The army administrative service, consisting of civilian +personnel not included in the number of effectives, is reduced to +one-tenth the total in the 1913 budget. Employees of the German states +such as customs officers, first guards may not exceed the number in +1913. Gendarmes and local police may be increased only in accordance +with the growth of population. None of these may be assembled for +military training. + + +STRIPPED OF HER NAVY + +The German Navy must be demobilized within a period of two months after +the peace. She will be allowed six small battleships, six light +cruisers, 12 destroyers, 12 torpedo boats, and no submarines, either +military or commercial, with a personnel of 15,000 men, including +officers, and no reserve force of any character. Conscription is +abolished, only volunteer service being permitted, with a minimum +period of 25 years' service for officers and 12 for men. No member of +the German mercantile marine will be permitted any naval training. + +Germany must surrender 42 modern destroyers, 50 modern torpedo boats, +and all submarines with their salvage vessels. All war vessels under +construction, including submarines, must be broken up. War vessels not +otherwise provided for are to be placed in reserve or used for +commercial purposes. Replacement of ships, except those lost, can take +place only at the end of 20 years for battleships and 15 years for +destroyers. The largest armored ship Germany will be permitted will be +10,000 tons. + + +CANNOT HAVE FIGHTING AIR CRAFT + +For temporary purposes Germany may retain a small force of airplanes and +a small force to operate them, but otherwise the entire air force is to +be demobilized within two months. No aviation grounds or dirigible sheds +are to be allowed within 150 kilometers of the Rhine or the eastern or +southern frontiers, existing installations within these limits to be +destroyed. The manufacture of aircraft and parts of aircraft is +forbidden for six months. All military and naval aeronautical material +under a most exhaustive definition must be surrendered within three +months except for the 100 seaplanes already specified. + + +COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE ABANDONED + +Conscription is abolished in Germany. The enlisted personnel must be +maintained by voluntary enlistments for terms of 12 consecutive years, +the number of discharges before the expiration of that term not in any +year to exceed 5 per cent of the total effectives. Officers remaining in +the service must agree to serve to the age of 45 years, and newly +appointed officers must agree to serve actively for 25 years. + +No military schools except those absolutely indispensable for the units +allowed shall exist in Germany two months after the peace. No +associations such as societies of discharged soldiers, shooting or +touring clubs, educational establishments, or universities may occupy +themselves with military matters. All measures of mobilization are +forbidden. + + +MANUFACTURE OF GUNS AND AMMUNITION FORBIDDEN + +All establishments for the manufacturing, preparation, storage, or +design of arms and munitions of war, except those specifically +excepted, must be closed within three months of the peace and their +personnel dismissed. The exact amount of armament and munitions allowed +Germany is laid down in detail by tables, all in excess to be +surrendered or rendered useless. The manufacture or importation of +asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and all analogous liquids is +forbidden, as well as the importation of arms, munitions and war +material. Germany may not manufacture such material for foreign +governments. + + +WILLIAM II INDICTED AND HIS TRIAL SOUGHT + +"The allied and associated powers publicly arraign William II of +Hohenzollern, formerly German Emperor, not for an offense against +criminal law, but for a supreme offense against international morality +and the sanctity of treaties." + +The former Emperor's surrender is to be requested of Holland, and a +special tribunal set up, composed of one judge from each of the five +great powers, with full guarantees of the right of defense. It is to be +guided "by the highest motives of international policy with a view of +vindicating the solemn obligations of international undertakings and the +validity of international morality," and will fix the punishment it +feels should be imposed. + + +OFFICERS RESPONSIBLE FOR CRUELTIES TO BE TRIED + +Persons accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws and +customs of war are to be tried and punished by military tribunals of +only one state. They will be tried before a tribunal of that state; if +they affect nationals of several states they will be tried before joint +tribunals of the states concerned. Germany shall hand over to the +associated governments either jointly or severally all persons so +accused, and all documents and information necessary to insure full +knowledge of the incriminating acts, the discovery of the offenders and +the just appreciation of the responsibility. The accused will be +entitled to name his own counsel. + + +GERMANY MUST PAY ALL THE DAMAGES SHE CAN + +While the allied and associated governments recognize that the resources +of Germany are not adequate after taking into account permanent +diminutions of such resources which will result from other treaty +claims, to make complete reparation for all such loss and damage, they +require her to make compensation for all damages caused to civilians +under seven main categories: + +These are now defined and the total obligation Germany is to pay is to +be determined and notified to her after a fair hearing and not later +than May 1, 1921, by an inter-allied reparation commission. At the same +time a schedule of payments to discharge the obligation within 30 years +shall be presented. These payments are subject to postponement in +certain contingencies. Germany irrevocably recognizes the full authority +of this commission, agrees to supply it with all the necessary +information, and to pass legislation to effectuate its findings. She +further agrees to restore to the Allies cash and certain articles which +can be identified. + + +A PRESENT PAYMENT DEMANDED + +As an immediate step forward restoration, Germany shall pay within two +years 20,000,000,000 marks in either gold, goods, ships, or other +specific forms of payment, with the understanding that certain expenses +such as those of the armies of occupation and payments for food and raw +materials may be deducted at the discretion of the Allies. + +It is now provided that a commission shall have charge of future +payments and the amounts of such payment is left to be decided by the +commission. + + +MUST REPLACE SHIPS SUNK BY SUBMARINES + +The German Government recognizes the right of the Allies to the +replacement, ton for ton and class for class, of all merchant ships and +fishing boats lost or damaged owing to the war, and agrees to cede to +the Allies all German merchant ships of 1,600 tons gross and upward, +one-half of her ships between 1,600 and 1,000 tons gross, and +one-quarter of her steam trawlers and other fishing boats. These ships +are to be delivered within two months to the reparation committee, +together with documents of title evidencing the transfer of the ships +free from incumbrance. + +"As an additional part of reparation," the German Government further +agrees to build merchant ships for the account of the Allies to the +amount of not exceeding 200,000 tons gross annually during the next five +years. + + +MUST RESTORE DEVASTATED AREAS + +"Germany undertakes to devote her economic resources directly to the +physical restoration of the invaded areas. The reparation commission is +authorized to require Germany to replace the destroyed articles and to +manufacture materials required for reconstruction purposes, all with due +consideration for Germany's essential domestic requirements. + +"The German Government is also to restore to the French Government +certain papers taken by the German authorities in 1870 belonging then to +M. Reuther, and to restore the French flags taken during the war of 1870 +and 1871. As reparation for the destruction of the library of Louvain, +Germany is to hand over manuscripts, early printed books, prints, etc., +to be equivalent to those destroyed. + +"In addition to the above Germany is to hand over to Belgium wings now +at Berlin belonging to the altar piece of the 'Adoration of the Lamb,' +by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, the center of which is now in the church of +St. Bavo at Ghent, and the wings now at Berlin and Munich, of the altar +piece of 'Last Supper,' by Dirk Bouts, the center of which belongs to +the church of St. Peter at Louvain. + + +MUST PAY COST OF ARMY OF OCCUPATION + +"Germany is required to pay the total cost of the armies of occupation +from the date of the armistice as long as they are maintained in German +territory, this cost to be a first charge after making such provisions +for payments for imports as the Allies may deem necessary. Germany is to +deliver to the allied and associated powers all sums deposited in +Germany by Turkey and Austria-Hungary in connection with the financial +support extended by her to them during the war, and to transfer to the +Allies all claims against Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, or Turkey in +connection with agreements made during the war. Germany confirms the +renunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk. + + +TRADE AND COMMERCE REGULATED + +"Customs--For a period of six months Germany shall impose no tariff +duties higher than the lowest in force in 1914, and for certain +agricultural products, wines, vegetables, oils, artificial silk, and +washed or scoured wool this restriction obtains for two and a half +years, or for five years unless further extended by the league of +nations. + +"Germany must give most favored nation treatment to the allied and +associated powers. She shall impose no customs tariff for five years on +goods originating in Alsace-Loraine and for three years on goods +originating in former German territory ceded to Poland with the right of +observation of a similar exception for Luxemburg. + +"Ships of the allied and associated powers shall for five years, and +thereafter under condition of reciprocity, unless the league of nations +otherwise decides, enjoy the same rights in German ports as German +vessels and have most favored nation treatment in fishing, coasting +trade, and towage, even in territorial waters. Ships of a country having +no sea coast may be registered at some one place within its territory. + + +FREEDOM OF TRANSIT + +"Germany must grant freedom of transit through her territories by mail +or water to persons, goods, ships, carriages and mails from or to any of +the allied or associated powers without customs or transit duties, undue +delays, restrictions or discriminations based on nationality, means of +transport or place of entry or departure. Goods in transit shall be +assured all possible speed of journey, especially perishable goods. +Germany may not divert traffic from its normal course in favor of her +own transport routes or maintain "control stations" in connection with +transmigration traffic. She may not establish any tax discrimination +against the ports of allied or associated powers, must grant the +latter's seaports all factors and reduced tariffs granted her own or +other nationals, and afford the allied and associated powers equal +rights with those of her own nationals in her ports and waterways, save +that she is free to open or close her maritime coasting trade. + + +GERMAN RIVERS INTERNATIONALIZED + +"The Elbe from the junction of the Vltava, the Vitava from Prague, the +Oder from Oppa, the Niemen from Grodno, and the Danube from Ulm are +declared international, together with their connections. The riparian +states must ensure good conditions of navigation within their +territories unless a special organization exists therefor. Otherwise +appeal may be had to a special tribunal of the league of nations, which +also may arrange for a general international waterways convention. + +"The Elbe and the Oder are to be placed under international commissions +to meet within three months, that for the Elbe composed of four +representatives of Germany, two from Czecho-Slovakia, and one each from +Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium, and that for the Oder +composed of one each from Poland, Russia, Czecho-Slovakia, Great +Britain, France, Denmark, and Sweden. + +"If any riparian state on the Niemen should so request of the league of +nations a similar commission shall be established there. These +commissions shall, upon request of any riparian state, meet within three +months to revise existing international agreement. + + +CONTROL OF THE DANUBE + +"The European Danube commission reassumes its pre-war powers, for the +time being, with representatives of only Great Britain, Italy, and +Roumania. The upper Danube is to be administered by a new international +commission until a definitive state be drawn up at a conference of the +powers nominated by the allied and associated governments within one +year after the peace. + +"The enemy governments shall make full reparations for all war damages +caused to the European commission; shall cede their river facilities in +surrendered territory, and give Czecho-Slovakia, Serbia, and Roumania +any rights necessary on their shores for carrying out improvements in +navigation. + + +FRANCE, BELGIUM AND THE RHINE + +"The Rhine is placed under the central commission to meet at Strasbourg +within six months after the peace and to be composed of four +representatives of France, which shall in addition select the president; +four of Germany, and two each of Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, +Switzerland, and the Netherlands. + +"Belgium is to be permitted to build a deep draft Rhine-Meuse canal if +she so desires within twenty-five years, in which case Germany must +construct the part within her territory on plans drawn by Belgium; +similarly, the interested allied governments may construct a Rhine-Meuse +canal, both, if constructed, to come under the competent international +commission. + +"Germany must give France on the course of the Rhine included between +the two extreme points of her frontiers all rights to take water to feed +canals, while herself agreeing not to make canals on the right bank +opposite France. She must also hand over to France all her drafts and +designs for this part of the river. + + +THE KIEL CANAL INTERNATIONALIZED + +"The Kiel canal is to remain free and open to war and merchant ships of +all nations at peace with Germany. Goods and ships of all states are to +be treated on terms of absolute equality, and no taxes to be imposed +beyond those necessary for upkeep and improvement for which Germany is +responsible. + +"In case of violation of or disagreement as to these provisions, any +state may appeal to the league of nations, and may demand the +appointment of an international commission. For preliminary hearing of +complaints Germany shall establish a local authority at Kiel. + + +THE TERMS NOT TO BE MODIFIED + +"Germany agrees to recognize the full validity of the treaties of peace +and additional conventions to be concluded by the allied and associated +powers with the powers allied with Germany; to agree to the decisions to +be taken as to the territories of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, +and to recognize the new states in the frontiers to be fixed for them. + +"Germany agrees not to put forward any pecuniary claims against any +allied or associated power signing the present treaty based on events +previous to the coming into force of the treaty. + +"Germany accepts all decrees as to German ships and goods made by any +allied or associated prize court. The allies reserve the right to +examine all decisions of German prize courts. The present treaty, of +which the French and British texts are both authentic, shall be ratified +and the depositions of ratifications made in Paris as soon as possible. +The treaty is to become effective in all respects for each power on the +date of deposition of its ratification. + + +THE ALLIES TAKE NO RISKS + +"As a guarantee for the execution of the treaty German territory to the +west of the Rhine, together with the bridgeheads, will be occupied by +allied and associated troops for 15 years. If the conditions are +faithfully carried out by Germany, certain districts, including the +bridgehead of Cologne, will be evacuated at the expiration of five +years. Certain other districts, including the bridgehead of Coblenz and +the territories nearest the Belgian frontier will be evacuated after ten +years, and the remainder, including the bridgehead of Mainz, will be +evacuated after 15 years. In case the inter-allied reparation commission +finds that Germany has failed to observe the whole or part of her +obligations, either during the occupation or after the 15 years have +expired, the whole or part of the areas specified will be reoccupied +immediately. If before the expiration of the 15 years Germany complies +with all the treaty understandings, the occupying forces will be +withdrawn immediately." + +These are the essential features of the voluminous peace treaty +presented to the German delegates at Versailles May 7, 1919. There was +of course a storm of protest from all classes of German citizens at what +they considered the excessive severity of the terms. Had the fortunes of +war been different we would have seen far more stringent terms imposed +on Great Britain and France and our own country would sooner or later +have met equally hard terms. President Wilson justly summed up the +treaty as "Severe but just." + +After weeks of delay, the exchange of notes between the Allied statesmen +and the German delegates, in a vain endeavor on the part of Germany to +secure modification of the terms--efforts resulting in only trifling +changes--the treaty was signed by delegates from all the Allied powers +(except China) and Germany, June 28, 1919, five years to a day after the +assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand at Serajevo. The five +years that had intervened constitute the most memorable period of time +in history. Probably no equal term of years had been attended with such +an appalling loss of life, had been more heavily freighted with woe, had +witnessed such a tremendous outpouring of blood and treasure as the five +years ended with the signing of the treaty. + +The treaty was signed in the celebrated Hall of Mirrors in the wonderful +palace of Versailles, France. This hall is intimately connected with +great events in the history of France, of Germany, and now of the world. +Here was signed the treaty putting an end to the Franco-German war, here +the German empire was inaugurated and William I crowned emperor, here by +this treaty was the work of Bismarck completely undone and the +constitution of a proposed League of Nations set forth, one of the +greatest events in the history of the world. + + + + +CONDENSED CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR + + +1914. + +June 28--Murder at Serajevo of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. + +July 23--Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia. + +July 28--Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. + +July 31--General mobilization in Russia. "State of war" declared in +Germany. + +Aug. 1--Germany declared war on Russia and invaded Luxemburg. + +Aug. 2--German ultimatum to Belgium, demanding free passage across +Belgium. + +Aug. 3--Germany declares war on France. + +Aug. 4--War declared by Great Britain on Germany. + +Aug. 4--President Wilson proclaimed neutrality of United States. + +Aug. 4-26--Belgium overrun: Liege occupied (Aug. 9); Brussels (Aug. 20); +Namur (Aug. 24). + +Aug. 6--Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia. + +Aug. 10--France declares war on Austria-Hungary. + +Aug. 12--Great Britain declares war on Austria-Hungary. + +Aug. 16--British expeditionary force landed in France. + +Aug. 18--Russia completes mobilization and invades East Prussia. + +Aug. 21-23--Battle of Mons-Charleroi. Dogged retreat of French and +British in the face of the German invasion. + +Aug. 23--Tsingtau bombarded by Japanese. + +Aug. 25-Dec. 15--Russians overrun Galicia. Lemberg taken (Sept. 2); +Przemysl first attacked (Sept. 16); siege broken (Oct. 12-Nov. 12). Fall +of Przemysl (Mar. 17, 1915). Dec. 4, Russians 3-1/2 miles from Cracow. + +Aug. 26--Germans destroy Louvain. + +Aug. 26--Allies conquer Togoland, in Africa. + +Aug. 26--Russians severely defeated at Battle of Tannenberg in East +Prussia. + +Aug. 28--British naval victory in Helgoland Bight. + +Aug. 31--Allies' line along the Seine, Marne and Meuse rivers. + +Aug. 31--Name St. Petersburg changed to Petrograd by Russian decree. + +Sept. 3--French Government removed (temporarily) from Paris to Bordeaux. + +Sept. 5--Great Britain, France and Russia sign a treaty not to make +peace separately. + +Sept. 6-10--First Battle of the Marne. Germans reach the extreme point +of their advance; driven back by the French from the Marne to the River +Aisne. + +Sept. 7--Germans take Maubeuge. + +Sept. 11--An Australian expedition captures New Guinea and the Bismark +Archipelago Protectorate. + +Sept. 16--Russians under Gen. Rennenkampf driven from East Prussia. + +Sept. 22--Three British armored cruisers sunk by a submarine. + +Sept. 27--Successful invasion of German Southwest Africa by Gen. Botha. + +Oct. 9--Germans occupy Antwerp. + +Oct. 13--Belgian Government withdraws to Le Havre, in France. Germans +occupy Ghent. + +Oct. 16-28--Battle of the Yser, in Flanders. Belgians and French halt +German advance. + +Oct. 17-Nov. 17--French, Belgians and British repulse German drive in +first battle of Ypres, saving Channel ports (decisive day of battle, +Oct. 31). + +Oct. 21-28--German armies driven back in Poland. + +Oct. 28--De Wet's Rebellion in South Africa. + +Nov. 1--German naval victory in the Pacific off the coast of Chile. + +Nov. 3--German naval raid into English waters. + +Nov. 5--Great Britain declared war on Turkey; Cyprus annexed. + +Nov. 7--Fall of Tsingtau to the Japanese. + +Nov. 10-Dec. 14--Austrian invasion of Serbia (Belgrade taken Dec. 2, +recaptured by Serbians Dec. 14). + +Nov. 10--German cruiser "Emden" caught and destroyed at Cocos Island. + +Nov. 21--Basra, on Persian Gulf, occupied by British. + +Dec. 8--British naval victory off the Falkland Islands. + +Dec. 8--South African rebellion collapses. + +Dec. 9--French Government returned to Paris. + +Dec. 16--German warships bombarded West Hartlepool, Scarborough and +Whitby. + +Dec. 17--Egypt proclaimed a British Protectorate, and a new ruler +appointed with title of sultan. + +Dec. 24--First German air raid on England. + + +1915. + +Jan. 1-Feb. 15--Russians attempt to cross the Carpathians. + +Jan. 24--British naval victory in North Sea off Dogger Bank. + +Jan. 25--Second Russian invasion of East Prussia. + +Jan. 28--American merchantman "William P. Frye" sunk by German cruiser +"Prinz Eitel Friedrich." + +Feb. 4--Germany's proclamation of "war zone" around the British Isles +after February 18. + +Feb. 10--United States note holding German Government to a "strict +accountability" if any merchant vessel of the United States is destroyed +or any American citizens lose their lives. + +Feb. 16--Germany's reply stating "war zone" act is an act of +self-defense against illegal methods employed by Great Britain in +preventing commerce between Germany and neutral countries. + +Feb. 18--German official "blockade" of Great Britain commenced. German +submarines begin campaign of "piracy and pillage." + +Feb. 19--Anglo-French squadron bombards Dardanelles. + +Feb. 20--United States sends identic note to Great Britain and Germany +suggesting an agreement between these two powers respecting the conduct +of naval warfare. + +Feb. 28--Germany's reply to identic note. + +Mar. 1--Announcement of British "blockade": "Orders in Council" issued +to prevent commodities of any kind from reaching or leaving Germany. + +Mar. 10--British capture Neuve Chapelle. + +Mar. 17--Russians captured Przemysl and strengthened their hold on the +greater part of Galicia. + +Mar. 28--British steamship "Falaba" attacked by submarine and sunk (111 +lives lost; 1 American). + +Apr. 2--Russians fighting in the Carpathians. + +Apr. 8--Steamer "Harpalyce," in service of American commission for aid +of Belgium, torpedoed; 15 lives lost. + +Apr. 17-May 17--Second Battle of Ypres. British captured Hill 60 (April +19); (April 23); Germans advanced toward Yser Canal. Asphyxiating gas +employed by the Germans. Failure of Germany to break through the British +lines. + +Apr. 22--German embassy sends out a warning against embarkation on +vessels belonging to Great Britain. + +Apr. 26--Allied troops land on the Gallipoli Peninsula. + +Apr. 28--American vessel "Cushing" attacked by German aeroplane. + +Apr. 30--Germans invade the Baltic Provinces of Russia. + +May 1--American steamship "Gulflight" sunk by German submarine; two +Americans lost. Warning of German embassy published in daily papers. + +May 2--Russians forced by the combined Germans and Austrians to retire +from their positions in the Carpathians (Battle of the Dunajec). + +May 7--Cunard line steamship "Lusitania" sunk by German submarine (1,154 +lives lost, 114 being Americans). + +May 8--Germans occupy Libau, Russian port on the Baltic. + +May 9-June--Battle of Artois, or Festubert (near La Bassee). + +May 10--Message of sympathy from Germany on loss of American lives by +sinking of "Lusitania." + +May 12--South African troops under Gen. Botha occupy capital of German +Southwest Africa. + +May 13--American note protests against submarine policy culminating in +the sinking of the "Lusitania." + +May 23--Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. + +May 25--Coalition cabinet formed in Great Britain; Asquith continues to +be Prime Minister. + +May 25--American steamship "Nebraskan" attacked by submarine. + +May 28--Germany's answer to American note of May 13. + +June 1--Supplementary note from Germany in regard to the "Gulflight" and +"Cushing." + +June 3--Przemysl retaken by Germans and Austrians. + +June 8--Resignation of William J. Bryan, Secretary of State. + +June 9--Monfalcone occupied by Italians, severing one of two railway +lines to Trieste. + +June 9--United States sends second note on "Lusitania" case. + +June 22--The Austro-Germans recapture Lemberg. + +July 2--Naval action between Russian and German warships in the Baltic. + +July 8--Germany sends reply to note of June 9 and pledges safety to +United States vessels in war zone under specified conditions. + +July 15--Germany sends memorandum acknowledging submarine attack on +"Nebraskan" and expresses regret. + +July 15--Conquest of German Southwest Africa completed. + +July 21--Third American note on "Lusitania" case declares Germany's +communication of July 8 "very unsatisfactory." + +July 12-Sept. 18--German conquest of Russian Poland. Germans capture +Lublin (July 31), Warsaw (Aug. 4), Ivangorod (Aug. 5), Kovno (Aug. 17), +Novo-georgievsk (Aug. 19), Brest-Litovsk (Aug. 25), Vilna (Sept. 18). + +July 25--American steamship "Leelanaw" sunk by submarines; carrying +contraband; no lives lost. + +Aug. 4--Capture of Warsaw by Germans. + +Aug. 19--White Star liner "Arabic" sunk by submarine; 16 victims, 2 +Americans. + +Aug. 20--Italy declared war on Turkey. + +Aug. 24--German ambassador sends note in regard to "Arabic." Loss of +American lives contrary to intention of the German Government and is +deeply regretted. + +Sept. 1--Letter from Ambassador von Bernstorff to Secretary Lansing +giving assurance that German submarines will sink no more liners without +warning. Endorsed by the German Foreign Office (Sept. 14). + +Sept. 4--Allan liner "Hesperian" sunk by German submarine; 26 lives +lost, 1 American. + +Sept. 7--German Government sends report on the sinking of the "Arabic." + +Sept. 8--United States demands recall of Austro-Hungarian ambassador, +Dr. Dumba. + +Sept. 14--United States sends summary of evidence in regard to "Arabic." + +Sept. 18--Fall of Vilna; end of Russian retreat. + +Sept. 25-Oct.--French offensive in Champagne fails to break through +German lines. + +Sept. 27--British progress in the neighborhood of Loos. + +Oct. 4--Russian ultimatum to Bulgaria. + +Oct. 5--Allied forces land at Saloniki, at the invitation of the Greek +Government. + +Oct. 5--German Government regrets and disavows sinking of "Arabic" and +is prepared to pay indemnities. + +Oct. 6-Dec. 2--Austro-German-Bulgarian conquest of Serbia. Fall of Nish +(Nov. 5), of Prizrend (Nov. 30), of Monastir (Dec. 2). + +Oct. 14--Great Britain declared war against Bulgaria. + +Nov. 10--Russian forces advance on Teheran as a result of pro-German +activities in Persia. + +Dec. 1--British under Gen. Townshend forced to retreat from Ctesiphon to +Kut-el-Amara. + +Dec. 4--United States Government demands recall of Capt. Karl Boy-Ed, +German naval attache, and Capt. Franz von Papen, military attache. + +Dec. 6--Germans captured Ipek (Montenegro). + +Dec. 13--British defeat Arabs on western frontier of Egypt. + +Dec. 15--Sir John French retired from command of the army in France and +Flanders, and is succeeded by Sir Douglas Haig. + +Dec. 17--Russians occupied Hamadan (Persia). + +Dec. 19--The British forces withdrawn from Anzac and Sulva Bay +(Gallipoli Peninsula). + +Dec. 26--Russian forces in Persia occupied Kashan. + +Dec. 30--British passenger steamer "Persia" sunk in Mediterranean, +presumably by submarine. + + +1916. + +Jan. 8--Complete evacuation of Gallipoli. + +Jan. 13--Fall of Cettinje, capital of Montenegro. + +Jan. 18--United States Government sets forth a declaration of principles +regarding submarine attacks and asks whether the governments of the +Allies would subscribe to such an agreement. + +Jan. 28--Austrians occupy San Giovanni de Medici (Albania). + +Feb. 10--Germany sends memorandum to neutral powers that armed merchant +ships will be treated as warships and will be sunk without warning. + +Feb. 15--Secretary Lansing makes statement that by international law +commercial vessels have right to carry arms in self-defense. + +Feb. 16--Germany sends note acknowledging her liability in the +"Lusitania" affair. + +Feb. 16--Kamerun (Africa) conquered. + +Feb. 21-July--Battle of Verdun. Germans take Ft. Douaumont (Feb. 25). +Great losses of Germans with little results. Practically all the ground +lost was slowly regained by the French in the autumn. + +Feb. 24--President Wilson in letter to Senator Stone refuses to advise +American citizens not to travel on armed merchant ships. + +Feb. 27--Russians captured Kerman-shah (Persia). + +Mar. 8--German ambassador communicates memorandum regarding U-boat +question, stating it is a new weapon not yet regulated by international +law. + +Mar. 8--Germany declares war on Portugal. + +Mar. 19--Russians entered Ispahan (Persia). + +Mar. 24--French steamer "Sussex" is torpedoed without warning; about 80 +passengers, including American citizens, are killed or wounded. + +Mar. 25--Department of State issues memorandum in regard to armed +merchant vessels in neutral ports and on the high seas. + +Mar. 27-29--United States Government instructs American ambassador in +Berlin to inquire into sinking of "Sussex" and other vessels. + +Apr. 10--German Government replies to United States notes of March 27, +28, 29, on the sinking of "Sussex" and other vessels. + +Apr. 17--Russians capture Trebizond. + +Apr. 18--United States delivers what is considered an ultimatum that +unless Germany abandons present methods of submarine warfare United +States will sever diplomatic relations. + +Apr. 19--President addressed Congress on relations with Germany. + +Apr. 24-May 1--Insurrection in Ireland. + +Apr. 29--Gen. Townshend surrendered to the Turks before Kut-el-Amara. + +May 4--Reply of Germany acknowledges sinking of the "Sussex" and in the +main meets demands of the United States. + +May 8--United States Government accepts German position as outlined in +note of May 4, but makes it clear that the fulfillment of these +conditions can not depend upon the negotiations between the United +States and any other belligerent Government. + +May 16--June 3--Great Austrian attack on the Italians through the +Trentino. + +May 19--Russians join British on the Tigris. + +May 27--President in address before League to Enforce Peace says United +States is ready to join any practical league for preserving peace and +guaranteeing political and territorial integrity of nations. + +May 31--Naval battle off Jutland. + +June 4-30--Russian offensive in Volhynia and Bukovina. Czernovitz taken +(June 17); all Bukovina overrun. + +June 5--Lord Kitchener drowned. + +June 21--United States demands apology and reparation from +Austria-Hungary for sinking by Austrian submarine of "Petrolite," an +American vessel. + +July 1-Nov.--Battle of the Somme. Combles taken (Sept. 26). Failure of +the Allies to break the German lines. + +Aug. 6-Sept.--New Italian offensive drives out Austrians and wins +Gorizia (Aug. 9). + +Aug. 27--Italy declares war on Germany. + +Aug. 27-Jan. 15, 1917--Roumania enters war on the side of the Allies and +is crushed. (Fall of Bucharest, Dec. 6; Dobrudja conquered, Jan. 2; +Focsani captured, Jan. 8). + +Oct. 8--German submarine appears off American coast and sinks British +passenger steamer "Stephano." + +Oct. 28--British steamer "Marina" sunk without warning (6 Americans +lost). + +Nov. 6--British liner "Arabia" torpedoed and sunk without warning in +Mediterranean. + +Nov. 29--United States protests against Belgian deportations. + +Dec. 12--German peace offer. Refused (Dec. 30) by Allies as "empty and +insincere." + +Dec. 14--British horse-transport ship "Russian" sunk in Mediterranean by +submarine (17 Americans lost). + +Dec. 20--President Wilson's peace note (dated Dec. 18). Germany replies +(Dec. 26). Entente Allies' reply (Jan. 10) demands "restorations, +reparation, indemnities." + + +1917. + +Jan. 10--The Allied Governments state their terms of peace; a separate +note from Belgium included. + +Jan. 11--Supplemental German note on views as to settlement of war. + +Jan. 13--Great Britain amplifies reply to President's note of Dec. 18. +Favors co-operation to preserve peace. + +Jan. 22--President Wilson addresses the Senate, giving his ideas of +steps necessary for world peace. + +Jan. 31--Germany announced unrestricted submarine warfare in specified +zones. + +Feb. 3--United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany; +Bernstorff dismissed. + +Feb. 12--United States replies to Swiss Minister that it will not +negotiate with Germany until submarine order is withdrawn. + +Feb. 18--Italians and French join in Albania, cutting off Greece from +the Central Powers. + +Feb. 24--Kut-el-Amara taken by British under Gen. Maude (campaign begun +Dec. 13). + +Feb. 26--President Wilson asks authority to arm merchant ships. + +Feb. 28--"Zimmerman note" revealed. + +Mar. 4--Announced that the British had taken over from the French the +entire Somme front; British held on west front 100 miles, French 175 +miles, Belgians 25 miles. + +Mar. 11--Bagdad captured by British under Gen. Maude. + +Mar. 11-15--Revolution in Russia, leading to abdication of Czar Nicholas +II (Mar. 15). Provisional Government formed by Constitutional Democrats +under Prince Lvov and M. Milyukov. + +Mar. 12--United States announced that an armed guard would be placed on +all American merchant vessels sailing through the war zone. + +Mar. 17-19--Retirement of Germans to "Hindenburg line." Evacuation of +1,300 square miles of French territory, on front of 100 miles, from +Arras to Soissons. + +Mar. 22--United States formally recognized the new government of Russia +set up as a result of the revolution. + +Mar. 26--The United States refused the proposal of Germany to interpret +and supplement the Prussian Treaty of 1799. + +Mar. 27--Minister Brand Whitlock and American Relief Commission +withdrawn from Belgium. + +Apr. 2--President Wilson asks Congress to declare the existence of a +state of war with Germany. + +Apr. 6--United States declares war on Germany. + +Apr. 8--Austria-Hungary severs diplomatic relations with the United +States. + +Apr. 9-May 14--British successes in Battle of Arras; (Vimy Ridge taken +Apr. 9). + +Apr. 16-May 6--French successes in Battle of the Aisne between Soissons +and Rheims. + +Apr. 20--Turkey severs relations with United States. + +May 4--American destroyers begin co-operation with British navy in war +zone. + +May 15-Sept. 15--Great Italian offensive on Isonzo front (Carso +Plateau). Capture of Gorizia, Aug. 9. Monte Santo taken Aug. 24. Monte +San Gabrielle, Sept. 14. + +May 15--Gen. Petain succeeds Gen. Nivelle as commander in chief of the +French armies. + +May 17--Russian Provisional Government reconstructed. Kerensky (formerly +minister of justice) becomes minister of war. + +May 18--President Wilson signs selective service act. + +June 3--American mission to Russia lands at Vladivostok ("Root +Mission"). Returns to America Aug. 3. + +June 7--British blow up Messines Ridge, south of Ypres, and capture +7,500 German prisoners. + +June 10--Italian offensive on Trentino. + +June 12--King Constantino of Greece forced to abdicate. + +June 15--Subscriptions close for first Liberty Loan ($2,000,000,000 +offered; $3,035,226,850 subscribed). + +June 26--First American troops reach France. + +June 29--Greece enters war with Germany and her allies. + +July 1--Russian army led in person by Kerensky begins a short-line +offensive in Galicia, ending in disastrous retreat (July 19-Aug. 3). + +July 4--Resignation of Bethmann Hollweg as German chancellor. Dr. George +Michaelis, chancellor (July 14). + +July 20--Drawing at Washington of names for first army under selective +service. + +July 20--Kerensky becomes premier on resignation of Prince Lvov. + +July 30--Mutiny in German fleet at Wilhelmshaven and Kiel. Second mutiny +Sept. 2. + +July 31-Nov.--Battle of Flanders (Passchendaele Ridge); British +successes. + +Aug. 10--Food and fuel control bill passed. + +Aug. 15--Peace proposals of Pope Benedict revealed (dated Aug. 1). +United States replies Aug. 27; Germany and Austria, Sept. 21; +supplementary German reply, Sept. 26. + +Aug. 15--Canadians capture Hill 70, dominating Lens. + +Aug. 19--New Italian drive on the Isonz front (Carso Plateau). Monte +Santo captured (Aug. 24). + +Aug. 20-24--French attacks at Verdun recapture high ground lost in 1916. + +Sept. 3--Riga captured by Germans. + +Sept. 8--Luxburg dispatches ("Spurlos versenkt") revealed by United +States. + +Sept. 10-13--Attempted coup d'etat of Gen. Kornilov. + +Sept. 15--Russia proclaimed a republic. + +Oct. 12--Germans occupy Oesel and Dago Islands (Gulf of Riga). + +Oct. 17--Russians defeated in a naval engagement in the Gulf of Riga. + +Oct. 24-Dec.--Great German-Austrian counterdrive into Italy. Italian +line shifted to Piave River, Asiago Plateau and Brenta River. + +Oct. 23-26--French drive north of the Aisne wins important positions +including Malmaison Fort. + +Oct. 26--Brazil declares war on Germany. + +Oct. 27--Second Liberty loan closed ($3,000,000,000 offered; +$4,617,532,300 subscribed). + +Oct. 30--Count von Hertling succeeds Michaelis as German chancellor. + +Nov. 2--Germans retreat from the Chemin des Dames, north of the Aisne. + +Nov. 3--First clash of American with German soldiers. + +Nov. 7--Overthrow of Kerensky and Provisional Government of Russia by +the Bolsheviki. + +Nov. 13--Clemenceau succeeds Ribot as French premier. + +Nov. 18--British forces in Palestine take Jaffa. + +Nov. 22-Dec. 13--Battle of Cambrai. Successful surprise attack near +Cambrai by British under Gen. Byng on Nov. 22 (employs "tanks" to break +down wire entanglements in place of the usual artillery preparations). +Bourlon Wood, dominating Cambrai, taken Nov. 26. Surprise counter-attack +by Germans, Dec. 2, compels British to give up fourth of ground gained. +German attacks on Dec. 13 partly successful. + +Nov. 29--First plenary session of the Inter-allied Conference in Paris. +Sixteen nations represented. Col. E.M. House, chairman of American +delegation. + +Dec. 5--President Wilson, in message to Congress, advises war on +Austria. + +Dec. 6--United States destroyer "Jacob Jones" sunk by submarine, with +loss of over 40 American men. + +Dec. 6--Explosion of munitions vessel wrecks Halifax. + +Dec. 6-9--Armed revolt overthrows pro-Ally administration in Portugal. + +Dec. 7--United States declares war on Austria-Hungary. + +Dec. 9--Jerusalem captured by British force advancing from Egypt. + +Dec. 10--Gens. Kaledines and Kornilov declared by the Bolsheviki +Government to be leading a Cossack revolt. + +Dec. 15--Armistice signed between Germany and the Bolsheviki Government +at Brest-Litovsk. + +Dec. 23--Peace negotiations opened at Brest-Litovsk between Bolsheviki +Government and Central Powers, under Presidency of the German foreign +minister. + +Dec. 26--President Wilson issues proclamation taking over railroads and +appointing W.G. McAdoo, director-general. Proclamation takes effect at +noon, December 28. + +Dec. 29--British national labor conference approves continuation of war +for aims similar to those defined by President Wilson. + +1918. + +Jan. 19--American troops take over sector northwest of Toul. + +Feb. 6--"Tuscania," American transport, torpedoed off coast of Ireland; +101 lost. + +Feb. 22--American troops in Chemin des Dames sector. + +Mar. 3--Peace treaty between Bolshevik Government of Russia and the +Central Powers signed at Brest-Litovsk. + +Mar. 4--Treaty signed between Germany and Finland. + +Mar. 5--Rumania signs preliminary treaty of peace with Central Powers. + +Mar. 20--President Wilson orders all Holland ships in American ports +taken over. + +Mar. 21--Germans begin great drive on 50-mile front from Arras to La +Fere. Bombardment of Paris by German long-range gun from a distance of +76 miles. + +Mar. 29--General Foch chosen commander-in-chief of all Allied forces. + +Apr. 9--Second German drive begun in Flanders. + +Apr. 10--First German drive halted before Amiens after maximum advance +of 35 miles. + +Apr. 15--Second German drive halted before Ypres, after maximum advance +of 10 miles. + +Apr. 23--British naval forces raid Zeebrugge in Belgium, German +submarine base, and block channel. + +May 27--Third German drive begins on Aisne-Marne front of 30 miles +between Soissons and Rheims. + +May 28--Germans sweep on beyond the Chemin des Dames and cross the Vesle +at Fismes. + +May 28--Cantigny taken by Americans in local attack. + +May 29--Soissons evacuated by French. + +May 31--Maine River crossed by Germans, who reach Chateau Thierry, 40 +miles from Paris. + +May 31--"President Lincoln," American transport, sunk. + +June 2--Schooner "Edward H. Cole" torpedoed by submarine off American +coast. + +June 3-6--American marines and regulars check advance of Germans at +Chateau Thierry and Neuilly after maximum advance of Germans of 32 +miles. Beginning of American co-operation on major scale. + +June 9-14--German drive on Noyon-Montdidier front. Maximum advance, 5 +miles. + +June 15-24--Austrian drive on Italian front ends in complete failure. + +July 12--Berat, Austrian base in Albania, captured by Italians. + +July 15--Stonewall defense of Chateau Thierry blocks new German drive on +Paris. + +July 16--Nicholas Romanoff, ex-Czar of Russia, executed at +Yekaterinburg. + +July 18--French and Americans begin counter offensive on Marne-Aisne +front. + +July 19--"San Diego," United States cruiser, sunk off Fire Island. + +July 21--German submarine sinks three barges off Cape Cod. + +Aug. 3--Allies sweep on between Soissons and Rheims, driving the enemy +from his base at Fismes and capturing the entire Aisne-Vesle front. + +Aug. 7--Franco-American troops cross the Vesle. + +Aug. 8--New Allied drive begun by Field-Marshal Haig in Picardy, +penetrating enemy front 14 miles. + +Aug. 10--Montdidier recaptured. + +Aug. 29--Noyon and Bapaume fall in new Allied advance. + +Sept. 1--Australians take Peronne. + +Sept. 1--Americans fight for the first time on Belgian soil and capture +Voormezeele. + +Sept. 11--Germans are driven back to the Hindenburg line which they held +in November, 1917. + +Sept. 14--St. Mihiel recaptured from Germans. General Pershing announces +entire St. Mihiel salient erased, liberating more than 150 square miles +of French territory which had been in German hands since 1914. + +Sept. 20--Nazareth occupied by British forces in Palestine under Gen. +Allenby. + +Sept. 23--Bulgarian armies flee before combined attacks of British, +Greek, Serbian, Italian and French. + +Sept. 26--Strumnitza, Bulgaria, occupied by Allies. + +Sept. 27--Franco-Americans in drive from Rheims to Verdun take 30,000 +prisoners. + +Sept. 28--Belgians attack enemy from Ypres to North Sea, gaining four +miles. + +Sept. 29--Bulgaria surrenders to Gen. d'Esperey, the Allied commander. + +Oct. 1--St. Quentin, cornerstone of Hindenburg line, captured. + +Oct. 1--Damascus occupied by British in Palestine campaign. + +Oct. 3--Albania cleared of Austrians by Italians. + +Oct. 4--Ferdinand, king of Bulgaria, abdicates; Boris succeeds. + +Oct. 5--Prince Maximilian, new German Chancellor, pleads with President +Wilson to ask Allies for armistice. + +Oct. 9--Cambrai in Allied hands. + +Oct. 10--"Leinster," passenger steamer, sunk in Irish Channel by +submarine; 480 lives lost; final German atrocity at sea. + +Oct. 11--- Americans advance through Argonne forest. + +Oct. 12--German foreign secretary, Solf, says plea for armistice is made +in name of German people; agrees to evacuate all foreign soil. + +Oct. 13--Laon and La Fere abandoned by Germans. + +Oct. 13--Grandpre captured by Americans after four days' battle. + +Oct. 14--President Wilson refers Germans to General Foch for armistice +terms. + +Oct. 17--Ostend, German submarine base, taken by land and sea forces. + +Oct. 19--Bruges and Zeebrugge taken by Belgians and British. + +Oct. 25--Beginning of terrific Italian drive which nets 50,000 prisoners +in five days. + +Oct. 31--Turkey surrenders; armistice takes effect at noon; conditions +include free passage of Dardanelles. + +Nov. 3--Austria surrenders, signing armistice with Italy at 3 P.M. after +500,000 prisoners had been taken. + +Nov. 11--Germany surrenders; armistice takes effect at 11 A.M. American +flag hoisted on Sedan front. + +Nov. 21--The German high seas fleet, 74 vessels in all, surrendered to +the Allied fleet to be interned at Scapa Flow. + +Dec. 4--President Wilson sailed from New York for Europe, to attend +conference on the larger phases of the treaty of peace. + +Dec. 15--The Allied force complete the occupation of the left bank of +the Rhine. + + +1919. + +Jan. 10--A republic is proclaimed in Luxemburg. + +Jan. 18--The peace congress (without delegates from the defeated powers +and Russia) met at Paris. Premier Clemenceau made permanent chairman. + +Jan. 21--Germany by the terms of its new constitution divided into eight +federated republics. + +Jan. 25--Discussion of the covenants of the League of Nations begun in +the peace congress. + +Feb. 11--Friedrick Ebert elected first president of the German State. + +Feb. 14--The draft of a constitution for a League of Nations adopted by +the peace congress. + +Feb. 19--Attempted assassination of Premier Clemenceau. + +April 23--Montenegro becomes a part of Jugo-Slavia. + +May 7--The treaty of peace framed by representatives of the twenty-seven +allied and associated powers, handed to the German delegates at +Versailles. + +June 21--The German high sea fleet interned at Scapa Flow sunk at its +anchorage by the officers and men left in charge. + +June 28--The treaty of peace signed in the Hall of Mirrors, palace of +Versailles, by all the representatives of the Allied powers (except +China) and the German delegates, officially closing the World War. Just +five years after the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand at +Serajevo. + +June 29--President Wilson left Europe for the United States. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Kelly Miller's History of the World +War for Human Rights, by Kelly Miller + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KELLY MILLER'S HISTORY OF WORLD WAR *** + +***** This file should be named 19179-8.txt or 19179-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/1/7/19179/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Graeme Mackreth, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/19179-8.zip b/19179-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6463702 --- /dev/null +++ b/19179-8.zip diff --git a/19179-h.zip b/19179-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8048a9e --- /dev/null +++ b/19179-h.zip diff --git a/19179-h/19179-h.htm b/19179-h/19179-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3a5839 --- /dev/null +++ b/19179-h/19179-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,24198 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Kelly Miller's History of The World War for Human Rights + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: left; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + + + + .center {text-align: center;} + .left {text-align:left;} + .right {text-align:right;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Kelly Miller's History of the World War for +Human Rights, by Kelly Miller + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights + +Author: Kelly Miller + +Release Date: July 17, 2007 [EBook #19179] +[This file was first posted on September 4, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KELLY MILLER'S HISTORY OF WORLD WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Graeme Mackreth, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus001.jpg" alt="Kelly Miller" /> +</p> + + +<p class="center"> KELLY MILLER, A.M., LL.D.<br /> + +Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington +D.C.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>KELLY MILLER'S HISTORY</h3> + +<h5>OF</h5> + +<h1>The World War</h1> + +<h5>FOR</h5> + +<h2>Human Rights</h2> + +<p>An Intensely Human and Brilliant Account of the World War; Why America +Entered the Conflict; What the Allies Fought For; And a Thrilling +Account of the Important Part Taken by the Negro in the Tragic Defeat of +Germany; The Downfall of Autocracy, and Complete Victory for the Cause +of Righteousness and Freedom.</p> + +<p class="center"><small>INCLUDING</small></p> + +<p>A Wonderful Array of Striking Pictures Made from Recent Official +Photographs, Illustrating and Describing the New and Awful Devices Used +in the Horrible Methods of Modern Warfare, together with Remarkable +Pictures of the Negro in Action in Both Army and Navy.</p> + +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h4>KELLY MILLER, A.M., LL.D.</h4> + +<p>The Well-Known and Popular Author of "Race Adjustment," "Out of the +House of Bondage" and "The Disgrace of Democracy."</p> + +<p class="center"><small>ALSO</small></p> + +<p>Important Contribution by JOHN J. PERSHING, the Famous General, +FREDERICK DRINKER, the Noted War Correspondent, and E.A. ALLEN, Author +of "The History of Civilization."</p> + + +<p class="center"><small> +Copyright, 1919<br /> +By<br /> +A. JENKINS<br /> +<br /> +Copyright, 1919<br /> +By<br /> +O. KELLER</small> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>THE NEGRO'S PART IN THE WAR</h4> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By Professor Kelly Miller, the Well-Known Thinker and Writer</span>.</p> + + +<p>This treatise will set forth the black man's part in the world's war +with the logical sequence of facts and the brilliant power of statement +for which the author is famous. The mere announcement that the author of +"Race Adjustment," "Out of the House of Bondage," and "The Disgrace of +Democracy" is to present a history of the Negro in the great world +conflict, is sufficient to arouse expectancy among the wide circle of +readers who eagerly await anything that flows from his pen.</p> + +<p>In this treatise, Professor Miller will trace briefly, but with +consuming interest, the relation of the Negro to the great wars of the +past. He will point out the never-failing fount of loyalty and +patriotism which characterizes the black man's nature, and will show +that the Negro has never been a hireling, but has always been +characterized by that moral energy which actuates all true heroism.</p> + +<p>The conduct of the Negro in the present struggle will be set forth with +a brilliant and pointed pen. The idea of three hundred thousand American +Negroes crossing three thousand miles of sea to fight against autocracy +of the German crown constitutes the most interesting chapter in the +history of this modern crusade against an unholy cause. The valor and +heroism of the Afro-American contingent were second to none according to +the unanimous testimony of those who were in command of this high +enterprise.</p> + +<p>The story of Negro officers in command of troops of their own color will +prove the wisdom of a policy entered upon with much distrust and +misgiving. It is just here that Professor Miller reaches the high-water +mark. Here is a story never told before, because the world has never +before witnessed Negro officers in large numbers participating in the +directive side of war waged on the high level of modern science and +system.</p> + +<p>Professor Miller's treatise carries its own prophecy. He logically +enough forecasts the future of the race in glowing colors as the result +of his loyal and patriotic conduct in this great world epoch.</p> + +<p>The author wisely queries: "When, hereafter, the Negro asks for his +rights as an American citizen, where can the American be found with the +heart or the hardihood to say him, Nay?"</p> + +<p>The work will be profusely illustrated.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 25em;" class="smcap">Publishers.</span><br /> +March 27, 1919.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>GENERAL PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>While the underlying causes of the greatest war in all history must be +traced far back into the centuries, the one great object of the conflict +which was precipitated by the assassination of the Archduke Francis +Ferdinand of Austria, in Bosnia, at the end of June, 1914, is the +ultimate determination as to whether imperialism as exemplified in the +government of Germany shall rule the world, or whether democracy shall +reign.</p> + +<p>Whenever men or nations disregard those principles which society has +laid down for their conduct in modern civilized life, and obligation and +duty are forgotten in the desire for self-advancement, conflict results.</p> + +<p>Since the days of Athens and Sparta the world's greatest wars have in +the main been conflicts of ideals—democracy being arrayed against +oligarchy—men fighting for individual rights as against militarism and +military domination.</p> + +<p>In the World War, which terminated with the signing of the armistice, +November 11, 1918, which painted the green fields of France and Belgium +red with blood, and swept nations into the most significant and bitter +struggle in all history, the fight was against the Imperial Government +of Germany, by men and nations who claim that humanity the world over +has rights that must be observed.</p> + +<p>Germany has brought upon herself the destruction of her government by +ruthlessly trampling upon her neighbors and assuming that "might is +right."</p> + +<p>The Imperial Government, led by the House of Hohenzollern, was suffering +from an exaggerated ego. Her trouble was psychological. The men who +study the strange workings and twists of the human mind which land some +men in the institutions for the criminal insane, agree that when any man +becomes obsessed with an idea and "rides a hobby" to the exclusion of +all else, he loses his balance and develops an obliquity of view which +makes him a dangerous creature.</p> + +<p>Germany was obsessed with the spirit of militarism and almost everything +else had been sacrificed to this idol. The very first appearance of +Germans in history is as a warlike people. The earliest German +literature is of folk-tales about war heroes, and these stories tell of +the manly virtues of the heroes.</p> + +<p>It is true that there are many scientists, poets, and musicians among +the Germans, but their warlike side must never be forgotten. The entire +race is imbued with the military spirit, the influence reaching to every +phase of national life. All that was best in the nation was raised to +its highest efficiency through military training, but in the +accomplishment of its purposes the House of Hohenzollern, which is +responsible for the development of the national fighting arm, neglected +much and produced millions of creatures who are but human machines, +taught to obey orders without consideration as to the effect their acts +might produce, whether right or wrong.</p> + +<p>In their criticisms of the Prussian militarism the world democracies +defined militarism as an arrogant, or exclusive, professional military +spirit, developed by training and environment until it became despotic, +and assumed superiority over rational motives and deliberations.</p> + +<p>This attitude was reflected in the conduct of the Kaiser, who, as +illustrative of the point, is quoted at the dedication of the monument +to Prince Frederick Charles at Frankfurt-on-the-Oder in 1891, as having +said, "We would rather sacrifice our eighteen army corps and our +forty-two millions inhabitants on the field of battle than surrender a +single stone of what my father and Prince Charles Frederick gained."</p> + +<p>His speeches were filled with similar bombastic and extravagant +expressions which were the subject of international comment for many +years. Other countries besides Germany have maintained great armies, but +their maintenance has been but an incidental part of the general +business of the nation and there was no submerging of the spirit which +seeks and demands appropriate public ideals in government and action. So +that while other elements have always tended to produce friction between +neighboring countries, it was adamant, stubborn, military Prussianism +which asserted itself in the middle of 1914 and set the world afire.</p> + +<p>Enough is known at this writing to show that the cost in lives, money, +morals and weakening of humanity as a whole, is staggering, and yet the +whole truth can not be realized for years to come. In our own great +struggle, which had for its object the liberation of the Negro, the +scars which our country received have not yet been entirely eliminated. +Portions of the country devastated by the soldiers still bear the marks +of the invasion, but what was lost in money and material things was made +up by the welding together of the two sections of the country. The Union +was made a concrete, humanitarian body of citizens. The battle was for +the right and liberty triumphed. And by the defeat of Germany liberty +again triumphs and the world is made a safe place in which to live.</p> + +<p>And just as America fought for liberty in the stirring days of 1776, and +her peoples fought one another in the trying days of 1861-65, so America +was drawn into the World's War that the principles of liberty, for which +she has ever stood, might be perpetuated throughout the world, and that +an international peace might be established, which has for its purposes +the ending of such convulsions as have shaken the world since August, +1914, since the first shots were fired in fair Belgium by German +invaders.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></h4> + +<h4>INTRODUCTORY</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Civilization at Issue—The German Empire—Character of William +II—The Great Conspiracy—The War by Years—United States in the +War—Two Hundred Fifty Miles of Battle—The Downfall of Turkey—The +Democratic Close of the War</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></h4> + +<h4>GEN. PERSHING'S OWN STORY</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Organization of His General Staff—Training in France—In the Aisne +Offensive—At Chateau Thierry—The St. Mihiel Salient—Meuse-Argonne, +First Phase—The Battle in the Forest—Summary</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></h4> + +<h4>PRESIDENT WILSON'S REVIEW OF THE WAR</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Troop Movement During the Year—Tribute To American +Soldiers—Splendid Spirit of the Nation—Resume the Work of +Peace—Outline of Work in Paris—Support of Nation Urged</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></h4> + +<h4>THE FLASH THAT SET THE WORLD AFLAME</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Teutons Find in a Murder the Excuse for War—Germany Inspired by +Ambitions for World Control—The Struggle for Commercial Supremacy a +Factor—The Underlying Motives</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></h4> + +<h4>WHY AMERICA ENTERED THE WAR</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Iron Hand of Prussianism—The Arrogant Hohenzollern +Attitude—Secretary Lane Tells Why We Fight—Broken Pledges—Laws +Violated—Prussianism the Child of Barbarity—Germany's Plans for a +World Empire</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></h4> + +<h4>THE THINGS THAT MADE MEN MAD</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Germany's Barbarity—The Devastation of Belgium—Human +Fiends—Firebrand and Torch—Rape and Pillage—The Sacking of +Louvain—Wanton Destruction—Official Proof</span></p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></h4> + +<h4>THE SLINKING SUBMARINE</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">A Voracious Sea Monster—The Ruthless Destructive Policy of +Germany—Starvation of Nations the Goal—How the Submarines +Operate—Some Personal Experiences</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></h4> + +<h4>THWARTING THE U-BOAT</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nets to Entangle the Sea Sharks of War—"Chasers" or "Skimming Dish" +Boats—"Blimps" and Seaplanes—Hunting the Submarine With "Lance" Bomb +and Gun—A Sailor's Description</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></h4> + +<h4>THE EYES OF BATTLE</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aeroplanes and Airships—They Spy the Movements of Forces on Land or +Sea—Lead Disastrous Bomb Attacks—Valuable in "Spotting" +Submarines—The Bombardment at Messines Ridge</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></h4> + +<h4>WAR'S STRANGE DEVICES</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chemistry a Demon of Destruction—Poison Gas Bombs—Gas Masks—Hand +Grenades—Mortars—"Tanks"—Feudal "Battering Rams"—Steel Helmets—Strange Bullets—Motor +Plows—Real Dogs of War</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></h4> + +<h4>WONDERFUL WAR WEAPONS</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Terrible Rapid-fire Gun—Armored Automobiles and Automobile +Artillery—Howitzers—Mounted Forts—Armored Trains—Observation +Towers—Wireless Apparatus—The Army Pantry</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></h4> + +<h4>THE WORLD'S ARMIES</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Efficient German Organization—The Landwehr and +Landsturm—General Forms of Military Organization—The Brave French +Troops—The Picturesque Italian Soldiery—The Peace and War +Strength—Available Fighting Men—Fortifications</span></p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></h4> + +<h4>THE WORLD'S NAVIES</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Germany's Sea Strength—Great Britain's Immense War Fleet—Immense +Fighting Craft—The United States' New Battle Cruisers—The Fastest and +Biggest Ocean Fighting Ships—The Picturesque Marines: The Soldiers of +the Sea</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></h4> + +<h4>THE NATIONS AT WAR</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Unexpected Developments—- How the War Flames Spread—A Score of +Countries Involved—The Points of Contact—Picturesque and Rugged +Bulgaria, Roumania, Servia, Greece, Italy and Historic Southeast +Europe</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a></h4> + +<h4>MODERN WAR METHODS</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Individual Initiative as Against Mass Movements—Trench Warfare a +Game of Hide and Seek—Rats and Disease—Surgery's Triumphs—Changed +Tactics—Italian Mountain Fighting</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a></h4> + +<h4>WOMAN AND THE WAR</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">She has Won "Her Place in the Sun"—Rich and Poor in the Munitions +Factories—Nurse and Ambulance Driver—Khaki and Trousers—Organizer and +Farmer—Heroes in the Stress of Circumstances—Dying Men's Work for +Men—even a "Bobbie"</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</a></h4> + +<h4>THE TERRIBLE PRICE</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">A Nation of Men Destroyed—Millions in Shipping and Commerce +Destroyed—World's Maps Changed—Billions in Money—Immense +Debts—Nation's Wealth—The United States a Great Provider</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</a></h4> + +<h4>THE WORLD RULERS AT WAR</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodrow Wilson, the Champion of Democracy—The Egotistical +Kaiser—The German Crown Prince—Britain's Monarch—Constantine Who Quit +Rather than Fight Germany—President Poincare—And Other National +Heads</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX</a></h4> + +<h4>THE WAR'S WHO'S WHO</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Striking Figures in the Conflict—Joffre, the Hero of +Marne—Nivelle, the French Commander—Sir Douglas Haig—The Kaiser's +Chancellor—Venizelos—"Black Jack" Pershing</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX</a></h4> + +<h4>CHEMISTRY IN THE WAR</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Substitutes for Cotton—Nitrates Produced from air—Yeast a Real +Substitute for Beef—Seaweed Made to Give up Potash—A Gangrene +Preventative—Soda Made Out of Salt Water—America Chemically +Independent</span></p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI</a></h4> + +<h4>OUR NEIGHBORING ALLY</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Canada's Recruiting—Raise 33,000 Troops in Two Months—First +Expeditionary Force to Cross Atlantic—Bravery at Ypres and +Lens—Meeting Difficult Problems—Quebec Aroused by Conscription</span> +</p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII</a></h4> + +<h4>THE HEROIC ANZAC</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Forces that Stirred the World in the Gallipoli Campaign—Famous as +Sappers—The Blasting of Messines Ridge—Two Years Tunnelling—30,000 +Germans Blown to Atoms—1,000,000 Pounds of Explosives Used—Troops that +Were Transported 11,000 Miles</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII</a></h4> + +<h4>AMERICA STEPS IN</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">President Wilson's Famous Message to Congress—The War +Resolution—April 6, 1917, Sees the United States at War—Review of the +Negotiations Between Germany and America—The U-Boat Restricted Zone +Announcement of Germany—Premier Lloyd George on America in the +Conflict</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV</a></h4> + +<h4>UNCLE SAM TAKES HOLD</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Makes World's Biggest War Loan—Seize German Ships—Intrigue +Exposed—General Pershing and Staff in Europe—The Navy on Duty in North +Sea—First United States Troops Reach France—Germany's Attempts to Sink +Troop Ships Thwarted by Navy's Guns</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV</a></h4> + +<h4>A GERMAN CRISIS</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Downfall of Bethmann-Hollweg—The Crown Prince in the Lime +Light—Hollweg's Unique Career—Dr. Georg Michaelis Appointed +Chancellor—The Kaiser and How He Gets His Immense Power</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI</a></h4> + +<h4>UNCLE SAM AND THE NEUTRALS</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">President Wilson Puts Embargo on Food Shipments—Scandinavian +Countries Furnishing Supplies to Germany Inspires Order—The Difficult +Position of Norway, Denmark, Holland and Switzerland</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII</a></h4> + +<h4>THE ACTIONS OF THE WAR</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">From Bosnia to Flanders—Marne the Turning Point of the +Conflict—The Conquests of Servia and Rumania—The Fall of +Bagdad—Russia's Women Soldiers—America's Conscripts</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII</a></h4> + +<h4>AMERICAN FORCES BECOME FACTOR</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">United States Soldiers Inspired Allied Troops—Russian Government +Collapses—Italian Army Fails—Allied War Council Formed—Foch Commands +Allied Armies—Pershing Offers American Troops—Under Fire—U-Boat +Bases Raided by British</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX</a></h4> + +<h4>AMERICANS TURN WAR'S TIDE</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brilliant American Fighting Stops Hun Advance—French and British +Inspired—Famous Marines Lead in Picturesque Attack—Halt Germans at +Chateau-Thierry—Used Open Style Fighting—Thousands of Germans +Slain—United States Troops in Siberia—New Conscription Bill +Passed—Allied Successes on All Fronts</span> </p> + + +<h4><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX</a></h4> + +<h4>VICTORY—PEACE</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">The German Empire Collapses—Foch's Strategy Wins—American +Inspiration a Big Factor—Bulgaria, Turkey and Austria Quit +War—Monarchs Fall—Kaiser Abdicates and Flees Germany—Armistice +Signed—November 11, Peace</span></p> + + +<h4><a href="#THE_NEGRO_IN_THE_WORLD_WAR">THE NEGRO IN THE WORLD WAR</a> </h4> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus002.jpg" alt="wounded soldiers" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> WOUNDED AMERICAN SOLDIERS ENTERTAINING THEMSELVES.<br /> + +During the period of convalescence the wounded were well cared for. They +earned and deserved the best possible treatment and care.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus003.jpg" alt="fifth ave." /> +</p> +<p class="center">FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, CHEERS NEGRO VETERANS.<br /> + +The 369th Colored Infantry acclaimed by thousands upon their return from +France. Their record is one of the bravest of any organization in the +war.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus004.jpg" alt="wounded" /> +</p> +<p class="center">ONE OF THE WOUNDED AND HIS MOTHER.<br /> + +A member of the famous 369th Colored Infantry, who was wounded in the +fighting, and his proud mother. He sacrificed a leg for the cause of +righteousness and World Peace.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus005.jpg" alt="work" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> CHEERFULLY DOING THE WORK REQUIRED.<br /> + +Transporting tan bark, to be used in connection with tanning leather. No +slackers. The colored women did willingly and efficiently their part in +helping win the war.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus006.jpg" alt="soldiers" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> NEGRO SOLDIERS LOOKING FOR THE ENEMY.<br /> + +Negro troops from many parts of the world were engaged in the war. It +has been estimated that as many as 700,000 Negro soldiers were in the +French Army alone.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus007.jpg" alt="atheil" /> +</p> +<p class="center">ENTERTAINING CONVALESCENT AMERICAN SOLDIERS AT AUTHEIL.<br /> + +Negro musicians were in great demand in France. This picture shows +Lieut. Europe's noted colored band.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus008.jpg" alt="band" /> +</p> +<p class="center">THE BAND IN La BOURBOULE, FRANCE.<br /> + +The arrival of the colored musicians created great excitement. This band +heralded the coming of soldiers to rest up.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus009.jpg" alt="sniper" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> A SNIPER AT WORK.<br /> + +This papier-maché camouflage, made to imitate a dead horse, furnished +good protection for the sharpshooter.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus010.jpg" alt="seneglians" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> SENEGALIANS ON THE SOMME FRONT.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus011.jpg" alt="zouaves" /> +</p> + +<p class="center">FRENCH ZOUAVES TAKEN PRISONERS BY GERMANS.<br /> + +They were formerly artists in a Paris cafe-concert.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus012.jpg" alt="macedonia" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> WOUNDED COLORED SOLDIERS ON THE MACEDONIAN FRONT.<br /> + +They were with the ambulance X.A., and the major surgeon is distributing +cigarettes.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus013.jpg" alt="roberts" /> +</p> + +<p class="center">Private Henry Johnson<br /> + +Private Needham Roberts<br /> + +Of the New York National Guards (now the 369th) who have been decorated +by the French for routing 24 Germans and preventing the carrying out of +a well-developed plan to assail one of the most important points of +resistance on the American front. They have been awarded the War Cross +by the French.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus014.jpg" alt="roads" /> +</p> +<p class="center">COLORED SOLDIERS BUILDING ROADS "OVER THERE."</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus015.jpg" alt="trench" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> COLORED SOLDIERS IN THE TRENCHES "OVER THERE."<br /> + +(Note the tin hats.)</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus016.jpg" alt="washington" /> +</p> +<p class="center">HOTEL BOOKER T. WASHINGTON "OVER THERE."<br /> + +The Negro Soldiers are surely fighting for Democracy. It is coming to +them by leaps and bounds.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus017.jpg" alt="leaving" /> +</p> +<p class="center">COLORED SOLDIERS LEAVING AN AMERICAN PORT FOR "OVER +THERE."<br /> + +(See them dancing on the right.)</p> + +<p class="center">The Late Major Walker, of the First Colored Battalion, District of +Columbia National Guard</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus018.jpg" alt="walker" /> +</p> + +<p>The late Major James E. Walker was born in Virginia, September 7, 1874. +He was educated in the public schools of Washington, D.C., and was +graduated from the M. Street High School in 1893, and the Miner Normal +School in 1894. For twenty-four years he was in the public school +service, and since 1899 was supervising principal. In 1896 he was made +Lieutenant in the First Separate Battalion of the National Guard of the +District of Columbia. In 1909 he was made Captain and in 1912, through +competitive examination, was commissioned Major. His command was called +out to guard the White House, and while on this duty Major Walker's +health became impaired. He was sent to the U.S. Hospital at Fort Bayard, +New Mexico, for treatment, where he died April 4, 1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus019.jpg" alt="marine" /> +</p> +<p class="center">THE FIGHTING U.S.A. MARINE BRIGADE IN BELLEAU WOOD.<br /> + +Here the Germans were not only stopped in their march toward Paris, but +"knocked out." The furious and fast fighting of the Marines proved their +superiority. The Hun was badly beaten. The soldier applying the bayonet +is an American Negro.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus020.jpg" alt="african" /> +</p> +<p class="center">AFRICAN TROOPS IN FRANCE. THEY FOUGHT FOR THE ALLIES.<br /> + +A war dance, relieving the monotony and for the benefit of British and +French troops. These colored soldiers gave a good account of +themselves.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus021.jpg" alt="kamerad" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> KAMERAD! KAMERAD!<br /> + +Three colored Canadians imitating the Germans, whom they captured in +this dugout near the Canal du Nord, as they put up their hands and +shouted "Kamerad"!</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus022.jpg" alt="prisoners" /> +</p> + +<p class="center"> PRISONERS IN GERMANY <br /> +These prisoners of war are from America and other countries. It is stated in +the history of the photographs that the two men shooting crap are +American Negroes.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<h4>INTRODUCTORY.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Civilization at Issue—The German Empire—Character of William +II—The Great Conspiracy—The War by Years—United States in the +War—Two Hundred Fifty Miles of Battle—The Downfall of Turkey—The +Democratic Close of the War.</span></p> + + +<p>The World War, terminated by the signing of the armistice November 11, +1918, was attended with more far-reaching changes than any war known to +history, and is destined to so profoundly influence civilization that we +see in it the beginning of a new age. Somewhat similar wars in the past +were the campaigns of Alexander; the wars that overthrew the Roman +Empire and the Napoleonic wars of a previous century; but this one war +surpasses them all, measured by any scale that can be applied to +military operations. It was truly a World War, thus in a class by +itself. Beginning in Central Europe, twenty-eight nations—nearly all of +the important nations of the world—with a total population of about +1,600,000,000—or eleven-twelfths of the human race—became involved. It +cost 10,000,000 human lives, 17,000,000 more suffered bodily injury; the +money cost was about $200,000,000,000, but who can measure the cost in +untold suffering caused by ruined homes and wrecked lives that attended +it? Or who can measure the property loss, considering that the fairest +provinces of Europe were swept with the bezom of destruction?</p> + +<p>Rightly to judge the real significance of such a world struggle, we must +consider conditions that made it possible; study the issue involved +stripped of all misleading statements; review its course and weigh the +nature of the profound changes—geographical, political and +economic—that resulted. We shall find that this war was the +culmination of century-old causes; that two rival theories of +government—impossible to longer co-exist—met in deadly conflict; and +that civilization itself was the stake at issue. We shall see that +beyond the wreck of empires and troubled days of reconstruction now upon +us—through it all approaches a wonderful new age. Autocracy has +crumbled; a higher form of democracy will arise and in peaceful days to +come the nations of the world will rapidly advance in all that +constitutes national well-being.</p> + + +<h4>THE GERMAN STATES.</h4> + +<p>The early history of Germany is a confused panorama of a thousand years, +during which time Central Europe was a country of numerous separate +states, many of them at times coming together as a more or less closely +knit confederacy under the lead of a powerful state, only to fall apart +into a mass of confused units at a later date. It is interesting to +learn that among the Teutonic knights of that early time, none was more +noted than Count Thassilo Von Zollern who founded the house of +Hohenzollern, that played such an ambitious role in European history, +the house whose downfall was one of the dramatic results of the war.</p> + + +<h4>THE RISE OF PRUSSIA.</h4> + +<p>At its height the German Empire consisted of a union of twenty-five +Germanic states of various grades and the Reichland of Alsace-Lorraine +under the leadership of Prussia, by far the most important state of the +Empire. The foundation of Prussia's greatness was laid by Frederick the +Great in 1763 when he tore Silesia from Austria in an entirely +unprovoked war. He wished to enlarge the bounds of Prussia, he coveted +Silesia, so he took it. In that deed of spoliation we see manifested the +spirit that has animated official Germany since that date. Not only is +the House of Hohenzollern descended from the Robber Knights of old, but +the same is true of the military caste of Germany generally. Recent +centuries have cast only a thin veneer of modern thought over +essentially medieval conceptions of national rights and duties.</p> + + +<h4>THE DAYS OF BISMARCK.</h4> + +<p>For a century after the reign of Frederick, Prussia remained the most +prominent Germanic state in Europe. Then we come to the days of +Bismarck. He is regarded as a remarkable statesman. He himself delighted +to be known as the man of "Blood and Iron." Judging from his acts his +one motive in life was to advance the power and influence of Prussia. In +the decade 1860-1870 he instigated three wars,—with Denmark in 1864, +with Austria in 1866, with France in 1870,—not one of which was +justifiable. The war with France was occasioned by deliberately changing +the wording of a telegram—in itself friendly—from the King of Prussia +to Napoleon III, knowing it would result in war. All were short wars, +all resulted in victory for Prussia and consequent increase in +territory. Under the glamour of the great victory over France in 1871 +came the formation of the German Empire.</p> + + +<h4>THE GERMAN EMPIRE.</h4> + +<p>Thus there suddenly arose in Central Europe, in the place of the weak +confederation of earlier years, one empire of great actual strength, +generously endowed as regards territory, and at the head of that empire +was a state that alone of modern states most resembles Rome of early +centuries, that ruled the Mediterranean world, imposing on the conquered +people of that section her language, her laws and her customs. Like her +great prototype, we now know that official Prussia regarded all she had +accomplished to the formation of the empire as simply a station reached +in a career of progress which was to end in a World empire as greatly +surpassing that of Rome in her palmy days as the world of the twentieth +century surpasses the known world of Roman times.</p> + + +<h4>DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMPIRE.</h4> + +<p>The empire enjoyed a brief span of national life. In less than fifty +years it ceased to exist, a republic of an uncertain nature takes its +place. To outward appearances the development of the empire was a +brilliant one. A colonial empire was established—mostly in +Africa—nearly five times as great in area as the home empire; she had +large possessions in the Pacific and had gained a foothold in China. The +rich potash and iron deposits of Alsace increased her wealth and +marvelously built up her industries and she became one of the greatest +manufacturing nations of modern times. Her population doubled, her +foreign trade increased four fold, her shipping grew by leaps and +bounds. Her army became so perfected that it was acknowledged to be the +greatest military machine the world had ever seen; she was building a +navy that threatened the supremacy of England on the sea.</p> + + +<h4>BUILT ON A FOUNDATION OF SAND.</h4> + +<p>In spite of this brilliant development, the empire rested on a +foundation of sand. You will never understand the World War unless you +grasp this thought and its justification. The government was autocratic, +though under the form of a constitutional government. The entire +military class in Germany held to theories of government, of national +rights and wrongs that belonged to the middle ages. Theories of +state-craft which the world long since outgrew were proclaimed and +taught, and enforced by every means at command of the government, the +military class, the professors, scientists and theologians of Germany. +Education and religion were state controlled. As a consequence, every +German child from his cradle to his grave was under the influence of +state officials and never allowed to forget reverence for the kaiser, +the glorious military record of Germany, German supremacy in every +department of culture. Such a government was hopelessly behind modern +ideas.</p> + + +<h4>WILLIAM II.</h4> + +<p>William II was the third emperor of Germany,—also the last. His reign +began, in pomp and ceremony, June 15, 1888, it ended in the darkness and +gloom of night, shortly before the signing of the armistice, November +11, 1918. Other reigns have been longer in duration; none surpassed his +in deeds. When his reign began he said he would lead his people to +"shining days." He did so; but "shining days" ended in despairing night.</p> + +<p>Personally, William II was an able man, but he was not well balanced. In +the early days of his reign, Bismarck confided to a friend that it would +some day be necessary for Germany to confine William II in an insane +asylum. We must remember his lineage, his long line of ancestors dating +back to the Robber Knights of the Middle Ages, all used to the exercise +of autocratic power. Medieval conceptions were his by inheritance. He +believed he was divinely commissioned to rule Germany; he said so in his +speeches. He believed he was a man of destiny who was to advance Germany +to the zenith of earthly greatness; he himself, not someone else, +asserted this. He asserted that while Napoleon failed in his great +scheme of conquest, he, by God's help, would succeed. Every prominent +military leader in Germany applauded such beliefs. He said that when he +contemplated the paintings of his ancestors, and the military chiefs of +Germany, who advanced the insignificant Mark of Brandenburg to the rank +of the most powerful state in Europe, they seemed to reproach him for +not being active in similar work. But we now know that he was not idle.</p> + + +<h4>ACTIVITIES IN WHICH HE WAS INTERESTED.</h4> + +<p>One year after the accession of William II he paid a spectacular visit +to "his friend" (as he called him) Abdul Hamid, Sultan of Turkey, the +head of one of the most cruel, licentious, incompetent, blood-thirsty +governments that ever cursed the world; greeted him with a kiss, put on +a Turkish uniform (fez and all), and assured the Mohammedan world that +he was henceforth their friend. The ignorant Turks actually supposed he +had become a Mohammedan and native papers spoke of him as "His Islamic +Holiness." In the light of history, the meaning of all this is so clear +that he who runs may read, and the wayfaring man, though a fool, need +not err therein. This visit was repeated in 1898. For more than twenty +years every effort was made to extend German influence in Turkey, +because that country with its minerals, its oils, its wonderfully strong +strategical location was vital to the success of a vast scheme of +conquest official Germany with William II as leader was contemplating.</p> + + +<h4>PAN-GERMANISM.</h4> + +<p>Two years after his accession, there was organized the Pan-Germanic +League. This League soon attracted to its ranks the entire class of +Prussian Junkers, virtually all the military class, and a galaxy of +writers and speakers. The purpose of the league was to foster in the +minds of German people the idea that it was their privilege, right and +duty to extend the power, influence and political dominance of Germany +to all parts of the world, peacefully if possible, otherwise by the +sword. This doctrine was taught openly and boldly in Germany in books +and pamphlets and by means of lectures with such frankness and fullness +of details that the world at large laughed at it as an exuberant dream +of fanatics. Intellectual, military, and official Germany was in +earnest. Her generals wrote books illustrated with maps showing the +stages of world conquest; her professors patiently explained how +necessary all this was to Germany's future; while her theologians +pointed out it was God's will. But the world at large, except uneasy +France, slept on.</p> + + +<h4>OUTWORKINGS OF THE PLOT.</h4> + +<p>It was this vision that fired the imagination of William II. He was to +be the Augustus of this greater Roman Empire; over virtually all the +earth the House of Hohenzollern was to exercise despotic sway. Then +began preparation for the World's War. With characteristic German +thoroughness and patience the plans were laid. Thoroughness, since they +embraced every conceivable means that would enhance their prospect of +victory, her military leaders, scientists and statesmen were all busy. +Patience, since they realized there was much to do. Many years were +needed and Germany refused to be hurried. She carefully attended to +every means calculated to increase the commerce and industry of the +empire, but with it all—underlying it all—were activities devoted to +preparation for world conquest. Building for world empire, Germany could +afford to take time.</p> + + +<h4>PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED.</h4> + +<p>Time was needed to solve the military problems involved. A nation +aspiring to territory extending from Hamburg to Bagdad must firmly +control the Balkan States. That meant that Austria must become, in +effect, a German province; Serbia must be crushed; Bulgaria must become +an ally; and Turkey must be brought under control. In 1913, two of these +desired results were attained. Turkey was to a surprising degree under +the military and economic control of Germany. Austria had become such a +close ally that she might almost be styled a vassal of Germany. She +faithfully carried out the wishes of Germany in 1908 when she annexed +the Serbian states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a step she felt safe in +taking since (the Kaiser's own words) behind her was the "shining sword +of Germany." It were tedious to enlarge on this point. Let it suffice to +say that in 1914 Germany felt herself ready for the conflict. Enormous +supplies of guns, of a caliber before unthought of, and apparently +inexhaustible supplies of ammunition had been prepared; strategic +railroads had been built by which armies and supplies could be hurried +to desired points; the Kiel Canal had been completed; her navy had +assumed threatening proportions; her army, greatly enlarged, was in +perfect readiness.</p> + + +<h4>THE REAL CAUSES OF THE WAR.</h4> + +<p>The real cause of the war is now disclosed. It is not necessary to +discuss other possible causes. The pistol shot at Serajevo was the +occasion, not the cause of the war. The simple fact is that on one +pretext or another war would have come anyway, simply because Germany +was ready. In 1913 the speakers of the Pan-German League were going to +and fro in Germany making public speeches on all possible occasions, +warning the people to be ready, telling them "There was the smell of +blood in the air," that the wrath of God was about to be visited upon +the nations that would hem Germany in. We now know from official sources +that Germany was eager for war in the fateful days of July 1914, when +France and England were almost begging for peace. All this is made +exceedingly clear in the secret memoirs of Prince Lichnowski, German +ambassador to England, the published statements of the premier of +Bavaria, also those of the Prince of Monaco, and the records of the +Potsdam council over which the Kaiser presided, secretly convened one +week after the murder of the Prince. There were present the generals, +diplomats and bankers of Germany.</p> + + +<h4>DECISION FOR WAR.</h4> + +<p>The matter of possible war was carefully considered. To the earnest +question of the emperor, all present assured him that the interests they +represented were ready, with the exception of the financiers who desired +two weeks' time in which to make financial arrangements for the coming +storm. This was given them, and the council adjourned. The emperor, to +divert suspicion, hurried off on a yachting trip while the financiers +immediately commenced disposing of their foreign securities. The stock +markets of London, Paris, and New York during that interval of time bear +eloquent testimony to the truth of these assertions. Two weeks and three +days after the council adjourned, Austria sent her ultimatum to Serbia. +The truth of these statements is vouched for by Henry Morgenthau, +American ambassador to Turkey.</p> + +<p>Thus were unleashed the dogs of war. For four long years they rioted in +blood. To advance dynastic ambitions and national greed, millions of +Armenian Christians were tortured, outraged and murdered; hapless +Belgians were ravished and put to the sword, their cities made charnal +heaps; millions of men—the fairest sons of many lands—gave up their +lives, and anguished hearts sobbed out their grief in desolated homes, +while generations to come will feel the crushing financial burdens this +struggle has entailed with its heritage of woe.</p> + +<p>We must now gain a general view of the events of the war. Every +well-informed man or woman feels the necessity of such outline +knowledge. It was not only the greatest war in history, but it was our +war. Our liberties were threatened. Rivers and hamlets of France are +invested with new interest. There, our American boys are sleeping; they +died that our Republic might live. We may regard the annals of other +wars with languid interest; those of this war grip our hearts, our +breath comes quicker as we read; we experience a glow of patriotic +pride. We shall let each year of the war tell its story. Of necessity we +can only record the main events, the peaks of each year's achievements.</p> + + +<h4>EVENTS OF 1914.</h4> + +<p>A state of war was declared to exist in Germany, July 31, 1914. Four +days later Germany had mobilized five large armies with full supplies on +the extended line from Metz northward along the eastern boundary of +France—a distance of about 130 miles. That mobilization was a wonderful +exhibition of military efficiency. From Verdun to Paris, slightly +southwest, is also about 130 miles.</p> + +<p>The German plan of campaign may be crudely stated as follows: Regard +that extended line as a flail ready to fall, hinged near Verdun, moved +in a circle until the northern tip, under command of Von Kluck, should +fall with all the energy Germany could put into the blow on Paris. In +the meantime, the other armies would crush back, outflank, defeat, and +capture the small British and hastily mobilized French armies that +confronted them along the entire line. It was believed that a short +campaign would crush France, over-awe Great Britain, and end the war in +the West. It was thought that six weeks would be ample to accomplish +this result.</p> + + +<h4>BELGIAN RESISTANCE.</h4> + +<p>Germany expected that at the most a day or so would see Belgian +resistance broken and the dash on Paris begun. It was not safe to start +such a forward rush with Belgium unconquered. This was the first of +many, many mistakes made by Germany. It required two weeks to break down +this resistance. Thus the northern end of the flail was held and +movement along the entire line was slowed down or suspended. The +unexpected delay saved France. Let us remember this when we read the +story of Belgium's martyrdom, a story written in blood. Then began the +fulfillment of the threat of William II to the Prince of Monaco "the +world will see what it never dreamed of." And truly the world never +dreamed of the terrible scenes that attended the sack of Louvain (August +26). Not until after the situation in Belgium had been given a bloody +setting did the first dash on Paris begin (August 23).</p> + + +<h4>RETREAT TO THE MARNE.</h4> + +<p>We are now approaching the "Miracle of the Marne." The line of German +armies along the eastern frontier of France were confronted by the +forces of France, hastily mobilized during the delay occasioned by the +heroic but pathetically futile resistance of Belgium. The first English +army had also assumed a position before the menacing rush of the German +forces. The only thing the Allies could do was to retreat. This +movement, directed by General Joffre, was a remarkably able one. His +plan was to give ground before the advance without risking a decisive +battle until he could rearrange his forces and gain a favorable +position. Only with difficulty was the retreat saved from becoming a +great disaster when the British army was defeated at Mons-Charleroi +(August 21-3). Apparently, the German forces were carrying everything +before them as the retreat continued. The flail, swinging from Metz to +Belgium, was falling with crushing effect along the entire front, the +movement being very rapid at the western but slow at the eastern end. It +was centered at Verdun because it was not safe to leave that fortress +unconquered in the rear.</p> + + +<h4>THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE.</h4> + +<p>The Marne is a small river in France, gently coursing from the +water-shed south of Verdun to the Seine near Paris, its general course +convex to the north. It will hereafter rank as one of the storied rivers +of history, the scene of mighty battles, where the red tide of German +success ebbed in its flow. The night of September 4, the German armies +were in position along this river in an irregularly curved line slightly +convex to the south from a point only twenty-five miles east of Paris to +Verdun, one hundred and twenty-five miles, slightly to the northeast. +The evening of that day, General Joffre issued orders for a general +attack all along the line. His message to the French Senate was couched +in words of deep meaning,—he had made, he said, the best disposition +possible. France could only await in hope the outcome. The battle that +began the next day continued for one week and ended with a victory for +the Allies as the German armies were forced back everywhere, a varying +distance, to a line of defense prepared back of the Aisne River, to the +north and east. This was a marvelous result. Just as the world was +waiting with bated breath to hear of the fall of Paris, it heard +instead, that the German army was in retreat. It was truly a miracle. +Why not see in it proof that a Power infinitely greater than that of man +was directing events?</p> + + +<h4>THE MAGNITUDE OF THE BATTLE.</h4> + +<p>The battle front covered a distance of about 125 miles. The forces +engaged numbered about 1,500,000 men. Thus this battle far exceeds in +magnitude the battle of Mukden, previously considered the greatest +battle of modern times; while the great battle of Waterloo was an +insignificant skirmish in comparison. It is of further interest to learn +that Allied success was largely the result of the use of flying machines +for scouting purposes, which enabled General Joffre to take instant +advantage of tactical mistakes of General Von Kluck. The results were +commensurate with the immensity of the struggle. Paris was saved; the +first period of the war in the west was ended; Germany was rudely +awakened from her dream of easy conquest.</p> + + +<h4>THE BATTLE OF TANNENBERG.</h4> + +<p>The success of the Allies in the west was in a measure offset by +Teutonic victories in the east. When the invasion of Belgium began, +Russia made immediate efforts to counteract by invasion of East Prussia. +She was successful to the extent of drawing to that section a number of +army corps that would otherwise have taken part in the Marne campaign. +These movements culminated in the battle of Tannenberg, commencing +August 26, 1914. Tannenberg is nearly one hundred miles southeast of +Konigsburg. This was the battle that gave General Von Hindenburg his +fame. He was a native of East Prussia, and acquainted with the country, +but had lived in retirement for some years. Appointed to command, he +made such a skillful disposition of his troops that the Russian army was +virtually annihilated, less than one corps escaped by headlong flight. +According to German authority, 70,000 Russians were captured. General +Von Hindenburg was acclaimed the greatest soldier of the day, and was +immediately appointed field marshal in command of all the German forces +in the east.</p> + + +<h4>EVENTS OF 1915.</h4> + +<p>The year 1915 was one of meager results, the advantages remaining on the +side of the Central Powers, with this understanding, however: The Allies +were growing stronger because Great Britain was making rapid progress in +marshaling her resources for war. On the west front, the long, irregular +line of trenches, from Switzerland on the south to Ostend on the North +Sea, marking the German retreat after the battle of the Marne, remained +without substantial change. Do not understand there were no battles +along that extended line. Almost daily there were conflicts that in +former wars would have been given a place among the world's great +battles. They are scarcely worth mentioning in the annals of this war. +Back and forth across that narrow line surged the red tide without +decisive changes in position. There were attacks and counter-attacks of +the most sanguinary nature near Calais. The first instance of the use of +gas in war occurred in these battles, at the second battle of Ypres, +April 23, 1915.</p> + + +<h4>ON THE EAST FRONT.</h4> + +<p>In spite of the great reverse at Tannenberg, Russia was not defeated. +Her armies in Galicia (Northeastern Hungary) were winning important +battles. A determined effort was made in 1915 by Germany to crush Russia +and thus retire her from the war. For days at a time, on the railroads +of East Germany, double headed trains were passing every fifteen +minutes, loaded with troops and munitions withdrawn from the western +front which accounts for the comparative quiet in that section, which in +turn gave Great Britain time to prepare in earnest. And so it was that +during a large part of 1915 Russia had to withstand the shock of war. +Russian soldiers were brave; her generals able, but the whole official +life was more or less corrupt.</p> + +<p>The poison of German propaganda was at work. Her ammunition was totally +insufficient. Immense supplies made in France according to +specifications furnished by high officials in Russia did not fit the +guns they were intended to serve. There were already signs of the +approaching utter collapse of Russia as a world power, then more than a +year distant in time. In spite of these drawbacks we read of brilliant +but futile efforts of her poorly equipped army to stem the tide of +Teutonic success that soon began.</p> + +<p>Before the close of the year Poland was entirely overrun by German +forces. It seemed for a time as if Petrograd itself must fall. In short, +it was thought that Russia was crushed. Then it was that the Kaiser +wrote to his sister, the Queen of Greece, "having crushed Russia, the +rest of Europe will soon tremble before me." But when 1915 ended a line +of trenches from Riga on the north to Czernowitz on the south still +guarded the frontiers of Russia.</p> + + +<h4>THE DARDANELLES CAMPAIGN.</h4> + +<p>This campaign began in December, 1914, and continued during 1915. It was +an effort on the part of the Allies to force the Dardanelles, capture +Constantinople, and inflict a crushing blow on Turkey. This effort was a +dismal failure for the Allies, but had all the effect of a decisive +victory for Turkey and her allies. The fact that the attack was failing +had considerable to do with inducing Bulgaria to enter the war on the +side of Germany. The immediate result of this step on the part of +Bulgaria was the complete crushing of Serbia (October 6-December 2), +and this in turn made possible full and free railroad transportation +between Germany on the north and Turkey on the south. The net result was +to greatly strengthen the Teutonic allies. The conduct of Turkey in the +war was marked by most atrocious treatment of the Armenians. Belgium on +the north, Armenia on the south, are blood-stained chapters in the +annals of war.</p> + + +<h4>EVENTS OF 1916.</h4> + +<p>Apparently believing that Russia was so badly crippled that she could +not again peril Austria-Hungary or wrest Poland from the grasp of +Germany, the latter country gathered her available resources for a +decisive, crushing blow in France. We have several times mentioned +Verdun. It is well to study its location on the map, about 130 miles +slightly north of east of Paris. It is a city of great historic +interest, beautifully located in the Meuse valley with its approach +defended by low-lying ranges of hills through which lead numerous +defiles. At this city, more than a thousand years ago, was concluded the +celebrated treaty of Verdun that settled the disputes between the +grandsons of Charlemagne, and this constitutes a landmark in the early +history of France.</p> + +<p>It was Verdun that held back the southern end of the flail wherewith +France was to be crushed in 1914; in the battle of the Marne it held the +eastern or left wing of the long German line, which could not advance +and leave Verdun unsubdued in the rear. The German Crown Prince was in +command near Verdun. His ideal was Napoleon. His private library +contained nearly everything ever written about that great general. He +was exceedingly anxious to pose as the conqueror of France. To +strengthen his dynasty, the Kaiser was also anxious that his son should +take a prominent part. Accordingly it was planned to gather an enormous +army under his command, overwhelm Verdun and smash through to Paris. +Thus Prince Wilhelm would be enrolled among the great commanders of +history. Von Hindenburg was opposed to this plan, he wanted to finish up +his work so happily begun in Russia. But the Crown Prince had his way; +and immense supplies of guns, ammunition, and men were withdrawn from +the eastern front and massed at Verdun.</p> + + +<h4>THE GREAT BATTLE OF VERDUN.</h4> + +<p>The annals of history record no battle approaching in duration, +artillery fire, and awful sacrifice than the battle that enveloped +Verdun for six months, beginning February 21, 1916. Other battles have +been fought along more extended fronts and thus engaged larger numbers +of troops; but none ever presented in a more acute form the issue of +national life or death. The stand of the heroic Greeks at Thermopylae +denying passage to the hosts of Persia was not more vital to the cause +of civilization than this storied defense of Verdun. The reflective +writer can but notice that in every campaign of the war, when further +success of the German armies meant victory, it was as if an unseen Power +decreed "thus far and no further." It was so at Verdun. The French +soldier, calmly going to death, chanting "They shall not pass," did not +die in vain.</p> + + +<h4>THE BATTLE ITSELF.</h4> + +<p>The French were taken somewhat by surprise as they had not expected such +an early attack or that its fury would break at Verdun. Of course it was +known that a great force was being assembled, but no one dreamed of the +enormous concentration of guns of all kinds that were made. They +literally cumbered the ground and the shells assembled were in keeping. +The German generals were so confident of success that foreign +correspondents were invited to be present to witness the resistless +onslaught. The evening before the attack began there was a banquet at +the German headquarters, the Kaiser and all his notable generals (but +not Von Hindenburg) were present. The toast was "After four days, +Verdun; then Paris." They estimated that it would take possibly three +weeks to accomplish their ends. Evidently among the uninvited and unseen +guests were Defeat and Death.</p> + +<p>The attack that commenced the next day lasted with but slight +interruptions until October. It is interesting to remark that more shot +and shell were used in this battle than the total used during the four +years of the Civil War in America on both sides. Verdun itself was +reduced to ruins. Considerable portions of the fortified area to the +north of Verdun were captured, including the important forts Douamont +and Vaux, but the entire attack failed. The minor successes achieved +were won with an appalling loss of life and were easily retaken by the +French later in the fall. Verdun was renamed by the German soldiers as +"The Grave," and such it truly was to the hopes of victory and peace +that inspired the toast at the Verdun banquet.</p> + + +<h4>CONQUEST OF ROUMANIA.</h4> + +<p>Roumania is one of the Balkan States. Her entry into the second Balkan +war in 1913 was one of the decisive factors against Bulgaria. After the +entry of Bulgaria into the World War in 1915 the pressure became very +strong on Roumania by Russia to come into the war on the side of the +Allies. The summer of 1916 Russia had reorganized her forces, and the +war in the west was going against Germany at Verdun and along the Somme. +This was deemed an opportune time for Roumania to enter the war and so, +with no principles at stake, Roumania declared war on Austria, August +27, 1916. The response of Germany and Bulgaria to this new menace was +prompt and decisive. Before the end of the year Roumania was crushed, +the capital city, Bucharest, was taken. Roumania was not at all prepared +to wage war on the scale this war had assumed, but the immediate cause +of her easy conquest was the failure of Russia to keep her promises of +assistance. Russia, undermined by German intrigue, with traitors at +court, was already tottering to her fall.</p> + + +<h4>EVENTS OF 1917.</h4> + +<p>The year 1917 witnessed startling changes in the grouping of the +belligerent powers. The three largest republics in the world—China, +Brazil, and the United States,—were drawn into the war on the side of +the Entente Allies. Other small nations, members of the Pan-American +Union, joined with the United States in this action. Other South +American nations showed their sympathy with the United States by +severing diplomatic relations with Germany. In Europe, Greece made a +formal declaration of war July 2, 1917. Thus all of the Balkan States +were finally involved. To complete the record, we must note that Siam in +Asia and Liberia in Africa also joined the Entente Allies. Never before +in history had there been such an alignment of nations for purposes of +war. It was significant of one thing,—growing resentment against what +had long been recognized as the criminal ambitions of Germany to +dominate the world.</p> + + +<h4>THE UNITED STATES IN WAR.</h4> + +<p>April 6, 1917, will hereafter be one of the most important dates in the +annals of this republic. Then it was that Congress in a joint resolution +declared a state of war existed between the United States and Germany, +and authorized the President to employ the naval and military power of +our country to carry on the war and pledged all our resources to that +end. We can now see that the hidden currents of national destiny were +tending in an irresistible way to war on the part of the United States. +Every consideration of national safety and every principle that we hold +dear, demanded that we should respond to the call of the President to +arms. Then commenced the wonderful preparations for war on the part of +the United States. Official Germany in conversation with Minister +Gerard, before the rupture of diplomatic relations, laughed to scorn the +thought that the United States could render any military aid worth +considering to her allies. Germany in the fall of 1917 was not laughing.</p> + + +<h4>THE COLLAPSE OF RUSSIA.</h4> + +<p>The collapse of Russia was the second great event of 1917. It was the +result of a long train of causes. Let it suffice to say that treachery +in high places backed by German propaganda, had undermined the +government. March 15, 1917, the storm broke. The utter overthrow of +autocratic rule in Russia was one of those explosive outbreaks, but few +of which have occurred in history. In a single day the old order of +government passed away never to return in Russia. It was a revolution as +thoroughgoing as its prototype, the French revolution of 1789, and it +soon developed equal scenes of horror. After some months of struggle, +the government of Russia passed under the control of the Bolsheviki and +anarchy followed, outdoing the scenes of the French commune. The +immediate effect on the war was to retire Russia from the conflict, thus +releasing a large army and its supplies for service elsewhere.</p> + + +<h4>THE ITALIAN REVERSE.</h4> + +<p>Having achieved such signal successes in the east, Russia and Roumania +being both disposed of, the German leaders planned a campaign designed +to crush Italy. In the summer of 1917 the Italian front was along the +Isonza River in Austrian territory. The test of Italian endurance was at +hand. A great force of Austrians and Germans was assembled along the +river. As was usual in all Teutonic drives, endeavors were made by +propaganda work to break down the morale of the Italian troops. This +effort consisted in spreading fearsome accounts of the crushing nature +of the blow about to fall, the folly of further resistance, and the +advantages to be gained by accepting the generous terms of peace their +true friends—their former allies—were ready to grant. This effort had +an effect, but Italy was not Russia.</p> + +<p>The drive began October 24th. It was a very pronounced Teutonic success, +though the great object of the drive was not achieved. In three weeks' +time the Italians were forced back from the Isonza to the Piava River +line; nearly 200,000 soldiers had been captured, together with immense +supplies of all kinds. But yet Italy was not crushed, the German forces +were firmly held along the Piava. We should reflect that in the World +War millions were engaged and the loss of one or even two hundred +thousand men did not mean the end of the war.</p> + + +<h4>EVENTS OF 1918.</h4> + +<p>The Allies could only hope to defend their position on the west front +against the impending offensive on the part of Germany, for which +preparations on a vast scale were being made, until reinforcements from +the United States could reach them sufficient to enable them to take the +offensive in their turn. Germany hastened its preparations through the +winter months of 1917-18, for they knew they must win a decisive victory +to crush the armies of France and England before the United States could +give efficient assistance. It was a race between America and Germany, +and America won. With the assistance of the British and French merchant +marine and such shipping as could be procured at home the American +forces were landed in France in the most astonishing numbers ever +recorded. The fears of Germany, the hopes of the Allies were alike +exceeded by the forces sent across the ocean. The first of July, 1918, +there were one million American soldiers in France. They came just in +time to avert disaster.</p> + + +<h4>GERMAN OFFENSIVE IN 1918.</h4> + +<p>The initiative was with Germany, and the German command selected the +British army in position along the Scarpe River, north of Cambria, to +the Oise River—a distance of sixty miles—as the object of the first +drive. The assault began the morning of March 21, 1918. Along the entire +front the artillery fire that opened the drive was on the scale never +before approached in war. More than one million men, the choicest troops +of Germany, were ready to assault the British lines and they came on, +wave after wave, and Germany came perilously near success in her efforts +to break through the British lines. The British were driven back beyond +the lines of the battle of the Somme in 1916, important towns were +captured, but their lines still held. The first phase of the great +battle—known in history as the battle of Picardy—was a defeat to +German hopes.</p> + + +<h4>WHEN THE AMERICANS CAME.</h4> + +<p>From the opening of the great offense of March 21, 1918, to the signing +of the armistice, November 11, 1918, there were few days when there were +not battles raging at several places along the west front extending +from near Metz in a prolonged sweep, west to Rheims, thence in an +irregular curved line convex toward Paris curving to the North Sea near +Dixmude approximately 250 miles in length. There were days and weeks +when battles of great intensity raged at certain sections, then died +away in that vicinity to break in fury elsewhere. Organized efforts on a +large scale in certain directions were called drives. Until July the +initiative was with Germany, that is to say the Allies were on the +defensive. They were waiting for reinforcements from America. Germany +was making desperate efforts to win a decisive victory and force peace +on their terms before effective aid could arrive.</p> + + +<h4>TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES OF BATTLE.</h4> + +<p>At this point try to realize what these statements imply. We do not +grasp their meaning. A battle front of two hundred and fifty miles! And +along that line at least ten million men were facing each other with +other millions in reserve. Trench lines were strung along most of the +front. Not simply one line of trenches, but several, with connecting +trenches, the opposing lines being at places only a few hundred yards +apart. As the struggle continued, however, it became more and more a war +in the open.</p> + +<p>This series of struggles are undoubtedly the greatest exertion of +military power in the history of the world. Never before had such masses +of munitions been used; never before had scientific knowledge been so +drawn on in the service of war. Thousands of airplanes were patrolling +the air, sometimes scouting, sometimes dropping bombs on hostile troops +or on hostile stores, sometimes flying low, firing their machine guns +into the faces of marching troops. Thousands upon thousands of great +guns were sending enormous projectiles, which made great pits wherever +they fell. Swarms of machine guns were pouring their bullets like water +from a hose upon charging soldiers. It was an inferno such as Dante +never dreamed of. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of history of which we +have heard—all put together,—were exceeded day after day in the summer +of 1918 when Germany was making her last desperate effort. Thus for +weeks the red tide of war ebbed and flowed, while civilization trembled +in the balance.</p> + + +<h4>UNIFIED COMMAND.</h4> + +<p>It was clearly seen by the Allied leaders that appointing a +generalissimo to command all their forces was a necessity. This command +was given to General Ferdinand Foch, who had won fame in the battle of +the Marne and who was recognized as one of the greatest strategists of +the day. Events soon demonstrated the wisdom of this step. No general +ever commanded such armies as he. Napoleon, Von Moltke, Grant and Lee +were great generals, but everything connected with this war was on a +scale never before approached, and we can say that the qualities of +leadership displayed by Marshal Foch were necessarily on a higher plane +of action—and we can say this without in the least detracting from the +just fame of other Allied commanders—as Pershing, Haig, Allenby, Diaz +and others. When the war opened, Germany had much to say about her +unconquerable army; her generals were supposed to be superior in a +military way to any others. The war showed that other soldiers were just +as brave, other generals just as able. The fetish of German military +invincibility was early overthrown.</p> + + +<h4>AMERICAN ASSISTANCE.</h4> + +<p>No American can read the story of the part America took in the war +without experiencing a glow of patriotic feeling. Every Allied nation +can say the same thing. We came late into the struggle, but no nation in +history ever made such wonderful preparation for war as did our country +in the eighteen months that elapsed from the declaration of war to the +signing of the armistice. Our preparations in France, representing only +a part of our total effort, were on such an enormous scale, that neutral +nations—as Sweden and Spain—sent trusted officials to investigate if +it were possibly true that America was making such colossal +preparations; could it be that men by the hundreds of thousands were +disembarking on European soil every week? Were such forces drilled? Were +supplies sent them? It was almost unbelievable. Surely, it must be +American brag. They came, they saw, they departed convinced but in +bewildered wonderment. It was the slowly growing realization of what +this preparation meant that spurred Germany on during the early summer +of 1918. But it was too late. Already the handwriting of defeat was +outlining in letters of fire on the wall.</p> + + +<h4>AGAIN THE MARNE.</h4> + +<p>May 27, 1918, the Germans opened a drive towards Paris. It resulted in a +deep bulge in the line from Rheims west to Soissons, once more the +German line in that section had reached the Marne. It was a time of +great anxiety in the Allied world. The German tide was rolling on about +seven miles a day toward Paris about fifty miles distant to the +southwest. The German commanders felt sure of success and were talking +about the "strong German peace" they would enforce. The war minister +assured the Reichstag that they must exact at least $50,000,000,000 as +indemnity, while their economic writers devised an elaborate plan +whereby all the trade of the world was to pay tribute to Germany. It +was another case of "Thus far and no farther."</p> + + +<h4>CHATEAU THIERRY.</h4> + +<p>Chateau Thierry was a thriving city, about 6,000 in population, on the +Marne River, approximately 50 miles northeast of Paris. It is in a +fertile valley. There amid fields of ripening wheat the advancing troops +of Germany were suddenly confronted by American marines, hurried to the +scene of action in motor driven vehicles of all descriptions from Paris. +The forces that faced them, bent on forcing a passage to Paris were +composed of the best Prussian guards and shock troops. They felt +perfectly confident they could drive the Americans back. But the +amateurs went into the battle (the afternoon of June 2) as calmly as if +going to drill on the parade ground. Instead of being driven from the +field they repulsed the seasoned veterans of Germany. It was at a cruel +loss to themselves, 1,600 dead, 2,500 wounded out of 8,000 that came +from Paris on that journey of victory and death; but they never +faltered. This was not a battle of great dimensions but it is among the +most important battles of the war. It saved Paris; but that is not all. +When the news of that battle was flashed up and down the west front, not +an Allied force but was thrilled, enthused, given new courage; the +message that the Americans had stopped the Germans at Chateau Thierry, +electrified Paris. Strong men wept as they realized that the forces of +the Great Republic, able and brave, stood between France and the +ravening wolf of Germany.</p> + + +<h4>OTHER VICTORIES.</h4> + +<p>In the limited space at our command we can only give a general +description of the remaining weeks of warfare in which American forces +participated. Before advancing at Chateau Thierry the Germans had +fortified their position in Belleau Woods which they had previously +occupied. In the black recesses of this woods they established nest +after nest of machine guns and in the jungle of matted underbrush, of +vines, of heavy foliage they had placed themselves in a position they +believed impregnable. The battle of Chateau Thierry was not rendered +secure until the Germans were driven from Belleau Woods. And so for the +next three weeks the battle of Belleau Woods raged. Fighting day after +day without relief, without sleep, often without water, and for days +without hot rations, the marines met and defeated the best divisions +Germany could throw into the line. According to official decree in +France the name of that woods is now "Woods of the American Brigade." In +September, came the wonderful work of reducing the St. Mihiel salient to +the south and to the east of Verdun, a German wedge that had withstood +every effort to drive it back for four years. We can only mention the +series of battles that took place in the Forest of the Argonne. When the +armistice was declared American forces had fought their way to Sedan. +That was the place that witnessed the deep humiliation of France in the +war of 1870 with which the German Empire began. Germany was only saved +from a deeper humiliation near Sedan in this war that ended that empire, +by the prompt signing of the armistice.</p> + + +<h4>THE DOWNFALL OF TURKEY.</h4> + +<p>We must notice even in a hurried review of the war the downfall of +Turkey, the release of ancient Mesopotamia, Palestine, and large parts +of Asia Minor, and freeing the ancient Christian nation of Armenia from +the dreadful despotism of Turkish misrule. It is impossible to go into +the details of the successive movements leading to this happy result. +The forces of Great Britain, under command of General Maud, later +General Allenby, must be given the credit. We must not forget that +Mesopotamia was the cradle land of early civilization. There are the +plains of Shinar, there are the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh. Now, that +Turkish rule has been overthrown, we may look to see that entire country +once more a scene of smiling fertility.</p> + +<p>And consider the case of Palestine, the land of Biblical history, the +home of Abraham, and the scene of Old Testament activities; finally +there is the land forever hallowed by the ministrations of Jesus of +Nazareth. It was the goal of the religious wars of the Crusades. For +more than six centuries it groaned under Turkish misrule. The tide of +British success began in 1917. In December of that year (9th) Jerusalem +was taken by the British forces under command of General Allenby. During +1918 all Palestine was freed. September 20, 1918, Nazareth, the boyhood +home of Jesus, was taken. The future of Palestine with its wealth of +Biblical history is a wonderful theme for contemplation. Given the +blessings of a twentieth century government there is no reason why +Palestine should not once more become a land "flowing with milk and +honey."</p> + + +<h4>THE APPROACHING END.</h4> + +<p>The ending of the war was almost as dramatically sudden as its +beginning. As late as July 15, 1918, according to statements of German +leaders, they still believed they were to be successful; less than four +months later at Senlis, France, their representatives signed an +armistice, the terms of which were the most drastic and humiliating ever +inflicted on a prominent nation; while the Kaiser and Crown Prince had +fled for safety to Holland, a nation they had asserted existed only by +the long sufferance of Germany. Before the fatal day (November 11, +1918) of the armistice—like the falling of a house of cards—had +occurred a succession of abject surrenders, as one by one of the nations +composing the Teutonic Alliance had fallen before the crushing blows of +the Entente forces.</p> + +<p>The middle of July the great German offensive was held. It was expected +by the German leaders that, as in the past, there would now ensue a +period of comparative quiet along the west front during which Germany +could rearrange her forces, perhaps to open an attack elsewhere. Marshal +Foch—ably seconded by General Pershing and General Haig—thought +differently. There were one million American soldiers on the fighting +line, other millions were coming, Great Britain had thrown into France +her reserve army held in England to meet unforeseen emergencies. Then +was the time to begin a counter-attack. Accordingly, just as a German +official was explaining to the Reichstag that General Foch had no +reserves to withstand a fresh onslaught that Germany would soon +begin,—the blow fell. A great counter-attack was initiated by the +French and Americans along the Marne-Aisne front July 18, 1918.</p> + + +<h4>THE ALLIES TAKE THE INITIATIVE.</h4> + +<p>From that day to the signing of the armistice the initiative remained +with General Foch. Up and down the long line, now here, now there; the +British and Belgians on the north, the French and Americans on the +south, first one, then the other, then together, the Allies drove +forward with hammer blows on the yielding German armies. That subtle +force, so hard to define, the morale of the invaders, was broken down. +Their confidence was gone. They knew they were defeated. The one hope of +their leaders was to get safely back to Germany, and soon a general +retreat was in progress. But to remove armies aggregating several +million men, with guns and supplies, from a contracted area, in the face +of a victorious and aggressive enemy, without the retreat degenerating +into a rout is almost impossible; it requires generalship of highest +order. Day by day the remorseless jaws of the Allied military machine, +hinged to the north of the Aisne,—British and Belgian forces on the +north, French in the center, Americans on the south and east,—were +closing, and when the American forces fought their way through the +Argonne to Sedan (forty miles northeast of Rheims) the case was +hopeless. Only the armistice saved Germany from the humiliation of a +surrender, on a scale vastly greater than the surrender of the French +armies near that same point in 1870.</p> + + +<h4>THE COLLAPSE OF THE TEUTONIC ALLIES.</h4> + +<p>With Germany herself falling, it is not strange that the nations leagued +with her also went down to defeat. They had been almost forced into the +war by Germany; not one of them could carry on a war when deprived of +counsel and help from Germany. Only the threat of force kept Austria in +the war. As the counter-attack in France gained in force, as the retreat +continued, it was recognized on all hands that the end was approaching. +The will to war—the morale—was completely broken down; and so on every +side the Allied forces gained great victories with surprising ease.</p> + +<p>Bulgaria was the first nation to surrender. This was the conclusion of a +succession of great victories beginning September 16, 1918, ending by +the surrender ten days later. The case with Turkey was hopeless after +Bulgaria fell. No reinforcements or supplies could reach them from +Germany. The English forces under General Allenby were carrying +everything before them. Turkey surrendered October 31, 1918. +Austria-Hungary was the third power to surrender. This came as the +culmination of one of the greatest drives of the war.</p> + + +<h4>GREAT ITALIAN VICTORY.</h4> + +<p>In 1917—as we have seen,—Italy suffered a great reverse, losing +200,000 soldiers and immense supplies. In August, 1918, Austria renewed +the attack. In his proclamation to his soldiers, the Austrian commander +bade them remember "the white bread, the fat cattle, the wine" and +supplies they had won the year before. Surely as great rewards awaited +them this time, and learned professors assured them and the entire +nation that they belonged to a "conquering superior race" and so could +be confident of further victory. The drive was a "hunger offensive" on +the part of hard-pressed Austria. It was a dismal failure. It is +interesting to know that American airplanes, piloted by Americans, +rendered great assistance in repulsing this attack. Then came the +counter-attack. In this drive American forces assisted. The drive began +October 27th; it was attended by a series of most astonishing victories. +The drive culminated in the abject surrender of Austria, November 3, +1918. The victories can only be explained by the fact that the morale of +the Austrian troops had completely broken down, more than 500,000 +prisoners being taken, together with enormous supplies.</p> + + +<h4>THE GERMAN ARMISTICE.</h4> + +<p>With their armies perilously near rout on the western front, with a +great military disaster confronting them, with everyone of her allies +forced to surrender, with revolution threatening at home, there was +nothing left for Germany to do but to make the best terms possible. +Their commissioners met General Foch at Senlis and the drastic +armistice terms were signed at 5 o'clock, Paris time, the morning of +November 11, 1918, and the last shots in the war were fired at 11 +o'clock, that forenoon, Paris time. The war had lasted (from the date of +the declaration of war on Serbia) four years, three months and thirteen +days. On subsequent pages we shall consider more in detail this +skeletonized story, study the enormous political, geographic and +economic changes it has necessitated, and mentally view the new age in +history at hand.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus023.jpg" alt="wilson" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON.<br /> + +President Wilson's latest photograph.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus024.jpg" alt="pershing" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING.<br /> + +This is the latest and best photograph of General Pershing.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus025.jpg" alt="foch" /> +</p> +<p class="center">MARSHAL FERDINAND FOCH.<br /> + +This is the latest photograph of Marshal Ferdinand Foch, Supreme +Commander of the Allied Armies, as he appears since the termination of +the war. A comparison of this photograph with earlier ones shows the +effect of the war on the famous general.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus026.jpg" alt="armistice" /> +</p> +<p> Showing the actual drafting by the Allied +Plenipotentiaries of the armistice terms which ended the great world +war. Left side of table from left to right: second man, General di +Robilant; Italian Foreign Minister Sonnino; Italian Premier Orlando; +Colonel Edward H. House; General Tasker H. Bliss; next man unknown; +Greek Premier Venizelos, and Serbian Minister Vesnitch. Right side of +the table from left to right: Admiral Wemyss (with back turned); General +Sir Henry Wilson; Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig; General Sackville +West; Andrew Bonar Law; British Premier Lloyd George; French Premier +Georges Clemenceau, and French Foreign Minister, Stephen Pichon.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus027.jpg" alt="senlis" /> +</p> +<p class="center">SENLIS, FRANCE, WHERE THE ARMISTICE WAS SIGNED.<br /> + +Amid the ruins wrought by the Huns the envoys of Germany signed the +truce terms that victoriously ended the struggle for democracy.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus028.jpg" alt="black watch" /> +</p> +<p class="center">FAMOUS FIGHTERS—"THE BLACK WATCH."<br /> + +Some of the best fighters in the British Army, resting by the roadside +after having driven the Germans back in the "Fight of the Woods," near +Rheims.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus029.jpg" alt="clerks" /> +</p> +<p class="center">CLERKS IN NAVY DEPARTMENT.<br /> + +Washington, D.C.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus030.jpg" alt="battalion" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> FIRST COLORED BATTALION, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, NATIONAL +GUARD.<br /> + +On Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., Parading the National Capital +before going to France.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus031.jpg" alt="johnson" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> SERGT. HENRY JOHNSON, OF ALBANY, N.Y., THE OUTSTANDING +HERO.</p> + +<p>Single-handed he routed 36 Huns, killing 4 of them and wounding the +remainder. When his ammunition ran out he used a bolo knife. Sergt. +Johnson, of the 369th Colored Infantry (old 15th of N.Y.), was the first +man in his regiment to win the French War Cross.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus032.jpg" alt="infantry" /> +</p> +<p class="center">GROUP OF 369TH COLORED INFANTRY WITH THEIR WAR CROSSES.</p> + +<p>One hundred and sixty-nine men of this regiment (old 15th N.Y.) won +valor medals. They were nicknamed "Hell Fighters." Top—Fred Rogers. +Lower row—George Chapman, Lawrence McVey, Isaac Freeman. Upper row—Wm. +Bunn, Herbert Mills, Hugh Hamilton, Clarence Johnson.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus033.jpg" alt="hayward" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> COL. HAYWARD AND GROUP OF REAL FIGHTERS.</p> + +<p>All winners of the Croix de Guerre. When a French general gave orders to +retire, Col. Hayward replied: "My men never retire: they go forward or +die, and we are going through here or hell. We don't go back."</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus034.jpg" alt="campbell" /> +</p> +<p class="center">LIEUTENANT ROBERT S. CAMPBELL, U.S. ARMY.</p> + +<p>The first man in the 92nd American Division (Negroes) to receive the +distinguished service cross for bravery in the fighting in the Argonne. +He was a member of Co. I, 368th Infantry.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus035.jpg" alt="flag" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> GUARDING THE FLAG.<br /> + +The flag of the old 15th (decorated by the French) and Old Glory.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus036.jpg" alt="ymca" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> AT THE Y.M.C.A. ON FRENCH FRONT.<br /> + +This group of soldiers is being served at a "Y" tent.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus037.jpg" alt="march" /> +</p> +<p class="center">NEGRO SOLDIERS ON THE MARCH IN FRANCE.</p> + +<p>Along this beautiful stream it was tramp, tramp, tramp the soldiers were +marching on to do their duty and help bring the victory which meant +"World Peace."</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus038.jpg" alt="home" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> HOME AGAIN. OH, HOW JOYFUL!</p> + +<p>Back from France, and what a grand reception awaited them! Conquering +heroes on the battlefield and the warmth and enthusiasm over their +homecoming are beyond words to describe.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<h4>GENERAL PERSHING'S OWN STORY OF THE VICTORIOUS AMERICAN ARMY</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Organization of His General Staff—Training in France—In the Aisne +Offensive—At Chateau Thierry—The St. Mihiel Salient—Meuse-Argonne, +First Phase—The Battle in the Forest—Summary</span>.</p> + + +<p>This is a brief summary of the organization and operations of the +American Expeditionary Force from May 26, 1917, until the signing of the +armistice, November 11, 1918. Immediately upon receiving my orders I +selected a small staff and proceeded to Europe in order to become +familiar with conditions at the earliest possible moment.</p> + +<p>The warmth of our reception in England and France was only equaled by +the readiness of the commanders in chief of the veteran armies of the +Allies and their staffs to place their experience at our disposal. In +consultation with them the most effective means of co-operation of +effort was considered. With French and British armies at their maximum +strength, and all efforts to dispossess the enemy from his firmly +intrenched positions in Belgium and France failed, it was necessary to +plan for an American force adequate to turn the scale in favor of the +Allies. Taking account of the strength of the Central Powers at that +time, the immensity of the problem which confronted us could hardly be +over-estimated. The first requisite being an organization that could +give intelligent direction to effort, the formation of a General Staff +occupied my early attention.</p> + + +<h4>ORGANIZATION OF GENERAL STAFF.</h4> + +<p>A well organized General Staff through which the commander exercises his +functions is essential to a successful modern army. However capable our +division, our battalion, and our companies as such, success would be +impossible without thoroughly co-ordinated endeavor. A General Staff +broadly organized and trained for war had not hitherto existed in our +army. Under the Commander-in-Chief, this staff must carry out the policy +and direct the details of administration, supply, preparation, and +operations of the army as a whole, with all special branches and bureaus +subject to its control. As models to aid us we had the veteran French +General Staff and the experience of the British who had similarly formed +an organization to meet the demands of a great army. By selecting from +each the features best adapted to our basic organization, and fortified +by our own early experience in the war, the development of our great +General Staff system was completed.</p> + +<p>The General Staff is naturally divided into five groups, each with its +chief who is an assistant to the Chief of the General Staff. G.1 is in +charge of organization and equipment of troops, replacements, tonnage, +priority of overseas shipment, the auxiliary welfare association and +cognate subjects; G.2 has censorship, enemy intelligence, gathering and +disseminating information, preparation of maps, and all similar +subjects; G.3 is charged with all strategic studies and plans, movement +of troops, and the supervision of combat operations; G.4 co-ordinates +important questions of supply, construction, transport arrangements for +combat, and of the operations of the service of supply, and of +hospitalization and the evacuation of the sick and wounded; G.5 +supervises the various schools and has general direction and +co-ordination of education and training.</p> + +<p>The first Chief of Staff was Colonel (now Major-General) James G. +Harbord, who was succeeded in May, 1918, by Major-General James W. +McAndrew. To these officers, to the deputy Chief of Staff, and to the +assistant Chiefs of Staff, who, as heads of sections, aided them, great +credit is due for the results obtained not only in perfecting the +General Staff organization but in applying correct principles to the +multiplicity of problems that have arisen.</p> + + +<h4>ORGANIZATION OF THE FORCES.</h4> + +<p>After a thorough consideration of Allied organizations it was decided +that our combat division should consist of four regiments of infantry of +3,000 men, with three battalions to a regiment and four companies of 250 +men each to a battalion, and of an artillery brigade of three regiments, +a machine gun battalion, an engineer regiment, a trench-mortar battery, +a signal battalion, wagon trains, and the headquarters staffs and +military police. These, with medical and other units, made a total of +over 28,000 men, or practically double the size of a French or German +division. Each corps would normally consist of six divisions—four +combat and one depot and one replacement division—and also two +regiments of cavalry, and each army of from three to five corps. With +four divisions fully trained, a corps could take over an American sector +with two divisions in line and two in reserve, with the depot and +replacement divisions prepared to fill the gaps in the ranks.</p> + +<p>Our purpose was to prepare an integral American force which should be +able to take the offensive in every respect. Accordingly, the +development of a self-reliant infantry by thorough drill in the use of +the rifle and in the tactics of open warfare was always uppermost. The +plan of training after arrival in France allowed a division one month +for acclimatization and instruction in small units from battalions down, +a second month in quiet trench sectors by battalions, and a third month +after it came out of the trenches when it should be trained as a +complete division in war of movement.</p> + + +<h4>SCHOOLS OF INSTRUCTION.</h4> + +<p>Very early a system of schools was outlined and started, which should +have the advantage of instruction by officers direct from the front. At +the great school center at Langres, one of the first to be organized, +was the staff school, where the principles of general staff work, as +laid down in our own organization, were taught to carefully selected +officers. Men in the ranks, who had shown qualities of leadership, were +sent to the school of candidates for commissions. A school of the line +taught younger officers the principles of leadership, tactics, and the +use of the different weapons. In the artillery school, at Saumur, young +officers were taught the fundamental principles of modern artillery; +while at Issoudun an immense plant was built for training cadets in +aviation. These and other schools, with their well-considered +curriculums for training in every branch of our organization, were +co-ordinated in a manner best to develop an efficient army out of +willing and industrious young men, many of whom had not before known +even the rudiments of military technique. Both Marshal Haig and General +Petain placed officers and men at our disposal for instructional +purposes, and we are deeply indebted for the opportunities given to +profit by their veteran experience.</p> + + +<h4>AMERICAN ZONE.</h4> + +<p>The eventual place the American army should take on the western front +was to a large extent influenced by the vital question of communication +and supply. The northern ports of France were crowded by the British +armies' shipping and supplies while the southern ports, though +otherwise at our service, had not adequate port facilities for our +purposes and these we should have to build. The already overtaxed +railway system behind the active front in northern France would not be +available for us as lines of supply and those leading from the southern +ports of northeastern France would be unequal to our needs without much +new construction. Practically all warehouses, supply depots and +regulating stations must be provided by fresh constructions. While +France offered us such material as she had to spare after a drain of +three years, enormous quantities of material had to be brought across +the Atlantic.</p> + + +<h4>VAST PREPARATIONS NECESSARY.</h4> + +<p>With such a problem any temporization or lack of definiteness in making +plans might cause failure even with victory within our grasp. Moreover, +broad plans commensurate with our national purpose and resources would +bring conviction of our power to every soldier in the front line, to the +nations associated with us in the war, and to the enemy. The tonnage for +material for necessary construction for the supply of an army of three +and perhaps four million men would require a mammoth program of +shipbuilding at home, and miles of dock construction in France, with a +corresponding large project for additional railways and for storage +depots.</p> + +<p>All these considerations led to the inevitable conclusion that if we +were to handle and supply the great forces deemed essential to win the +war we must utilize the southern ports of France—Bordeaux, La Pallice, +St. Nazaire, and Brest—and the comparatively unused railway systems +leading therefrom to the northeast. Generally speaking, then, this would +contemplate the use of our forces against the enemy somewhere in that +direction, but the great depots of supply must be centrally located, +preferably in the area included by Tours, Bourges, and Chateauroux, so +that our armies could be supplied with equal facility wherever they +might be serving on the western front.</p> + + +<h4>SKILLED HELP.</h4> + +<p>To build up such a system there were talented men in the Regular Army, +but more experts were necessary than the army could furnish. Thanks to +the patriotic spirit of our people at home, there came from civil life +men trained for every sort of work involved in building and managing the +organization necessary to handle and transport such an army and keep it +supplied. With such assistance the construction and general development +of our plans have kept pace with the growth of the forces, and the +Service of Supply is now able to discharge from ships and move 45,000 +tons daily, besides transporting troops and material in the conduct of +active operations.</p> + + +<h4>WORK OF THE DEPARTMENTS.</h4> + +<p>As to organization, all the administrative and supply services, except +the Adjutant General's, Inspector General's, and Judge Advocates +General's Departments which remain at general headquarters, have been +transferred to the headquarters of the services of supplies at Tours +under a commanding general responsible to the commander-in-chief for +supply of the armies. The Chief Quartermaster, Chief Surgeon, Chief +Signal Officer, Chief of Ordnance, Chief of Air Service, Chief of +Chemical Warfare, the general purchasing agent in all that pertains to +questions of procurement and supply, the Provost Marshal General in the +maintenance of order in general, the Director General of Transportation +in all that affects such matters, and the Chief Engineer in all matters +of administration and supply, are subordinate to the Commanding General +of the Service of Supply, who, assisted by a staff especially organized +for the purpose, is charged with the administrative co-ordination of all +these services.</p> + + +<h4>TRANSPORTATION AND ENGINEER'S DEPARTMENT.</h4> + +<p>The transportation department under the Service of Supply directs the +operation, maintenance, and construction of railways, the operation of +terminals, the unloading of ships, and transportation of material to +warehouses or to the front. Its functions make necessary the most +intimate relationship between our organization and that of the French, +with the practical result that our transportation department has been +able to improve materially the operations of railways generally. +Constantly laboring under a shortage of rolling stock, the +transportation department has nevertheless been able by efficient +management to meet every emergency.</p> + +<p>The Engineer Corps is charged with all construction, including light +railways and roads. It has planned and constructed the many projects +required, the most important of which are the new wharves at Bordeaux +and Nantes, and the immense storage depots at La Pallice, Montoir, and +Gievres, besides innumerable hospitals and barracks in various ports of +France. These projects have all been carried on by phases keeping pace +with our needs. The Forestry Service under the Engineer Corps has cut +the greater part of the timber and railway ties required.</p> + + +<h4>PURCHASES IN EUROPE.</h4> + +<p>To meet the shortage of supplies from America, due to lack of shipping, +the representatives of the different supply departments were constantly +in search of available material and supplies in Europe. In order to +co-ordinate these purchases and to prevent competition between our +departments, a general purchasing agency was created early in our +experience to co-ordinate our purchases and, if possible, induce our +Allies to apply the principle among the Allied armies. While there was +no authority for the general use of appropriations, this was met by +grouping the purchasing representatives of the different departments +under one control, charged with the duty of consolidating requisitions +and purchases. Our efforts to extend the principle have been signally +successful, and all purchases for the Allied armies are now on an +equitable and co-operative basis. Indeed, it may be said that the work +of this bureau has been thoroughly efficient and business-like.</p> + + +<h4>ARTILLERY, AIRPLANES AND TANKS.</h4> + +<p>Our entry into the war found us with few of the auxiliaries necessary +for its conduct in the modern sense. Among our most important +deficiencies in material were artillery, aviation, and tanks. In order +to meet our requirements as rapidly as possible, we accepted the offer +of the French Government to provide us with the necessary artillery +equipment of seventy-fives, one fifty-five millimeter howitzers, and +one-fifty-five GPF guns from their own factories for thirty divisions. +The wisdom of this course is fully demonstrated by the fact that, +although we soon began the manufacture of these classes of guns at home, +there were no guns of the calibers mentioned manufactured in America on +our front at the date the armistice was signed. The only guns of these +types produced at home thus far received in France are 109 seventy-five +millimeter guns.</p> + +<p>In aviation we were in the same situation, and here again the French +Government came to our aid until our own aviation program should be +under way. We obtained from the French the necessary planes for +training our personnel, and they have provided us with a total of 2,676 +pursuit, observation, and bombing planes. The first airplanes received +from home arrived in May, and altogether we have received 1,379. The +first American squadron completely equipped by American production, +including airplanes, crossed the German lines on August 7, 1918. As to +tanks, we were also compelled to rely upon the French. Here, however, we +were less fortunate, for the reason that the French production could +barely meet the requirements of their own armies.</p> + + +<h4>OUR OBLIGATIONS TO FRANCE.</h4> + +<p>It should be fully realized that the French Government has always taken +a most liberal attitude and has been most anxious to give us every +possible assistance in meeting our deficiencies in these as well as in +other respects. Our dependence upon France for artillery, aviation, and +tanks was, of course, due to the fact that our industries had not been +exclusively devoted to military production. All credit is due our own +manufacturers for their efforts to meet our requirements, as at the time +the armistice was signed we were able to look forward to the early +supply of practically all our necessities from our own factories.</p> + + +<h4>CAMP WELFARE WORK.</h4> + +<p>The welfare of the troops touches my responsibility as +Commander-in-Chief to the mothers and fathers and kindred of the men who +came to France in the impressionable period of youth. They could not +have the privilege accorded European soldiers during their periods of +leave of visiting their families and renewing their home ties. Fully +realizing that the standard of conduct that should be established for +them must have a permanent influence in their lives and on the +character of their future citizenship, the Red Cross, the Young Men's +Christian Association, Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army, and the +Jewish Welfare Board, as auxiliaries in this work, were encouraged in +every possible way. The fact that our soldiers, in a land of different +customs and language, have borne themselves in a manner in keeping with +the cause for which they fought, is due not only to the efforts in their +behalf but much more to other high ideals, their discipline, and their +innate sense of self-respect. It should be recorded, however, that the +members of these welfare societies have been untiring in their desire to +be of real service to our officers and men. The patriotic devotion of +these representative men and women has given a new significance to the +Golden Rule, and we owe to them a debt of gratitude that can never be +repaid.</p> + + +<h4>COMBAT OPERATIONS.</h4> + +<p>During our periods of training in the trenches some of our divisions had +engaged the enemy in local combats, the most important of which was +Seicheprey by the Twenty-sixth on April 20, in the Toul sector, but none +had participated in action as a unit. The First Division, which had +passed through the preliminary stages of training, had gone to the +trenches for its first period of instruction at the end of October and +by March 21, when the German offensive in Picardy began, we had four +divisions with experience in the trenches, all of which were equal to +any demands of battle action. The crisis which this offensive developed +was such that our occupation of an American sector must be postponed.</p> + + +<h4>TROOPS PLACED UNDER MARSHAL FOCH.</h4> + +<p>On March 28 I placed at the disposal of Marshal Foch who had been agreed +upon as Commander-in-Chief of the Allied armies, all of our forces to +be used as he might decide. At his request the First Division was +transferred from the Toul sector to a position in reserve at Chaumont en +Vexin. As German superiority in numbers required prompt action, an +agreement was reached at the Abbeville conference of the Allied premiers +and commanders and myself on May 2 by which British shipping was to +transport ten American divisions to the British army area, where they +were to be trained and equipped, and additional British shipping was to +be provided for as many divisions as possible for use elsewhere.</p> + + +<h4>THE CANTIGNY OPERATIONS.</h4> + +<p>On April 26 the First Division had gone into the line in the Montdidier +salient on the Picardy battlefront. Tactics had been suddenly +revolutionized to those of open warfare, and our men, confident of the +results of their training, were eager for the test. On the morning of +May 28 this division attacked the commanding German position in its +front, taking with splendid dash the town of Cantigny and all other +objectives, which were organized and held steadfastly against vicious +counter-attacks and galling artillery fire. Although local, this +brilliant action had an electrical effect, as it demonstrated our +fighting qualities under extreme battle conditions, and also that the +enemy's troops were not altogether invincible.</p> + + +<h4>THE GERMAN AISNE OFFENSIVE.</h4> + +<p>The Germans' Aisne offensive, which began on May 27, had advanced +rapidly toward the River Marne and Paris, and the Allies faced a crisis +equally as grave as that of the Picardy offensive in March. Again every +available man was placed at Marshal Foch's disposal, and the Third +Division, which had just come from its preliminary training in the +trenches, was hurried to the Marne. Its motorized machine gun battalion +preceded the other units and successfully held the bridgehead at the +Marne, opposite Chateau-Thierry. The Second Division, in reserve near +Montdidier, was sent by motor trucks and other available transport to +check the progress of the enemy toward Paris. The Division attacked and +retook the town and railroad station at Bouresches and sturdily held its +ground against the enemy's best guard divisions. In the battle of +Belleau Wood, which followed, our men proved their superiority and +gained a strong tactical position, with far greater loss to the enemy +than to ourselves. On July 1, before the Second was relieved, it +captured the village of Vaux with most splendid precision.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile our Second Corps, under Maj. Gen. George W. Read, had been +organized for the command of our divisions with the British, which were +held back in training areas or assigned to second-line defenses. Five of +the ten divisions were withdrawn from the British area in June, three to +relieve divisions in Lorraine and the Vosges and two to the Paris area +to join the group of American divisions which stood between the city and +any farther advance of the enemy in that direction.</p> + + +<h4>OPERATIONS NEAR RHEIMS.</h4> + +<p>The great June-July troop movement from the States was well under way, +and, although these troops were to be given some preliminary training +before being put into action, their very presence warranted the use of +all the older divisions in the confidence that we did not lack reserves. +Elements of the Forty-second Division were in the line east of Rheims +against the German offensive of July 15, and held their ground +unflinchingly. On the right flank of this offensive four companies of +the Twenty-eighth Division were in position in face of the advancing +waves of the German infantry. The Third Division was holding the bank of +the Marne from the bend east of the mouth of the Surmelin to the west of +Mezy, opposite Chateau-Thierry, where a large force of German infantry +sought to force a passage under support of powerful artillery +concentrations and under cover of smoke screens. A single regiment of +the Third wrote one of the most brilliant pages in our military annals +on this occasion. It prevented the crossing at certain points on its +front while, on either flank, the Germans, who had gained a footing, +pressed forward. Our men, firing in three directions, met the German +attacks with counter-attacks at critical points and succeeded in +throwing two German divisions into complete confusion, capturing 600 +prisoners.</p> + + +<h4>BEGINNING OF THE COUNTER ATTACK.</h4> + +<p>The great force of the German Chateau-Thierry offensive established the +deep Marne salient, but the enemy was taking chances, and the +vulnerability of this pocket to attack might be turned to his +disadvantage. Seizing this opportunity to support my conviction, every +division with any sort of training was made available for use in a +counter offensive. The place of honor in the thrust toward Soissons on +July 18 was given to our First and Second Divisions in company with +chosen French divisions. Without the usual brief warning of a +preliminary bombardment, the massed French and American artillery, +firing by the map, laid down its rolling barrage at dawn while the +infantry began its charge. The tactical handling of our troops under +these trying conditions was excellent throughout the action. The enemy +brought up large numbers of reserves and made a stubborn defense both +with machine guns and artillery, but through five days' fighting the +First Division continued to advance until it had gained the heights +above Soissons and captured the village of Berzy-le-sec. The Second +Division took Beau Repaire farm and Vierzy in a very rapid advance and +reached a position in front of Tigny at the end of its second day. These +two divisions captured 7,000 prisoners and over 100 pieces of artillery.</p> + + +<h4>THE SOISSONS ATTACK.</h4> + +<p>The Twenty-sixth Division, which, with a French division, was under +command of our First Corps, acted as a pivot of the movement toward +Soissons. On the 18th it took the village of Torcy, while the Third +Division was crossing the Marne in pursuit of the retiring enemy. The +Twenty-sixth attacked again on the 21st, and the enemy withdrew past the +Chateau-Thierry-Soissons road. The Third Division, continuing its +progress, took the heights of Mont St. Pere and the villages of +Charteves and Jaulgonne in the face of both machine gun and artillery +fire.</p> + +<p>On the 24th, after the Germans had fallen back from Trugny and Epieds, +our Forty-second Division, which had been brought over from the +Champagne, relieved the Twenty-sixth and, fighting its way through the +Foret de Fere, overwhelmed the nest of machine guns in its path. By the +27th it had reached the Ourcq, whence the Third and Fourth Divisions +were already advancing, while the French divisions with which we were +co-operating were moving forward at other points.</p> + +<p>The Third Division had made its advance into Roncheres Wood on the 29th +and was relieved for rest by a brigade of the Thirty-second. The +Forty-second and Thirty-second undertook the task of conquering the +heights beyond Cierges, the Forty-second capturing Sergy and the +Thirty-second capturing Hill 230, both American divisions joining in +the pursuit of the enemy to the Vesle, and thus the operation of +reducing the salient was finished. Meanwhile the Forty-second was +relieved by the Fourth at Chery-Chartreuve, and the Thirty-second by the +Twenty-eighth, while the Seventy-seventh Division took up a position on +the Vesle. The operations of these divisions on the Vesle were under the +Third Corps, Maj. Gen. Robert L. Bullard, commanding.</p> + + +<h4>BATTLE OF ST. MIHIEL.</h4> + +<p>With the reduction of the Marne salient we could look forward to the +concentration of our divisions in our own zone. In view of the +forthcoming operation against the St. Mihiel salient, which had long +been planned as our first offensive action on a large scale, the First +Army was organized on August 10 under my personal command. While +American units had held different divisional and corps sectors along the +western front, there had not been up to this time, for obvious reasons, +a distinct American sector; but, in view of the important parts the +American forces were now to play, it was necessary to take over a +permanent portion of the line. Accordingly, on August 30, the line +beginning at Port sur Seille, east of the Moselle and extending to the +west through St. Mihiel, thence north to a point opposite Verdun, was +placed under my command. The American sector was afterwards extended +across the Meuse to the western edge of the Argonne Forest, and included +the Second Colonial French, which held the point of the salient, and the +Seventeenth French Corps, which occupied the heights above Verdun.</p> + + +<h4>PREPARATION FOR THE ATTACK.</h4> + +<p>The preparation for a complicated operation against the formidable +defenses in front of us included the assembling of divisions and of +corps and army artillery, transport, aircraft, tanks, ambulances, the +location of hospitals, and the molding together of all of the elements +of a great modern army with its own railheads, supplied directly by our +own Service of Supply. The concentration for this operation, which was +to be a surprise, involved the movement, mostly at night, of +approximately 600,000 troops, and required for its success the most +careful attention to every detail.</p> + +<p>The French were generous in giving us assistance in corps and army +artillery, with its personnel, and we were confident from the start of +our superiority over the enemy in guns of all calibers. Our heavy guns +were able to reach Metz and to interfere seriously with German rail +movements. The French Independent Air Force was placed under my command +which, together with the British bombing squadrons and our air forces, +gave us the largest assembly of aviation that had ever been engaged in +one operation on the western front.</p> + + +<h4>LOCATION OF THE TROOPS.</h4> + +<p>From Les Eparges around the nose of the salient at St. Mihiel to the +Moselle River the line was roughly forty miles long and situated on +commanding ground greatly strengthened by artificial defenses. Our First +Corps (Eighty-second, Ninetieth, Fifth, and Second Divisions), under +command of Maj. Gen. Hunter Liggett, restrung its right on +Pont-a-Mouson, with its left joining our Third Corps (the Eighty-ninth, +Forty-second, and First Divisions), under Maj. Gen. Joseph T. Dickman, +in line to Xivray, were to swing in toward Vigneulles on the pivot of +the Moselle River for the initial assault. From Xivray to Mouilly the +Second Colonial French Corps was in line in the center and our Fifth +Corps, under command of Maj. Gen. George H. Cameron, with our +Twenty-sixth Division and a French division at the western base of the +salient, were to attack three difficult hills—Les Eparges, Combres, and +Amaramthe. Our First Corps had in reserve the Seventy-eighth Division, +our Fourth Corps the Third Division, and our First Army the Thirty-fifth +and Ninety-first Divisions, with the Eightieth and Thirty-third +available. It should be understood that our corps organizations are very +elastic, and that we have at no time had permanent assignments of +divisions to corps.</p> + + +<h4>MOVEMENT OF THE TROOPS.</h4> + +<p>After four hours' artillery preparation, the seven American divisions in +the front line advanced at 5 A.M. on September 12, assisted by a limited +number of tanks manned partly by Americans and partly by the French. +These divisions, accompanied by groups of wire cutters and others armed +with bangalore torpedoes, went through the successive bands of barbed +wire that protected the enemy's front line and support trenches, in +irresistible waves on schedule time, breaking down all defense of an +enemy demoralized by the great volume of our artillery fire and our +sudden approach out of the fog.</p> + +<p>Our First Corps advanced to Thiaucourt, while our Fourth Corps curved +back to the southwest through Nonsard. The Second Colonial French Corps +made the slight advance required of it on very difficult ground, and the +Fifth Corps took its three ridges and repulsed a counter-attack. A rapid +march brought reserve regiments of a division of the Fifth Corps into +Vigneulles in the early morning, where it linked up with patrols of our +Fourth Corps, closing the salient and forming a new line west of +Thiaucourt to Vigneulles and beyond Fresnes-en-Woevre. At the cost of +only 7,000 casualties, mostly light, we had taken 16,000 prisoners and +443 guns, a great quantity of material, released the inhabitants of many +villages from enemy domination, and established our lines in a position +to threaten Metz. This signal success of the American First Army in its +first offensive was of prime importance. The Allies found they had a +formidable army to aid them, and the enemy learned finally that he had +one to reckon with.</p> + + +<h4>PREPARATION FOR THE ARGONNE OFFENSIVE.</h4> + +<p>On the day after we had taken the St. Mihiel salient, much of our corps +and army artillery which had operated at St. Mihiel and our divisions in +reserve at other points, were already on the move toward the area back +of the line between the Meuse River and the western edge of the forest +of Argonne. With the exception of St. Mihiel, the old German front line +from Switzerland to the east of Rheims was still intact. In the general +attack all along the line, the operation assigned the American army as +the hinge of this Allied offensive was directed toward the important +railroad communications of the German armies through Mezieres and Sedan. +The enemy must hold fast to this part of his lines or the withdrawal of +his forces with four years' accumulation of plants and material would be +dangerously imperiled.</p> + +<p>The German army had as yet shown no demoralization and, while the mass +of its troops had suffered in morale, its first-class divisions and +notably its machine gun defense were exhibiting remarkable tactical +efficiency as well as courage. The German General Staff was fully aware +of the consequences of a success on the Meuse-Argonne line. Certain that +he would do everything in his power to oppose us, the action was planned +with as much secrecy as possible and was undertaken with the +determination to use all our divisions in forcing a decision. We +expected to draw the best German divisions to our front and to consume +them while the enemy was held under grave apprehension lest our attack +should break his line, which it was our firm purpose to do.</p> + + +<h4>LINE OF BATTLE.</h4> + +<p>Our right flank was protected by the Meuse, while our left embraced the +Argonne Forest, whose ravines, hills, and elaborate defense screened by +dense thickets had been generally considered impregnable. Our order of +battle from right to left was the Third Corps from the Meuse to +Malancourt, with the Thirty-third, Eightieth, and Fourth Divisions in +line, and the Third Division as corps reserve; the Fifth Corps from +Malancourt to Vauquois, with Seventy-ninth, Eighty-seventh, and +Ninety-first Divisions in line, and the Thirty-second in corps reserve; +and the First Corps, from Vauquois to Vienne le Chateau, with +Thirty-fifth, Twenty-eighth, and Seventy-seventh Divisions in line, and +the Ninety-second in corps reserve. The army reserve consisted of the +First, Twenty-ninth, and Eighty-second Divisions.</p> + + +<h4>BATTLE OPERATIONS.</h4> + +<p>On the night of September 25 our troops quietly took the place of the +French who thinly held the line in this sector which had long been +inactive. In the attack, which began on the 26th, we drove through the +barbed wire entanglements and the sea of shell craters across No Man's +Land, mastering all the first line defenses. Continuing on the 27th and +28th, against machine guns and artillery of an increasing number of +enemy reserve divisions, we penetrated to a depth of from three to seven +miles, and took the village of Montfaucon and its commanding hill and +Exermont, Gercourt, Cuisy, Septsarges, Malancourt, Ivoiry, Epinionville, +Charpentry, Very, and other villages. East of the Meuse one of our +divisions, which was with the Second Colonial French Corps, captured +Marcheville and Rieville, giving further protection to the flank of our +main body. We had taken 10,000 prisoners, we had gained our point of +forcing the battle into the open and were prepared for the enemy's +reaction, which was bound to come, as he had good roads and ample +railroad facilities for bringing up his artillery and reserves.</p> + + +<h4>GREAT DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME.</h4> + +<p>In the chill rain of dark nights our engineers had to build new roads +across spongy, shell-torn areas, repair broken roads beyond No Man's +Land, and build bridges. Our gunners, with no thought of sleep, put +their shoulders to wheels and dragropes to bring their guns through the +mire in support of the infantry, now under the increasing fire of the +enemy's artillery. Our attack had taken the enemy by surprise, but, +quickly recovering himself, he began to fire counter-attacks in strong +force, supported by heavy bombardments, with large quantities of gas. +From September 28 until October 4 we maintained the offensive against +patches of woods defended by snipers and continuous lines of machine +guns, and pushed forward our guns and transports, seizing strategical +points in preparation for further attacks.</p> + + +<h4>OTHER UNITS WITH ALLIES.</h4> + +<p>Other divisions attached to the Allied armies were doing their part. It +was the fortune of our Second Corps, composed of the Twenty-seventh and +Thirtieth Divisions, which had remained with the British, to have a +place of honor in co-operation with the Australian Corps on September +29 and October 1 in the assault on the Hindenburg Line where the St. +Quentin Canal passes through a tunnel under a ridge. The Thirtieth +Division speedily broke through the main line of defense for all its +objectives, while the Twenty-seventh pushed on impetuously through the +main line until some of its elements reached Gouy. In the midst of the +maze of trenches and shell craters and under cross-fire from machine +guns the other elements fought desperately against odds. In this and in +later actions, from October 6 to October 19, our Second Corps captured +over 6,000 prisoners and advanced over 13 miles. The spirit and +aggressiveness of these divisions have been highly praised by the +British army commander under whom they served.</p> + + +<h4>OPERATIONS NEAR RHEIMS.</h4> + +<p>On October 2-9 our Second and Thirty-sixth Divisions were sent to assist +the French in an important attack against the old German positions +before Rheims. The Second conquered the complicated defense works on +their front against a persistent defense worthy of the grimmest period +of trench warfare and attacked the strongly held wooded hill of Blanc +Mont, which they captured in a second assault, sweeping over it with +consummate dash and skill. This division then repulsed strong +counter-attacks before the village and cemetery of Ste. Etienne and took +the town, forcing the Germans to fall back from before Rheims and yield +positions they had held since September, 1914. On October 9 the +Thirty-sixth Division relieved the Second and, in its first experience +under fire, withstood very severe artillery bombardment and rapidly took +up the pursuit of the enemy, now retiring behind the Aisne.</p> + + +<h4>RESULTS OF AMERICAN OPERATIONS.</h4> + +<p>The Allied progress elsewhere cheered the efforts of our men in this +crucial contest as the German command threw in more and more +first-class troops to stop our advance. We made steady headway in the +almost impenetrable and strongly held Argonne Forest, for, despite this +reinforcement, it was our army that was doing the driving. Our aircraft +was increasing in skill and numbers and forcing the issue, and our +infantry and artillery were improving rapidly with each new experience. +The replacements fresh from home were put into exhausted divisions with +little time for training, but they had the advantage of serving beside +men who knew their business and who had almost become veterans +overnight. The enemy had taken every advantage of the terrain, which +especially favored the defense by a prodigal use of machine guns manned +by highly trained veterans and by using his artillery at short ranges. +In the face of such strong frontal positions we should have been unable +to accomplish any progress according to previously accepted standards, +but I had every confidence in our aggressive tactics and the courage of +our troops.</p> + + +<h4>PROGRESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES.</h4> + +<p>On October 4 the attack was renewed all along our front. The Third Corps +tilting to the left followed the Brieulles-Cunel road; our Fifth Corps +took Gesnes, while the First Corps advanced for over two miles along the +irregular valley of the Aire River and in the wooded hills of the +Argonne that bordered the river, used by the enemy with all his art and +weapons of defense. This sort of fighting continued against an enemy +striving to hold every foot of ground and whose very strong +counter-attacks challenged us at every point. On the 7th the First Corps +captured Chatel-Chehery and continued along the river to Cornay. On the +east of Meuse sector one of the two divisions co-operating with the +French captured Consenvoye and the Haumont Woods. On the 9th the Fifth +Corps, in its progress up the Aire, took Fleville, and the Third Corps, +which had continuous fighting against odds, was working its way through +Brieulles and Cunel. On the 10th we had cleared the Argonne Forest of +the enemy.</p> + + +<h4>FORMATION OF SECOND ARMY.</h4> + +<p>It was now necessary to constitute a second army, and on October 9 the +immediate command of the First Army was turned over to Lieut. Gen. +Hunter Liggett. The command of the Second Army, whose divisions occupied +a sector in the Woevre, was given to Lieut. Gen. Robert L. Bullard, who +had been commander of the First Division and then of the Third Corps. +Major General Dickman was transferred to the command of the First Corps, +while the Fifth Corps was placed under Maj. Gen. Charles P. Summerall, +who had recently commanded the First Division. Maj. Gen. John L. Hines, +who had gone rapidly up from regimental to division commander, was +assigned to the Third Corps. These four officers had been in France from +the early days of the expedition and had learned their lessons in the +school of practical warfare.</p> + +<p>Our constant pressure against the enemy brought day by day more +prisoners, mostly survivors from machine gun nests captured in fighting +at close quarters. On October 18 there was very fierce fighting in the +Caures Woods east of the Meuse and in the Ormont Woods. On the 14th the +First Corps took St. Juvin, and the Fifth Corps, in hand-to-hand +encounters, entered the formidable Kriemhilde Line, where the enemy had +hoped to check us indefinitely. Later the Fifth Corps penetrated further +the Kriemhilde Line, and the First Corps took Champigneulles and the +important town of Grandpre. Our dogged offensive was wearing down the +enemy, who continued desperately to throw his best troops against us, +thus weakening his line in front of our Allies and making their advance +less difficult.</p> + + +<h4>AMERICANS IN BELGIUM.</h4> + +<p>Meanwhile we were not only able to continue the battle, but our +Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first Divisions were hastily withdrawn from +our front and dispatched to help the French army in Belgium. Detraining +in the neighborhood of Ypres, these divisions advanced by rapid stages +to the fighting line and were assigned to adjacent French corps. On +October 31, in continuation of the Flanders offensive, they attacked and +methodically broke down all enemy resistance. On November 3 the +Thirty-seventh had completed its mission in dividing the enemy across +the Escaut River and firmly established itself along the east bank +included in the division zone of action. By a clever flanking movement, +troops of the Ninety-first Division captured Spitaals Bosschen, a +difficult wood extending across the central part of the division sector, +reached the Escaut, and penetrated into the town of Audenarde. These +divisions received high commendation from their corps commanders for +their dash and energy.</p> + + +<h4>REGROUPING FOR FINAL ASSAULT.</h4> + +<p>On the 23d the Third and Fifth Corps pushed northward to the level of +Bantheville. While we continued to press forward and throw back the +enemy's violent counter-attacks with great loss to him, a regrouping of +our forces was under way for the final assault. Evidence of loss of +morale by the enemy gave our men more confidence in attack and more +fortitude in enduring the fatigue of incessant effort and the hardships +of very inclement weather.</p> + +<p>With comparatively well-rested divisions, the final advance in the +Meuse-Argonne front was begun on November 1. Our increased artillery +force acquitted itself magnificently in support of the advance, and the +enemy broke before the determined infantry, which, by its persistent +fighting of the past weeks and the dash of this attack, had overcome his +will to resist. The Third Corps took Aincreville, Doulcon, and +Andevanne, and the Fifth Corps took Landres et St. Georges and pressed +through successive lines of resistance to Bayonville and Chennery. On +the 2d the First Corps joined in the movement, which now became an +impetuous onslaught that could not be stayed.</p> + + +<h4>SUCCESSFUL ACCOMPLISHMENT.</h4> + +<p>On the 3d advance troops surged forward in pursuit, some by motor +trucks, while the artillery pressed along the country roads close +behind. The First Corps reached Authe and Chatillon-Sur-Bar, the Fifth +Corps, Fosse and Nouart, and the Third Corps Halles, penetrating the +enemy's line to a depth of twelve miles. Our large caliber guns had +advanced and were skillfully brought into position to fire upon the +important lines at Montmedy, Longuyon, and Conflans. Our Third Corps +crossed the Meuse on the 5th and the other corps, in the full confidence +that the day was theirs, eagerly cleared the way of machine guns as they +swept northward, maintaining complete co-ordination throughout. On the +6th, a division of the First Corps reached a point on the Meuse opposite +Sedan, twenty-five miles from our line of departure. The strategical +goal which was our highest hope was gained. We had cut the enemy's main +line of communications and nothing but surrender or an armistice could +save his army from complete disaster.</p> + + +<h4>TROOPS ENGAGED.</h4> + +<p>In all forty enemy divisions had been used against us an the +Meuse-Argonne battle. Between September 26 and November 6 we took +26,059 prisoners and 468 guns on this front. Our divisions engaged were +the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, +Twenty-ninth, Thirty-second, Thirty-third, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-seventh, +Forty-second, Seventy-seventh, Seventy-eighth, Seventy-ninth, Eightieth, +Eighty-second, Eighty-ninth, Ninetieth, and Ninety-first. Many of our +divisions remained in line for a length of time that required nerves of +steel, while others were sent in again after only a few days of rest. +The First, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Forty-second, Seventy-seventh, +Eightieth, Eighty-ninth, and Ninetieth were in the line twice. Although +some of the divisions were fighting their first battle, they soon became +equal to the best.</p> + + +<h4>OPERATIONS EAST OF THE MEUSE.</h4> + +<p>On the three days preceding November 10, the Third, the Second Colonial, +and the Seventeenth French Corps fought a difficult struggle through the +Meuse Hills south of Stenay and forced the enemy into the plain. +Meanwhile, my plans for further use of the American forces contemplated +an advance between the Meuse and the Moselle in the direction of Longwy +by the First Army, while, at the same time, the Second Army should +assure the offensive toward the rich iron fields of Briey. These +operations were to be followed by an offensive toward Chateau-Salins +east of the Moselle, thus isolating Metz. Accordingly, attacks on the +American front had been ordered and that of the Second Army was in +progress on the morning of November 11, when instructions were received +that hostilities should cease at 11 o'clock A.M.</p> + +<p>At this moment the line of the American sector, from right to left, +began at Port-Sur-Seille, thence across the Moselle to Vandieres and +through the Woevre to Bezonvaux, in the foothills of the Meuse, thence +along to the foothills and through the northern edge of the Woevre +forests to the Meuse at Mouzay, thence along the Meuse connecting with +the French under Sedan.</p> + + +<h4>RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES.</h4> + +<p>Co-operation among the Allies has at all times been most cordial. A far +greater effort has been put forth by the Allied armies and staffs to +assist us than could have been expected. The French Government and army +have always stood ready to furnish us with supplies, equipment, and +transportation, and to aid us in every way. In the towns and hamlets +wherever our troops have been stationed or billeted the French people +have everywhere received them more as relatives and intimate friends +than as soldiers of a foreign army. For these things words are quite +inadequate to express our gratitude. There can be no doubt that the +relations growing out of our associations here assure a permanent +friendship between the two peoples. Although we have not been so +intimately associated with the people of Great Britain, yet their troops +and ours when thrown together have always warmly fraternized. The +reception of those of our forces who have passed through England and of +those who have been stationed there has always been enthusiastic. +Altogether it has been deeply impressed upon us that the ties of +language and blood bring the British and ourselves together completely +and inseparably.</p> + + +<h4>STRENGTH.</h4> + +<p>There are in Europe altogether, including a regiment and some sanitary +units with the Italian army and the organizations at Murmansk, also +including those en route from the States, approximately 2,053,347 men, +less our losses. Of this total, there are in France 1,338,169 combatant +troops. Forty divisions have arrived, of which the infantry personnel of +ten have been used as replacements, leaving 30 divisions now in France +organized into three armies of three corps each.</p> + +<p>The losses of the Americans up to November 18 are: Killed and wounded, +36,145; died of disease, 14,811; deaths unclassified, 2,204; wounded, +179,625; prisoners, 2,163; missing, 1,160. We have captured about 44,000 +prisoners and 1,400 guns, howitzers and trench mortars.</p> + + +<h4>WARM APPRECIATION.</h4> + +<p>The duties of the General Staff, as well as those of the army and corps +staffs, have been very ably performed. Especially is this true when we +consider the new and difficult problems with which they have been +confronted. This body of officers, both as individuals and as an +organization, have, I believe, no superiors in professional ability, in +efficiency, or in loyalty.</p> + +<p>Nothing that we have in France better reflects the efficiency and +devotion to duty of Americans in general than the Service of Supply, +whose personnel is thoroughly imbued with a patriotic desire to do its +full duty. They have at all times fully appreciated their responsibility +to the rest of the army and the results produced have been most +gratifying.</p> + + +<h4>SPECIAL WORK OF DEPARTMENTS.</h4> + +<p>Our Medical Corps is especially entitled to praise for the general +effectiveness of its work both in hospital and at the front. Embracing +men of high professional attainments, and splendid women devoted to +their calling and untiring in their efforts, this department has made a +new record for medical and sanitary proficiency.</p> + +<p>The Quartermaster Department has had difficult and various tasks, but +it has more than met all demands that have been made upon it. Its +management and its personnel have been exceptionally efficient and +deserve every possible commendation.</p> + + +<h4>SPLENDID TECHNICAL SERVICE.</h4> + +<p>As to the more technical services, the able personnel of the Ordnance +Department in France has splendidly fulfilled its functions, both in +procurement and in forwarding the immense quantities of ordnance +required. The officers and men and the young women of the Signal Corps +have performed their duties with a large conception of the problem and +with a devoted and patriotic spirit to which the perfection of our +communications daily testify. While the Engineer Corps has been referred +to in another part of this report, it should be further stated that the +work has required large vision and high professional skill, and great +credit is due their personnel for the high proficiency that they have +constantly maintained.</p> + +<p>Our aviators have no equals in daring or in fighting ability and have +left a record of courageous deeds that will ever remain a brilliant page +in the annals of our army. While the Tank Corps has had limited +opportunities its personnel has responded gallantly on every possible +occasion and has shown courage of the highest order.</p> + +<p>The Adjutant General's Department has been directed with a systematic +thoroughness and excellence that surpassed any previous work of its +kind. The Inspector General's Department has risen to the highest +standards and throughout has ably assisted commanders in the enforcement +of discipline. The able personnel of the Judge Advocate General's +Department has solved with judgment and wisdom the multitude of +difficult legal problems, many of them involving questions of great +international importance.</p> + + +<h4>TRIBUTE TO THE PERSONNEL OF THE VARIOUS BRANCHES.</h4> + +<p>It would be impossible in this brief preliminary report to do justice to +the personnel of all the different branches of this organization which I +shall cover in detail in a later report.</p> + +<p>The navy in European waters has at all times most cordially aided the +army, and it is most gratifying to report that there has never before +been such perfect co-operation between these two branches of the +service.</p> + +<p>As to Americans in Europe not in the military services, it is the +greatest pleasure to say that, both in official and in private life, +they are intensely patriotic and loyal, and have been invariably +sympathetic and helpful to the army.</p> + +<p>Finally, I pay the supreme tribute to our officers and soldiers of the +line. When I think of their heroism, their patience under hardships, +their unflinching spirit of offensive action, I am filled with emotion +which I am unable to express. Their deeds are immortal, and they have +earned the eternal gratitude of our country.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<h4>PRESIDENT WILSON'S REVIEW OF THE WAR.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Troop Movement During the Year—Tribute to American +Soldiers—Splendid Spirit of the Nation—Resume the Work of +Peace—Outline of Work in Paris—Support of Nation Urged</span>.</p> + + +<p>On December 2, 1918, just prior to sailing for Europe to take part in +the Peace Conference, President Wilson addressed Congress, reviewing the +work of the American people, soldiers, sailors and civilians, in the +World War which had been brought to a successful conclusion on November +11th. His speech, in part, follows:</p> + +<p>"The year that has elapsed since I last stood before you to fulfill my +constitutional duty to give to the Congress from time to time +information on the state of the Union has been so crowded with great +events, great processes and great results that I can not hope to give +you an adequate picture of its transactions or of the far-reaching +changes which have been wrought in the life of our Nation and of the +world. You have yourselves witnessed these things, as I have. It is too +soon to assess them; and we who stand in the midst of them and are part +of them are less qualified than men of another generation will be to say +what they mean or even what they have been. But some great outstanding +facts are unmistakable and constitute in a sense part of the public +business with which it is our duty to deal. To state them is to set the +stage for the legislative and executive action which must grow out of +them and which we have yet to shape and determine.</p> + + +<h4>TROOP MOVEMENT DURING THE YEAR.</h4> + +<p>"A year ago we had sent 145,918 men overseas. Since then we have sent +1,950,513, an average of 162,542 each month, the number in fact rising +in May last to 245,951, in June to 278,760, in July to 307,182 and +continuing to reach similar figures in August and September—in August +289,570 and in September 257,438. No such movement of troops ever took +place before, across 3,000 miles of sea, followed by adequate equipment +and supplies, and carried safely through extraordinary dangers of +attack, dangers which were alike strange and infinitely difficult to +guard against. In all this movement only 758 men were lost by enemy +attacks, 630 of whom were upon a single English transport which was sunk +near the Orkney Islands.</p> + +<p>"I need not tell you what lay back of this great movement of men and +material. It is not invidious to say that back of it lay a supporting +organization of the industries of the country and of all its productive +activities more complete, more thorough in method and effective in +results, more spirited and unanimous in purpose and effort than any +other great belligerent had ever been able to effect. We profited +greatly by the experience of the nations which had already been engaged +for nearly three years in the exigent and exacting business, their every +resource and every proficiency taxed to the utmost. We were the pupils. +But we learned quickly and acted with a promptness and a readiness of +co-operation that justify our great pride that we were able to serve the +world with unparalleled energy and quick accomplishment.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus039.jpg" alt="village" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> PHOTOGRAPHED IN A VILLAGE IN GERMANY.<br/> + +A member of the 369th (old 15th N.Y.) brought this picture back with +him. He is wearing the smile which tells the story. The war is over.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus040.jpg" alt="band" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> LIEUT. "JIMMY" EUROPE AND HIS FAMOUS BAND.</p> + +<p>This band was hailed with enthusiasm by the French. Five kettle drums in +this band were presented by the French as a mark of esteem. Another +drum, beaten by Willie Webb, of Louisville, Ky., was a trophy left by +the Germans when they retreated.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus041.jpg" alt="bath" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> GETTING READY FOR THEIR DAILY BATH.<br /> + +Negro troops in a transport going over. No inconvenience marred their +good cheer.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus042.jpg" alt="review" /> +</p> +<p class="center">IN LINE FOR REVIEW.<br /> + +Members of the 15th Infantry being reviewed. A sturdy and determined +line of fighting men.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus043.jpg" alt="quartette" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> A QUARTETTE WHICH GAVE GOOD ENTERTAINMENT.<br /> + +These colored members of the 301st Stevedore Regiment were attached to +the 23rd Engineers in France.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus044.jpg" alt="action" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> LINED UP AND READY FOR ACTION.<br /> + +Members of the 15th Infantry. Note the serious and determined expression +in their faces. They mean business and will obey orders.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus045.jpg" alt="gas" /> +</p> +<p class="center">AT THE SIGNAL BOX READY TO SOUND THE GAS ALARM.<br /> + +These men had a great responsibility placed upon them. The sounding of +the Gas Alarm quickly and accurately, when gas was detected, meant +saving the lives of many men.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus046.jpg" alt="both" /> +</p> +<p class="center">BOTH WORKING FOR THE Y.M.C.A.<br /> + +Mr. Kelly and his colored driver at work during the last German +offensive.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus047.jpg" alt="gordon" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> BAPTIZING NEGRO SOLDIERS AT CAMP GORDON.<br /> + +A religious and very effective scene. These Christian men had faith and +confidence in their religion.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus048.jpg" alt="troops" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> COLORED TROOPS IN PUERTO RICO.<br /> + +A brilliant Fourth of July parade through Allen Street, San Juan, Puerto +Rico.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus049.jpg" alt="sharpshooters" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> NEGRO SHARPSHOOTERS.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus050.jpg" alt="cloth" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> NEGRO CHILDREN WEAVING CLOTH.<br /> + +Recently photographed in Kamerun, the last of the German provinces in +Africa to surrender to the Allies. Illustrating child labor at the +lowest possible cost.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus051.jpg" alt="kamerun" /> +</p> +<p class="center">AFRICAN NEGROES IN KAMERUN, SHOWING NATIVE HEADDRESS.<br /> + +These pictures were photographed in Fumban, the largest and most densely +populated section of Kamerun, one of Germany's colonies in Africa +captured by the Allies.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus052.jpg" alt="cotton" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> NATIVE CHILDREN SPINNING COTTON IN KAMERUN, AFRICA.<br /> + +Kamerun was the last German province in Africa to hold out against the +Allies. This picture was taken by the Allies since they captured the +Colony. The natives were never before photographed.</p> + + +<p class="center">Africa and the World Democracy</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus053.png" alt="democracy" /> +</p> + +<p class="center">HOW AFRICA WAS DIVIDED UP AMONG THE NATIONS OF EUROPE BEFORE THE WAR</p> + +<table summary="Division of Africa"> +<colgroup span="3" width="200"> +</colgroup> +<tr> +<td> </td><td align="right"><i>Area</i> </td><td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><i>Country</i></td><td align="right"> <i>Sq. Miles</i></td><td align="right"><i>Populat'n</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>British Empire</td><td align="right"> 3,700,000</td><td align="right">52,325,000</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>France</td><td align="right"> 4,641,000</td><td align="right">29,577,000</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Germany</td><td align="right"> 931,000</td><td align="right">13,420,000</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Portugal</td><td align="right"> 749,000</td><td align="right">8,244,000</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Italy</td><td align="right"> 593,000</td><td align="right"> 1,579,000</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Belgium (Belgian Congo)</td><td align="right">909,000</td><td align="right"> 15,000,000</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Spain</td><td align="right">88,000</td><td align="right"> 660,000</td> +</tr> + +</table> +<p class="center">INDEPENDENT STATES</p> +<table summary="Division of Africa"> +<colgroup span="3" width="200"> +</colgroup> +<tr> +<td>Abyssinia</td><td align="right"> 432,000</td><td align="right">8,000,000</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Liberia</td><td align="right"> 40,000</td><td align="right">1,800,000</td> +</tr> + +</table> + + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus054.jpg" alt="troops" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> AFRICAN TROOPS BEING TRAINED IN FRANCE.<br /> + +These husky fighters are bound to deliver the goods.</p> + + +<h4>TRIBUTE TO AMERICAN SOLDIERS.</h4> + +<p>"But it is not the physical scale and executive efficiency of +preparation, supply, equipment and dispatch that I would dwell upon, but +the mettle and quality of the officers and men we sent over and of the +sailors who kept the seas, and the spirit of the Nation that stood +behind them. No soldiers, or sailors, ever proved themselves more +quickly ready for the test of battle or acquitted themselves with more +splendid courage and achievement when put to the test. Those of us who +played some part in directing the great processes by which the war was +pushed irresistibly forward to the final triumph may now forget all that +and delight our thoughts with the story of what our men did. Their +officers understood the grim and exacting task they had undertaken and +performed with audacity, efficiency, and unhesitating courage that touch +the story of convoy and battle with imperishable distinction at every +turn, whether the enterprise were great or small—from their chiefs, +Pershing and Sims, down to the youngest lieutenant; and their men were +worthy of them—such men as hardly need to be commanded, and go to their +terrible adventure blithely and with the quick intelligence of those who +know just what it is they would accomplish. I am proud to be the +fellow-countryman of men of such stuff and valor. Those of us who stayed +at home did our duty; the war could not have been won or the gallant men +who fought it given their opportunity to win it otherwise; but for many +a long day we shall think ourselves 'accursed we were not there, and +hold our manhoods cheap while any speaks that fought' with these at St. +Mihiel or Thierry. The memory of those days of triumphant battle will go +with these fortunate men to their graves; and each will have his +favorite memory. 'Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, but he'll +remember with advantages what feats he did that day!'</p> + +<p>"What we all thank God for with deepest gratitude is that our men went +in force into the line of battle just at the critical moment, and threw +their fresh strength into the ranks of freedom in time to turn the whole +tide and sweep of the fateful struggle—turn it once for all, so that +henceforth it was back, back, back for their enemies, always back, never +again forward! After that it was only a scant four months before the +commanders of the Central empires knew themselves beaten, and now their +very empires are in liquidation!</p> + + +<h4>SPLENDID SPIRIT OF THE NATION.</h4> + +<p>"And throughout it all how fine the spirit of the Nation was; what unity +of purpose, what untiring zeal! What elevation of purpose ran through +all its splendid display of strength, its untiring accomplishment. I +have said that those of us who stayed at home to do the work of +organization and supply will always wish that we had been with the men +whom we sustained by our labor; but we can never be ashamed. It has been +an inspiring thing to be here in the midst of fine men who had turned +aside from every private interest of their own and devoted the whole of +their trained capacity to the tasks that supplied the sinews of the +whole great undertaking! The patriotism, the unselfishness, the +thoroughgoing devotion and distinguished capacity that marked their +toilsome labors, day after day, month after month, have made them fit +mates and comrades of the men in the trenches and on the sea. And not +the men here in Washington only. They have but directed the vast +achievement. Throughout innumerable factories, upon innumerable farms, +in the depths of coal mines and iron mines and copper mines, wherever +the stuffs of industry were to be obtained and prepared, in the +shipyards, on the railways, at the docks, on the sea, in every labor +that was needed to sustain the battle lines men have vied with each +other to do their part and do it well. They can look any man-at-arms in +the face, and say, we also strove to win and gave the best that was in +us to make our fleets and armies sure of their triumph!</p> + + +<h4>PATRIOTIC WOMEN OF AMERICA.</h4> + +<p>"And what shall we say of the women—of their instant intelligence, +quickening every task that they touched; their capacity for +organization and co-operation, which gave their action discipline and +enhanced the effectiveness of everything they attempted; their aptitude +at tasks to which they had never before set their hands; their utter +self-sacrificing alike in what they did and in what they gave? Their +contribution to the great result is beyond appraisal. They have added a +new luster to the annals of American womanhood.</p> + +<p>"The least tribute we can pay them is to make them the equals of men in +political rights, as they have proved themselves their equals in every +field of practical work they have entered, whether for themselves or for +their country. These great days of completed achievement would be sadly +marred were we to omit that act of justice. Besides the immense +practical services they have rendered, the women of the country have +been the moving spirits in the systematic economies by which our people +have voluntarily assisted to supply the suffering peoples of the world +and the armies upon every front with food and everything else that we +had that might serve the common cause. The details of such a story can +never be fully written, but we carry them in our hearts and thank God +that we can say we are the kinsmen of such.</p> + + +<h4>RESUME THE WORK OF PEACE.</h4> + +<p>"And now we are sure of the great triumph for which every sacrifice was +made. It has come, come in its completeness, and with the pride and +inspiration of these days of achievement quick within us we turn to the +tasks of peace again—a peace secure against the violence of +irresponsible monarchs and ambitious military coteries and made ready +for a new order, for new foundations of justice and fair dealing.</p> + +<p>"We are about to give order and organization to this peace, not only +for ourselves, but for the other peoples of the world as well, so far as +they will suffer us to serve them. It is international justice that we +seek, not domestic safety merely....</p> + +<p>"So far as our domestic affairs are concerned the problem of our return +to peace is a problem of economic and industrial readjustment. That +problem is less serious for us than it may turn out to be for the +nations which have suffered the disarrangements and the losses of war +longer than we. Our people, moreover, do not wait to be coached and led. +They know their own business, are quick and resourceful at every +readjustment, definite in purpose and self-reliant in action. Any +leading strings we might seek to put them in would speedily become +hopelessly tangled because they would pay no attention to them and go +their own way. All that we can do as their legislative and executive +servants is to mediate the process of change here, there and elsewhere +as we may. I have heard much counsel as to the plans that should be +formed and personally conducted to a happy consummation, but from no +quarter have I seen any general scheme of reconstruction emerge which I +thought it likely we could force our spirited business men and +self-reliant laborers to accept with due pliancy and obedience.</p> + + +<h4>ORGANIZATION FOR WAR.</h4> + +<p>"While the war lasted we set up many agencies by which to direct the +industries of the country in the services it was necessary for them to +render, by which to make sure of an abundant supply of the materials +needed, by which to check undertakings that could for the time be +dispensed with and stimulate those that were most serviceable in war, by +which to gain for the purchasing departments of the government a certain +control over the prices of essential articles and materials, by which +to restrain trade with alien enemies, make the most of the available +shipping and systematize financial transactions, both public and +private, so that there would be no unnecessary conflict or confusion—by +which, in short, to put every material energy of the country in harness +to draw the common load and make of us one team in accomplishment of a +great task.</p> + +<p>"But the moment we knew the armistice to have been signed we took the +harness off. Raw materials upon which the government had kept its hand +for fear there should not be enough for the industries that supplied the +armies have been released, and put into the general market again. Great +industrial plants whose whole output and machinery had been taken over +for the uses of the government have been set free to return to the uses +to which they were put before the war. It has not been possible to +remove so readily or so quickly the control of foodstuffs and of +shipping, because the world has still to be fed from our granaries and +the ships are still needed to send supplies to our men oversea and to +bring the men back as fast as the disturbed conditions on the other side +of the water permit; but even there restraints are being relaxed as much +as possible, and more and more as the weeks go by.</p> + +<p>"Never before have there been agencies in existence in this country +which knew so much of the field of supply of labor, and of industry as +the War Industries Board, the War Trade Board, the Labor Department, the +Food Administration and the Fuel Administration have known since their +labors became thoroughly systematized; and they have not been isolated +agencies; they have been directed by men which represented the permanent +departments of the government and so have been the centers of unified +and co-operative action. It has been the policy of the Executive, +therefore, since the armistice was assured (which is in effect a +complete submission of the enemy) to put the knowledge of these bodies +at the disposal of the business men of the country and to offer their +intelligent mediation at every point and in every matter where it was +desired. It is surprising how fast the process of return to a peace +footing has moved in the three weeks since the fighting stopped. It +promises to outrun any inquiry that may be instituted and any aid that +may be offered. It will not be easy to direct it any better than it will +direct itself. The American business man is of quick initiative....</p> + + +<h4>OUTLINE OF WORK IN PARIS.</h4> + +<p>"I welcome this occasion to announce to the Congress my purpose to join +in Paris the representatives of the governments with which we have been +associated in the war against the Central Empires for the purpose of +discussing with them the main features of the treaty of peace. I realize +the great inconveniences that will attend my leaving the country, +particularly at this time, but the conclusion that it was my paramount +duty to go has been forced upon me by considerations which I hope will +seem as conclusive to you as they have seemed to me.</p> + +<p>"The Allied governments have accepted the bases of peace which I +outlined to the Congress on the 8th of January last, as the Central +Empires also have, and very reasonably desire my personal counsel in +their interpretation and application, and it is highly desirable that I +should give it, in order that the sincere desire of our government to +contribute without selfish purpose of any kind to settlements that will +be of common benefit to all the nations concerned may be made fully +manifest. The peace settlements which are now to be agreed upon are of +transcendent importance both to us and to the rest of the world, and I +know of no business or interest which should take precedence of them. +The gallant men of our armed forces on land and sea have consciously +fought for the ideals which they knew to be the ideals of their country; +I have sought to express those ideals; they have accepted my statements +of them as the substance of their own thought and purpose, as the +associated governments have accepted them; I owe it to them to see to +it, so far as in me lies, that no false or mistaken interpretation is +put upon them, and no possible effort omitted to realize them. It is now +my duty to play my full part in making good what they offered their +life's blood to obtain. I can think of no call to service which could +transcend this....</p> + + +<h4>SUPPORT OF NATION URGED.</h4> + +<p>"May I not hope, gentlemen of the Congress, that in the delicate tasks I +shall have to perform on the other side of the sea in my efforts truly +and faithfully to interpret the principles and purposes of the country +we love, I may have the encouragement and the added strength of your +united support? I realize the magnitude and difficulty of the duty I am +undertaking. I am poignantly aware of its grave responsibilities. I am +the servant of the Nation. I can have no private thought or purpose of +my own in performing such an errand. I go to give the best that is in me +to the common settlements which I must now assist in arriving at in +conference with the other working heads of the associated governments. I +shall count upon your friendly countenance and encouragement. I shall +not be inaccessible. The cables and the wireless will render me +available for any counsel or service you may desire of me, and I shall +be happy in the thought that I am constantly in touch with the weighty +matters of domestic policy with which we shall have to deal. I shall +make my absence as brief as possible and shall hope to return with the +happy assurance that it has been possible to translate into action the +great ideals for which America has striven."</p> + + +<h4>PRESIDENT WILSON'S DIPLOMATIC MISSION.</h4> + +<p>In accordance with this message, President Wilson broke the traditions +of more than a century, and took upon himself the deep responsibility of +a diplomatic mission. He went as the representative of one of the great +belligerent powers to confer with the premiers and leading diplomats of +Europe to frame, not only a peace of justice to terminate the World War, +but—if possible—to organize a League of Nations, henceforth making +such cataclysms an impossibility.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<h4>THE FLASH THAT SET THE WORLD AFLAME.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Teutons Find in a Murder the Excuse for War—Germany Inspired by +Ambitions for World Control—The Struggle for Commercial Supremacy a +Factor—The Underlying Motives</span>.</p> + + +<p>The assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir apparent to +the throne of Austria, together with his wife, in Bosnia, during the +last days of June, 1914, is commonly regarded as the blow which forged +the chain that bound the European powers in bloody warfare. The tragedy +was the signal for putting on the world stage the greatest war play of +all times.</p> + +<p>When Austria, regarding the murder of the Archduke as a National +affront, precipitated the conflict which has convulsed the universe, she +marked the way easy for Imperial Germany to put into effect a +long-contemplated plan for territorial expansion, and to wage a warfare +so insidious, so brutal and so ruthless in its character as to amaze the +civilized world.</p> + +<p>Word-pictures were drawn, so to speak, of a mighty nation striving to +burst iron bands that were slowly strangling her, and her perfectly +natural wish to find outlets for her rapidly growing population and +commerce. Germany sought to obtain "a place in the sun," to use one of +the Kaiser's most unfortunate expressions, and the world soon found that +the "place" included the territory embracing a few ports on the English +channel, with control of Holland and Belgium, Poland, the Balkan +countries, a big slice of Asia Minor, Egypt, English and French colonies +in Africa, not to mention remote possibilities.</p> + +<p>Germany's ambitions may have been laudable, but her methods of trying to +satisfy these ambitions were not such as to either gain for her the +"solar warmth" which she sought to win, or gain for her the friendship +of the nations of the civilized world. The drama which Germany directed +moved swiftly in this wise:</p> + +<p>Austria claimed that Servia, as a Nation, was responsible for the +assassination of the Archduke in Bosnia. She sent an ultimatum to +Belgrade, making demands which the Servians could not admit. Thereupon +Austria declared war and moved across the Danube with her army.</p> + + +<h4>THE FOUR GROUPS.</h4> + +<p>Austria's attack threatened to disturb the balance of power, because at +the time the continent was divided into four groups: The close alliance +of the central powers—Germany, Austria and Italy—referred to as the +Triple Alliance or Dreibund; the Triple Entente, or understanding +between Great Britain, France and Russia; the smaller group whose +neutrality and integrity had been guaranteed, or at least +recognized—Belgium, Denmark, Holland and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, +sandwiched in between Germany, France and Belgium, together with +Switzerland. The fourth group included the Balkan nations: Bulgaria, +Servia, Montenegro, Greece, Turkey and Roumania, all drawn close to +Russia; Norway and Sweden, and the Iberian nations, Spain and Portugal. +The increase in the power of one of these groups would at any time have +been sufficient to precipitate a war, but in the movement of Austria +against Servia there entered a racial element. There was a threatened +drawing of another Slavonic peoples into the Teutonic system. Besides +this, the action let loose the flood of militarism which civilization +had been holding in check.</p> + +<p>With this situation in mind, it is easy to understand how Germany could +precipitate a world conflict by attempting to keep open the way to the +near East, and controlling the markets as against Britain, France and +Russia. Back of all this was the question of commercial supremacy, +Germany showing her intention of keeping the way open to the near East +and dominating the markets as against Britain, France and Russia.</p> + +<p>Russia could not stand by and see one of her Slavonic wards crushed, and +France, which held the Russian national debt, prepared to support her +debtor, whereupon Germany, threatened on both sides, struck. In doing so +the Kaiser ignored the rights of the small neutral states, invaded +Belgium and brought his armies within threatening distance of England. +France prepared to defend her country against Germany, and England, +alarmed by the move of Germany and sympathizing with Belgium, struck +back to avert the disaster which she felt must follow the German +movement, which had been threatening for years.</p> + + +<h4>REGARDED EACH OTHER WITH SUSPICION.</h4> + +<p>All attempts to maintain a balance of power between the European +countries were from time to time jeopardized by various developments. +The elements in the continental group struggled against each other, and +the Nations, while seemingly at rest, regarded each other with +suspicion. One of the underlying forces that the world knew must at some +time be felt was of racial origin. The historical explanations of the +war would involve the retelling of almost everything that has happened +in Europe for more than a century.</p> + +<p>But it is necessary to the long train of evil consequences which have +followed the interference of other powers in the settlement of affairs +between Russia and Turkey after the war of 1877, when Russia was +victorious. Russia and Turkey had agreed upon a large Bulgaria and an +enlarged and independent Servia, but at the Berlin Congress, which +Austria had taken the initiative in calling, Austria showed that she +wished to have as much as possible of this Christian territory of +Southeastern Europe kept under the domination or nominal authority of +Turkey. Austria feared Russia's influence with the new countries of +Servia, Roumania, Bulgaria and Montenegro, and therefore she desired to +have this territory remain Turkish by influence, to the end that she +might some day acquire part or all of it for herself.</p> + +<p>One of the articles of the agreement of Berlin turned Bosnia and +Herzegovina over to Austria for temporary occupation and management. +Austria was a trustee of the country which lies between Servia and the +Adriatic sea, and while Austria's management was efficient, Servia +looked forward to the time when a union could be effected with Bosnia, +which would provide Servia with an outlet to the sea.</p> + + +<h4>THE SERVIANS EMBITTERED.</h4> + +<p>But when Russia fell humiliated by the Japanese and the Young Turks +reformed their government, and there was prospect that the Turks might +demand the evacuation of Bosnia by Austria, the powers that had engaged +in the Berlin treaty were informed that Austria had decided to make +Bosnia and Herzegovina a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The +Servians were embittered, because this stood in the way of their +attaining their ideals, and their country was landlocked.</p> + +<p>With this bitterness rankling in her national breast, Servia joined +forces with Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro to drive the Turks out of +Europe. The larger powers, including Austria, tried to prevent the +action, but the heroic Balkan struggle is a matter of history. Servia +was to have secured as a share of the conquered territory a portion of +Albania, on the Adriatic. This would have compensated her for the loss +of Bosnia, but the great powers, led by Austria, stepped in, and a plan +was devised of making Albania an independent state or principality, with +a German prince to rule over it.</p> + +<p>The Servians were bitter, and both Servia and Greece demanded of +Bulgaria portions of the territory acquired in the war and which had +originally been assigned to Bulgaria as her share. Bulgaria stood upon +her technical rights and precipitated the last Balkan war, which was +really made possible, or probable, by the Austrian policy. When the war +was concluded Servia had acquired more territory to the south, but she +remained a landlocked country, with Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania +stretching between her and the Adriatic sea.</p> + +<p>This was the situation when the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand +and his wife occurred in Bosnia. The Archduke was, in effect, a joint +ruler with the Emperor Franz Joseph, who was nearly 84 years of age, and +the entire world realized that great events were likely to follow the +killing of the heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The murder +was committed by a young Servian fanatic, and Austria determined to hold +Servia responsible for the murder, and therefore presented her +now-famous ultimatum.</p> + + +<h4>NO CAUSE FOR WAR.</h4> + +<p>Students of history hold that if there had been a proper respect for the +commendable desire of the Christian peoples in European Turkey to throw +off the Turkish yoke and become self-governing states, there would have +been no cause for war, so far as relates to Servia and the situation +which precipitated the conflict. There would have been developed a +series of peaceful and progressive countries of the non-military type of +Denmark, Sweden and Holland.</p> + +<p>A wiser treatment of the Balkan problem might have averted the war, but +it could not have set aside racial differences, nor could it have ended +the curse of militarism or set at rest the distrust and fear which it +promotes.</p> + +<p>The end of European militarism might have come about, however, through a +better understanding between Germany and France. This might have been +arrived at years ago if Germany had opened the Alsace-Lorraine question, +and had rearranged the boundary line between the two countries so that +the French-speaking communities lost in the Franco-Prussian war be ceded +back to France. The cost of maintaining the feud over Alsace-Lorraine +has been a burden to both France and Germany, and the progress which +Germany has made in world affairs, despite the burden of militarism +which she has earned, is one of the marvels of the century. And the +situation compelled France to maintain a defensive military organization +which was as great a burden to her and barrier to world peace as the +military burden of Germany.</p> + + +<h4>STRAIN BETWEEN GERMANY AND RUSSIA.</h4> + +<p>Whether Germany conspired to bring on the war so that she could wage a +campaign of aggression has not yet been made clear, but the strain +between Germany and Russia had been growing for some time, and the +assassination of the Teutonic heir, Francis Ferdinand, by a ward of +Russia, created an occasion which gave Germany an opportunity to fight, +without being compelled to directly precipitate the conflict. Russia +could do naught else but come to the aid of Servia, and Germany by +reason of her alliance with Austria must aid the latter country.</p> + +<p>Germany anticipated the entry of Italy into the conflict as the third +member of the Triple Alliance, but Italy did not regard Germany's action +as defensive and declined to aid Austria. Germany had made overtures to +Great Britain, but England had an understanding with France, which was +in the nature of a limited alliance, and Germany might have kept England +out of the struggle; but Germany proceeded with a plan to invade France +by way of Belgium, which was in violation of international agreement +establishing Belgium's neutrality and independence. Germany had nothing +to gain by choosing the Belgium route, for the fact is that even had the +Belgian government approved the movement, there must have been a French +counter-movement, which would have made Belgium the theatre of war just +the same.</p> + +<p>Pan-Germanism has been described as one of the underlying motives in the +world war, and Pan-Slavism has always opposed Pan-Germanism. +Pan-Germanism is described as a well-defined policy or movement which +seeks the common welfare of the Germanic peoples of all Europe and the +advance of Teutonic culture, while Pan-Slavism, represented by Russia, +seeks in the main the uniting of all the Slavonic folk for common +welfare. The contact between these two has always been seething, and the +racial differences made burdensome the arbitrary alignment and political +geography arranged by the Berlin Congress.</p> + + +<h4>OUTLETS TO THE WORLD'S MARKET.</h4> + +<p>The commercial side, however, was a big factor, for Germany sought world +markets for its products. In the near East are the grain fields of +Mesopotamia, and in the far East are the vast markets of India and +China. The great banking and financial interests of Europe have been +seeking the conquest of Asia for nearly half a century. German capital +built railroads through Asia Minor, but English capital controls the +Suez Canal. Russia welded the Balkan states until the Slavonic wedge +from the Black sea to the Adriatic barred Germany's way to the Orient. +England threatened the Kaiser's expansion on the sea; while Russia, on +one side, with France her strong ally, closed the Germans in on opposite +sides. So Germany must have outlets to the world markets.</p> + +<p>The religious element was also a factor in the affairs of Europe, for +the territory has been divided into four large religious groups for +centuries. Moslems counted several millions of Turks, Bosnians and +Albanians in Europe, the Protestants among the Germans, English, Swiss +and Hungarians number about 100,000,000, while the Roman Catholics in +all the Latin countries, Southern Germany, Croatia, Albania, Bohemia, +and in Russian Austria and Russian Poland are about 180,000,000. The +Greek Catholics in Russia, the Balkan countries and a few provinces in +the Austrian Empire number more than 110,000,000.</p> + +<p>The differences in religion have precipitated many European struggles, +but for more than a century the countries have been forced to assume an +attitude of tolerance, so that churches other than those established by +the State have thrived; But just what influence religions may have had +in the various incidents of the war it is difficult to determine.</p> + +<p>The outstanding fact is that but for the arrogant, militaristic policy +of Imperial Germany, the differences between nations might have been +settled, and almost indescribable horrors of the war would never have +been experienced.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h3> + +<h4>WHY AMERICA ENTERED THE WAR.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Iron Hand of Prussianism—The Arrogant Hohenzollern +Attitude—Secretary Lane Tells Why We Fight—Broken Pledges—Laws +Violated—Prussianism the Child of Barbarity—Germany's Plans for a +World Empire</span>.</p> + + +<p>Not merely to prevent Germany from opening avenues of commerce to the +seas nor to throttle the ambitions of the Kaiser was America drawn into +the vortex of war with France, England, Russia, Belgium, Italy and other +nations; but that the iron hand of Prussianism, as exemplified in the +conduct of the German Government, might be lifted from the shoulders of +men, and the world given that measure of peace and security which modern +civilization demands.</p> + +<p>Germany by her ruthless submarine warfare brought desolation to many +American homes. She sank without a pang of conscience the great +transatlantic steamship Lusitania, and, while pretending friendship for +the United States and pleading no intent to disregard American rights, +broke her own pledges and repeated her overt acts, ignoring +international law and the rights of all neutrals at sea.</p> + +<p>She began her outlawry by the invasion of Belgium, which was followed by +conduct on the part of the German forces which clearly marked them +descendants of the "wolf tribes" of feudal days, fighting with the motto +before them of, "To the victor belong the spoils."</p> + +<p>But all of Germany's diabolical acts involving the peace and security of +America and American citizens might have been the subject of +international adjudication but for the arrogance of the ruling forces of +the Teutons. In a broad sense, Prussianism is credited with +responsibility for the devastating war and for the policy which drew +America into the conflict.</p> + +<p>The country, led by President Woodrow Wilson, who temporized to an +extent that for a time made him the subject of bitter criticism, found +that war was being forced upon it by an autocratic and ambitious German +Government—that of the Hohenzollern dynasty—which possessed an insane +ambition to dominate the earth, leaving to America no alternative but to +borrow the piratical terrorism of Imperialistic Germany, with temporary +abandonment of its own constitutional free government, and join the +Allies to defend it.</p> + +<p>In the sense which Prussianism or militarism is here used it denotes a +mental attitude or view. It is a condition of mind which is partisan, +exaggerated and egotistical, and is developed by environment and +training. Just as the professional spirit in any other occupation leads +to an exhibition of exaggerated importance, the despotic doctrine of +militarism assumes superiority over rational motives and deliberations. +Everything must be sacrificed to perpetuate and maintain the honor and +prestige of the military.</p> + + +<h4>WHAT MILITARISM IS.</h4> + +<p>What that militarism is and what it has done to America, and to the +whole world, is best summed up in the words of Secretary Lane, of the +Department of the Interior, at Washington, who in an address before the +Home Club of the Department on June 4, 1917, just when America was +beginning to send forces to Europe, said:</p> + +<p>"America is at war in self-defense and because she could not keep out; +she is at war to save herself with the rest of the world from the nation +that has linked itself with the Turk and adopted the methods of Mahomet, +setting itself to make the world bow before policies backed by the +organized and scientific military system.</p> + +<p>"Why are we fighting Germany? The brief answer is that ours is a war of +self-defense. We did not wish to fight Germany. She made the attack upon +us; not on our shores, but on our ships, our lives, our rights, our +future. For two years and more we held to a neutrality that made us +apologists for things which outraged man's common sense of fair play and +humanity.</p> + +<p>"At each new offense—the invasion of Belgium, the killing of civilian +Belgians, the attacks on Scarborough and other defenseless towns, the +laying of mines in neutral waters, the fencing off of the seas—and on +and on through the months, we said:</p> + +<p>"'This is war—archaic, uncivilized war, but war. All rules have been +thrown away; all nobility; man has come down to the primitive brute. And +while we cannot justify, we cannot intervene. It is not our war.'</p> + + +<h4>IN WAR TO DEFEND RIGHTS.</h4> + +<p>"Then why are we in? Because we could not keep out. The invasion of +Belgium, which opened the war, led to the invasion of the United States +by slow, steady, logical steps. Our sympathies evolved into a conviction +of self-interest. Our love of fair play ripened into alarm at our own +peril.</p> + +<p>"We talked in the language and in the spirit of good faith and +sincerity, as honest men should talk, until we discovered that our talk +was construed as cowardice. And Mexico was called upon to cow us.</p> + +<p>"We talked as men would talk who cared alone for peace and the +advancement of their own material interests, until we discovered that we +were thought to be a nation of mere moneymakers, devoid of all +character—until, indeed, we were told that we could not walk the +highways of the world without permission of a Prussian soldier, that our +ships might not sail without wearing a striped uniform of humiliation +upon a narrow path of national subservience.</p> + +<p>"We talked as men talk who hope for honest agreement, not for war, until +we found that the treaty torn to pieces at Liege was but the symbol of a +policy that made agreements worthless against a purpose that knew no +word but success.</p> + +<p>"And so we came into this war for ourselves. It is a war to save +America, to preserve self-respect, to justify our right to live as we +have lived, not as some one else wishes us to live. In the name of +freedom we challenge with ships and men, money and an undaunted spirit, +that word 'verboten' which Germany has written upon the sea and upon the +land.</p> + +<p>"For America is not the name of so much territory. It is a living +spirit, born in travail, grown in the rough school of bitter +experiences, a living spirit which has purpose and pride and conscience, +knows why it wishes to live and to what end, knows how it comes to be +respected of the world, and hopes to retain that respect by living on +with the light of Lincoln's love of man as its old and new testaments.</p> + + +<h4>AMERICA MUST LIVE.</h4> + +<p>"It is more precious that this America should live than that we +Americans should live. And this America as we now see has been +challenged from the first of this war by the strong arm of a power that +has no sympathy with our purpose, and will not hesitate to destroy us if +the law that we respect, the rights that are to us sacred, or the spirit +that we have, stand across her set will to make this world bow before +her policies, backed by her organized and scientific military system. +The world of Christ—a neglected but not a rejected Christ—has come +again face to face with the world of Mahomet, who willed to win by +force.</p> + +<p>"With this background of history and in this sense, then, we fight +Germany:</p> + +<p>"Because of Belgium—invaded, outraged, enslaved, impoverished Belgium. +We cannot forget Liege, Louvain and Cardinal Mercier. Translated into +terms of American history these names stand for Bunker Hill, Lexington +and Patrick Henry.</p> + +<p>"Because of France—invaded, desecrated France, a million of whose +heroic sons have died to save the land of Lafayette. Glorious, golden +France, the preserver of the arts, the land of noble spirit. The first +land to follow our lead into republican liberty.</p> + +<p>"Because of England—from whom came the laws, traditions, standards of +life and inherent love of liberty which we call Anglo-Saxon +civilization. We defeated her once upon the land and once upon sea. But +Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Canada are free because of what we +did. And they are with us in the fight for the freedom of the seas.</p> + +<p>"Because of Russia—new Russia. She must not be overwhelmed now. Not +now, surely, when she is just born into freedom. Her peasants must have +their chance; they must go to school to Washington, to Jefferson and to +Lincoln, until they know their way about in this new, strange world, of +government by the popular will; and</p> + +<p>"Because of other peoples, with their rising hope that the world may be +freed from government by the soldier.</p> + + +<h4>GERMANY'S CRIMES AGAINST US.</h4> + +<p>"We are fighting Germany because she sought to terrorize us and then to +fool us. We could not believe that Germany would do what she said she +would do upon the seas.</p> + +<p>"We still hear the piteous cries of children coming up out of the sea +where the Lusitania went down. And Germany has never asked forgiveness +of the world.</p> + +<p>"We saw the Sussex sunk, crowded with the sons and daughters of neutral +nations.</p> + +<p>"We saw ship after ship sent to the bottom—ships of mercy bound out of +America for the Belgian starving; ships carrying the Red Cross and laden +with the wounded of all nations; ships carrying food and clothing to +friendly, harmless, terrorized peoples; ships flying the Stars and +Stripes—sent to the bottom hundreds of miles from shore, manned by +American seamen, murdered against all law, without warning.</p> + +<p>"We believed Germany's promise that she would respect the neutral flag +and the rights of neutrals, and we held our anger and outrage in check. +But now we see that she was holding us off with fair promises until she +could build her huge fleet of submarines. For when spring came she blew +her promise into the air, just as at the beginning she had torn up that +'scrap of paper.' Then we saw clearly that there was but one law for +Germany, her will to rule.</p> + +<p>"We are fighting Germany because she violated our confidence. Paid +German spies filled our cities. Officials of her Government, received as +the guests of this nation, lived with us to bribe and terrorize, defying +our law and the law of nations.</p> + +<p>"We are fighting Germany because while we were yet her friends—the only +great power that still held hands off—she sent the Zimmermann note +calling to her aid Mexico, our southern neighbor, and hoping to lure +Japan, our western neighbor, into war against this nation of peace.</p> + + +<h4>GOVERNMENT THAT HAS NO CONSCIENCE.</h4> + +<p>"The nation that would do these things proclaims the gospel that +government has no conscience. And this doctrine cannot live, or else +democracy must die! For the nations of the world must keep faith. There +can be no living for us in a world where the State has no conscience, no +reverence for the things of the spirit, no respect for international +law, no mercy for those who fall before its force. What an unordered +world! Anarchy! The anarchy of the rival wolf packs!</p> + +<p>"We are fighting Germany because in this war feudalism is making its +last stand against oncoming democracy. We see it now. This is a war +against an old spirit, an ancient, outworn spirit. It is a war against +feudalism—the right of the castle on the hill to rule the village +below. It is a war of democracy—the right of all to be their own +masters. Let Germany be feudal if she will! But she must not spread her +system over a world that has outgrown it. Feudalism plus science, +thirteenth century plus twentieth; this is the religion of the mistaken +Germany that has linked itself with the Turk; that has, too, adopted the +method of Mahomet: 'The State has no conscience,' 'the State can do no +wrong.' With the spirit of the fanatic, she believes this gospel and +that it is her duty to spread it by force.</p> + +<p>"With poison gas that makes living a hell, with submarines that sneak +through the seas to slyly murder non-combatants, with dirigibles that +bombard men and women while they sleep, with a perfected system of +terrorization that the modern world first heard of when German troops +entered China, German feudalism is making war upon mankind.</p> + + +<h4>LIVE IN HAUNTED TERROR.</h4> + +<p>"Let this old spirit of evil have its way and no man will live in +America without paying toll to it, in manhood and in money. This spirit +might demand Canada from a defeated, navyless England, and then our +dream of peace on the north would be at an end. We would live, as France +has lived for forty years, in haunting terror.</p> + +<p>"America speaks for the world in fighting Germany. Mark on a map those +countries which are Germany's allies, and you will mark but four, +running from the Baltic through Austria and Bulgaria to Turkey. All the +other nations, the whole globe around, are in arms against her or are +unable to move. There is deep meaning in this.</p> + +<p>"We fight with the world for an honest world, in which nations keep +their word; for a world in which nations do not live by swagger or by +threat; for a world in which men think of the ways in which they can +conquer the common cruelties of nature instead of inventing more +horrible cruelties to inflict upon the spirit and body of man; for a +world in which the ambition or the philosophy of a few shall not make +miserable all mankind; for a world in which the man is held more +precious than the machine, the system or the State."</p> + +<p>In his denunciations of the Imperial German Government President Wilson +and his advisers have indicted the House of Hohenzollern, of which +Emperor Wilhelm is the head, and which has developed the unbending +military spirit which has resulted in Germany being counted an outcast +among the nations of the world.</p> + +<p>America, it must be noted, has no antipathy for the Germans as a race, +but modern civilization opposes that form of Government which has +permitted the cruel characteristics of the "wolf tribes" of feudal times +to be carried down through the generations, and capitalized by the +Imperial powers to bring terror to the hearts of all who do not bow to +the iron hand of the Kaiser and his ilk.</p> + + +<h4>GERMANY A WARLIKE RACE.</h4> + +<p>The thing from which this Prussianism—this militarism—grew is easily +traceable down the German ages. The very first appearance of the Germans +in history is as a warlike race. The earliest German literature is +composed of folk tales about war heroes—their ideals and manly virtues. +And this ideal in one form or another, under varying circumstances and +conditions, persisted throughout the centuries.</p> + +<p>It is not merely that military service has been compulsory in Germany, +but that almost everything else has been subjugated to the development +of the army. While Germany has given to the world a generous quota of +scientists, industrial geniuses, musicians and poets, the whole race is +imbued with the warlike spirit and its influence is manifest in every +phase of national life. Practically all that is best in the nation in +the way of efficiency has been inspired or may be traced to the military +discipline to which the people have been subjected for years. They have +been created human machines, trained to obey orders and to perform the +services to which they are assigned without protest and without +question.</p> + +<p>The history of Germany began with Henry, the Fowler, about A.D. 929, +who was essentially the first sovereign. He developed the system of +margraves or wardens to guard the frontiers of the kingdom, fortified +his towns and required every ninth man to take up arms for his country. +Robbers were forced to become soldiers or be hanged, and as lawlessness +was rampant there was no dearth of material to fill up the ranks of the +army.</p> + +<p>The margraves, or military leaders under them, grew in importance and +influence until the offices tended to become hereditary. Gradually the +country was divided into principalities, each of which maintained a +force of arms. This limited form of military rule maintained for several +centuries of troublesome times, or until about 1412, when Emperor +Sigismund appointed Burgrave Frederick, of Nuremberg, "Stratt-halter," +or vice-regent.</p> + + +<h4>BIRTH OF THE MILITARY SPIRIT.</h4> + +<p>This appointment marked the establishment of the Hohenzollerns in +Brandenburg, and, in fine, fixes the birth of the military spirit in +Germany.</p> + +<p>Other princes of the German Reich maintained armies, but the +Hohenzollerns were destined to imprint upon the nation the military +ideal. In the beginning history says that Burgrave Frederick tried all +the arts of peace, but it was only with the army of Franks and some +artillery that he was able to batter down the castles of the robber +lords and bring order into Brandenburg.</p> + +<p>Thomas Carlyle gives a list of twelve electors who strove in turn to +consolidate the power of Prussia, so that when Frederick the Great +became King of Prussia he found much of the work done. Among the rulers +of these strenuous days to whom the Kaiser Wilhelm may point as having +handed down to him the warlike spirit are Kurfuerst Joachim I, of +Brandenburg (1529), who introduced Roman law and established a supreme +court for all the provinces at Berlin; Kurfuerst Joachim II, of +Brandenburg (1542), whom history describes as an unscrupulous despot, +fond of luxury and display, and who changed his religion because it was +an advantage politically for him to do so; Margrave Georg Frederick von +Ansbach (1564), who caused the eyes of sixty peasants to be bored out +upon winning the Peasants' war, and Kurfuerst Frederick William der +Grosse, of Brandenburg (1652), known as the "Great Elector," a fighter, +who had two clearly defined aims: to build up agriculture and maintain a +big army.</p> + +<p>For years the Hohenzollerns and their aides were fighting unfriendly +neighbors and quarrelsome princes, and when after the lapse of time the +Thirty Years' War finally turned Germany into a field of blood, the +Great Elector emerged from the strife with the support of about 25,000 +well drilled soldiers, and freed his country from foreign foes.</p> + + +<h4>HELD EUROPE AT HIS MERCY.</h4> + +<p>The establishment of the power of the Junkers—the autocrats of +Prussianism—is credited to Frederick the Great, who was the great +drillmaster who organized the Prussian army on lines of efficiency and +economy. It is related that Frederick, afterward "The Great," was taken +from his women teachers at the age of seven years and subjected to rigid +military discipline. He commanded a company of cadets, composed of the +sons of nobles who were compelled to drill for him, and at the age of +fourteen he was a captain in the Potsdam Guards, and when, in 1740, he +became king, he took the army and held all Europe at his mercy. His +successor, Frederick William II, was incapable, and the French +revolution found Germany in a state of discord.</p> + +<p>When Frederick William III acceded to the throne in 1797 he started to +reorganize the army. Frederick William I had divided the country into +districts, or cantons, and here began the system of compulsory military +training. All males born were enrolled and liable to service when of +age. The army was recruited by districts and every district had its +regiment, though later exemptions were allowed. Under Frederick William +III, Scharnhorst, a Hanoverian, was the military reorganizer, and he +began the work with the slogan "All dwellers of the State are born +defenders of the same."</p> + +<p>Instead of depending for its development on king, the army was directed +by genius of best men developed by the system. After the formation of +the German Empire in 1871, which placed the king of Prussia at its head, +the Constitution of the German Empire made every German a member of the +active army for seven years. Service with colors three years and with +the reserve four. In 1875 there were eighteen army corps, of which +twelve were Prussian. The strength by law in 1874 was 400,000.</p> + + +<h4>PEACE STRENGTH INCREASED.</h4> + +<p>In 1881 the established peace strength was increased by thirty-four +battalions of infantry, forty batteries of field artillery and other +forces, and in 1886 Bismarck, recognizing the power of Prussianism and +its military influence, was compelled to dissolve the Reichstag, but +after the election in 1887 thirty-one other battalions and twenty-four +batteries were added. Two complete army corps were added in 1890, and in +1893 the color service, or length of time when reservists were subject +to duty under colors only, was decreased by two years, bringing the +peace strength up to more than half a million and the reservists up to +4,000,000. Step by step the strength of the military force was increased +until after the adoption of the law of 1913, when provision was made for +699 battalions of infantry; 633 batteries of field artillery; 44 +battalions of engineers; 55 battalions of garrison artillery; 31 +battalions of communications and 26 battalions of train troops—a grand +total of 870,000 actually in service in peace strength.</p> + +<p>The German Empire is composed of twenty-six states—Prussia, Bavaria, +Wurttemberg, Baden, Saxony, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, +Mecklenburg-Sterlitz, Oldenburg, Brunswick, Saxe-Weimer-Eisnach, +Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Waldeck, Lippe, +Schaumburg-Lippe, Reuss (elder line), Reuss (younger line), Anhalt, +Schwarz-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen, Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck +and Reichsland—the Alsace-Lorraine. The area is less than that of the +State of Texas while the population according to the most recent +statistics is about 65,000,000.</p> + +<p>Every male person between the ages of eighteen and forty-five is liable +for military service. Reservists under the rules in force when the war +started were subject to two musters annually and two periods of training +not to exceed eight weeks in duration.</p> + + +<h4>EGOTISTICAL AND EXAGGERATED UTTERANCES.</h4> + +<p>That the present Emperor is imbued with the harsh military spirit of his +ancestors is illustrated by his many egotistical and exaggerated +utterances. In dedicating the monument of Prince Frederick Charles at +Frankfurt-on-the-Oder in 1891, he is quoted as having said:</p> + +<p>"We would rather sacrifice our eighteen army corps and our 42,000,000 +inhabitants on the field of battle than surrender a single stone of what +my father and Prince Frederick gained." The thrills which such +expressions arouse are born of an inveterate emotional habit, and are +responsible for the obliquity of view and conduct which has made Germany +an outcast among civilized nations.</p> + +<p>But Germany was not satisfied with what she had obtained by her +crusading. Developments of the war prove conclusively that the Kaiser +has followed out the blood and iron politico-economic methods of +Bismarck for the development of Prussian power and that while at times +Germany has been reported to be maneuvering for peace, her peace moves +have in reality been war moves, and that a truce would only give the +Imperial Government time in which to further Prussianize and prepare +for a greater world war the territory to the southeast which she has +conquered under the guise of a friendly alliance.</p> + +<p>It will be recalled that President Wilson declared that "America must +fight until the world is made safe for democracy." This declaration +refers immediately to the plans which Germany had developed for its +conquest. Based upon reports received by agents of the United States, of +England, of France and other countries, Germany aimed to form a +consolidation of an impregnable military and economic unit stretching +from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, cutting Europe permanently in +half, controlling the Dardanelles, the Agean and the Baltic, and +eventually forming the backbone of a Prussian world empire.</p> + + +<h4>LEAGUE AT WORK SINCE 1911.</h4> + +<p>In her southeastern conquests, it is apparent, Germany followed almost +in toto the long established plan of the Pan-German League, whose +propaganda had been regarded outside of Germany as the harmless activity +of extremists, too radical to be taken seriously. Coupled with this +plan, as an instrument of economic consolidation, the German officials +used with only slight modification the system of customs union expansion +which aided Prussia in former years to extend her domination over the +other German States now making up the empire.</p> + +<p>As early as 1911 the Pan-German League is said to have circulated a +definite propaganda of conquest, with printed appeals containing maps of +a greater Germany, whose sway from Hamburg to Constantinople and then +southeastward through Asiatic Turkey was marked out by boundaries very +coincident with the military lines held today, under German officers, by +the troops of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey. Adhesion of +the German Government itself to such a plan was not suspected by the +other Powers, although the propagandists were permitted to continue +their activities unhindered and to spread their appeals in a country of +strict press supervision. How closely the German Government did adhere +to the plan in reality has been demonstrated clearly by the course of +the war.</p> + +<p>Following the footsteps of Bismarck, who used the Franco-Prussian war +alliance to bring Baden, Bavaria and Wurttemburg into the German +confederacy and then into the German Empire, Emperor William chose war +as the means of establishing the broad pathway to the southeast which +was essential for realization of the dream of a great Germany.</p> + + +<h4>VERGE OF DISSOLUTION.</h4> + +<p>The subjugation of Austria-Hungary, which would have presented a +different task under ordinary conditions, became in these circumstances +comparatively very simple. A polyglot combination of States, having +little in common and apparently held together only by the decaying +genius of the aged Emperor Franz Joseph, the dual monarchy was regarded +everywhere as on the verge of dissolution. Her helplessness before +Russia's army became apparent early in the war, and the eagerness with +which Germany seized the opportunity thus presented is pointed to as +emphasizing the far-sightedness of the German plans.</p> + +<p>Austria-Hungary's submission is declared to be complete, both in a +military and economic sense. The German officers commanding her armies, +abetted by industrial agents, scattered throughout the country by +Germany, hold the Austrian and Hungarian population in a union which +neither the hardships of war, the death of the Emperor nor the +inspiration of the outside influences, such as the Russian revolution, +can break.</p> + +<p>Bulgaria's declaration of war on the side of Germany was actuated by a +German diplomatic coup, which in itself is regarded now as further +evidence that a clear road through to the Dardanelles was considered in +Berlin as a primary and imperative purpose of the war.</p> + +<p>In the case of Turkey, German domination is even more complete than in +Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. Not only have German officers led in +defending Turkish territory and in eradicating inharmonious elements, +such as the Armenians and Syrians, but German industrial organizations +have taken a firm grip on Turkish industry and a large delegation of +German professors have been spreading German kultur among the +population.</p> + +<p>The developments threw a new light on many events before the war. Among +them the long-unexplained declaration of Emperor William at Damascus in +1898 that all Mohammedans might confidently regard the German Emperor as +"their friend forever." There also is a complete understanding now of +Germany's eagerness to obtain, in 1899, a concession for the Bagdad +railroad, an artery of communication now indispensable to the German +operations.</p> + +<p>These are the things and conditions to which the Allies referred when in +replying to one of President Wilson's peace notes they declared that war +must accomplish the "liberation of Italians, of Slavs, of Rumanians and +of Tzecho-Slovacs from foreign domination; the enfranchisement of +populations subject to the bloody tyranny of the Turk; the expulsion +from Europe of the Ottoman Empire, and the restoration of Servia, +Montenegro and Rumania."</p> + +<p>America entered the war to fight for Democracy. On the surface the +United States pledged itself to protect its ships and make secure the +lives of its citizens on the highways of the world, but the principles +for which the manhood of the country were called to fight have been +summarized as follows:</p> + +<p>That the nations of the world shall co-operate and not compete. The +paradox of history is that every struggle leads to firmer unity. Wars +cemented France, unified the British Empire, consolidated the American +Union.</p> + +<p>That national armaments be limited to purposes of internal police, no +nation be allowed to have a force sufficient to be a menace to general +peace, and a League of Peace be formed which shall have at its hand +sufficient armed power to compel order among the States.</p> + +<p>That nations be governed by the people that compose them, and for the +benefit of those people, and not of a ruling class.</p> + +<p>That every nation be governed with an eye to the welfare of the whole +world as well as to its own prosperity or glory, and patriotism properly +subjected to humanity.</p> + +<p>That the power of government be dissociated from advancing the profits +of capital, and made always to mean the welfare of labor.</p> + +<p>That security of life, freedom of worship and opinion, and liberty of +movement be assured to all men everywhere.</p> + +<p>That no munitions or instruments of death be manufactured except under +control of the International Council of the World.</p> + +<p>That the seas be free to all.</p> + +<p>That tariffs be adjusted with a view to the general welfare and not as +measures of national rivalry.</p> + +<p>That railways, telegraph, and telephone lines, and all other common and +necessary means of intercommunication be eventually nationalized.</p> + +<p>That every human being in a country be conscripted to devote a certain +part of his or her life to national service.</p> + +<p>That both labor unions and combinations of capital be under strict +government control, so that no irresponsible group may conspire against +the commonwealth.</p> + +<p>That every child receive training to equip him or her for self-support +and intelligent citizenship.</p> + +<p>That woman shall enjoy every right of citizenship.</p> + +<p>That the civil shall always have precedence over the military authority.</p> + +<p>And that the right of free speech, of a free press, and of assembly +shall remain inviolate.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<h4>THE THINGS THAT MADE MEN MAD.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Germany's Barbarity—The Devastation of Belgium—Human +Fiends—Firebrand and Torch—Rape and Pillage—The Sacking of +Louvain—Wanton Destruction—Official Proof</span>.</p> + + +<p>The conduct of Germany in ignoring international treaties and invading +Belgium first aroused the antagonism of the United States and the rest +of the civilized world, and furnished the primary glimpse of how +Imperialism made light of human rights. What the Kaiser and his arrogant +followers did is fully set forth in the report which a special envoy, +appointed by King Albert of Belgium, laid before President Wilson on +September 16, 1914.</p> + +<p>The mission consisted of Henry Carton de Wiart, Minister of Justice; +Messrs. de Sadeleer, Hymans and Vandervelde, Ministers of State, and +Count Louis de Lichtervelde, serving as secretary of the mission. On +being received by President Wilson, Mr. de Wiart, for the mission, +outlined for the world and for America, the situation in part as +follows:</p> + +<p>"His Majesty, the King of the Belgians, has charged us with a special +mission to the President of the United States. Let me say how much we +feel ourselves honored to have been called upon to express the +sentiments of our King and of our whole nation to the illustrious +statesman whom the American people have called to the highest dignity of +the commonwealth.</p> + +<p>"Ever since her independence was first established, Belgium has been +declared neutral in perpetuity. This neutrality, guaranteed by the +Powers, has recently been violated by one of them. Had we consented to +abandon our neutrality for the benefit of one of the belligerents, we +would have betrayed our obligations toward the others. And it was the +sense of our international obligations as well as that of our dignity +and honor that has driven us to resistance.</p> + +<p>"The consequences suffered by the Belgian nation were not confined +purely to the harm occasioned by the forced march of the invading army. +This army not only seized a great portion of our territory, but it +committed incredible acts of violence, the nature of which is contrary +to the laws of nations.</p> + +<p>"Peaceful inhabitants were massacred, defenseless women and children +were outraged; open and undefended towns were destroyed; historical and +religious monuments were reduced to dust and the famous library of the +University of Louvain was given to the flames.</p> + +<p>"Our government has appointed a Judicial Commission to make an official +investigation, so as to thoroughly and impartially examine the facts and +to determine the responsibility thereof, and I will have the honor, +Excellency, to hand over to you the proceedings of the inquiry.</p> + + +<h4>THE UNITED STATES' ATTITUDE.</h4> + +<p>"In this frightful holocaust which is sweeping over Europe, the United +States has adopted a neutral attitude.</p> + +<p>"And it is for this reason that your country, standing apart from either +one of the belligerents, is in the best position to judge, without bias +or partiality, the conditions under which the war is being waged.</p> + +<p>"It is at the request, even at the initiative of the United States, that +all civilized nations have formulated and adopted at the Hague a law +regulating the laws and usages of war.</p> + +<p>"We refuse to believe that war has abolished the family of civilized +powers, or the regulation to which they have freely consented.</p> + +<p>"The American people has always displayed its respect for justice, its +search for progress and an instinctive attachment for the laws of +humanity. Therefore, it has won a moral influence which is recognized by +the entire world. It is for this reason that Belgium, bound as she is to +you by ties of commerce and increasing friendship, turns to the American +people at this time to let you know the real truth of the present +situation. Resolved to continue unflinching defence of its sovereignty +and independence, it deems it a duty to bring to the attention of the +civilized world the innumerable grave breaches of rights of mankind, of +which she has been a victim.</p> + +<p>"At the very moment we were leaving Belgium, the King recalled to us his +trip to the United States and the vivid and strong impression your +powerful and virile civilization left upon his mind. Our faith in your +fairness, our confidence in your justice, in your spirit of generosity +and sympathy, all these have dictated our present mission."</p> + + +<h4>THE INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE.</h4> + +<p>In the report handed to President Wilson, the preface sets forth that +the committee appointed to investigate the conduct of the German +invaders, and all of the surrounding circumstances, consisted of Messrs. +Cattier, professor at the Brussels University; Nys, counselor of the +Brussels Court of Appeals; Verhaegen, counselor of the Brussels Court of +Appeals; Wodon, professor at the Brussels University; Secretary, Mr. +Gillard, Director of the Department of Justice. Afterwards, when the +invasion made it necessary to transfer the seat of the government from +Brussels to Antwerp, a sub-committee was appointed there, consisting of +Mr. Cooreman, Minister of State; Members, Count Goblet d'Aviella, +Minister of State, Vice President of the Senate; Messrs. Ryckmans, +Senator; Strauss, Alderman of the City of Antwerp; Van Cutsem, Honorary +President of the Law Court of Antwerp. Secretaries, Chevalier Ernst de +Bunswyck, Chief Secretary of the Belgian Minister of Justice; Mr. Orts, +Counselor of the Legation.</p> + +<p>In brief the report submits first, that in violation of the perpetual +treaty of June 26, 1831, Germany notified Belgium that France was about +to march upon Germany, and that Germany proposed to frustrate such a +move by sending its soldiers through Belgium; that the German government +had no intention of making war against Belgium, and that if Belgium +made no opposition it would evacuate Belgium after hostilities ceased, +and during the period the German forces were in the country, would buy +everything needed for its army. Belgium replied that it had assurance +from France that France had no intention of invading Belgium, and that +if France attempted to pass through Belgium would oppose such an act +with force. It informed the German Imperial Government that it would +similarly oppose any move on the part of Germany to pass through.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless Germany proceeded at once through Belgium. Quoting articles +from the Hague treaty, the commission's report reads:</p> + + +<h4>THE DAYS OF BARBARISM.</h4> + +<p>"In the days of barbarism, the population of a territory occupied by the +enemy was deprived of all judicial capacity. At that time," as Ghering +writes ironically, "'the enemy was absolutely deprived of rights; +everything he owned belonged to the gallant warrior who had wrenched it +away from him. One had merely to lose it.'</p> + +<p>"In our days the rules of warfare clearly establish the difference +between the property of the government of the territory occupied and the +property of individuals. While the present doctrine allows the conqueror +to seize, in a general way, everything in the way of movable property +belonging to the State, it obliges him, on the other hand, to respect +the property of individuals, corporations and public provincial +administrations.</p> + +<p>"The Hague Convention, signed October 18, 1897, by all the civilized +States, among others by Germany, contains the following stipulations +regarding laws and customs of warfare on land:</p> + +<p>"'Art. 46. The honor and right of the family, the life of the individual +and private property, as well as religious convictions and the exercise +of worship, must be respected. Private property cannot be confiscated.</p> + +<p>"'Art. 47. Pillaging is formally prohibited.</p> + +<p>"'Art. 53. When occupying territory, the army can only seize cash as +well as funds and securities belonging entirely to the State; also +depots of arms, ways and means of transportation, warehouses and +provisions, and in a general way all movable property belonging to the +State and liable to be used for warlike operations.</p> + +<p>"'Art. 56. Property of municipalities, property of establishments +consecrated to worship, to charity and instruction; to art and science, +even though belonging to the State, will be treated as private +property.'</p> + +<p>"In defiance of these conventional rules, voluntarily and solemnly +accepted by Germany, she has committed, from the beginning of her +invasion of Belgian soil, numerous attacks upon private property."</p> + + +<h4>GERMAN CUPIDITY.</h4> + +<p>At Hasselt, the report shows that on August 12, 1914, the Germans +confiscated the funds of the branch of the National Bank, which amounted +to 2,075,000 francs. At Liege, on entering the city, they forcibly +seized the funds of a branch of the same bank, amounting to 4,000,000 +francs. Moreover, upon finding at that branch bundles of bank notes of +5-franc denomination, representing an amount of 400,000 francs, and +which were not yet signed, they forced a printer to sign those bank +notes by means of a rubber stamp, which they had also seized, and +afterwards put the notes in circulation. The bank, it is explained, was +a shareholders' corporation, the capital having been obtained by +subscription from private parties and was in no wise an institution of +the State.</p> + +<p>The enormity of this offence is made apparent by the fact that in the +war of 1870, when the Prussians entered Rheims in the Franco-Prussian +war, and they wanted to confiscate the funds of the branch of the +National Bank of France, Crown Prince Frederick ordered that funds which +were found at the bank could not be seized so long as they were not used +for the maintenance of the French army, it having been contended by +directors of the institution that the bank was not a State, but a +private bank. But more than this Germany levied supplies from every +Belgian city and tried to levy upon the city of Brussels the sum of +50,000,000 francs and the province of Brabant 450,000,000 francs.</p> + + +<h4>TREATY OBLIGATIONS.</h4> + +<p>Categorically, the violation and disregard of every phase of the Hague +treaty is described. In spite of the strict provision that undefended +cities, villages and dwellings are not to be bombarded, and where +bombardment is necessary the commanding officer of the attacking party +must warn the authorities that such bombardment is to take place, German +aeroplanes and dirigibles bombarded relentlessly from the beginning. In +Antwerp a Zeppelin threw explosive bombs at the Royal Palace, but the +missiles went astray, demolishing private residences, killing eight +persons and injuring many. Servants were killed in their beds in one +private house when the bombs tore away the top of the building.</p> + +<p>"In the Place du Poids Public a bomb fell on the pavement. Fragments +scattered all over the place. Not a house facing the square was +untouched. A policeman was cut to pieces, all that was found of him +being a leg covered with a few rags of his uniform. Five other persons +who opened their windows were blown to atoms. The bed-rooms of two +houses facing one another were visited. In the first there were three +corpses. Blood was scattered all over the place. The floor was covered +with fragments of windows and with blood-soaked underwear. On the +ceiling and walls, parts of intestines and brains were visible. In the +other house two old persons had been killed while looking down upon the +street. Later Antwerp was bombarded, as was Heyst-op-den-Berg and the +city of Malines, which was undefended, and where there was not a Belgian +soldier. At Malines the batteries fired shell after shell in the +direction of the Cathedral of Saint Rombault, a beautiful edifice, which +was hit many times and badly damaged, though there was no military +reason for the assault as the town was practically abandoned."</p> + +<p>The commission turned over to President Wilson explosive bullets used by +the Germans at Werchter, and submitted briefs from physicians who +treated wounds made by the explosive bullets.</p> + + +<h4>DETAILED ATROCITIES OUTLINED.</h4> + +<p>A few details of the atrocities are outlined as follows:</p> + +<p>"German cavalry, occupying the village of Linsmeau, were attacked by +some Belgian infantry and two Gendarmes. A German officer was killed by +our troops during the fight, and subsequently buried at the request of +the Belgian officer in command. None of the civilian population took +part in the fight. Nevertheless, the village was invaded at dusk on +August 10 by a strong force of German cavalry, artillery and machine +guns. In spite of the assurance given by the Burgomaster that none of +the peasants had taken part in the previous fighting two farms and six +outlying houses were destroyed by gunfire and burned. All the male +population were compelled to come forward and hand over what they +possessed. No recently discharged firearms were found, but the invaders +divided the peasants into three groups. Those in one group were bound +and eleven of them placed in a ditch, whither they were afterward found +dead, their skulls fractured by the butts of German rifles.</p> + +<p>"During the night of August 10, German cavalry entered Velm in great +numbers; the inhabitants were asleep. The Germans, without provocation, +fired upon Mr. Deglimme-Gever's house, broke into it, destroyed +furniture, looted money, burned barns, hay, corn stacks, farm +implements, six oxen, and the contents of the farmyard. They carried off +Mme. Deglimme half-naked, to a place two miles away. She was then let go +and was fired upon as she fled, without being hit. Her husband was +carried away in another direction."</p> + +<p>Farmer Jeff Dierckx, of Neerhespen, bears witness to the following acts +of cruelty committed by German cavalry at Orsmael Neerhespen, on August +10, 11 and 12:</p> + + +<h4>SHOCKING BARBARITIES.</h4> + +<p>"An old man of the latter village had his arm sliced in three +longitudinal cuts; he was then hanged head downward and burned alive. +Young girls have been raped and little children outraged at Orsmael, +where several inhabitants suffered mutilations too horrible to describe. +A Belgian soldier belonging to a battalion of cyclist carbineers who had +been wounded and made prisoner was hanged, while another who was tending +his comrade was bound to a telegraph pole and shot."</p> + +<p>The sacking of Louvain, which was one of the vile acts of the Germans +during the early days of the war, is described briefly in the report of +the commission as follows:</p> + +<p>"The Germans entered Louvain on Wednesday, August 19, after having set +fire to the towns through which they passed.</p> + +<p>"From the moment of their having entered the city of Louvain, the +Germans requisitioned lodgings and victuals for their troops. They +entered every private bank of the city and took over the bank funds. +German soldiers broke the doors of houses abandoned by their +inhabitants, pillaged them and indulged in orgies.</p> + +<p>"The German authorities took hostages; the mayor of the city, Senator +Vander Kelen, the Vice Rector of the Catholic University, the Dean of +the City; magistrates and aldermen were also detained. All arms down to +fencing foils had been handed over to the town administration and +deposited by the said authorities in the Church of St. Peter.</p> + +<p>"In the neighboring village, Corbeck-Loo, a young matron, 22 years old, +whose husband was in the army, was surprised on Wednesday, August 19, +with several of her relatives, by a band of German soldiers. The persons +who accompanied her were locked in an abandoned house, while she was +taken into another house, where she was successively violated by five +soldiers.</p> + + +<h4>LUSTFUL CRUELTY OF THE GERMANS.</h4> + +<p>"In the same village, on Thursday, August 20, German soldiers were +searching a house where a young girl of 16 lived with her parents. They +carried her into an abandoned house and, while some of them kept the +father and mother off, others went into the house, the cellar of which +was open, and forced the young woman to drink. Afterwards they carried +her out on the lawn in front of the house and violated her successively. +She continued to resist and they pierced her breast with bayonets. +Having been abandoned by the soldiers after their abominable attacks, +the girl was carried off by her parents, and the following day, owing to +the gravity of her condition, she was administered the last rites of the +church by the priest of the parish and carried to the hospital at +Louvain."</p> + +<p>Upon entering villages occupied by the Germans after they were driven +back to Louvain, the report says the Belgian soldiers found that the +German soldiers had sacked, ravaged and set fire to the villages +everywhere, taking with them and driving before them all the male +inhabitants. "Upon entering Hofstade, the Belgian soldiers found the +corpse of an old woman who had been killed by bayonet thrusts; she still +held in her hand the needle with which she was sewing when attacked; one +mother and her son, aged about 15 years, lay there pierced with bayonet +wounds; one man was found hung.</p> + +<p>"In Sempst, a neighboring village, were found corpses of two men +partially burned. One of them was found with legs cut off to the knees; +the other was minus his arms and legs. A workman had been pierced with +bayonets, afterward while he was still living the Germans soaked him +with petroleum and locked him in a house which they set on fire. An old +man and his son had been killed by sabre cuts; a cyclist had been killed +by bullets; a woman coming out of her house had been stricken down in +the same manner."</p> + + +<h4>A LAME EXCUSE OFFERED.</h4> + +<p>Concerning the sacking of Louvain itself, the report says that one +detachment of the Germans met another detachment while in full flight +from the Belgian soldiers, and attacked one another. This was the basis +for the pretext that they had been attacked by the citizenry of Louvain +and was responsible for the bombardment of the city. The bombarding +lasted until 10 o'clock at night, and afterward the German soldiers set +fire to the city.</p> + +<p>"The houses which had not taken fire were entered by German soldiers, +who were throwing fire grenades, some of which seem to have been +provided for the occasion. The largest part of the city of Louvain, +especially the quarters of 'Ville Haute,' comprising the modern houses, +the Cathedral of St. Peter, the University Halls, with the whole library +of the University with its manuscripts, its collections, the largest +part of the scientific institutions and the town theatre were at the +moment being consumed by flames.</p> + +<p>"The commission deems it necessary, in the midst of these horrors, to +insist on the crime of lese-humanity which the deliberate annihilation +of an academic library—a library which was one of the treasures of our +time—constitutes.</p> + +<p>"Numerous corpses of civilians covered the streets and squares. On the +routes from Louvain to Tirlemont alone one witness testifies to having +seen more than fifty of them. On the threshold of houses were found +burnt corpses of people, who, surprised in their cellars by the fire, +had tried to escape and fell into the heap of live embers. The suburbs +of Louvain were given up to the same fate. It can be said that the whole +region between Malines and Louvain and most of the suburbs of Louvain +have been devastated and destroyed.</p> + + +<h4>BASE INDIGNITIES TO CLERGYMEN.</h4> + +<p>"A group of 75 persons, among whom were several notables of the city, +such as Father Coloboet and a Spanish priest, and also an American +priest, were conducted, during the morning of Wednesday, August 26, to +the square in front of the station. The men were brutally separated from +their wives and children, after having received the most abominable +treatment after repeated threats of being shot, and were driven in front +of the German troops as far as the village of Campenhout. They were +locked, during the night, in the church. The following day, at 4 +o'clock, a German officer came to tell them that they might all confess +themselves and that they would be shot half an hour later. When, +finally, they were released, the report continues, they were recaptured +by another German brigade and compelled to march to Malines, where they +were finally liberated.</p> + +<p>"An eye witness testified that he met nothing except burned villages, +crazed peasants, lifting to each comer their arms, as mark of +submission. From each house was hanging a white flag, even from those +that had been set on fire, and rags of them were found hanging from the +ruins. The fire began a little above the American College, and the city +is entirely destroyed, with the exception of the town hall and the +depot. Today the fire continues and the Germans, instead of trying to +stop it—seem rather to maintain it by throwing straw into the flames, +as I have myself seen behind the Hotel de Ville. The Cathedral and the +theatre have been destroyed and fallen in, and also the library. The +town resembles an old city in ruins, in the midst of which drunken +soldiers are circulating, carrying around bottles of wine and liquor; +the officers themselves being installed in arm chairs, sitting around +tables and drinking like their own men.</p> + +<p>"In the streets dead horses are decaying, horses which are completely +inflated, and the smell of the fire and the decaying animals is such +that it has followed me for a long time."</p> + +<p>And the policy which developed such outrageous conduct on the part of +the Kaiser's soldiers in the early days of the war, against which +Belgium protested to the world, inspired brutal acts, ruthlessness and +cruelty at every stage and during every period of the war. Nowhere is +there written a single line which tells of the humanitarian acts of the +German soldiers. Those who fight against them acknowledge their stoical +bravery, the efficiency of the army, the navy and the people as a whole, +but there is no reflection of refined instincts in any of the acts of +Germany or the Germans.</p> + + +<h4>THE AMERICAN MINISTER'S REPORT.</h4> + +<p>Of those conditions which existed in Belgium when the German soldiers +overran the country, America's own minister to the devastated country, +Brand Whitlock, sent a report to the State Department in the beginning +of 1917, when President Wilson was protesting against the treatment +accorded the helpless people of Belgium by the Germans.</p> + +<p>Mr. Whitlock tells how the Germans determined to put the Belgians thrown +out of employment to work for them. "In August," says the report, +dealing with the treatment of the helpless Belgians, "Von Hindenburg was +appointed supreme commander. He is said to have criticised Von Bissing's +policy as too mild, and there was a quarrel; Von Bissing went to Berlin +to protest, threatened to resign, but did not. He returned, and a German +official said that Belgium would now be subjected to a more terrible +regime, would learn what war was. The prophecy has been vindicated.</p> + +<p>"The deportations began in October in the Etape, at Ghent and at +Bruges. The policy spread; the rich industrial districts at Hainaut, the +mines and steel works about Charleroi were next attacked, and they +seized men in Brabant, even in Brussels, despite some indications and +even predictions of the civil authorities that the policy was about to +be abandoned.</p> + +<p>"As by one of the ironies of life the winter has been more excessively +cold than Belgium has ever known it and while many of those who +presented themselves were adequately protected against the cold, many of +them were without overcoats. The men, shivering from cold and fear, the +parting from weeping wives and children, the barrels of brutal Uhlans, +all this made the scene a pitiable and distressing one.</p> + + +<h4>RAGE, TERROR AND DESPAIR.</h4> + +<p>"The rage, the terror and despair excited by this measure all over +Belgium were beyond anything we had witnessed since the day the Germans +poured into Brussels. The delegates of the commission for relief in +Belgium, returning to Brussels, told the most distressing stories of the +scenes of cruelty and sorrow attending the seizures. And daily, hourly +almost, since that time, appalling stories have been related by Belgians +coming to the legation. It is impossible for us to verify them, first +because it is necessary for us to exercise all possible tact in dealing +with the subject at all, and secondly because there is no means of +communication between the Occupations Gebiet and the Etappey Gebiet.</p> + +<p>"I am constantly in receipt of reports from all over Belgium that tend +to bear the stories one constantly hears of brutality and cruelty. A +number of men sent back to Mons are said to be in a dying condition, +many of them tubercular. At Molines and at Antwerp returned men have +died, their friends asserting that they have been victims of neglect and +cruelty, of cold, of exposure, of hunger.</p> + +<p>"I have had requests from the burgomasters of ten communes asking that +permission be obtained to send to the deported men in Germany packages +of food similar to those that are being sent to prisoners of war. Thus +far the German authorities have refused to permit this except in special +instances, and returning Belgians claim that even when such packages are +received they are used by the camp authorities only as another means of +coercing them to sign the agreements to work.</p> + + +<h4>A MORTAL BLOW TO BELGIANS.</h4> + +<p>"By the deportation of Belgians to work in Germany," says Mr. Whitlock's +report, "they have dealt a mortal blow to any prospect they may ever +have had of being tolerated by the population of Flanders; in tearing +away from nearly every humble home in the land a husband and a father or +a son and brother; they have lighted a fire of hatred that will never go +out; they have brought home to every heart in the land, in a way that +will impress its horror indelibly on the memory of three generations, a +realization of what German methods mean, not as with the early +atrocities in the heat of passion and the first lust of war, but by one +of those deeds that make one despair of the future of the human race, a +deed coldly planned, studiously matured, and deliberately and +systematically executed, a deed so cruel that German soldiers are said +to have wept in its execution, and so monstrous that even German +officers are now said to be ashamed."</p> + +<p>And if these acts were not sufficient to convince the world that Germany +"is without the pale" so far as civilized warfare is concerned her +conduct in wantonly destroying property in Flanders while in retreat +could permit of no other conclusion.</p> + +<p>After the violation of Belgium and the destruction of the Lusitania and +the adoption of the policy of sinking neutral ships on sight for +military advantage, or "necessity," why shouldn't the soldiers pollute +wells, kill trees, carry off the girls, smash the household furniture +not worth taking away and smear the pictures on the wall, just for +revenge or in the sheer lust of destruction?</p> + +<p>It makes no difference, so far as the principles of humanity are +concerned, whether the German army is in victory or suffering defeat, +advancing or retreating. The treatment accorded the evacuated cities of +the Somme district was foretold by the treatment of the cities occupied +early in the war. Here is the wording of an order posted during the +victorious invasion of Belgium:</p> + +<p>"Order—To the people of Liege. The population of Andenne, after making +a display of peaceful intentions toward our troops, attacked them in the +most treacherous manner. With my authority the general commanding these +troops has reduced the town to ashes and has had 110 persons shot. I +bring this fact to the knowledge of the people of Liege in order that +they may know what fate to expect should they adopt a similar attitude.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 15em;">GENERAL</span> <span class="smcap">von</span> BULOW.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Liege, Aug. 22, 1914."</span><br /> +</p> + + +<h4>CRUEL EXTREME OF PUNISHMENT.</h4> + +<p>And yet this order showed only a cruel extreme of punishment where some +punishment was to be expected. It was left for the retreating Germans of +1917 to destroy, without provocation and without purpose, motived by +revenge and obsessed by the Nietschean doctrine of "spare not."</p> + +<p>Before Bapaume was evacuated it was deliberately converted into a mass +of muck. There is no Bapaume now. It is perfectly understandable that +the retreating soldiers should destroy their trenches and put up the +question, "Tommy, how do you like your new trenches?" But why smear +filth over the photograph of three little girls, a family treasure? All +around Bapaume the villages were looted and the night the deliverers +entered the destroyers made the sky lurid with the fires of towns and +hamlets. Some 300 in the evacuated region were burned.</p> + +<p>At Nesle, Roye and Ham there was not time enough to destroy everything. +The house of a doctor at Nesle, a specially attractive home, was not +blown down for strategic purposes, but some soldiers did find time to +drive axes through the mahogany panels of the beds and smash the clocks +and mirrors. They were angry at being compelled to leave the house.</p> + +<p>Villages like Cressy, near Nesle, where a shell never fell in the course +of the war, have been completely destroyed.</p> + + +<h4>PERONNE A HOPELESS RUIN.</h4> + +<p>There is not a habitable house left in Peronne. The sixteenth century +church of St. Jean is but a relic. W. Beach Thomas wrote after the +retreat that nothing was left that was valuable enough to be worth +collection by a penny tinker or a rag-and-bone merchant. Foul what you +cannot have, was the motto.</p> + +<p>The famous ruins of the Feudal Castle of Coucy, one of the finest relics +of architecture of its period, was wantonly blown up by the Germans on +retreat. It was built in the thirteenth century by Enguerrand III and +passed to the French crown in 1498, and was one of the great historic +landmarks of Northern France.</p> + +<p>Coucy was one of the noblest relics of the Middle Ages, respected by the +most barbarous wars of the past, whose donjon (greatest in all Europe) +dates almost from Charlemagne, harmless, time-wrecked, illustrious +Coucy!</p> + +<p>To give an idea of Coucy's importance, the French, in their first +astonishment and sorrow, proposed to make reprisals on Hindenburg, +should it take ten years. Of course, they will not; it is not their way.</p> + +<p>Coucy is a mountain of blasted stones. Shoun Kelly, American, owned one +of the outer towers of the great castle and the story of its ownership +is the American antithesis of German ravage. Americans were always +faithful tourists to Coucy; but among them, one loved more than all the +glorious old ruin and its story which began with Enguerrand, the Sire +of Coucy, in the year 1210. This was the late Edmund Kelly, of New York +and Paris, international lawyer and for many years counsel of the +American Embassy in Paris. He meditated on the motto of old Enguerrand: +"I am not king, nor prince, nor duke, nor even count: I am the Sire of +Coucy!" In fact, the Sire made a record for standing off local kings.</p> + +<p>"He was a good American ahead of his time," said Lawyer Kelly; and he +took to reading up the ancient chronicles, how Enguerrand's descendants +stood off royalty for some 200 years, until finally bought out by the +wealthy Louis of Orleans, and all the later glories of the place. +Mazarin dismantled Coucy, but left it standing in its beauty; and Lawyer +Kelly discovered it to be a State museum, impossible to be purchased, in +these latter days, even by a millionaire. Not being one, he preferred it +so, loving Coucy more than ever, the cultured American did the next best +thing.</p> + + +<h4>A LITTLE TOWN REDUCED.</h4> + +<p>The little town, once so rich, had dwindled since Mazarin. On the castle +side stood two massive towers of the inner defense, belonging to the +town. Mr. Kelly asked Mayor and department legislature to make a price +on the nearest. As soon as he had bought his tower, he used loving care +restoring it. He pierced windows through walls 16 feet thick. He built +rooms in three stories, furnishing them in massive antique style. The +tower roof was his shady terrace, covered with a little grove of +century-old trees! From it he dominated Coucy. All its soul of beauty +lay beneath his view.</p> + +<p>All was systematically blown up, the town, the towers, the castle, by +retreating Germans in their rage. Just masses of crumbled stones. The +German papers boast that it took 28 tons of high explosives, and any one +can see, this hour, the plain of Coucy covered with a white layer of +powdered limestone, for miles around.</p> + +<p>What for? To clear a battlefield, they say. It is not true. Nothing is +cleared. The masses of crumbled stone remained, when they fled their +"battlefield."</p> + +<p>The donjon was very high. It stood on a kind of bluff or elevation, +overlooking the country, and before the days of aeroplanes it might have +been used for observation. The donjon walls were 16 yards thick, not +feet, but yards! No other tower in Europe had those dimensions. They +tell a story about Mazarin. He deemed so strong a place, so near to +Paris, might be dangerous to the Crown; so he dismantled Coucy +militarily, without destroying its architectural beauty. The donjon +worried him in those days when artillery could make no impression on its +massive thickness. So Mazarin put 16 barrels of powder inside the tower, +and set them off. The tower just converted itself into gun barrel! The +powder blew out all the stories and the roof—shot them up like a gun +pointed at the sky! But the tower stood, exactly as before.</p> + + +<h4>OF MASSIVE ARCHITECTURE.</h4> + +<p>The masonry was admittedly the heaviest achieved by the Middle Ages. +From the donjon extended three great vaulted halls. Massive buildings +continued. There was a Gothic chapel, a Tribunal Hall, the Hall of the +Nine Peers (whose statues remained), the Hall of the Nine Countesses +(whose medallion-portraits were carved on the monumental chimney). There +was a Romanesque chapel (relic from Charlemagne, like the original +donjon), the separate Fortified Chateau of the Chatelain (the Sire's +First Officer), and so on, and so on.</p> + +<p>The retreating Germans have not only blown up Coucy, but that other +priceless relic, the Tower of the Grand Constable and the entire +historic Chateau of Ham, and equally the Castle of Peronne, a jewel of +beauty—all in one corner of the Vallois! On the smoking wreck of +Peronne, they left a humorous placard:</p> + +<p>"Nicht aergen! Tur wundern! Don't be angry, just wonder!" Noyon and +Peronne are sacked and ruined. At Chauny 1800 houses out of 2500 were +deliberately burned, and at a distance they bombarded the remainder, +full of old folks and children whom they had parked there. All the +public buildings, churches, hospitals and poorhouse were blown up. Three +hundred towns and villages were burning at one time in this small +section of the Cradle of France. Hindenburg was at Roisel when they +rounded up the populations, went through their pockets for their money +(giving "receipts"), took their clothes off their backs (so that all the +American relief agencies in Paris were overwhelmed with telegrams of +appeal) and burgled all the safes in banks and business houses before +setting fire to the town and blowing up the main street!</p> + + +<h4>ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPLE OF WAR.</h4> + +<p>The German official communique said that it was "all done uniquely +according to the technical principles of modern war." At Berlin they +caused an American correspondent to cable these words to his papers: +"The enemy will find great difficulty to take shelter on a battlefield +where everything has been completely razed. We regret the destruction of +a beautiful region of France, but it was necessary to transform it into +a clear field of battle before we quit it."</p> + +<p>They blew up the precious Romanesque Church of Tracy-le-Val (which dates +before the Gothic). The church was situated in the midst of the great +forest of Laigue; they blew up the church—and left the forest standing! +No battlefield was cleared, but they hacked the bark to kill great noble +trees by thousands. They made no effort to clear the forest; but weeping +old French peasants told how half a German regiment was occupied three +days in barking trees to prevent the sap from mounting. The crushed +pearl of architecture lies in a dying forest.</p> + +<p>At Le Novion, torch in hand, they burned 223 houses; but all the gutted +walls are standing.</p> + +<p>What technical principles of war command the wholesale destruction of +young fruit trees? In 20 orchards, by count, in sweet Leury (hidden at +the bottom of a valley) every peach, plum, apricot and pear tree has +been assassinated—hacked and standing, when the trunks are thick, and +sprawling, severed by one blow of a sharp hatchet, young trees from the +thickness of your wrists to your thumb. The French, with loving care, +trained peach and pear trees against sunny walls, as if they were +grapevines. The slender trunks are cut—and the garden walls left +standing.</p> + + +<h4>DESECRATION OF TREES.</h4> + +<p>The soldiers spared neither the orchards nor the single trees that took +a generation to grow, and would have borne fruit for generations to +come. Reapers and binders and other farming machines were collected and +broken to pieces. One might see a measure of advantage that the +deliverers would gain from these things if not destroyed, but it is an +awful war doctrine that refuses to discriminate between the immediate +and the eventual, the direct and the indirect, the important and the +negligible advantage that would impoverish posterity to get a dime in +cash. No military advantage is sufficient motive for such wanton +ravishment. It is military fanaticism.</p> + +<p>Ambassador Sharp, after a 100-mile trip through the evacuated territory, +declared that never before in the history of the world had there been +such a thorough destruction by either a vanquished or victorious army.</p> + +<p>One thing alone was left, after the red-brick villages had been turned +into heaps and the murdered fruit trees into black fagots, on the hill +outside of St. Quentin. This was the log hut and shooting box of the +Kaiser's son, Eitel Friederick. Its white-barked beech was unburnt, its +glass windows unbroken, its inside adornments unlooted, the tables and +chairs of its terrace beer garden remained. All around the works of man +and God were destroyed. The contrast made this destroyer's lodge a sort +of boast of his destruction.</p> + +<p>The shocking ruin to human life in the evacuated region is of even +greater moment. The half-starved civilians of Bapaume were forced to +make trenches there and later for the defense of Cambrai also. All men +and boys strong enough to work were taken along with the retreating +forces. Near Peronne some hundreds of old men, women and children were +found locked in a barn. One woman pathetically asked of an English +officer, "Are you many?" And he was able to answer, "We are two millions +now," and see her anxiety turned to relief and joy. Children who had +been slowly starving for a year wandered about the ruins of their homes, +but soon found reasons for smiling at the soldiers who had rescued them.</p> + + +<h4>NEITHER MEAT NOR MILK.</h4> + +<p>These children had had no meat for months and no milk for a year and had +almost forgotten the taste of butter. They probably never received a +quarter of the rations Americans sent. Girls were compelled to attend +the market gardens, and then the Germans took all the produce. The +region was desolated and left inhabited by women and children moribund +with misery and starvation.</p> + +<p>At Noyon, where the Germans had concentrated 10,000 Belgian refugees, +they promised to leave the American Relief Committee with sufficient +supplies to feed them. But the last patrols completely sacked the +American relief storehouses of all eatables and then dynamited the +building. And it was from this place that fifty young women, from 18 to +25 years of age, were taken by the officers. Their distracted mothers +were told that they were to be used as "officers' servants."</p> + +<p>At Ham, when a mother of six children, seeing her husband and two eldest +daughters being carried away, remonstrated, she was told that as an +alternative she might find their bodies in a canal in the rear of the +house.</p> + +<p>Nothing could be more significant of the Government's attitude than the +incident told by James W. Gerard. The people of a town were imprisoned +or fined for their conduct toward a delayed train of Canadian prisoners. +When he heard it he thought that at last the Government was going to put +a stop to the maltreatment of prisoners. But he learned on investigation +that the townsfolk had been punished for giving a little food and drink +to the starving and fainting prisoners.</p> + +<p>And yet the most singularly brutal phase of this destruction of nature +and wealth and art and life is the German defense of it. War is always +hell and most of the awful things in this war have had their +counterparts in other conflicts, though the Teutonic element has brought +some peculiar refinements of cussedness and has given a thoroughness and +"pep" and "kick" to the war business.</p> + + +<h4>BETTER PREPARED NEXT TIME.</h4> + +<p>German writers, instead of making excuses for turning the nation into a +war machine for forty years, complain that Germany was not prepared as +she should have been and would be better prepared next time. Her +professors do not regret that the soldiers at the front are so +unrestrained in cruelty, but urge that they are too soft and kind to +make effective war. The German correspondents all write enthusiastically +of the devastation of the country they are leaving and of the desert +created by German genius. Editors speak of the mercy which tempered the +necessary hardness towards this once beautiful stretch of country and +its inhabitants. The destruction of property which can serve no military +purpose is defended on the ground that it is legitimate from a strategic +point of view.</p> + +<p>This all amounts to saying everything must give way to the +considerations of war. It is taking the argument in the fable of the +wolf and the lamb as serious philosophy and accepting the position of +the wolf. They fail entirely to see the humor of the fable, and hence +the fallacy of the wolf's argument.</p> + +<p>The greatest hope of civilization, which trembled for a time before the +spectre of German barbarity, is that frightfulness cannot endure the +long and full test. The great initial advantages are more than offset by +new opponents. The gain of the invasion of Belgium was canceled by +England coming into the war. The advantage against England of the U-boat +campaign was more than canceled by the entrance of the United States in +the war.</p> + +<p>Irvin Cobb says that the trouble with the Germans is that they are not +"good sports and lack a sense of humor. It is impossible to conceive of +a group of German officers playing football or baseball or cricket and +abiding by the rules of the game. If Barbara Frietchie had said to a +Prussian Stonewall Jackson, 'Shoot, if you must, my gray old head,' he'd +have done it as a matter of course."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<h4>THE SLINKING SUBMARINE.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">A Voracious Sea Monster—The Ruthless Destructive Policy of +Germany—Starvation of Nations the Goal—How the Submarines +Operate—Some Personal Experiences</span>.</p> + + +<p>Almost the entire story of the world war is written around the +development of the submarine. One can scarcely think of the terrible +conflict without bringing to mind the wonderful "underseas" boat which +has made infamous Germany famous. The truth is that, in so far as +America is concerned, the conflict was precipitated by the ruthless +submarine warfare which Germany waged as part of her plan to starve out +England, France, Belgium—and all nations which opposed her.</p> + +<p>The slinking submarine proved an efficient instrument, whose activities +clearly indicated the diabolical intent and purpose of Germany to make +the whole world suffer, if necessary, to the end that she might gain her +point and perpetuate the Hohenzollern dynasty. It was not so much that +her submarines wrought havoc—for death and disaster stalk always with +war—but the methods by which Germany waged their warfare and +disregarded all the rules which had been laid down for the guidance of +civilized countries at war proved conclusively that even the innocent +could expect no quarter from her.</p> + +<p>The story of the sinking of the brave ocean steamship Lusitania on May +7, 1915, contains in its brief recital a typical illustration of +Germany's lack of humanitarian instincts. The vessel, torpedoed off the +coast of Ireland, went to the bottom of the ocean, carrying to death +more than 1150 persons, many of them prominent Americans. With an +audaciousness which has no counterpart in the history of civilized +warfare, German agents in the United States had caused advertisements +to be printed in the public press, warning citizens against sailing on +the vessel, and advised that she was in danger of being destroyed.</p> + +<p>The world stood aghast and believed it impossible that Germany should +carry out her threat, but they were soon to be disillusioned. Because +the handsome vessel passed through a zone of the seas which the Teuton +war lords declared blockaded, they sent a torpedo from an underseas boat +into her bowels. The horrors of that event are still fresh in the minds +of millions. No such ruthless and wanton destruction of innocent human +beings had been accomplished by a so-called civilization at war.</p> + + +<h4>THE DUTIES OF WAR CAST ASIDE.</h4> + +<p>Articles of The Hague agreement defining the rights and duties of +nations at war, and which Germany had accepted, were thrust aside and +disregarded by Imperial Germany. The Hohenzollern dynasty was above +rules and regulations. International law and the rights of +non-combatants at sea were as nothing. That all nations had agreed that +the enemy ship must give the captain of the vessel attacked opportunity +to land innocent passengers was forgotten. There had not been a word of +warning.</p> + +<p>And Germany, and the adherents of the Imperial Government, expressing +regret that Americans should have been sacrificed, professed deep sorrow +on one hand and on the other shouted with glee. America protested +vigorously, quoting the laws and demanding that Germany recognize +them—not merely that she leave American vessels alone—and give +assurance that no such further acts would be committed.</p> + +<p>Contending that the sinking of the ship was justifiable, in the +exigencies of war, Germany ceased for a short time her wanton sinking of +boats without warning. For almost a year her underseas crafts had been +preying upon the small British coasting vessels, and sunk hundreds of +fishing boats, trawlers and steamships. England's mercantile marine was +the object of the Teuton's attacks, and no one had anticipated any +danger to Americans or American interests.</p> + +<p>Germany had no reasons for desiring to attack American boats and she +promised to mend her ways. There followed a brief period in which no +vessels were sunk on which were Americans, and then without warning the +campaign against all vessels was renewed. A dozen were sunk on which +were American seamen or non-combatant passengers, none of whom was given +warning or time to land before a torpedo sent the boat to the bottom of +the ocean. Threats on the part of President Wilson to take action +against Germany finally brought another cessation.</p> + + +<h4>GROWING DISTRESS AND AMAZEMENT.</h4> + +<p>"The sinking of the British passenger steamship Fabala and other German +acts constitute a series of events which the Government of the United +States has observed with growing concern, distress and amazement," said +President Wilson in a note on the submarine warfare. "This Government +cannot admit the adoption of such measures or such a warning of danger +as in any degree an abbreviation of the rights of American shipmasters +or American citizens, bound on lawful errands as passengers on merchant +ships of belligerent nationality. It must hold the Imperial German +Government to a strict accountability for any infringement of those +rights, international or incidental.</p> + +<p>"The objection to their present method of attack lies in the practical +impossibility of employing submarines in the destruction of commerce +without disregarding those rules of fairness, reason, justice and +humanity which all modern opinions regard as imperative.</p> + +<p>"American citizens act within their indisputable rights in taking their +ships and traveling wherever their legitimate business calls them upon +the high seas.</p> + +<p>"No warning that an unlawful and an inhuman act will be committed can +possibly be accepted as an excuse or palliation for that act, or as an +abatement of the responsibility for its commission. * * *</p> + +<p>"The Imperial German Government will not expect the Government of the +United States to omit any word or any act necessary to the performance +of its sacred duty or the inalienable rights of the United States and +its citizens, and of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment."</p> + + +<h4>WHOLESALE DESTRUCTION OF VESSELS.</h4> + +<p>Apparently Germany modified her submarine policy for a period of upward +of a year, or until in February, 1917, when to the astonished world she +threw aside all pretense and declared her intention of destroying any +vessel which attempted to cross or sailed into a zone which she +established along the English coast and around English and French ports. +America's further protests availed not; her citizens, many of them, went +to the bottom of the seas, and some of them suffered almost unbelievable +cruelties or neglect, when the captain of a German sea raider with some +humanitarian instincts permitted these innocent passengers or seamen to +be rescued from the torpedoed vessels on which they were.</p> + +<p>Even the Red Cross vessels and Belgian relief ships carrying supplies +and food to the maimed or sick at war and the starving children of +Belgium did not escape the torpedo from the submarine. English hospital +ships were attacked, and men unable to protect themselves were subjected +to danger because the Germans feared that something might be carried on +the boat which would prove valuable to the Allied forces in making war.</p> + +<p>Dozens—even hundreds of vessels of all sorts—were sunk from week to +week. Food and supplies for the Allied forces were destroyed, until both +England and France were threatened with starvation.</p> + +<p>All this was the work of the submarine.</p> + +<p>One smiled twenty-five years ago when he read that highly imaginative +story of Jules Verne, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," and +wondered if it would ever be possible for man to create such a marvelous +underseas craft as that which the famous French writer described. Today +the imaginative detail of the submarine which the novelist described has +been crystallized, and the world has learned that dreams sometimes come +true.</p> + +<p>Marvelous things have been developed by the war which is involving the +peace and security of the world, but no single device has had such an +effect upon the warfare and upon the methods of waging it as the +diabolical submarine, which, like an assassin in the night, sneaks upon +the great ships along the water highways of the world and sends them +with their human freight to the bottom of the ocean.</p> + + +<h4>TORPEDO'S DEADLY WORK.</h4> + +<p>A giant cigar-shaped missile, whose nose is pointed with guncotton and +filled with high explosives—and which the world knows as the +torpedo—launches forth from the submarine, and speeding under the drive +of a propeller at the stern steers its way into the side of the +battleship or great steamship. The torpedo plunges into the bowels of +the vessel. There is a tremendous explosion, and the water-tight +compartments of the vessel are torn open; the boat fills, and the pride +of the seas is no more.</p> + +<p>Had the vessel's master and her crew any warning? No; unless the +vigilant officer on the bridge should note a thin pole with a hooked end +projecting above the surface of the ocean some miles away, and turning +his glasses upon it discover that it is the "eye" of a submarine—the +periscope—which is protruding above the surface. Then he may turn his +larger vessel and ram the submarine, or change the course of his craft +so that the torpedo launched by the submarine will miss its mark, or +perhaps expert gunners may turn the muzzles of their rapid-fire guns +upon the underseas craft and riddle it before it can get far enough +below the surface of the water to make the attack upon it futile.</p> + + +<h4>EFFICIENCY OF THE SUBMARINE.</h4> + +<p>The enormous inroads on the world's shipping made by German submarines +during the war shows the efficiency of this diabolical device. In the +first two years and a half of the war statistics were compiled to show +that more than 10 per cent of the world's merchant marine was destroyed +by Germany's underseas craft of the U-boat type. Incidentally, the name +U-boat as applied to submarines developed because Germany, instead of +naming these slinking boats, as is the custom with surface-cruising +vessels, painted upon the conning tower or nose of the craft the letter +U, representing the word "underseas," coupled with the numeral denoting +the number of the boat. Thus those who sail the ocean highways came to +recognize the fact that a conning tower or low, sharp-nosed craft +bearing the mystic characters U-9 was a German underseas boat No. 9.</p> + +<p>The statistical records at the end of April, 1917, showed that nearly +3000 vessels of almost 5,000,000 gross tons were destroyed by the +U-boats in the war. More than half of the vessels sunk belonged to +England. Norway and France were the next greatest sufferers from the +submarine warfare. In one week after Germany announced her intention to +give no quarter, but to sink any vessel which came within the range of +the U-boat torpedoes, the toll of ships lost was more than 400,000 tons.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the war the submarine was to all intents and +purposes a novelty—a boat of recognized possibilities, but existing +very largely in the experimental stage. Its use was very largely ignored +by naval men, although it was conceded that when properly developed it +would prove a wonderful agency of destruction. The proud commanders of +the great battleships, with their 10, 12 and 14 inch guns, which sent +great shells miles across the ocean, looked down upon the little +underseas boat, and applied to it the sobriquet of "tin sardine."</p> + +<p>But the "tin sardine" has grown up, and the commander of the monster war +vessel is at the mercy of the little craft which he ridiculed. A short +time ago Holland, the American inventor of the modern submarine, died of +a broken heart. His type was necessarily an experimental one. He built +five boats before he was able to sell one to the United States +Government, and this latter one, after being bought by a junk dealer, +who intended to break it up for its metals, was finally rescued from +such an inglorious end by the city of New York, which has placed it in +her municipal museum.</p> + + +<h4>PRINCIPLE OF THE SUBMARINE.</h4> + +<p>Germany has developed the highest type of submarines, which she has used +to the fullest advantage. The principle of the submarine is that of a +floating bottle. An empty bottle, as every one knows, will float on the +surface, but submerges as soon as it is filled with water. The submarine +has, as part of its constructive features, a number of compartments +which, as they are filled or emptied of water, enables the craft to +submerge or rise.</p> + +<p>At the bow and stern, respectively, there are two horizontal rudders, +and as these are manipulated at various angles so the bow points either +upward or downward, and with a steady gliding motion the submarine +slides under or is brought to the surface.</p> + +<p>This, in brief, is the story of the submarine. Its history is another +matter; its radius of action and results achieved one of the marvels of +the ages. A long-sheathed body, the shape of a cigar with the butt end +to the fore, the inside filled with machinery and compactness the order +of the day, might be regarded as a fair description from a physical +standpoint. It has spread terror to all corners of the earth, and, +taken in proportion to its size and steaming radius, may well be said to +be the superior of the super-dreadnought.</p> + +<p>The manner in which the submarine is operated is difficult to describe. +It leads a sort of dual existence. When cruising along the surface +"awash," it is propelled like a motorboat, the power being provided by a +gasoline engine; but when it dives or submerges it is operated +underwater by electric motors, and the steering, pumping, handling, +loading and firing of the torpedoes is done pneumatically and +electrically. The interior of the submarine is a marvel of mechanical +complexity and scientific detail. There are gauges to show the water +pressure, to indicate the speed, to show the depth; sensitive devices by +which the commander can tell of the approach of vessels; wheels, cranks, +levers and instruments which are used in driving and controlling this +almost human mechanical agency of the seafighter.</p> + + +<h4>SUBMARINE AN ANOMALY IN WARFARE.</h4> + +<p>The submarine is the sudden and amazing problem of the naval world. +While naval men assert with confidence that it can never win the mastery +of the seas, in the same breath they will admit that it may easily +prevent the older and better known types of ships from establishing the +mastery that was once theirs. It is an anomaly in warfare.</p> + +<p>Many are the tales of horror told by survivors of ships which have been +torpedoed by the undersea boats of the Teutons. The lordly Lusitania, on +board of which were some of the leading lights of literature and some of +the world's wealthy men, was sent to the bottom without the least +warning. Neutral shipping has been devastated, and men, women and +children have been murdered by the hand of the Kaiser, as exemplified in +the lurking submarine.</p> + +<p>One of the dastardly tragedies of the war was the sinking of the Lars +Kruse, a ship flying the Danish flag and which had been chartered by +the Belgian Relief Commission. This was sunk in the early part of +February, 1917, and the crew of nineteen men, together with the captain +and other officers, with the exception of the first mate and Axel +Moeller, the first engineer, perished in the bitter cold sea. No warning +was given by the attacking submarine; indeed, no sight of it was had by +the crew. Delivering its torpedo as it lay submerged, it silently stole +away into the night after the murders had been done.</p> + +<p>In the maritime court in Copenhagen Mr. Moeller tells of the sinking of +the ship. Dressed as the regulations of the German autocrat demanded, +with the balloon, flag and bunting displayed at each of the mastheads, +together with other marks of identification, the ship was steaming along +in the bright moonlight when she was struck, according to the testimony +of the engineer.</p> + + +<h4>SHIP NOT STRUCK BY A MINE.</h4> + +<p>The fact that the ship was hit near the fourth hatch alone combats the +theory that she was struck by a mine. In this latter case the mine would +have struck her nearer the bow. The ship was near the mouth of the +English channel when hit. In an instant she started to settle, and the +crew at once lowered away the single lifeboat.</p> + +<p>The boat had hardly started over the side, however, before the ship +lurched, and with a mighty heave went down stern first. She seemed to +turn a back somersault, according to the engineer, and because of the +fact that the lifeboat was not clear it was dragged under. The men +succeeded in cutting the ropes, however, and the lifeboat came to the +surface, although bottom side up. Engineer Moeller was struck on the +head as the boat came to the surface, but, although he was momentarily +stunned, the icy water quickly revived him.</p> + +<p>Striking out for the lifeboat, the engineer soon had a tight grip on her +side. A man struggling in the water grasped his wrist, but by a quick +movement he wrenched himself free, and then, climbing upon the boat, +reached out and caught the man by the hand. Then began a slow struggle +to get him aboard, but the men were unequal to the task, and the man in +the water sank. Part of the skin and flesh of his hand remained in the +fingers of Moeller, showing the desperation with which he had clung to +the man's hand.</p> + +<p>Three other men, who were fast becoming exhausted, were assisted upon +the boat, where they lay sprawled across its bottom. Four others were in +the water, making a total of seven who were alive.</p> + +<p>Water and air were freezing cold, and Moeller, who was in the water, +together with three others, held to the gunwales with stiffened fingers. +Within the hour one of the sailors gave up the struggle, and with a +farewell to the others slid quietly into the depths.</p> + + +<h4>PASSENGERS' AGONIZING SUFFERINGS.</h4> + +<p>Finally Moeller climbed upon the upturned boat, where he lay listening +to the shrieks of his companions. He said that their cries were most +pitiful. The cabin boy was the next victim. He cried pitifully for a +time, but finally became silent and slid into the water. One after +another, the men died of exposure and slipped into the peaceful sea.</p> + +<p>After a time the only persons remaining, besides the third mate, were +the two who had thrown themselves across the bottom of the boat. Finally +one of them gave up the struggle, and the other, in an effort to combat +the cold, pulled the clothes from his dead body and wrapped them about +himself. The boat settled a little, and finally both were corpses, lying +with feet and hands dipping into the sea. The engineer said that he did +not have the heart to push their bodies into the water, although he knew +they were dead.</p> + +<p>Finally the third mate was the only other man alive. The clothes of the +engineer were frozen fast to his body, and he felt that he was dying of +cold. The third mate started to get a sort of bluish black from the +cold, and with a gasping cry he attempted to sit up straight. Then +reason left him, and for a couple of hours he shouted and shrieked, and, +as the sun began to streak the sky and dawn brought slight comfort, the +demented man raved and swore.</p> + +<p>Then a flash of reason seemed to return to him and he spoke to Moeller.</p> + +<p>"I'm going," he said. "Give my love to my wife."</p> + +<p>The man had been married just before starting on this ill-fated voyage. +With this farewell message on his lips he died. When Moeller returned to +his home he found that it was impossible to deliver the message to the +wife of the dead man, because of the fact that worry had driven her +insane.</p> + + +<h4>TROUSERS USED AS SIGNAL.</h4> + +<p>Shortly after the death of his companion Moeller saw the smoke of a +steamer on the horizon. Summoning all his strength, he tore the trousers +from the limbs of one of the dead men, and, using them as a means of +signaling, swung them about his head to attract attention. As the +engineer made every effort to attract the attention of those aboard the +steamship, he saw a sneaking submarine slowly edging toward her. This +made him shout all the louder, thinking thereby to warn the captain of +the ship of his danger. His efforts were vain, however, and in a short +time the ship had gone to the bottom and the crew was adrift in the +lifeboats. The sunken ship proved to be a Russian steamer.</p> + +<p>In his efforts to attract the attention of the intended victim of the +U-boat, the drifting man had attracted the attention of the captain of +the submarine, and it was this boat to which his cold-stiffened body was +hauled a few minutes later. It was a time before his numb body could be +thawed out.</p> + +<p>Seeming to know from which ship he had been cast off, the engineer was +closely questioned by the captain of the submarine. As the captain +talked he made motions, as though to shut out from before his eyes a +horrible sight. He told Moeller afterwards that the most horrible sight +he had ever seen was the overturned boat with the two corpses laying on +it, and the lone man signaling for help. The victim was black from cold, +and his legs were rubbed by members of the crew. Port wine was given +him, and later food and coffee.</p> + +<p>Then the captain continued his questioning. He knew the name of the boat +on which Moeller had been engineer, and from his intimate knowledge of +the sinking of her, the engineer felt sure it was his submarine that had +done the work.</p> + + +<h4>SUBMARINE TOWS RUSSIAN SHIP.</h4> + +<p>Turning his attention to the lifeboats of the Russian ship which he had +just torpedoed, the captain of the submarine promised to tow them to the +French coast. He had been towing them but two hours, however, when he +came below and told Moeller that he had sighted a French destroyer, and +that he would have to make his escape. He gave the engineer his choice +of staying on the submarine, in which case it would be fourteen days +before he touched port, after which he was promised his freedom, or the +privilege of getting aboard one of the lifeboats, and taking his chances +of rescue by the destroyer.</p> + +<p>Electing to take his chances in the lifeboat, Moeller was fitted out +with new clothing, the outfit being topped off with a fur-lined +overcoat. It turned out, however, that the captain had taken this +clothing from the stores of the Russian steamer before sinking her, and +the engineer learned when he got into the lifeboat that he was wearing +the greatcoat of one of the shivering Russians.</p> + +<p>Just before submerging the U-boat set off a couple of red-light bombs, +for the purpose of attracting the attention of the crew of the +destroyer, and submerged. The drifters were picked up by the destroyer, +which steamed for France. The captain of the U-boat had promised Moeller +that he would not attack the destroyer, although he had been trailing +her for two weeks. The U-boat was sunk before she reached port, and all +perished.</p> + +<p>An American importer who, because of his German name and the intimate +relations he enjoyed with certain important men in Berlin, had been +taken to the hearts of some of the leaders, became a factor in +pro-German activities in Cuba. He was taken into the confidences of many +of the officials and learned the plans of the Tirpitz group.</p> + +<p>Deciding that his allegiance was American, he returned to the United +States. In his possession were many of the inner secrets of the German +Government, and these were given to the officials in Washington. His +information with reference to the submarine has been of great value to +the government.</p> + +<p>For the sake of convenience we will call the man Johann Schmidt. This is +his story:</p> + + +<h4>THE U-BOAT TYPE OF SUBMERSIBLE.</h4> + +<p>Germany's most successful and highly developed class of submarine has +been, of course, the U-boat type of submersible. These are the terrors +of the sea which have succeeded in crossing the Atlantic, and have been +developed both as the fighting and as the commercial U-boat.</p> + +<p>Herr Schmidt reported that Germany was constructing submarines 25 per +cent larger than anything the United States had ever seen or heard of. +His information was to the effect that Germany had a building capacity +for ten submarines a week. The ability to produce these boats with such +rapidity is due to the process of standardization—the practice of +modern efficiency which has made it possible for American factories to +turn out such big quantities of automobiles in a limited period.</p> + +<p>All parts of the German U-boats are made in standard sizes and from the +same original pattern. Consequently, these parts are turned out by +machinery in replica, and the building of the finished boats is merely a +matter of assembling them at points to which the various parts have been +shipped. The Diesel oil engine, which is regarded as the ideal +power-producing engine for submarines, has been developed to its highest +state of efficiency by Germany, and is made at the famous Krupp gun +works, the great engine works in Augsburg, Emden and Nuremburg, and +other less well-known places in Germany.</p> + +<p>It has been estimated that Germany has anywhere from 250 to 500 +submarines, and it is said that the aim is to produce 1000 of these +craft, to absolutely destroy the commerce of the seas and starve into +submission England and France.</p> + + +<h4>HOW SUBMARINES WORK.</h4> + +<p>According to Herr Schmidt, the submarines work in groups of four. +Because of the limited capacity of the boats for carrying provisions, +supplies and fuel, it is necessary for them to have supply bases, to +which they can return and secure torpedoes. In operation each group +consists of four submarines, traveling along in a diamond-shaped +formation, one in front, one on either flank and one in rear. Eight +miles separate the boats. The leading submarine carries the extra +gasoline and supplies and acts as a scoutship; she sights a vessel, +reports its speed and direction and then submerges—her task is done.</p> + +<p>The two torpedo carriers on either flank immediately change their +courses so as to converge on the prey, and they arrive one on either +side of her—they get her in between them. The boat in the rear keeps +them informed as to the doomed ship's progress, and submerges at the +last moment. She carries the extra crews for the fighting pair. The +U-boats are fairly well protected against the onslaught of the light +torpedo-boat destroyers and chasers, because the decks are protected by +several feet of water at almost all times, while the commanding tower is +covered with from two to three inches of the best steel armor plate.</p> + +<p>It is related that at the outset of the U-boat menace, England ordered +its commanding officers to ram the U-boats on sight. The length to which +the Germans will go in an effort to win is illustrated by the fact that, +in consequence of this order, a Von Tirpitz council presented this +answer: Attacking submarines were equipped with explosive mines +containing 300 to 400 pounds of nitroglycerin or guncotton. To the top +of this mine was fastened a fake periscope. This devilish device was +attached to the submarine by a light cable, and towed along the surface +of the water 1000 feet or more behind the submarine. The result that +would follow any attempt on the part of a commander to run down one of +these decoys is readily imagined.</p> + + +<h4>DESCRIPTION OF A PERISCOPE.</h4> + +<p>The periscope is distinctly a submarine device which is worthy of brief +description. It is, in effect, a long tube, with an elbow joint at the +top and a similar one at the bottom. At the elbow joints at both ends +are arranged reflectors. The reflector in the upper end catches the +object which comes within the range of vision, and reflects the image +down the tube to the mirror at the lower elbow, where the pilot sees it. +The principle of the periscope is the same as that of the "busybody," +familiar to householders, and which is placed on the sill of an upper +window, so that a person inside the house may see who is at the front +door.</p> + +<p>The Germans have recently devised a new form of periscope, designed to +make the device invisible to the lookout of approaching boats. This +device consists of two mirrors, put together like a "Y" lying on its +side, the wide part in front. These skim through the waves and converge +the image upon the low periscope's lens, which shoots the light down the +tube to the receiving apparatus below. When looked at from a distance +the mirrors reflect the surface of the sea, so that a lookout sees +nothing but the waves as they are reflected in the mirror.</p> + +<p>The Germans use the bottom of the sea as regular "land" for their supply +bases, and when the submarines go to the surface it is precisely like an +aeroplane mounting the air. The submarine fleet boasts also of "mother +boats." They lie on the bottom of the ocean, in designated places, and +rise at night to hand out their supplies. Crews are changed and tired +men go back to the bottom to rest up, while fresher comrades take their +places.</p> + +<p>So, too, the submarine, with its ability to rest on the bottom of the +sea, has become an efficient boat for mine laying. The mine layers work +from the undersea boats without fear of disturbance, the divers walking +out from the submarines to the floor of the sea without being seen or +without ever coming to the surface.</p> + + +<h4>TALES OF REMARKABLE EXPLOITS.</h4> + +<p>American citizens landed from vessels sunk by German submarines tell +remarkable tales of the strenuous exploits of the U-boats. In one case +three undersea boats appeared simultaneously alongside the ship, one +being a submarine cruiser, 800 feet long, and the others old-fashioned +submarines, with a length of about 120 feet.</p> + +<p>In another case a German submarine wore an elaborate disguise of a +fishing boat. This submarine carried a gun which had a range of nearly +five miles.</p> + +<p>In at least two cases the crews of vessels sunk by submarines were +rescued from open boats by passing ships, only to suffer a repetition of +disaster when the ship on which they had taken refuge fell prey to an +underwater boat.</p> + +<p>A seaman from Pensacola, who was a member of the crew of a Swedish +sailing vessel, said:</p> + +<p>"We were almost within sight of land late in the afternoon when we +observed a Norwegian sailing vessel in an encounter with a submarine +eight miles away. Apprehending that our turn would come next, we +prepared a lifeboat. A 300-foot submarine came up to us in due course +and fired three warning shots from its heavy gun.</p> + +<p>"We pulled our boat over to the lifeboat from the Norwegian ship +previously sunk, and a dozen hours later were picked up by a British +steamer. We had only a brief stay on the British boat, as she was +torpedoed the same morning. After a few hours in the boats we were found +by a British patrol and landed."</p> + +<p>A Baltimore seaman from a Danish sailing vessel said:</p> + + +<h4>THE SHIP ABANDONED.</h4> + +<p>"We abandoned ship in response to three shots from a submarine. +Thereupon the submarine fired twenty-two shots into the hull of the +ship, sinking her. We tried to speak with the submarine commander, but +he told us he was in a hurry, as he had to attend to a Norwegian bark +which was waiting a short distance off.</p> + +<p>"We pulled for the nearest land, and all our twenty-five men got ashore +safe, although both lifeboats were badly smashed up in the surf as we +were beaching them."</p> + +<p>A Philadelphian described the manner in which his steamer escaped being +sunk.</p> + +<p>"We were attacked by a submarine disguised as a fishing vessel," he +said. "She opened fire on us at five miles, sending fifteen shots at us, +and smashing our wireless. She pursued us for an hour. We did not use +our gun. Finally a British patrol boat appeared. The submarine +submerged, disguise and all, presenting a ludicrous sight as the +carefully prepared equipment simulating a fishing boat sank beneath the +waves."</p> + +<p>The captain of an American sailing ship which was sunk said:</p> + +<p>"Submarines are lying along the sea lanes in regular nests. They keep +well under the water most of the time, coming up now and then for +periscopic observations, or on hearing the approach of merchant craft, +which often can be identified readily by the sound of the engines. By +thus conserving fuel the submarines are able to remain away from their +base a long time, and also they find means of renewing their stores from +ships which they sink.</p> + +<p>"The U-boat which sank us had been out for six weeks. She had one +British captain on board. She renewed all her supplies from our boat and +took all the nautical instruments. The submarine gave us a sharp signal +to halt, with a shell from a distance of two miles. It was good +marksmanship. The shot hit the ship squarely, but caused no casualties. +We stopped and took to the boats. The submarine came up in leisurely +fashion, sank the ship with bombs and passed the time of day with our +boats. She had a crew of thirty-seven, and was 250 feet long."</p> + +<p>"We were picked up by a Norwegian sailing vessel, on which we spent six +days. She was then attacked by a 120-foot submarine. We all took to the +Norwegian's boats. The submarine commander declined to look at the +Norwegian captain's papers. We had another twenty-four hours in open +boats, and then were picked up by a British patrol and landed."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + +<h4>THWARTING THE U-BOAT.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nets To Entangle the Sea Sharks of War—"Chasers" or "Skimming-dish" +Boats—"Blimps" and Seaplanes—Hunting the Submarine with "Lance," Bomb +and Gun—A Sailor's Description</span>.</p> + + +<p>The advantage which Germany gained by the development of what has been +termed the super-submarine placed the other nations where it became +absolutely necessary for them to concentrate their energies in an effort +to counteract the devastation which the U-boats brought upon the seas. +England tried first to protect the English channel and many of its ports +with mines, floating bombs and submarine nets, and while the latter +served as barriers which prevented the submarines penetrating into some +of the important waters and harbors, they could act merely in a +protective sense.</p> + +<p>The submarine net is a specially devised net with heavy iron or wire +meshes, similar to a fishing net. These nets—miles in length—were born +of the nets originally devised to sweep harbors clear of mines. They are +carried between two boats described as trawlers, which are a form of +sea-going tug with powerful engines, that can draw a heavy load. A heavy +cable runs from trawler to trawler, and from this the chain net is +suspended in the water. It is heavily weighted at the bottom so as to +hold it in a perpendicular position. The trawlers steaming along, side +by side, sweep up with the net anything which may be placed in the water +for the purpose of blowing up or injuring vessels.</p> + +<p>The submarine nets in some places have been anchored to form a regular +barrier against the passage of submarine boats, and in this way were +effective, but their use could in no way restrict the underseas boats in +their work upon the open seas.</p> + +<p>The most effective plan of overcoming the dire consequences of the +U-boat warfare was found, therefore, to lie in the use of submarine +chasers and airships, the two operating together in conjunction with the +battleships, cruisers and torpedo boat destroyers.</p> + +<p>The submarine chaser is a light-draught, high-powered, skimming-dish +type of husky motorboat, mounting rapid-fire, 3 or 4-inch guns. In order +to prove effective against the submarine it is necessary to have many of +these boats, and it is a matter of particular interest that the +marvelous resources of the United States at the time of her entrance +into the war enabled her to immediately begin a campaign for the +construction of chasers, which would be able to guard the seas in the +channels of traffic and along the ports into which the submarine might +attempt to sneak.</p> + + +<h4>NO EXPERT NAVAL KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED.</h4> + +<p>The operation of the chaser does not require the degree of technical +skill and knowledge of naval strategy required in the handling of ships +of the naval type. A fleet of chasers is manned largely by naval +reserves, who have a certain amount of training, but who are neither +navigators nor experts in naval affairs. The operations are, however, +directed by the naval authorities.</p> + +<p>The submarine chaser is effective because it draws very little water, +has high speed, can be quickly turned and diverted from its course and +does not present any great depth of hull at which the submarine can fire +a torpedo. It would be possible for a torpedo to pass under a chaser +without hitting it—if the submarine cared to waste such an expensive +weapon on so small an adversary. When the submarine attempts to come to +the surface and use the rapid-fire gun with which she is armed she is at +a disadvantage, because it takes her several minutes to emerge. +Additional time is required to swing the gun up through its automatic +hatch while the men scramble to the deck to man it.</p> + +<p>The chaser, with a speed of approximately 35 to 40 miles an hour, will +travel somewhere between a mile and a half to two miles in this period. +Its gun has been ready from the start, and the chaser has had half a +dozen shots or so with only a single hit needed to put the submarine out +of commission. Even if the submarine is at the surface and has her gun +mounted ready for action, she is at a disadvantage with the chaser. The +chaser, taking advantage of her speed and small size, goes skimming +across the water at the rate of 40 miles an hour, and it takes a mighty +fine gunner to be able to hit a small craft, going in a zigzag course +over the water at such speed.</p> + +<p>The chaser may continue to circle the submarine awaiting her opportunity +which will of necessity come when the U-boat attempts to submerge. The +submarine must go through the regular form of running back her gun, and +battening down the water-tight hatches, before she can submerge, and the +latter process again takes several minutes. Therefore while the +submarine is preparing to dip, the chaser can run upon her and let loose +the fire from its rapid-fire gun.</p> + + +<h4>A POOR SURFACE FIGHTER.</h4> + +<p>The submarine, by very virtue of the qualities which make it a good +submarine, is a poor boat for surface fighting. It can carry no very +heavy armament, and it is not heavily armored. The problem of stowing +away all the heavy machinery, supplies, torpedoes and devices necessary +for her operations and maneuvering has presented about all the +difficulties the constructors have been able to handle. The highest +speed of the submarine is not in excess of 20 miles an hour. The +submarine must be light and easy to handle. It gains in steadiness and +certainty of operation with increased size, but it loses in capacity for +quick and delicate maneuvering.</p> + +<p>In addition the submarine has what is termed a strategic vulnerability. +A shot which might mean nothing more serious than a hole in the side to +a surface boat would end the submarine's usefulness for underseas work +and convert her into a helpless hulk of surface craft.</p> + +<p>The submarine is an easy quarry for a chaser, for even when submerged +and moving along, the U-boat creates a distinct wave on the surface of +the water which can be followed by the chaser. The little boats are just +what their name implies—chasers—and besides having the qualities +already described they may conceal themselves behind large steamers, and +when the submarine in preparing to launch a torpedo makes its presence +known the chaser may speed from its hiding place and drive the underseas +craft away, even if it does not succeed in injuring it.</p> + + +<h4>OPERATING IN CONNECTION WITH AN AEROPLANE.</h4> + +<p>The chasers also have a special facility of operation in connection with +the aeroplane or seaplane, principally because of their high speed; and +next to the chaser the aeroplane is one of the submarine's worst +enemies. Used in conjunction with the regular torpedo boat destroyers of +the navy, the chaser and the aeroplane promise in future wars to +minimize the effectiveness of the underseas craft. This is proven by the +fact that immediately after the United States naval forces joined those +of the Allies in European waters, the disasters resultant upon submarine +attacks were greatly reduced. The speedy destroyers, while not actually +sinking many submarines, by their vigilance prevented the submarine from +operating.</p> + +<p>Large types of the chasers ordered in this country by the Russian +Government are 72 feet long by 11 feet 3 inches wide and draw 3 feet 3 +inches of water. Each boat carries three of the 8-cylinder 6-3/4 x 7-3/4 +Duesenberg, 350 to 400 horsepower motors. The boats carry an 18-inch +torpedo tube amidships and a 47-millimetre rapid-fire gun on the forward +deck. They are controlled from the bridge deck with a sheltered cabin +for the quartermaster, with controls from either the shelter or bridge +deck. They have a guaranteed speed of twenty-eight knots.</p> + +<p>Deck arrangements consist of the following: A hatch to the fo'castle, +followed by; the emplacement for the rapid-fire gun. Following this is +the steering shelter containing duplicate controls, &c., for the engine +room and for the steering. Immediately aft of the steering shelter is +the bridge deck, located on top of the engine room trunk house. The +entire after half of the vessel is a clear sweep of deck with the +exception of a booby hatch to crews' quarters well aft.</p> + +<p>The boats are arranged for wireless with foremast and jigger mast. Rail +stanchions in the way of the torpedo tube are hinged down, giving clear +sweep to the tube for firing purposes.</p> + + +<h4>PROVISION FOR OFFICERS AND CREW.</h4> + +<p>Below decks ample space has been provided for the crew and officers. The +forepeak is arranged for chain lockers and bosun's gear lockers, +followed by ship's galley, which has two pipe berths. Next to the galley +is located the officers' cabin and wireless room, which is entered by a +hatch from the steering shelter. This cabin accommodates two officers +and includes lavatory, officers' desks, wireless desk and folding mess +table.</p> + +<p>Next aft is the machinery space, in which are located the three eight +cylinder Duesenberg motors, a three k.w. universal lighting set, the +necessary oil tanks, batteries and a work bench. The next compartment +contains fuel tanks, with 1300 gallons capacity. Aft of this compartment +is located the crew's quarters, berthing eight men, with lavatory +attached. The hull is divided into six water-tight compartments by steel +bulkheads.</p> + +<p>The hull is of wooden construction, as developed for this service by the +builders.</p> + +<p>The 72-footers develop a speed of twenty-eight knots and have a cruising +radius exceeding 1200 miles. The design of the hull is the concave +bottom, square bilge type, developed for this particular service. It +furnishes a steady gun platform, which, with the necessary speed, is +the most vital feature of a submarine chaser.</p> + +<p>The demand for speed and stability was borne out by the experience of +the Russian and Italian navies in their active work and no consideration +at all is given propositions from these two countries which do not range +well about twenty-five knots.</p> + +<p>Exceptional success was attained by the Russian Black Sea and by the +Italian high speed fleets in actual use and their demand for exceptional +speed was based on experience.</p> + +<p>It is a well known fact that the Russian government was successful in +patrolling its shores and in protecting its harbors and shipping. The +Italian government also was exceptionally successful in maintaining its +mercantile fleet in comparative safety and in protecting its harbors +against the offensive work of enemy submarines. The entire Italian fleet +of submarine chasers consists of high speed, high powered motor patrol +boats, most of which were equipped with American made motors.</p> + + +<h4>CATALOGUED AS "PATROL BOATS."</h4> + +<p>In a general way the "chasers" are catalogued in naval circles as +"patrol boats." England has thousands of them, ranging from motorboats +to naval auxiliaries, raking the English Channel, the North Sea and the +waters all about the British Isles. As a rule the boats work in groups +of five or six, one boat serving as a flagship—and often there is a +"blimp" attached to the fleet. The armament of these small vessels is +distinctive. Each carries, besides a deck gun, a "depth charge," half a +dozen lance bombs and arms for each member of the crew. The deck gun +fires a shell that weighs about thirteen pounds.</p> + +<p>The "depth charge" is a submarine bomb, so constructed that it is +discharged at any determined depth of water when thrown overboard. If +the water is 100 feet deep the bomb will explode at that depth. The +bombs are used to drop in places where the submarine has been located +or is expected of lurking in the bottom of the sea. While the exploding +bomb may not strike the underseas boat it will create havoc on board the +underwater craft if discharged in close proximity, the extra water +pressure exerted causing disarrangement of the delicate mechanism, if +not rendering the boat unfit for service.</p> + +<p>Some of the patrol boats of the English have been armed with "lance +bombs." These are bombs of highly explosive character which are fastened +to the end of a long pole or staff. They are used just as a harpoon is +used when by chance a submarine may emerge from the water in too close +proximity to the chaser. It is not of record that any U-boats have been +sunk with these strange javelins, but official reports show that the +boats are armed with them for emergencies.</p> + + +<h4>CHASER TROUBLES THE SUBMARINE.</h4> + +<p>What with dragging bombs through the water, and setting traps and nests +for the submarines, the chasers make great trouble for the underseas +craft, but the ingenious Germans are constantly on the alert, and it has +been proved that in one or two instances at least the submarines cut +their way through the heavy chain nets which were set to catch them near +Havre. It was said that the submarine was provided with steel knives or +wire cutters, and shears operated by electricity or pneumatic pressure, +which enabled the boat to cut its way through the barrier of chains and +wires.</p> + +<p>As a means of visualizing the operations of the "chaser" and giving some +idea of the excitement which attends the attempt to run down the +underseas craft, the following description by an English sailor is +interesting. The chase occurred off the Isle of Wight:</p> + +<p>"Offshore a short distance was a patrol boat lying very low and flying +distress signals. We had run over to her and learned that about an hour +before the periscope of a submarine had been stuck up not far from her, +then the craft had submerged, appeared again about a mile away, and +fired four shots, which let in enough water slowly to sink the patrol, +which before the war had been nothing but a dirty little trawler.</p> + +<p>"Finding the crew of the patrol could take care of themselves in their +small boats and learning that the submarine had run over to the +westward, where we knew chain net traps to be laid, we circled in that +direction.</p> + +<p>"Our powerful motors thrummed evenly. The water seemed to part ahead of +us, and the gunners squinted along the surface, looking for the glimpse +of a periscope or the first sign of the hull of the U-boat if she should +be proceeding awash.</p> + + +<h4>CREW THRILLED WITH JOY.</h4> + +<p>"Suddenly, off to the west, we made out her periscope. Intense joy +thrilled our little crew. She was inshore from us. She was between our +circular course and the chain nets—in the trap. The periscope we had +seen might be a dummy, for a submarine frequently casts loose a phoney +periscope to draw fire, but, at any rate, she must have been between us +and the nets if she cut it loose.</p> + +<p>"Presently, probably after a look around, the periscope suddenly +disappeared, and we knew it was a real one with a German U-boat on the +end of it. Like a flock of falcons we were swooping down on the prey.</p> + +<p>"Abruptly the lead boat comes to a dead stop and lists heavily to +starboard. Evidently something is wrong. We see men crawl out over the +stern and fish around with boat hooks and poles. Cold as it is, one man +goes overboard and remains under water so long we could not believe he +would come up alive. The boat had fouled the chain nets.</p> + +<p>"Circling round in an ever smaller radius, we search the water for a +periscope, a shadow, or the conventional 'streak of dirty grease' or +'line of bubbles.'</p> + +<p>"All of us have towing torpedoes out. These are bombs on long cables +which are towed astern and sink to a certain specified depth. If the +cable fouls anything at all, as the boat goes ahead, the bomb pulls up +to it, and, when it bumps, it explodes.</p> + +<p>"We are in line. Suddenly there is a crash and a roar just ahead of us. +I am thrown off my feet. Barrels of water splash down into our cockpit +and roll off the decks. The bow lifts itself clean for a second. I think +that the submarine has blown us up. Perhaps I am dead already.</p> + +<p>"Then we settle down again, and except for a scared look on the faces of +a couple of men and rather nervous, forced jests on the lips of others, +we are plowing ahead just as before.</p> + +<p>"Nothing has happened except the towing torpedo of the boat in front of +us in the line fouled a submerged spar, or a bit of wreckage, and +exploded right under our bow. 'If we had been a few yards closer we +would never have been there any more.'</p> + + +<h4>FOULS A SUBMERGED SPAR.</h4> + +<p>"As we realized what had happened, our tongues were loosened, and, if +the crew of the boat ahead could have heard what we said about them, we +would have lost their friendship most assuredly.</p> + +<p>"Way inshore, after a circling chase of perhaps twenty minutes, the +submarine came up. She was in such shallow water that she probably was +having trouble in operating submerged. She was gone then.</p> + +<p>"What followed was very business-like. It illustrates the attitude the +British have come to take toward the submarines because of their +flagrant violations of every form of international law and decency. It +is the attitude which any country, obliged to fight against them, will +assume. To the British mind, submarines must be exterminated, just as +one would exterminate a nest of poisonous vipers, or a nest of hornets. +People ask me how many submarines are being captured now. Very few! Many +are destroyed, but few captured.</p> + +<p>"No sooner did the hull of the submarine show itself than we began to +hammer her with our three-inch guns. She opened fire, but her shots went +wild, and, in a few seconds, she disappeared.</p> + +<p>"As fast as we could, we ran over to where she had gone down. If the +principles which obtain on land, in the air or in the navy at large, +existed in submarine warfare, we would have gone over to see if we could +rescue any of the wounded, but it was a U-boat and we simply made sure +that there was nothing left of the craft.</p> + +<p>"About where she went down, a quantity of gas and air bubbles were +rising, and the dirty patch of oil was once more in evidence. That was a +pretty certain sign the career of one U-boat was at an end, for the sea +must have been pouring into her, and even though all her crew did not +drown, once the salt water reached the storage batteries, the chloride +would do the work.</p> + + +<h4>WERE TAKING NO CHANCES.</h4> + +<p>"But we are taking no chances. We circle round and round the spot and +drop depth bombs—deadly machines. These are powerful explosives which +are set so they will detonate at a certain depth. We first sounded the +bottom and then set our bombs for ten fathoms. Suddenly I hear a cry +from the boat behind us. One of the crew reaches out, grabs the collar +of a man who has just dropped a depth bomb over the stern and yanks him +unceremoniously into the cockpit. At a glance I see what has happened.</p> + +<p>"The engineer has stalled his motor—just as the bomb was let go. It +sinks slowly, and there is a slight momentum left in the +submarine-chaser. We hold our breath and watch in suspense, expecting +any second to see our comrades hurled into the air among a mushroom of +water and splinters.</p> + +<p>"There is no way to help them. Suddenly there is a muffled roar, a +column of water rises to what seems a hundred feet, and falls back, +drenching every one who is near it. But our comrades are unhurt. The +momentum of their boat has carried them just far enough to save them +from being blown to atoms. That is the second narrow escape for our +little squadron in this chase after a single submarine.</p> + +<p>"But our work is done. There is no doubt now about the fate of the +U-boat. It is not necessary for one of the depth bombs actually to come +in contact with the submerged craft to destroy it. When under water, a +submarine's rigidity is multiplied. Its elasticity is next to nothing. +An explosion as powerful as that of a depth bomb near it, is almost +certain to cripple it if not destroy it. It is the same principle as +that which kills fish in a pond when dynamite is exploded beneath the +surface of the water. The shock is sufficient to kill the men in the +U-boat, and so we glide along homeward, secure in the knowledge that +even if our gunfire did not finish the enemy, the bombs have done the +work. On the surface, we notice swarms of dead fish."</p> + + +<h4>THE HAWK-EYED AEROPLANE.</h4> + +<p>The last wrinkle developed for submarine hunting was the aeroplane. Like +a fish-hawk it can see its prey beneath the water by flying high in air. +Another step just a bit in advance of aeroplane scouting for submarines +is the use of a small dirigible for the same purpose. But the cleverest +development of the aeroplane-submarine idea involved the use of +seaplanes for the purpose of launching submarine torpedoes at enemy +ships.</p> + +<p>Here's how this is practiced. As most folks know, the seaplane differs +from the land-flying craft in that it rides on floats instead of wheels. +These floats permit the seaplane to come to rest on the waves, and to +launch itself again. Between these floats, which resemble a pair of +broad home-made sleds, may be slung a torpedo. The same type of missile, +this, that is used by the submarine and the destroyer—a long, +cigar-shaped cylinder, operated by compressed air driving a propeller, +and equipped with a warhead filled with guncotton. The torpedo is held +by slings, delicately adjusted so that they can be released in an +instant.</p> + +<p>The great seaplane, swinging the missile of death between its giant +floats, climbs the skies in search of an enemy ship. From a distance of +miles, perhaps, the seaplane looks like a gull. To the observer in the +plane, however, sweeping the horizon with his binoculars, a ship is +plainly and easily seen.</p> + + +<h4>NOT TO BE OUT-DISTANCED.</h4> + +<p>Off in the distance is spied a ship suspected of being an enemy +transport. It isn't hard to determine—the ship cannot steam away from +them, no matter how swift its engines. A seaplane can go so fast that it +makes the fastest torpedo boat destroyer look as if it were standing +still. The attacked transport may try to bring its anti-aircraft guns to +bear, if luckily it is equipped with them. Failing this, the soldiers +will man the decks with their rifles ready. Then there is a duel of +skill and daring between the men on the cruiser and the lone fighters in +the seaplane.</p> + +<p>The seaplane must swoop sufficiently close to the water to release the +torpedo and let it drop without damage. And this must be done from a +sufficient distance to safeguard the seaplane from the vessel's guns. +The superior speed and mobility of the seaplane gives it a great +advantage over the ship attacked.</p> + +<p>Another of the weapons or instruments of warfare devised largely for use +in destroying the evil submarine is the "blimp." This is nothing more +nor less than a small dirigible balloon, hundreds of which the United +States government started to build when it entered the war.</p> + +<p>The blimp is an aerial sea-scout. Its principal employment is for +observation. It is a watcher of enemy movements on the water. But it is +also serviceable for attack, and especially for assailing submarines.</p> + +<p>The British used blimps for the latter purpose, and to great advantage. +The dirigible sausage-balloon, when a submarine is descried, can hover +over it (as an aeroplane cannot), remaining as nearly stationary as may +be desired, and waiting for an opportunity to drop a bomb with accurate +aim.</p> + +<p>If the submarine be under water, and its presence betrayed by the +peculiar surface-ripple that marks its wake, a bomb with a delay-action +fuse can be dropped upon it, the projectile not exploding until it +reaches a depth of fifty feet or so. In case the first bomb does not +score a hit, there are others to follow, with better luck perhaps.</p> + + +<h4>THE IMPORTANCE OF THE "BLIMP."</h4> + +<p>Thus, it will be seen that the blimp is an important auxiliary of the +flying-machine in the pursuit of the submarines. Both together, in this +exciting sport, supplement the swift power-boats called +"submarine-chasers."</p> + +<p>For some time the Navy Department has trained enlisted men and officers +for this work, chiefly at a Gulf port, where a school—it is no war +secret—of aviation and ballooning has been maintained. Six officers and +40 men are required for each coast station.</p> + +<p>The Navy Department adopted for the blimp a standardized pattern, with +definite published specifications, in accordance with which contractors +turned them out in numbers. It is a sausage-shaped balloon 160 feet +long, with a great diameter of 31-1/2 feet, and containing, when +inflated, 77,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas.</p> + +<p>The fabric of the "envelope"—that is to say, of the gas-bag—is coated +both outside and inside with rubber. It is required that the balloon +shall not lose more than 1 per cent of its gas-content in 24 hours. When +inflated it must be able to carry (including its own weight) a total of +5275 pounds.</p> + +<p>If the "Zeppelin" be excepted, the blimp is the most highly-developed +and scientific heavier-than-air flying machine ever devised. It has a +cruising speed of 35 miles an hour, but at a pinch can travel ten miles +an hour faster. At the "cruising" rate, it carries enough gasoline to +keep going for sixteen hours; at 45 miles, its load of "petrol" will +suffice for ten hours.</p> + +<p>Even the best war balloons of a few years ago were at the mercy of the +winds. It is not so with the blimp. Barring storms, it is able to +navigate the air as it wishes. It can rise safely to an altitude of a +mile and a half. To furnish fuel for its engine of 100 horsepower it +carries, in two tanks, 100 gallons of gasoline.</p> + + +<h4>DESCRIPTION OF THE "BLIMP."</h4> + +<p>In effect, the blimp is a combination of balloon and aeroplane. Like the +latter, it is provided with "skids" (resembling sled runners and made of +ash wood), or sometimes with bicycle wheels, for safe landing on terra +firma. When designed for sea scouting, floats—cylinders of waterproof +fabric stuffed with vegetable fibre—are attached to the skids, or to +the wheels, so that the airship, in calm weather, may be able to rest, +like a sea bird, on the waves, if desired.</p> + +<p>The blimp's balloon envelope must contain two smaller balloons, together +holding 19,250 feet of hydrogen gas. The idea, of course, is that if +anything happens to the major balloon—puncturing by gunfire or by other +mishap—the "balloonets" inside of it will keep the machine afloat.</p> + +<p>The wingless aeroplane is suspended from the balloon by cables of +galvanized wire. There is a special arrangement by which the +"pilot"—the man who steers and operates the airship—can at any time +measure the pressure of hydrogen in the balloon, thus knowing what he +has to count on in the way of carrying power.</p> + +<p>The front part of the blimp's car is occupied by the engine and +radiator, behind which is a bulkhead of sheet steel. In the rear of this +bulkhead sits the pilot, and behind him the "observer," who makes +sketches and takes notes of anything important that he sees. Behind the +observer are the tanks for fuel oil and 300 gallons of water ballast. +The body of the car is covered with aeroplane linen, save for the +engine, which is sheathed with sheet aluminum.</p> + +<p>In order to hold whatever position in the air may be desired, the blimp +is equipped with two horizontal fins and three vertical fins. Not every +blimp, that is to say, but the pattern approved and required of +contractors by the Navy Department. These fins are made of wood and +light steel tubing, reinforced with wire, covered with aeroplane linen +rubber painted and finished with varnish.</p> + + +<h4>THE "BLIMP" WELL EQUIPPED.</h4> + +<p>There are also two horizontal rudders and two vertical rudders, for +steering up and down or sidewise. They work on ball bearings. A blimp, +one should understand, is a fish in the ocean of air, a swimmer—just as +the aeroplane is a flyer, like the bird.</p> + +<p>The blimp's "car" carries an electric storage battery to furnish lights. +The same battery energizes a searchlight for night scouting. A wireless +apparatus, for transmitting information to the shore station, is part of +the equipment.</p> + +<p>The blimp, as already stated, is a sea scout. It is meant to be operated +from a base on shore—which base is in constant communication by +telegraph and wireless with the great radio stations that are strung all +along our coasts at intervals of 200 miles. These stations, in turn, are +in communication with the huge wireless outfit at Arlington (across the +Potomac from Washington), whose "antennae," uplifted on tall steel +towers, receive instantaneous war news from half the world.</p> + +<p>Thus if (just for illustration) a blimp spies a hostile submarine, the +news is instantly transmitted to the Navy Department. The department +orders its "chasers" and warplanes nearest to the scene to go after the +undersea boat. Within a few minutes the pursuit has started, and the +U-boat finds itself in much the same situation as a fox hunted by +hounds. In this case, however, the hounds are in the air, as well as +"quartering" the aqueous terrain.</p> + +<p>The United States' blimps are modeled on European patterns. But they are +to have special improvements of their own. To make sure of their +efficiency and structural correctness, each contractor, in offering bids +to furnish them, was required to exhibit a model, exactly like the +sausage balloons he proposed to make, but of toy size—one-thirtieth the +length of the full-sized, completely equipped aerial sea scout.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h3> + +<h4>THE EYES OF BATTLE.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aeroplanes and Airships—They Spy the Movements of Forces on Land or +Sea—Lead Disastrous Bomb Attacks—Valuable in "Spotting" +Submarines—The Bombardment at Messines Ridge</span>.</p> + + +<p>Just as the submarine has revolutionized warfare on the seas and +presented new problems for the naval experts to solve, so the aircraft +of the last decade has had its effect upon the operation of land forces. +Probably the aeroplane and the dirigible balloon have had a greater +influence on the conduct of battles and military campaigns as a whole +than any other device utilized in connection with the war.</p> + +<p>It is significant, too, that just as America produced the first +submarine, and then failed as a nation to develop it to its highest +state of efficiency for military use, so American inventors were +pioneers in the construction and successful operation of aeroplanes, or +airplanes, which were first developed to their greatest efficiency and +utility by the French and Germans.</p> + +<p>Some of the most striking events of the war centre around the use of the +airplanes or dirigibles, and aside from the picturesqueness and +thrilling atmosphere that seem to surround their use, the operator of +the aircraft has proved himself one of the most valuable servants in +modern warfare. He has reduced the proudest cavalry to second place in +the matter of reconnoissance, and has rendered services which have +heretofore been impossible.</p> + +<p>The airman sails out over the lines of battle, so far above the earth +when necessary as to be out of range of the most powerful guns, and with +glasses looks down upon the whole country. His machine, whether it be a +dirigible balloon or airplane, is equipped with a wireless telegraph +instrument with which he is able to send brief messages back to his own +line or military headquarters. He can and does mark the changed +positions of the contending forces, note the entrenchments and +reinforcements, follow movements, and last but not least, as was +noticeable in one of the desperate attacks upon the German position in +June, 1917, swoop down upon the enemy, attack the lines and forces with +bombs, and rain bullets upon them from rapid-fire guns.</p> + +<p>No longer can the enemy mask its heavy batteries or conceal them beneath +earthen mounds, plant them in corners of the forests or in clumps of +bushes without their being located. The "eyes of the sky," as the planes +are now termed, can spy them out. And when the airman has communicated +to his military commanders the positions of the opposing batteries, he +acts as a director in instructing the friendly gunners in finding the +range and cleaning out the enemy.</p> + + +<h4>THE AIR SCOUT'S USEFULNESS.</h4> + +<p>The air scout can detect the enemy's lines of communication and raid it +with bomb attacks. Even when the land forces cannot reach the enemy with +gunfire he can rain missiles of all sorts upon them. Sometimes the +airman flies over the enemy lines and drops glittering tinsel or bright +metal devices, which falling to the ground serve as marks for the +artillerymen in finding the range.</p> + +<p>Where the cavalry scout or creeping scout of days gone by could never +have proved successful, the airman has easily accomplished his purpose. +He has carried messages from one frontier to another in hours, when it +would have taken days for a scout on horseback or on foot to have +rendered the service, if they could have accomplished it at all. He has +eliminated distance.</p> + +<p>Trench warfare developed in the world-war in a way that has never before +been deemed necessary or possible, but the miles of trenches which +conceal the men from the fire of the enemy are plainly visible to the +airmen. And armed with cameras having powerful telescopic lenses they +can photograph the entire scene and send to their own military +headquarters not mere indicated plans of the battle lines, but exact +photographs.</p> + +<p>The war has shown conclusively that once the formation of the battle +line has been decided upon it is, in a measure, a fixture. It may be +subject to rearrangement, but this is when the force of battle demands, +or for strategic purposes, but such an arrangement requires a great deal +of time and much work. The battle fronts on the borders of France and +Belgium have ranged from 100 to nearly 300 miles in length, with nearly +3,000,000 strung out in opposing lines along the entire distance.</p> + + +<h4>LIKE AN IMMENSE GRIDIRON.</h4> + +<p>The ground has been dug up and trenched until the surface of the earth +looks like an immense gridiron. The soldiers almost live within the +trenches and dugouts beneath the ground. Telephone and telegraph wires +run through the trenches and even railroad tracks are laid so that small +engines go whirring through the ditches like "dinky" locomotives in a +coal mine.</p> + +<p>And the "eyes in the skies" make it possible for the commanders to know +each other's strength and the disposition of the forces at all times.</p> + +<p>Particularly has the air scout proved valuable in enabling commanders to +execute their final orders without grievous error. There is danger of +possible misjudgment because of the great length of the firing lines. +The airmen verify positions and make last minute reports, taking minutes +to perform services that cavalry forces or other scouting parties would +have taken hours or days to render.</p> + +<p>Operated in conjunction with cavalry scouts, and motor and cycle squads, +the airplane is a destruction-directing and defensive force. And it was +the large fleet of aircraft that aided Germany in making such rapid +advance in its drive toward Paris in the early days of the war. The +scouts reconnoitering in the early dawn were able to report the +situation and give the commanders time to move their forces before the +Belgians and French were aware of what was being done.</p> + +<p>Germany had probably the largest fleet of airplanes at the beginning of +the conflict and is said to have possessed upward of 500, of various +sorts, and this does not include the famous Zeppelins or dirigible +balloons. She also had something like two dozen factories which could +turn out flying machines, and had been at work on the development of her +aircraft long enough to have her patterns and methods of manufacture +somewhat, if not entirely standardized. During the third year of the war +it was estimated that she had more than quadrupled her force of flying +machines.</p> + + +<h4>GERMANY'S PREPAREDNESS.</h4> + +<p>Germany's preparedness in this as well as in other directions was what +enabled her to obtain such a tremendous advantage in the beginning of +the war. Later England and France concentrated on the development of +aeroplane squads or corps, and when the United States entered the war +one of the first detachments sent into France consisted of 100 aviators. +How rapidly the aeroplane forces were developed is indicated by the +statement made in the beginning of 1916 that the air forces of the +Allies were represented by 3380 aeroplanes of various types and 64 +dirigible balloons, while Austria and Germany had 2000 aeroplanes and 70 +dirigibles.</p> + +<p>The dirigibles—the type of airship commonly referred to as +Zeppelins—have the advantage over the heavier-than-air machines of +being almost silent in their operations, while at the same time they can +remain for a longer time suspended in air over a camp or battleground +without being detected. The Zeppelin is the development of the old +balloon, made, however, in a conical shape with a long basket or car +attached. They are driven by propellers similar to those used with +aeroplanes, but as the power generated by the engines is merely used to +drive the machines and has nothing to do with maintaining their position +in the air, the motors do not have to be so powerful. They are steered +by rudders.</p> + +<p>Some of the largest Zeppelins which have been leading factors in night +raids conducted by the Germans on London and English coast resorts are +capable of maintaining a speed of 60 miles an hour. One of these immense +Zeppelins was reported to have covered 1300 miles in less than forty +hours, covering the German borders, and still keeping in touch with its +base. The Zeppelins, because of their large size, can carry large +quantities of bombs, wireless apparatus, signals and electric +searchlights. They can rise to a height that places them fairly beyond +the range of the aerial guns used for fighting the air forces of the +army.</p> + + +<h4>MANY KINDS OF BOMBS.</h4> + +<p>The bombs used are as diversified as the crafts on which they are +carried. The French aviators at one time dropped long steel billets or +arrows which had swedged heads and sharpened points. These missiles, +dropped from the height of a thousand feet or more, attained a velocity +and force which made them dangerous weapons of the minor sort.</p> + +<p>The bombs, in the main, however, consist of jacketed shells containing +high explosives, some of which are constructed on what is called the +delayed-action principle. Such bombs explode after penetrating the fort +or object which they strike, instead of going off by contact. Germany is +said to have developed some of these that were of such size and power as +to penetrate an armored ship. As much as 50 pounds of explosives or +chemicals is declared to have been carried in some of the larger ones.</p> + +<p>The big dirigibles mount machine guns of superior range. Some of them +have been armored to an extent, and to make them less easily detected +they have been painted tints and colors to harmonize with the clouds and +sky. Special kinds of gas have been used to fill the envelopes or bags, +and instead of one large bag they consist of a series of bags enclosed +in an envelope or casing, so that if a bullet would penetrate the +envelope it would only destroy one of the gas bags, and not cause the +whole thing to collapse.</p> + +<p>Besides having proved of great value in the land campaigns, the aircraft +has shown itself to be one of the most effective devices of warfare for +use against the submarine, and all manner of naval craft. From the +heavens they can see the submarine under the water, and as either the +dirigible or the aeroplane can develop a speed greater than that of any +battleship or cruiser, it is not difficult for it to soar over the +vessel and drop bombs upon it. Even gas bombs have been used in the +raids by the aircraft.</p> + + +<h4>ACCURACY THE GREAT DIFFICULTY.</h4> + +<p>The difficulty in the use of bombs has been in accurately directing the +death-dealing devices when the airship or aeroplane is in motion. To +assist in this work aerial range finders have been devised. These are +constructed on the principle of the finder on a camera, with graded +scale markings to indicate the allowance that must be made for speed and +motion. Complete apparatus has been built up for launching the +projectiles from the large dirigibles, and to insure the missiles +traveling properly vanes have been attached to some of them.</p> + +<p>In a test made under the auspices of the French Government and the +Aerial Club of France, a few years ago, one of the bomb-launching +machines on an aeroplane scored eleven bull's-eye shots in a target ten +yards in diameter, from an altitude of more than 2000 feet, while the +aeroplane was going at a speed of more than 65 miles an hour.</p> + +<p>Though there has not been any widespread use of the plan the air has +been "mined" in an experimental way to protect certain sections against +night raids by the airmen. Mining the air consists of locating small +balloons over an area, each balloon being attached to the other with +wires. The small balloons have attached to them explosive bombs which +would destroy the larger aircraft if it was to run into this nest of air +vessels in the dark.</p> + +<p>Reverting to the use of aircraft in naval warfare it may be said that to +the aeroplane the relatively fast fleet is virtually stationary. About +the only case parallel to the aeroplane looking over the hill and down +on concealed enemy positions would be in rising above the smoke screen +thrown out by destroyers.</p> + + +<h4>THE SMOKE SCREEN.</h4> + +<p>The smoke screen, by the way, which has been used by the British with +marked success in many instances, is an American invention. The low, +swift craft are equipped with special oil burners which throw off dense +volumes of heavy smoke, which float low over the surface of the water, +concealing the maneuvers of the larger boats and protecting them from +the skill of enemy gunners. Its effectiveness, of course, is influenced +by the direction and strength of the wind. Used generously by small +craft convoying a ship through a submarine area, it should be of great +value.</p> + +<p>A battleship can see about as far as it can shoot, anyhow. Except for +smoke screen, or the famous "low visibility," which means foggy weather +or darkness, no enemy within range can be concealed.</p> + +<p>What the fleet commander wants to know is how those enemy vessels beyond +the horizon, which may be within range of his guns tomorrow, the day +after, or next week, may be distributed, and how many of them there are. +This is where the speed of the airplane comes in.</p> + +<p>A machine which can travel 100 miles an hour covers a thousand miles in +10 hours. Locating an approaching enemy fleet this distance away, it +brings back the news of the approach in 10 hours. It takes the fleet, +traveling at 15 miles an hour, two days and 18 hours to cover this +distance. The aeroplane can beat it by two days and eight hours.</p> + +<p>But the aeroplane flying high enough to give it the widest practical +range of vision is able to see only over a path 75 miles wide under the +most favorable weather conditions. Haze will cut this down considerably. +This means that for anything like complete scouting work a fleet must be +equipped with a large number of them.</p> + + +<h4>PROPORTION OF FIGHTING PLANES.</h4> + +<p>Then, too, there must be a generous proportion of fighting planes to +spread out in a very wide circle beyond the fleet. It will be +appreciated that this circle must be a mighty wide one if the enemy +planes be kept far enough away to prevent their counting the number and +type of ships in the command. There is required also a large detail to +guard against the submarines. While an aeroplane can see quite deep in +the sea, this penetrating vision is limited to the water directly +beneath it. It can see straight down in the water, but not off to the +side at an angle.</p> + +<p>If such a thing is possible, air control at sea is more important than +over the land, and of first value is the fighting plane. In this +connection there is an aeroplane gun which works well. It is a +double-ender. That is, there is a breech in the middle, and the two ends +are muzzles. In air fighting it is seconds and fractions of seconds that +count, and the advantage of this gun lies in that it can be fired in +opposite directions, thus cutting down the length of the arc through +which it has to be swung to be brought to bear on the enemy.</p> + +<p>Of exceptional value to the United States navy is the super-American +type of planes which the Curtiss factories have developed and which have +done such wonderful service for the British. In this type the fuselage +is entirely enclosed, built with a hull much along the lines of the +motorboat or hydroplane. The 'plane may thus come to rest safely in the +open sea.</p> + +<p>It weighs nearly 6000 pounds and can carry a useful load of more than +2000 pounds. The boat is slung well below the planes, eight feet below +the lower one, which has a span of 66 feet. Eight feet above this is the +upper plane, which overlaps the lower plane by 13 feet on each side. The +complete span of the upper plane is 92 feet. It can carry six to eight +men, if necessary, altogether a huge, sturdy, dependable machine with +two powerful motors.</p> + +<p>And what was done to give America the equipment of 'planes which we +needed?</p> + + +<h4>RESOURCES AT GOVERNMENT'S COMMAND.</h4> + +<p>Fifteen aeroplane manufacturers, with a combined capital of $30,000,000 +and a total capacity of 175 machines a week, organized and placed all +their resources at the command of the government. The organization +provided for the interchange of ideas and plans and for the +standardization of manufacture, which resulted in a material increase in +output.</p> + +<p>One hundred and seventy-five machines a week should give us, in a year, +9100. And there are other conditions which may modify the estimate both +favorably and unfavorably. There is, for instance, a limit to the amount +of seasoned lumber available in this country of the peculiar type and +quality needed for airplane construction. Provision must be made for the +future in this respect. All-steel machines have been made and used in +Europe to some extent, but no metal alloy has been developed which is +likely to take the place of wood in general construction. The +manufacturers developed some interesting things along these lines which +were not given to the public.</p> + +<p>In the Spring of 1917 the fighting in the air took on an entirely new +interest abroad, because of the German policy of painting their machines +most grotesque patterns. They seemed to have taken this idea from the +old American Indian custom of painting their faces to frighten their +opponents, or else the fancies of the German airmen were allowed to run +riot with vivid color effects.</p> + +<p>British pilots daily brought home from over the lines new reports of +fantastic creations encountered amid the clouds. The gayest feathered +songsters that came north with the Spring did not rival the variegated +hues of the harlequin birds that rose daily from the German airdromes. +The coming of this fantastic order of things in the air was first +heralded by a squadron of scarlet German planes. It then was noticed +that some of the enemy machines were striped about the body like +yellowjackets.</p> + + +<h4>GAUDY TASTES OF AIRMEN.</h4> + +<p>Nothing appeared too gaudy to meet the tastes of the enemy airmen, who +seemed to have been given carte blanche with the paint brush. There were +green planes with yellow noses, silver planes with gold noses, +khaki-colored planes with greenish-gray wings, planes with red bodies, +green wings and yellow stripes, planes with red bodies and wings of +green on top of blue, planes with light blue bodies and red wings. +Virtually all the gaudiest machines were in red body effects, with every +possible combination of colors for their wings. Some had one green wing +and one white; some had green wings tipped with various colors.</p> + +<p>One of the most fantastic met had a scarlet body, brown tail and +reddish-brown wings, with white maltese crosses against a bright green +background. One machine looked like a pear flying through the air. It +had a pear-shaped tail and was painted a ruddy brown, just like a large +ripe fruit. One of the piebald squadrons encountered was made up of +white, red and green machines. There still were others palpably painted +for what became known as "camouflage" purposes, as guns, wagons and +tents often are painted to blend with the landscape and thus avoid +detection.</p> + +<p>This lavish use of paint, however, did not reduce the heavy daily loss +inflicted on the Germans by the British flyers. But it must not be +imagined that the Germans did not put up a stalwart fight. Just as their +resistance was strengthened on land, so it was increased in the air. +Just as the Germans threw in new divisions of infantry and new batteries +of artillery to check the Allies' offensive, so they sent aloft hundreds +of new machines to contest for the mastery of the air, an important +phase of modern war.</p> + +<p>The manner in which the British flying corps dominated the air during +the battle of Messines Ridge in June, 1917, and completely smothered the +German aviation service for the time being is one of the most thrilling +and remarkable stories of the entire war.</p> + +<p>Hundreds of British planes were well behind the German lines when the +battle broke into its fury at dawn. They had stolen over during the +darker intervals of the brief night when the moon was hidden by storm +clouds. Other hundreds went aloft with the first faint streaks of coming +day and, guided by the flashes of the guns, flew into the thick of the +fighting.</p> + + +<h4>COMBED BY MACHINE GUNS.</h4> + +<p>During the night British machines combed enemy railway stations, trains, +ammunition dumps and troops coming up on the march. Others hovered above +German airdromes and circled low among airplane sheds and fired hundreds +of rounds from machine guns into them and prevented the enemy machines +from coming out. Later in the day, while the fighting was most intense, +British airmen dropped about three tons of bombs on the German flying +grounds as a further deterrent, which proved highly effective.</p> + +<p>In addition to shutting the German airmen out of any early participation +in the battle, the British airplanes were in a large degree responsible +for the fact that the Germans could not launch a counter-attack of +appreciable strength until forty hours after the battle for the ridge +began and every bit of ground desired by the British in this particular +operation had been taken and secured.</p> + +<p>Far back of the German lines the British planes searched out troops in +every hamlet, town and village. In several places they saw them +gathering or marching in the main streets, whereupon they flew down low +at times and opened a fire which scattered the gray-clad soldiers in all +directions. All pilots report that their accurate fire had a most +demoralizing effect upon the hostile troops. Convoys and ammunition and +supply columns were attacked while on the march and the disorganized men +left their teams and automobiles on the roads while they sought shelter +in nearby ditches.</p> + + +<h4>AIRPLANES ATTACK TROOPS.</h4> + +<p>Airplanes attacked troops in the support trenches and sent them +scurrying to the cover of their dugouts. One pilot made so many of these +attacks that he finally ran out of ammunition, but he delivered his last +stroke by letting go his signal rockets at a platoon of soldiers who, +evidently mistaking this for some particularly horrible new style of war +frightfulness, fled in all directions.</p> + +<p>German troops were fired upon in the more distant back areas as they +were entraining for the front. Many of the enemy retreating from the +British attack and hiding in shell holes were seen by the low-flying +airmen and pelted with bullets.</p> + +<p>One British pilot patrolled a road for half an hour before he saw +anything to shoot at. Then a German military automobile with three +officers sitting in the back seat came along. The Britisher dived at +them from a height of three hundred feet, firing at them as they came. +He flew so low eventually that the wheels of his under carriage barely +missed the automobile, which swerved into a ditch while going at about +forty miles an hour and crashed into a tree.</p> + +<p>This same pilot later came across an active field gun battery and +charged it, scattering the gun crew and hitting a number of them. Still +further along he attacked a column of Germans marching in fours. The +column broke when he opened fire, scattering to both sides of the road. +At no time during his stay inside the German lines was this pilot more +than 500 feet from the ground.</p> + + +<h4>ON CONTACT PATROL WORK.</h4> + +<p>Large numbers of British machines were on contact patrol work, flying +low over the advancing lines of infantry, constantly watching their +movements, their progress, any temporary reverse, any attempt to form +counter-attacks and all the while sending detailed reports back to corps +and army headquarters.</p> + +<p>Of the fourteen planes lost during the day of the battle, a majority +were those contact machines. They had to fly through a frightful storm +of their own as well as the enemy's artillery fire, and they succumbed +to chance blows from these exploding missiles.</p> + +<p>Late on the day of the battle, when the enemy machines had finally +arrived from more distant airdromes, there was some good fighting in the +air, some of it at close quarters with collisions barely avoided. Twenty +enemy machines were accounted for in the fighting, some flopping about +until they broke up in the air and others being driven down on their +noses in yellow buttercup fields so far back of the fighting line that +no shell had ever marred the symmetry of the landscape.</p> + +<p>Some of the most marvelous work was done by artillery airships. One +squadron of these alone, acting with several batteries of British +heavies, succeeded in silencing seventy-two German batteries before six +o'clock on the morning of the attack which began at 3.10 o'clock in the +morning. These planes also directed the firing on the enemy's guns en +route to the front, some of the big weapons being drawn by caterpillar +tractors. Wherever a thousand or more troops were observed forming for +possible counter-attacks the artillery planes directed "shoots" upon +them.</p> + +<p>So complete was the British domination of the air along the front of +attack that not a single one of the British artillery observing +aeroplanes was lost during the week that the intense bombardment was +going on. During the battle British aeroplanes also attacked and +silenced a number of enemy machine-gun positions.</p> + +<p>The growth of the aeroplane industry has developed as many makes of +machines as there are makes of automobiles, but in a general way +aeroplanes are divided into four classes—monoplanes, biplanes, +triplanes and hydroplanes. About 90 per cent of all designs are +monoplanes and biplanes, and the types are distinguished by their single +set of wings or planes or the double planes or wings. Both types have +their advantages in use, the biplane being regarded as more stable for +certain scouting purposes than the monoplane. It can carry heavier +weights—has greater lifting power—but is not capable of as great speed +or as easily maneuvered.</p> + + +<h4>MACHINE ON PRACTICAL BASIS.</h4> + +<p>The War has placed the machine on an intensely practical basis. The +manufacturers have learned that machines constructed along certain lines +will travel at such and such a speed and have a certain lifting +capacity, will rise under a particular speed and may be expected to do +certain things under certain circumstances, but with all the advance +which has been made in the construction of the air machines, the +designers do not yet understand all the "factors" that enter into the +"why" of the case.</p> + +<p>The makers have, however, succeeded in standardizing their machines to a +degree. The story of how the aeroplane flies is a highly technical and +scientific one, but the basic principle is the reaction of air and an +inclined surface in motion. It might be likened to a stone skipping +across the surface of a pond, if the imagination can conceive of the +water as being air. It is simplicity itself to drive an inclined plane +against the air with such force that the impact will produce a lifting +power. In raising an ordinary kite, for instance, the boy runs into the +teeth of the wind. His kite is so attached to a string as to stand at an +angle, and as he runs the pressure against the air drives the kite +upward. In the aeroplane the propellers drive the machine into the air +with such force that the planes, standing at an angle, guide the machine +upward.</p> + +<p>There are innumerable problems to be solved—those of buoyancy, delicacy +of balance and many others—but the designers themselves have not been +able to determine upon a precise formula for their solution. It is +sufficient that the aeroplane has reached a degree of practicability in +construction and use which insures its permanent existence, and has +given the military and the naval forces one of the greatest agencies in +the world for protecting themselves and watching their enemies.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h3> + +<h4>WAR'S STRANGE DEVICES.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chemistry a Demon of Destruction—Poison Gas Bombs—Gas Masks—Hand +Grenades—Mortars—"Tanks"—Feudal "Battering Rams"—Steel +Helmets—Strange Bullets—Motor Plows—Real Dogs of War</span>.</p> + + +<p>Things new and passing strange—thousands of them—have been brought +into being by the great world war. Human minds have developed things +undreamed of by science or fiction—things that a few years ago would +have been considered too strange and fantastic for even the professional +romancer to weave into the tissues of his stories.</p> + +<p>Every known science has been called upon to produce its quota of new +things which might be used for the destruction or the protection of men +at war. The wonders of chemistry have always lent descriptive +inspiration to the pen of writers, but mankind to get a vivid conception +of the horrors of chemistry has had to wait for the great world war.</p> + +<p>The conflict which has involved the entire world might almost be termed +a warfare of chemists. Without their diabolical products, ranging all +the way from high explosives to poison gases, it would have few of the +characteristics of ultra-frightfulness that render it unique in the +history of international struggles.</p> + +<p>But of all the instruments of destruction used in this war, there is +none more horrifying than the so-called "incendiary bomb," which sets +instant fire to whatever it touches and which spreads flame in a manner +so terrific that three or four such gravity-projectiles dropped from an +aeroplane burned up the whole of a peaceful Dutch village in a few +minutes.</p> + +<p>Now, what is the fearsome stuff with which such bombs are loaded? A new +chemical compound? Not at all. What they contain is simply the mixture +of two of the most harmless things in the world—oxide of iron (which +is simply iron rust) and powdered aluminum.</p> + +<p>When these two innocent substances are mixed together the result is a +compound truly infernal in its potentialities for mischief. It is not an +explosive but if set on fire it burns with an intensity that is +positively appalling. Nothing will put it out; no quantity of water has +any effect upon the raging flames it engenders.</p> + +<p>This is the material used for loading incendiary bombs. It is ignited in +such projectiles by a mercury-fulminate cap that sets off a fuse +containing powdered magnesium—the stuff photographers employ for +flashlights.</p> + + +<h4>THIN SHELLS OF STEEL.</h4> + +<p>These bombs are thin shells of steel or iron—mere containers for the +mixture before described. They are so contrived that the fuse is +instantly ignited when they strike.</p> + +<p>Whereupon the shell is melted by the heat generated within it and a +flood of fiercely burning metal is scattered in all directions. All of +this seems rather extraordinary, and it is worth explaining.</p> + +<p>Oxygen has an affinity for iron, readily combining with the +latter—which is the reason why iron is liable to rust. This rust is a +chemical compound of iron and oxygen; in other words, oxide of iron. But +oxygen has a much greater affinity for aluminum. And so, when the two +metals are powdered and mixed together and heat is applied the oxygen +flies out of the iron rust and combines with the aluminum.</p> + +<p>The process is started in the bomb by the burning magnesium. And then +the oxygen passes out of the iron and into the aluminum so rapidly that +an enormously high temperature is developed. It runs up to 3500 or 4000 +degrees Fahrenheit—which means, of course, a tremendous combustion. The +mixture of aluminum and iron burns like so much tinder—though such a +way of putting it is absurdly feeble.</p> + +<p>The present war has been conspicuously marked by reversions to ancient +methods of fighting. In this line the incendiary bomb offers an +excellent illustration. It is in effect merely an adaptation of an idea +utilized by the Saracens—we should call them Turks nowadays—in their +warfare with the Crusaders of the Middle Ages.</p> + + +<h4>DREAD INSTRUMENT OF WAR.</h4> + +<p>The instrument of war most dreaded by the Crusaders, as they found it in +the hands of the Turks, was the incendiary bomb—a projectile that flew +through the air "like a fiery dragon" as they described it, and set fire +to whatever it touched. Sometimes it was provided with iron barbs, by +which it clung to buildings.</p> + +<p>This was one of the ways in which the Saracens employed the celebrated +"Greek fire"—an inflammable compound that is understood to have been a +mixture of petroleum, saltpeter and pitch. The chief horror of it, from +the Crusaders' point of view, was that it was unquenchable. Mere water +had no effect upon it. Hence they were sure that it must be of +diabolical origin.</p> + +<p>But the up-to-date incendiary bomb is a great improvement on its +original of the Middle Ages. The modern contrivance is thoroughly +scientific, and it does its destructive business with certainty and +dispatch.</p> + +<p>No less effective are the gas bombs which were introduced by the German +soldiers at Rheims, and which when exploding near the trenches occupied +by the French and English threw off vapors and poisonous gases which +killed or overwhelmed thousands of brave men. These devices used in +violation of all rules of civilized warfare sent hundreds to the +hospitals. Seventy-five victims were taken at one time from the trenches +to the hospital at Zuydcoote, north of Dunkirk, where it was found that +some of those who had inhaled the fumes turned a violet tinge.</p> + +<p>Altogether it was estimated that from 3000 to 5000 men were affected by +the gas fumes in this first onslaught and at least 10 per cent of those +who were overcome succumbed to the deadly fumes. Many of those who +inhaled the poisons expectorated blood and for days afterward were +racked by terrible coughing. In many cases fever developed in a few days +ending with pneumonia. When the men were not sufficiently poisoned to +cause death they were so affected that their usefulness as soldiers was +ended for all time. The poison made them confirmed invalids.</p> + + +<h4>INTRODUCTION OF GAS MASK.</h4> + +<p>Naturally human ingenuity was called into play to protect men against +the poisons and the gas mask came into being. These were of many types. +The early creations consisted primarily of a nose and mouth covering +with a receptacle for inclosing a sponge or gauze soaked with a chemical +which possessed the power to neutralize the gas fumes. Such devices have +been used by fire fighters in large cities the world over where the men +battling to save buildings have been compelled to enter smoke-filled +rooms and cellars. Other types which have proven more effective are +designed after the fashion of the diving apparatus, and having a small +tank of compressed oxygen with feeding tubes running to the mask. The +oxygen combines with the contaminated air breathed through absorbent +cotton or sponge and provides the wearer with the proportion of oxygen +necessary to existence. And even the horses have been provided with such +masks.</p> + +<p>But to go back to bombs. All through France and Belgium, and wherever +the Prussian soldiers found their way, there was evidence of the use of +hand grenades which were thrown against the sides of or into buildings +to set them in flames. Some of these devices, made of sheet metal, were +in their action similar to the "Fourth of July torpedoes" familiar to +every American school boy. When thrown they exploded throwing oil and +chemicals over walls and floors. Some of them seem to have been loaded +with bullets and were in effect hand shrapnel.</p> + +<p>Then there developed from the primary use of these nefarious weapons the +recognized hand grenade, which is actually hand-shrapnel, plied by men +at close quarters. Thousands of these have been thrown by the armies in +their charges on the trenches. And then, to offset the use of these +devices in the offensive, there came into being also the smoke bombs. +These when exploding throw up great clouds of black smoke which hang +over everything.</p> + + +<h4>EFFECTIVE IN A HUNDRED WAYS.</h4> + +<p>The use of such bombs has proved effective in a hundred ways. They have +been used to create a perfect shield of smoke to conceal the movements +of troops, or prevent the enemy from finding the range with their long +distance guns. Similarly bombs which contained burning chemicals have +been used to hold in check the approaching enemy forces.</p> + +<p>Half way between the great gun and the hand grenade stand among war +weapons the trench mortars. The first of these were used by the Japanese +in their war with Russia. The Japanese mortars were mere logs hollowed +out and strengthened by wrappings of bamboo rope. The projectiles fired +from these were empty provision tins filled with high explosives, scraps +of metal, bits of stone or whatever, in the emergency, could be found to +fill them.</p> + +<p>The mortars are pitched at an angle and the projectiles are shot with a +skyrocket effect, to land in the trenches or camp of the enemy. The +Germans developed the idea and the perfected mortars are of steel, and +capable of throwing bombs weighing several hundred pounds.</p> + +<p>And then the great moving fort which has been called "the tank!" Those +snorting, fire-spitting dragons which were depicted for us in childhood +can scarcely bring to our mind a greater element of the fanciful, the +horrible, and the powerful than the steel hulks which came into being in +this war under the name of "tanks."</p> + +<p>We see them in our mind's eye spitting fire as they crossed No Man's +Land, amid the smoke and dust of bursting shells. Keeping steadily on +their courses they dived into huge craters made by exploding shells; +stretched themselves across trenches, brushed trees and boulders aside, +and kept steadily on their courses. German wire entanglements were as so +many pieces of string before their huge frames. Nothing deterred them. +They moved forward into the face of the enemy, reaching the first line +of German trenches. There the soulless devices sat complacently astride +the trenches, and turning their guns along the ditches swept them in +both directions.</p> + + +<h4>THE TANK DEFIES ALL OBSTACLES.</h4> + +<p>The tanks which were introduced by the English, move along on revolving +platforms, so to speak. These platforms enable the tank to overcome all +obstacles as the caterpillar tread is curved up in the arc of a huge +circle at the front which gives the vehicle its wonderful tractive +powers. This large curvature acts as a huge wheel with a tremendously +long leverage equal to the radius of the circlet or the spokes of the +imaginary wheel of the same diameter. Only that portion of the assumed +wheel which would come in contact with the ground acts as the lever, and +it is just this portion that is reproduced in the front end of a +caterpillar belt.</p> + +<p>Although varying in size and details, all tanks have the common +characteristic of being divided into three main compartments between the +two side caterpillar frames. The first is the observation compartment in +which the driver and his helper are perched high above the ground to +direct the movements of the huge steel beast.</p> + +<p>In the middle is the ammunition room from which the guns carried in the +two side turrets are fed. At the rear is the engine room. From two or +four gasoline engines are used—these driving the rear axle and its +integral sprockets over which the caterpillars run. The latter run an +idler pulley or sprockets at the extreme front ends and are supported by +means of rollers attached to the upper portion of the frame on each side +when passing over the top. This movement of the caterpillar belts is +exactly analogous to that of the ordinary variety of garden insect with +the same name which similarly lays down his own track by humping his +back continuously and regardless of the land surface.</p> + +<p>The tanks are steered by a pair of small ordinary wheels at the rear. +These are supported in a pivot on a frame extended from the rear. They +are merely for steering, and support none of the weight of the tank +except when bridging wide trenches or dips in the surface. Steering can +be accomplished by making one caterpillar go faster than the other by +manipulating clutches on the driving mechanism.</p> + + +<h4>TANK'S "CATERPILLAR" FEATURE.</h4> + +<p>The "caterpillar" feature of the tank had its origin in the caterpillar +belts or shoes which were first used on the great field guns and +mortars—those tremendous weapons which shoot bombs and shells weighing +tons and containing 500 or more pounds of guncotton or explosive which +on contact is discharged, rending everything for yards around.</p> + +<p>These guns, as well as the smaller field guns, have had attached to them +great shields of steel behind which the gunners stand, so that they are +protected against the old-fashioned sharpshooters whose duty it was to +pick off the gunners.</p> + +<p>The caterpillar or wheel belts on the big guns consist of flat blocks, +or shoes, wider than the tires of the wheels. They are hinged and +fastened together so as to form a great chain, and when placed on the +wheels present broad surfaces to the ground and keep the gun carriages +from sinking into the soft earth. With a set of these shoes a heavy gun +can be drawn over soft and irregular ground, which would be almost +impassable where the gun is mounted on wheels of ordinary width.</p> + +<p>Before these belts were devised it was necessary for every gun crew to +carry a supply of beams, jackscrews and devices to be used in +extricating the heavy guns when they got fast in the mud. Now every gun +has these belts which can be put on or detached in a few minutes.</p> + +<p>Paradoxically, this is the day of the big gun's greatest effectiveness, +and the day of its greatest limitations. The war has taught us more in +two years about gunnery and the effect of various types of ordnance +under varying conditions than could have been learned in twenty years of +theoretical research—for actual experience proves where theoretical +research merely gives ground on which to base an opinion.</p> + + +<h4>NATIONAL RESOURCES TO DISLODGE A MAN.</h4> + +<p>One of the things that we have learned is that when man takes unto +himself the humble pick and shovel and proceeds to dig a hole for +himself in the ground, we can get him out of that hole only by drawing +on the combined resources of a nation, by constructing one of the most +complex and expensive instruments in the world, and with it hurling at +man dug-in a projectile weighing a good part of a ton.</p> + +<p>The blunder, perhaps unavoidable, which stands out with equal emphasis +among the preliminary preparations of all the nations engaged in the +struggle was the underestimation of the artillery power required for the +conduct of a successful military campaign under modern conditions of +warfare. It was an underestimation so great that in the light of +developments it will some day prove ridiculous.</p> + +<p>At the opening of the war two opposed theories of artillery +effectiveness were held by the combatants. The French swore by the +medium calibre, rapid-fire, low-trajectory field piece. The Teutons had +devoted their best efforts to the development of guns so big that their +opponents were tempted, before they learned better, to regard them as +too unwieldy for effective field service. Both were right, the French in +the full sense and intention of the term, the Teutons by pure accident.</p> + +<p>It should be explained here that the word Teuton is used advisedly, for +in reality it is to the Austrians before the Germans that the +development of the 11-inch and bigger field gun, with its special +carriage and caterpillar-tread wheels owes its existence. It was +Austrian guns and Austrian gunners that first made the heavy artillery +of the Teuton armies famous.</p> + +<p>The French field piece performed all that was expected of it, but it was +handicapped by unforeseen conditions of warfare. The heavy Teuton guns +performed their mission in the very introductory stages of the war, then +failed, and later, by the irony of fate, proved to be the very things +required when the unforeseen war conditions developed.</p> + + +<h4>A WONDERFUL GUN.</h4> + +<p>The Germans and Austrians believed that they could develop a big gun +which could be given sufficient mobility for use in the field, and with +commendable and methodical application they proceeded to do so. The +theory was, first, that it could batter down any permanent +fortifications that man could build, and when it was pitted against the +concrete ramparts of Liege and Namur it blew them out of existence in a +few hours. The Teutons had scored, and scored so heavily that the Allies +barely escaped the fate the Germans had prepared for them in an +overwhelming sweep on Paris. That they did escape this fate is no doubt +in a large measure due to the fact that the second effectiveness claimed +by the Teutons for their heavy ordnance failed in its full +accomplishment. Used in open fighting, the great explosive shells hurled +by these guns did not do the damage expected to the wide, open firing +lines of the Allies, nor did they produce the moral effect expected. The +great shells tore tremendous craters in the ground, from which the +force of the explosion was expended upward in a sort of cone-shape, +shooting above the heads of any troops in the vicinity except those +immediately adjacent to the explosion. In the meantime the field pieces +of the French, with their extreme mobility and rapidity of fire, were +scattering death and destruction with their straight shrapnel fire in +the solid formations which were so popular with the Germans in the early +stages of the war, and which today they do not seem to be able to drop +entirely.</p> + +<p>So far the French piece did all expected of it. The German piece had +proved its ability only to blow up permanent fortifications, and this +was nullified immediately by the action of the French in abandoning the +concrete shelters and moving their own guns into newly and +quickly-constructed trench forts.</p> + + +<h4>A THING UNDREAMED OF.</h4> + +<p>But the thing that neither side had dreamed of was the settling down of +the war on the west front into an eternal line of opposing trenches to +face each other for years. That it did so was due to the monumental +blunders on the part of the German staff in allowing itself to be +outmaneuvered and beaten back from the gates of Paris by numerically +inferior forces, and still further outmaneuvered in the extension of the +lines northward in that famous series of flanking movements which +finally reached the sea.</p> + +<p>It was their success in driving the German army to earth when it was +stronger than they were that saved the Allies, and gave them the +breathing time required in which to further their preparations and train +new troops, and likewise it is this same mode of trench warfare which +has made their task so difficult when they have taken the offensive.</p> + +<p>Against ordinary trench lines, as known in the early stages of the war, +the French field pieces were more effective than the heavy cannon of the +Teutons, just as they had been in the open. Shooting in flat trajectory +across the trench, and exploding just above it, the shrapnel scattered +more death downward than the heavy projectile could scatter upward after +it had buried itself in the soft earth.</p> + +<p>But with the continuous line of trenches stretching from Switzerland to +the sea, with consequent impossibility of out-flanking, demonstrated by +the Germans to their sorrow in repeated repulses of their drives to cut +through to Calais, each side felt justified in replying to the artillery +of the other by digging deeper and more permanently, with many feet of +shelter overhead. This ended the effectiveness of shrapnel except for +the repulse of attacks, and again the heavy guns swung into the position +of pre-eminence.</p> + + +<h4>A SITUATION ALMOST BEYOND CONTROL.</h4> + +<p>It was at this stage, however, that both sides realized how totally +inadequate the supply of these heavy guns and ammunition was to cope +with the situation. While the heavy gun was more effective in blasting +out the enemy from his dugouts than the field piece, it required many +times the artillery power which either side possessed to handle the job.</p> + +<p>Then commenced the race of the ammunition and gun factories to turn out +their products by the ton where they had been turned out by the pound +before; a race in which the Allies took and held the lead.</p> + +<p>With the greatly increased number of heavy guns it became possible to +develop the famous curtain of barrage fire, also known as drum fire, +with this type of ordnance, as well as with shrapnel.</p> + +<p>It is with this form of attack that the Allies blasted their way slowly +but steadily through the strongest networks of trenches which the +Germans were able to build.</p> + +<p>Along a given section of the front, or rather just behind it, the guns +were placed singly or in pairs, widely scattered, some close to the line +and some well back from it, all concealed as far as possible from enemy +aviators. There were also many dummy batteries, so that if the enemy +air scout saw a gun or group of guns, he had no way of telling whether +they were real or imitation.</p> + +<p>In such an instance before the actual advance of the troops the fire of +all these guns is concentrated along parallel lines to the enemy +trenches, first, second and sometimes third. Each gun has its work +mapped out for it in advance on a map covered with tiny squares. The +actual point may be well beyond view of the gunners. The shell is landed +in its appointed square solely on mathematical calculation. The +commander of each gun knows, for instance, that he must fire into this, +that or the other square for so many minutes or hours, and exactly at a +given minute change his fire to another source.</p> + + +<h4>RAIN OF SHELLS LIKE STREAMS OF WATER.</h4> + +<p>In effect on the enemy a continuous rain of shells, comparable to +streams of water from hundreds of hoses is poured in a line right down +the trench. At the same time a parallel line of fire is concentrated at +a given distance back of the enemy's first trench and in front of the +second, or in it. This means that the troops in the first line must not +only take their bombardment without hope of retreat or escape, but that +it is impossible to get reinforcements to them through the second +curtain.</p> + +<p>When it is calculated that the first line has been destroyed or +demoralized, the troops leap from their trenches and advance strictly +according to schedule over the ground between the opposing trenches. +Their arrival at the enemy's first trench is timed to the second, and +just as they are on the verge of plunging into their own curtain of fire +this latter is gradually thrown forward, forming a screen between the +newly captured trench and the enemy's second line. This means two +curtains of fire through which the enemy would have to advance to +counter-attack.</p> + +<p>Time is given to rout out what remains of the enemy from the first line +dugouts, and then the troops advance again. In the meantime the curtain +of fire has preceded them as before, moving up to the line of drum fire +which has been playing on the second line of trenches or just in front +of it. If any of the enemy have attempted to flee before the attack from +the first line they are caught between these two barrages which are +gradually brought together.</p> + +<p>When the first and second lines of fire have been brought together they +are poured with redoubled fury into the second line of the enemy +trenches, and then moved forward again just as the advancing troops +reach this line.</p> + + +<h4>DEPENDING ON LOCAL CONDITIONS.</h4> + +<p>The performance is made continuous so far as possible under the +conditions peculiar to the given section in which the attack is being +made. Sometimes it is possible to advance over three, four or five +trenches in a single attack. At others it is as much as can be +accomplished to capture one, which must be consolidated before further +advance is made. It depends on the strength of the trenches, the nature +of the ground, the distance apart that they are, and, of course, the +amount of artillery fire which the enemy is able to concentrate in +return.</p> + +<p>When a sufficient advance has been made, it also becomes necessary to +suspend operations for a time while the guns behind the lines are moved +forward to new positions.</p> + +<p>This is always the period of the counter-attack in force by the enemy, +who seizes the opportunity when a certain proportion of the artillery is +unable to fire because it is being moved. And it is during this period +that the infantry have to do their hardest fighting, which consists, not +in making the advance over no-man's land to the enemy trench, but in +holding that trench afterward when the bringing up of their own +artillery behind them to more advanced positions robs them of some of +the support of the drum fire.</p> + +<p>Still another factor of delay at this period is the time required by +the air scouts to find the rearranged positions of the enemy guns after +the advance, for these must be taken care of also before a new advance +can be made.</p> + +<p>An explanation of this form of attack shows why news dispatches have +told first of an advance of the British, followed by a period of quiet, +during which an attack by the French in some other section of the line +was in progress. Then suddenly the scene of action switched back to the +British lines again while the French were consolidating their new +positions preparatory to pushing the general advance a step farther.</p> + + +<h4>GERMAN EQUIVOCATION.</h4> + +<p>It also explains just what has happened when the Germans state that the +"enemy penetrated our first trenches in a small sector, but his attack +broke down before our second line." When the next attack is ready, of +course, the former second German line is referred to as the "first," and +so, on paper, as far as the uninitiated are concerned, the German +publicity office is able to build up a continuous series of enemy +attacks which "break down," and somehow never, never "penetrate our +invincible line." Actually an advance of this nature is extremely slow, +but it is sure, and it is made at the expense of tons upon tons of +ammunition rather than at the expense of lives, for ammunition can be +made faster than soldiers.</p> + +<p>Even the old battering ram of feudal times with which the ancestors of +Kaiser William used to knock down the castles of the baron robbers has +been approximated by his warring tribes. With the retreat of the German +troops from Flanders the Allied forces found crude battering rams such +as have been shown in the stirring "movies" when the ancient warriors +stormed the gates of the city.</p> + +<p>One of such devices was in the form of an upright frame made of heavy +timbers. An immense log was suspended from the cross-piece by a heavy +chain. An iron band circled one end of the log which was used for +battering purposes and at the opposite end were handles, used by the +operators in their nefarious work. The ram was used to batter in the +doors of houses which had been locked or barricaded against the German +soldiers. In their most destructive moods, it is charged that they used +these devices to destroy the standing walls of houses and cottages after +they had been gutted by fire. The Germans would not permit even so much +as a wall to stand which might be used by the poor peasant in +rehabilitating himself and building a new home.</p> + + +<h4>NEW METHOD OF WARFARE.</h4> + +<p>The new method of warfare, with men working in trenches and dugouts and +millions of shells breaking over head, while missiles rain all about, +necessitated the development of some device to protect the heads of the +fighters. Therefore the steel helmet.</p> + +<p>It has been shown that, due to trench warfare, about seventy-five per +cent of the wounded on the western front had been hit with shrapnel or +pieces of shell traveling at a low velocity and therefore had torn +wounds and in many cases smashed bones. About three per cent of the +wounds were in the head and about fifteen per cent in the face or neck. +This led to the adoption by the French of a steel helmet called after +its inventor, Adrian. The helmets were first used in May, 1915. That +their use is justified is shown by statistics. Among fifty-five cases of +head wounds, forty-two happened to soldiers without helmets.</p> + +<p>Twenty-three of these had fractured skulls, while the remaining nineteen +had bad scalp wounds. Of the thirteen who wore helmets, not one had a +skull fracture. Five had slight wounds only, while none of those who had +worn a helmet died. Quite a number of those who had not did.</p> + +<p>In the Academy of Medicine Dr. Roussey brought up the point that due to +the helmet the number of cases of sudden death from wounds in the head +had been so decreased that the number of wounded with head injuries +treated in the hospitals had materially increased.</p> + +<p>The French helmet proved such a success that Belgium, Serbia, Russia and +Roumania equipped their troops with the same model. The French helmet +has a bursting bomb as insignia on its front and is light blue or khaki +color, depending on whether it is worn by the metropolitan, the French +home army or the French colonial army.</p> + + +<h4>THE BELGIAN HELMET.</h4> + +<p>The Belgian helmet is khaki-colored, with the Belgian lion on the front; +the Italian, greenish blue, with no insignia; the Serbian, +khaki-colored, with the Serbian coat of arms; the Russian, +khaki-colored, with the Russian coat of arms, and the Roumanian, +blue-gray, with the Roumanian coat of arms.</p> + +<p>The French have made more than 12,000,000 helmets, using about 12,000 +tons of steel. In other words, a ton of steel will make 1,000 helmets. +The British also equipped their troops with a steel helmet, which has no +ridge running from front to rear, as has the Adrian, no decorations, and +a rather wide brim, which runs all the way round. It is of a khaki +color.</p> + +<p>The Germans issued to a certain number of their men, generally those +most exposed in trench fighting, a steel helmet considerably heavier +than any of the allied helmets. It has a much higher crown, and comes +down more over the eyes and the sides and back of the head.</p> + +<p>All these helmets are supported by means of a leather skull cap inside, +which fitting closely to the head, distributes the weight over the whole +of the skull, instead of simply around the edge of it, as is the case +with ordinary headgear.</p> + +<p>Of course, these helmets will not protect against high velocity +projectiles. However, as they do protect the wearer from low velocity +projectiles, and as these are, because of infection, often as fatal as +severe wounds, it can easily be seen how much good has been +accomplished.</p> + +<p>A French writer in La Nature shows that 332 out of 479 abnormal wounds +were caused by shrapnel and pieces of shell having a low velocity.</p> + +<p>In 13 out of 15 cases of lung wounds, the projectiles did not have +velocity enough to completely traverse the body and come out.</p> + +<p>In 71 cases of joint wounds, 66 were due to low velocity shrapnel and +only 5 to high velocity bullets. Practically every one of these wounds +could have been prevented by breast and body pieces and knee and elbow +caps of armor.</p> + + +<h4>LOW VELOCITY MOST EFFECTIVE.</h4> + +<p>As for every man who afterward dies from a wound made by a high velocity +bullet there are about ten who die from wounds made by the low velocity +shrapnel and shell fragments, the importance is seen of protection +against these low velocity wounds if it can be had.</p> + +<p>The wearing of armor means the lessening of the mobility of the soldier. +In the open field lessening of mobility means a decrease in efficiency, +which cannot be tolerated. However, in trench warfare the mobility of +the individual does not count for so much, as even during an attack he +does not have to go far, and generally does it at a walk in the rear of +the barrage fire of his own artillery.</p> + +<p>Efficiency in warfare, as indicated by the keeping of such records, has +set the brains of the world at work, and armor is used to a limited +degree for the protection of men in greatly exposed fronts or open +positions.</p> + +<p>The Japanese in modern times were first to resort to the forerunner of +armor. They used shields of steel and in the siege of Port Arthur such +shields were strapped to the front of the body. The Germans in the +charges have frequently used double shields, advancing in groups of four +behind a steel protector carried by two men, leaving the other two free +to fire at the enemy through port holes in the armor shields.</p> + +<p>None of the armors has, however, proved its resistance to the high +velocity bullets which the powerful field guns rain against it. +Experiments are being made continuously along these lines, and Guy Otis +Brewster, of New Jersey, has developed a bullet-proof jacket and +headgear which it is said approximates perfection.</p> + +<p>In the presence of ordinance officers from the Picatinny Arsenal he +invited an expert military marksman to fire at him from a distance of 60 +yards. A Springfield rifle was used, with regulation ammunition. The +steel bullet had a velocity of 2740 feet a second. Only one shot was +fired, but it failed to penetrate the armor.</p> + + +<h4>COMPOSITION A SECRET.</h4> + +<p>The composition of the latter is a secret, beyond the fact that it +consists in part of steel. Jacket and headgear weigh 30 pounds; but the +material is so flexible that the soldier wearing such an outfit can +kneel, lie down, rise and run, charge from the trenches, use the +bayonet, or throw hand grenades, without impediment to his movements.</p> + +<p>It has been denied that dum-dum bullets, placed under ban by all +civilized nations, have been used by the Germans, but there is no doubt +that explosive bullets have been used. The report of the Belgian +Commission, which investigated the horrors when the Germans first +invaded King Albert's country, contains testimony which proves +conclusively that such missiles were used. These bullets were, in +effect, small shells containing an explosive chemical which was set off +by contact. Photographs taken of wounds show the effect which these +bullets produced.</p> + +<p>More than that, the Russians charged that along the northern frontier +the Germans fired glass bullets, although there is nothing to sustain +the belief that such missiles were generally used. The dum-dum bullet +is a soft-nosed missile which, when it strikes a bone, flattens out and +splatters, creating a jagged wound which it is almost impossible to +treat or heal. The Germans, in ordinary, use a steel jacketed bullet +which possesses high penetrative powers, while the French at the +beginning of the war were using the ordinary lead bullet.</p> + + +<h4>AN AMERICAN BULLET.</h4> + +<p>Among the recent developments is a bullet which had its origin in one of +the United States arsenals for manufacturing ammunition. This is a steel +bullet covered with lead. The effect of such a combination on the +penetrating quality of the bullet may be readily understood by anyone +who has ever tried the experiment of driving an ordinary needle into a +board through a cork. If the cork is placed on the board and the needle +pressed down through the cork until it touches the board, a powerful +blow from a hammer will force the needle into the board without +breaking. In the application of this principle to the manufacture of the +bullet, experiments proved that the soft lead acted as a guide or +sustainer which permitted the inner steel to penetrate without +deviation.</p> + +<p>And just as these oddities of warfare have been created to meet arising +situations, others have been created to care for the sick and +injured—those who have fallen victims of the agencies of destruction. +Who ever heard of a sand sled?</p> + +<p>Such sleds have been used effectively on the Eastern fronts to carry +wounded soldiers to the hospitals. They are long, staunchly constructed +sleds similar to those used on the farms in America for hauling plows, +cultivators and other agricultural implements across the fields which +have been furrowed.</p> + +<p>The sleds have broad runners which do not sink into the sands and can be +drawn easily. In winter these same sleds have served to haul the wounded +and sick over miles of snow and ice on the Russian frontier.</p> + +<p>Then, though it is not a weapon of offense, there is the tractor plow +which works at night. It is a war device to the extent that as England's +need for food has been great and constant the tractor plow has been used +to solve the problem of working the ground. On the estate of Sir Arthur +Lee, the director-general of food production in England, great +agricultural motors equipped with acetylene searchlights were kept at +work in the fields day and night.</p> + +<p>Dogs too have been ushered into the arena. No longer may the old English +expression, "Let Slip the Dogs of War," be regarded as a mere figure of +speech. The war dogs, and particularly the animals used by the Red Cross +on the battlefields, have assumed a regular status in the armies of the +world. In the European armies are thousands of dogs which have been +trained to act as messengers or spies, or to seek out on the +battlefields the wounded. The Germans use a canine commonly known as +"Boxers." These animals are a cross between the German mastiff and the +English bulldog, and on the fields of Europe they have proved to be +"kings" among the Red Cross dogs. The animals are first taught to +distinguish between the uniforms of the soldiers of their own country +and those of the enemy. Then they learn that the principal business in +life for them is to find and aid wounded soldiers.</p> + +<p>The animals are trained to search without barking and to return to +headquarters and urge their trainers to follow them with stretcher +bearers. Sometimes the dogs bring back such an article as a cap, tobacco +pouch or handkerchief. The dogs of the Red Cross carry on their collars +a pouch containing a first aid kit, by means of which a wounded soldier +may staunch the flow of blood or help himself until assistance arrives.</p> + +<p>It is reported that one of these dogs rescued fifty men on the Somme +battlefield in France. The animal known as Filax of Lewanno, is a +typical German sheepdog. Such dogs weigh from 50 to 65 pounds and are +very powerful, but the Irish terriers and Airedales have also been +trained to do effective work, as have the Great Danes and St. Bernards.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h3> + +<h4>WONDERFUL WAR WEAPONS.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Terrible Rapid-fire Gun—Armored Automobiles and Automobile +Artillery—Howitzers—Mounted Forts—Armored Trains—Observation +Towers—Wireless Apparatus—The Army Pantry</span>.</p> + + +<p>It is a long step from the old, smooth bore, flintlock rifle of the +Revolutionary days to the modern magazine gun, with its long-pointed +cartridges; and it is almost as great a step from the crude iron cannons +and smooth bore mortars of the Civil War, with their canister and grape +shot, down to the huge, 42 centimeter guns which have boomed their way +through France and Belgium.</p> + +<p>The patriotic citizen who is unfitted for military service no longer +sits at home and aids the armed forces of his country by melting pewter +spoons into bullets, or cutting patches of cloth to serve as wads to +pack down into the muzzle of guns. The powder horn and the bullet mould +are devices of the past. The whole world working in the old-fashioned +way could not have in the course of the "war-of-nations" made sufficient +bullets to supply the forces for a single week.</p> + +<p>Those who must sacrifice in the stress of war now turn their silverware +and precious metals into nuggets that may be sold to produce revenue, so +that the armed forces may purchase the machine-made cartridges and +weapons required to fight the enemy.</p> + +<p>Modern warfare has developed the climax in armament and the world has +learned more within the last few years about the devilish instruments of +destruction which human ingenuity has devised than was known in all the +ages before. Since Germany and Austria were the first into +action—actually precipitated the great conflict—and as by their years +of preparation they were ready for the emergency, it best serves the +purposes of those who seek enlightenment on the subject of armaments +and weapons to deal with the equipment of the Teuton forces.</p> + +<p>Other nations—England, France and the United States in +particular—have, in some directions, surpassed the Germans in +developing efficient weapons, but in the main, when Germany plunged into +the war, she had all around what was conceded to be the best equipment +that science and mechanics could supply.</p> + + +<h4>INFANTRY AND FIELD ARTILLERY.</h4> + +<p>While stories told of the awful havoc wrought by the German siege guns +in reducing the forts and fortifications in France and Belgium are true, +it is also true that the bulwark of the military organization is the +infantry and field artillery. The big guns may level the forts and +reduce them to powder, driving off the opposing forces, but the infantry +must advance and the small arms and rapid-fire guns must keep the +opposing forces from resuming the position which they had abandoned.</p> + +<p>The difficulty of handling the big guns has always been a problem, +except in fortifications and at fixed points of defense, and it has only +been within a few years that a solution of the trouble has been found. +The solution lay in the use of tractors, or the tractor principle, which +every person familiar with farming and the "traction engine" can +recognize.</p> + +<p>Germany and Austria, as in many other matters, solved the problem by +building mortars for field service which outclassed the heaviest +artillery of the old type, and mounting them on tractors. It would +require a team of probably forty horses to pull one of the German +42-centimeter guns over the rough ground, and then a relay would be +required every few hours. An immense number of horses would be required +and the transportation would be slow, and not certain at best.</p> + +<p>Early in the war Austria sent to the front a battery of 80-centimeter +howitzers, and from the famous Krupp gun works there were 21 and +28-centimeter howitzers. Later came the 42-centimeter guns, which are +classed as automobile field artillery. These are the weapons which +leveled the forts at Liege and were used to bombard Fort Maubeuge.</p> + +<p>The immense howitzers, with their caterpillar wheels, are taken apart +and transported to the scene of action in sections, or units. An +automobile tractor carries the artillery crew and tools and furnishes +the motive power. The second car carries the platform and turntable on +which the gun is mounted, and the third hauls the barrel, or gun proper.</p> + + +<h4>THE MOVING OF HEAVY WEAPONS.</h4> + +<p>The weapons can be moved anywhere, though they weigh as much as forty +tons in some cases. Sometimes it is necessary to build special roads +where fields must be crossed, but on the highways there is little +trouble. The big howitzers are built on the principle of the large +caliber guns used on battleships—that is, there is a system of recoil +springs and air cushions to take up the shock when the gun is fired, so +that the terrific energy, when the charge is exploded, shall not be +borne by the breech of the gun. The howitzers can be turned in any +direction, and the gearing attached to the mounting is such that the +barrels can be pitched at any angle.</p> + +<p>Such guns fire an explosive shell weighing from 500 to 1000 pounds, and +because of their form of construction—they have shorter barrels than +the naval guns—which reduces the surface of the barrel subject to +erosion, they are longer lived than the long guns. The endurance of the +guns is a factor because it is difficult to get repairs for such great +weapons on the field of battle.</p> + +<p>At the outbreak the contending forces are said to have had 4,000 guns in +the field artillery. Among the devices of interest identified with the +artillery is the armored automobile, which has been described as the +"cavalry" of motor driven artillery. The advent of the armored +automobile in the war changed many features of campaigning and helped to +revolutionize military methods. The armored automobile is an ordinary +chassis with a body made of chilled steel.</p> + +<p>Many types have been devised, including turreted automobile, mounting +one or two rapid fire guns which can be turned in any direction. The +armored motors have high-powered engines, and the chassis chosen for +these new instruments of war are of the heaviest types. Some have been +constructed especially for the purpose. One of these, used by the +Germans, had a "barbette" top, which looked like the shell of a +tortoise, fitted down over the chassis. Guns protruded from holes in the +front, back and sides.</p> + + +<h4>VALUE OF ARMORED CARS.</h4> + +<p>The armored cars have proved extremely valuable for scouting purposes. +They can sneak through and complete scouting where mounted men would be +detected, and besides, are better able to protect themselves against +attack. The cars also possess the ability to speed away out of range of +enemy detachments.</p> + +<p>The army officer, too, has taken to the armored automobile, and put +aside his horse. You cannot kill an automobile; and the armor laughs at +the bullets from small caliber guns. The officers can, with the +high-speed armored cars, travel from one end of a line to the other and +in a few hours make surveys and complete observations which would take +days were horses used.</p> + +<p>Very few of the light-armored cars used by the officers are armed, the +attache or aide of the officer carrying a rifle. Some of the armored +cars used for scouting and by the officers have, in the case of Germany, +been provided with sharp knives attached to the front of the machine. +These are steel blades vertically attached to the frame and hood, and +are designed to cut wires which the enemy may have stretched across +highways or passages to hinder progress.</p> + +<p>The armored covering on some of these cars is little more than a steel +box, with "port" holes all around. There is no hoop dome or cupola, and +the men are supposed to protect themselves by keeping their heads below +the sides of the box. Besides the driver, some of the cars carry two or +three men, who are further protected against the bullets of the enemy +and the chance missile from the sharpshooter by steel headpieces or +helmets.</p> + +<p>The Belgians have a type of car of heavy design, equipped with huge +headlights, as well as a searchlight to operate at night. The car has a +rapid fire gun mounted in a cupola-formed revolving turret. In the +matter of automobiles in the army, Italy outranked Germany at the +beginning of the war. While Germany had Mercedes and Opel trucks, +mounting five to seven rapid fire guns, which, with their steel armor +and solid tire disc wheels, were actually miniature forts, the Italians +had more formidable mounted creations of the same sort.</p> + + +<h4>ITALY'S SINGULAR POSITION.</h4> + +<p>As a matter of fact, Italy's position in regard to motors is unique +among the other countries in the war. Not only are the transportation +conditions different, but the motorcar industry in the country is on a +different basis. It is said to have been the only one of the countries +which was able to meet the demand put upon it for motors without going +into some other land to augment its supply. Italy did not buy a single +American motor vehicle for war purposes. There are cars of foreign makes +in the army and with the Red Cross, but these vehicles were in the +country—purchased for private use—when the war broke out and were +requisitioned.</p> + +<p>The big guns of the army are handled by motor tractors, 95 per cent of +the army mail service is motorcar service and 95 per cent of the +drinking water for the fighting forces is delivered by motortruck. +Profiting by the lessons of the other countries called to war, Italy had +time in which to prepare for emergencies, and when the order for +mobilizing forces was issued the motorcar factories were speeded up and +the workers were permitted to stay on the job, instead of being called +out to fill up the ranks of the army.</p> + +<p>Compared with the resources of America, the Italian motor industry is +not large; but the product is uniform and practically all of the +factories are conveniently located for distributing the machines to the +army on the frontier and readily providing repairs and parts. The +physical conditions of the country necessitated the use of certain types +of trucks and motors and the dropping of some of the practices of other +countries in motor usage.</p> + +<p>The rugged, irregular country, with its narrow roads, makes +impracticable the use of trucks larger than three and one-half tons, and +"trailers," largely employed by the French, German and Belgian armies, +were found not satisfactory. What is described as the Isotta Fraschini +heavy model armored artillery car of Italy is considered one of the most +effective of the "motor forts" or "land cruisers" developed during the +war.</p> + + +<h4>THE WHEELED FORT.</h4> + +<p>The wheeled fort has a battery of four rapid fire guns and a revolving +turret. Besides being full armored and turreted, the car has steel +wheels of the disc type, and is as formidable in appearance as it has +proven in practice. France has a type of the completely enclosed armored +motorcar which affords its crew unobstructed view on all sides through +lattice panels. Even the windshield is made on this plan. This car also +has a revolving turret and carries a 5-centimeter rapid fire gun and +possesses high speed.</p> + +<p>All of the powers have armored automobiles, and in Germany, England and +France the exigencies of conflict impelled the Governments to +practically commandeer all of the automobiles in the countries for war +purposes. Many of these cars were turned into armored cars of the +lighter type, and the number of such automobiles in use runs far into +the thousands. The United States has not made much fuss about it, but +has had armored cars in the regular army for several years.</p> + +<p>The experience gained in the campaign in Europe indicates that the +military authorities believe the high-powered, speedy cars, clad with +armor of medium weight and mounting one or two machine guns, are the +most valuable of all the "sheathed" cars. They can appear suddenly, +maintain a withering fire for a short period and then disappear +suddenly.</p> + +<p>As an instance of what the armored car accomplishes, it is recited that +when the German troops sought to invade the Belgian town of Alost a +detachment was sent through the streets in armored cars. The houses were +barricaded and the Germans feared snipers. There were no snipers when +the motorcars returned. More than a thousand Belgians were mowed down in +the streets by the rapid fire guns of the armored cars.</p> + + +<h4>IMPORTANCE OF THE AUTOMOBILE.</h4> + +<p>Evidence of how greatly the automobile is appreciated in its relation to +the modern army service is found in the fact that when America entered +the war and began the mobilization of its forces and resources, the +Quartermaster at Chicago was ordered to obtain bids for the delivery of +35,000 motortrucks of one and one-half tons capacity and 35,000 trucks +of three tons capacity. Bids were also asked on 1000 five-passenger +automobiles, 1000 runabouts, 1000 automobiles, in price ranging from +$1500 to $2000, several hundred motortrucks of half, three-quarter and +one ton capacity and 5000 motorcycles, and the same number of +motorcycles with auxiliary passenger capacity, or side cars.</p> + +<p>The motortruck, too, in modern warfare is a shoeshop. The care of the +feet is an important matter in the army, and the men, besides being +provided with good footwear, must have that footwear kept in serviceable +and comfortable condition. It is some job to keep the shoes of half a +million or more men in repair, and the United States Quartermaster +Department, in connection with their mobilization, included in its +equipment portable motor-power machines to nail on half soles for troops +in garrison and campaign. Such a machine will nail on a pair of soles in +five minutes. It weighs but 27 pounds and can be transported with the +troops on a motorcar, and may be used anywhere to keep the shoes in +serviceable shape until the troops can reach permanent camps, where new +footwear can be provided.</p> + + +<h4>FRANCE'S TRANSPORTATION RESOURCES.</h4> + +<p>At the outset of the war France is said to have had 100,000 passenger +cars, 25,000 motorbuses, taxicabs and motorcycles and 10,000 motortrucks +available for military use, and was able to give the various departments +of her military organization excellent transportation service. Besides +this, she had squads of automobile aeroplane cannon, and about 84 +12-centimeter and 15 5-centimeter Rimailho howitzers of the armored +artillery type. Russia is said to have been weak in automobile +equipment, having less than a thousand trucks in the Empire available +for military use; but this number was rapidly increased, upward of half +a thousand having been purchased within a short time.</p> + +<p>Austria and Germany together are said to have had something like 1500 +trucks and about 20,000 passenger cars available for army use. At the +start Germany alone had 250 armored automobiles, several score of +searchlight automobiles, or night scout cars, probably 8000 motorcycles +and more than 500 motor-driven field guns, besides the big tractors used +to draw the heavy howitzers. Aside from this, practically all the motor +vehicles in the country were commandeered, numbering upward of 75,000.</p> + +<p>While they are stationary devices, the forts which were stormed by the +Germans at Liege and Antwerp are properly part of the military equipment +used in the war. These forts, known as turret forts, are described on +preliminary inspection as looking like a row of huge tortoise or turtle +shells rising a few feet above the ground. The shell is, however, a +shell of chilled steel. Through it the guns protrude and are operated +very much like the guns on a battleship, the turret revolving. Under the +dome are vaults and the compartments of concrete, containing the +mechanism for moving the turrets, operating the guns, lifting the big +shells and handling the ammunition generally.</p> + +<p>The fortifications, which at Antwerp included nine intrenched sections, +were regarded as almost impregnable; but when they were built there were +no such field guns as the famous 42-centimeter guns which the Germans +brought to the attack. The forts themselves had no guns larger than a +7-inch caliber.</p> + + +<h4>FRANCE'S ARMORED FIGHTING MACHINES.</h4> + +<p>In the matter of movable guns, the French and Germans both had them +mounted on armored trains. One such train used by the French included +armored locomotive, flat cars on which were mounted the guns in +"barbettes," or steel turrets, and completely protected armored cars, +used to transport troops or detachments of men.</p> + +<p>A feature of the train was the observation tower. It was mounted upon +what would ordinarily be the cab of the locomotive. Such towers have in +one form or another become very common in the war. One type resembles +the motortruck ladder and platform devices used by the man who repairs +electric lights and wires in our city streets. Another is patterned +after the hook and ladder truck of the fire department. The tower, or +ladder, is raised after the fashion of the ladders in fighting a fire. A +couple of soldiers turn a crank, and the ladders are raised to a +perpendicular position and extended high into the air on the sliding or +telescope principle.</p> + +<p>The German and Austrian engineers also utilize observation ladders of a +less complicated mechanical nature. In use, and with a soldier perched +on top of them, they remind one of the toy devices with which we played +as children, using the slotted acrobats to do wonderful things atop the +"ladders." The ladders are carried in short sections, which may be +fastened together in a variety of ways, but a good idea of the manner in +which the ladders are used may be obtained if you can imagine a letter Y +made of ladders and turned upside down, with a soldier standing on top +of it.</p> + + +<h4>THE IMPORTANCE OF OBSERVATIONS.</h4> + +<p>And making observations is a highly important matter in modern warfare; +more important than it was in the old days. The long-range guns are +aimed and their fire directed by observation and calculation. The gunner +cannot see the target he is required to hit. His job is a mechanical +one—perhaps it would be better to say scientific—for he must read +mathematical calculations and interpret them into accurate gun action. +The guns may be on one side of a hill and the enemy on the other, and +they may be miles apart, yet the gunner must be able to get the range. +His efforts are directed by observers in aeroplanes or balloons, and the +range is established by calculations, so that the gunner must be +proficient in geometry, trigonometry and mathematics generally.</p> + +<p>Not all the great guns in the war when it started were owned by the +Germans, for England had 100-ton Armstrong pieces which were capable of +hurling a 2,200-pound projectile; but it was the modification of the +design of the large caliber guns and the method of mounting them, which +permitted them to be drawn wherever needed, that gave Germany such an +advantage.</p> + +<p>Most of the big guns are in the navy—on the huge dreadnoughts and +battleships—and therefore the fortifications at Helgoland, which are +designed to resist the bombardment of the heaviest naval guns, must be +regarded as equipment. Helgoland is the protecting fort of Germany's +most vulnerable point. It is the Gibraltar of Germany, and protects the +entrance to the Kiel Canal from the North Sea. If the British could get +past the fortifications to the Kiel Canal, it could establish a close-in +blockade which would render Germany helpless in a short time.</p> + +<p>Helgoland is an island fortress in the North Sea, in the center of which +is a mortar battery mounting 11-inch and 16-inch guns, capable of +puncturing the decks of the battleship which comes within range; and +these batteries have a range of from six to eight miles. The batteries +are ranged in tiers, one above the other, to a height of almost 180 feet +above the sea level, the heavy guns and pieces being placed below and +the lighter ordnance in the upper tiers. The guns range from 17.7-inch +caliber down to 8.2-inch. Germany calls Helgoland the "fortress +impregnable," and the developments of the war seem to indicate that the +description fits.</p> + + +<h4>SMALL GUNS OF VARIED INTERESTS.</h4> + +<p>In the smaller guns used in warfare there are many varieties of +interest. The United States prior to and with their entrance into war, +particularly during the period of the trouble along the Mexican border, +experimented with almost every known make of rapid fire machine and +field gun, and there was for a time much criticism because the +government did not adopt for army use the Lewis gun, which was adopted +by some of the foreign countries.</p> + +<p>The German army rifle carried by all the infantry is of the Mauser type, +first introduced in 1888 and gradually improved until 1898. The weapon, +because of the adoption of the improved model in 1898, has come to be +known as the "ninety-eight gun." It is a quick-firing weapon, from which +20 to 30 shots a minute may be projected by the soldier. The gun is +universally used and has a caliber of 7.9 millimeters, which provides +for the use of the smallest bullet which will work sufficient injury on +the enemy to make its use profitable.</p> + +<p>Experience in the Russian-Japanese war proved to the military +authorities that the use of a smaller caliber was not advisable. It was +found that the smaller bullet could, and in many cases did, pass through +a man's body without actually rendering him useless, and that in a large +percentage of cases—more than one-third—the wounded were back with +their troops within a few months.</p> + +<p>In the United States all of the forces are now provided with standard +arms or weapons. The army, the Marine Corps and the organized militia of +the States, absorbed into the body proper of national troops, have the +same firearms—the same service rifles, the same machine guns and field +guns and the same automatic pistols. One kind of cartridge—containing a +cylindro-conical bullet of copper-nickel, with a lead core—serves for +all rifles and for the machine guns as well.</p> + + +<h4>OLD FLINTLOCK IN WAR.</h4> + +<p>Many people, perhaps, will be surprised to learn that the Mexican war +was fought mainly with the antiquated flintlock muskets. When the +trigger was pulled the flint came down hard upon a piece of steel, and +the resulting spark was thrown into the "pan," igniting a pinch of +powder. The fire ran into the powder charge and the gun went off. Round +balls were used, and the loading was done with the help of a ramrod.</p> + +<p>There were already percussion rifles in those days, but General Winfield +Scott, who bossed the Mexican war, declared that he would have nothing +to do with those new-fangled weapons. The old smooth-bore flintlock was +good enough for him. In truth, the percussion gun of that period was not +as reliable as might have been wished. The cap was liable to get wet and +to fail to go off, whereas a good flint could be counted upon to yield a +spark every time.</p> + +<p>It was not until 1858 that the percussion rifle, still a muzzle-loader, +was generally used by the United States army. The Springfield, which was +the first breech-loader (one cartridge inserted at a time) came along +in 1870. In 1892 it was replaced by the first of our magazine rifles, +the Krag, and simultaneously we adopted smokeless powder, a European +invention.</p> + +<p>The regulation United States service rifle is a great improvement on the +Krag. It is loaded with "clips," holding five cartridges each. The +velocity of the bullet is greater, and the accuracy and rapidity of fire +are superior.</p> + + +<h4>FIGHTING RANGE 800 YARDS.</h4> + +<p>In the Mexican war the ordinary fighting range, with the smooth-bore +flintlock, was about 250 yards. In the Civil War, with the percussion +muzzle-loader, it was 350 to 400 yards. With the new service rifle, the +fighting range is 700 to 800 yards, and the infantryman is able to fire +at least twenty times as many shots in a given number of minutes as was +possible fifty years ago.</p> + +<p>The field artilleryman carries no rifle, but is provided with a +45-caliber automatic pistol and twenty-one cartridges. The men who +compose the machine-gun platoons have no rifles, but each one of them is +armed with the same sort of service pistol and a bolo. The latter is a +weapon new to our army, adopted as a result of military experience in +the Philippines. It is in effect a machete (a sugar cane chopping +knife), shortened and made heavier. At close quarters it is a formidable +weapon.</p> + +<p>The bolo embodies the best principles of the various razor-edged +fighting blades of the Filipinos, and was first adopted as a side arm of +the Marine Corps officers. The bolo, which is much heavier than an +ordinary sword, measures 24 inches from tip of handle to tip of blade, +and is forged from a piece of file steel.</p> + +<p>For many years the Marine Corps, except upon dress occasions, has had no +cutting weapon. It is not strange, therefore, that many of the officers +of the corps, while on duty in the Philippines, adopted for use in the +field that weapon of the Moro tribesmen.</p> + +<p>The introduction of the bolo as the field arm of the Marine Corps—the +sword having given place to the pistol several years ago in this branch +of the service—robs the time-tried and traditional Mameluke saber of +the corps of the distinction of being the only cutting weapon in the +equipment of this division of the Government's sea fighters.</p> + +<p>The Mamelukes are inseparably associated with the military history of +Egypt, the first country in which a regular military organization was +established, and a country in which the fighting element was the most +honored and powerful of all classes. This type of blade was adopted by +our Marine Corps in 1825, and later by the officers of the Royal Horse +Artillery of England.</p> + +<p>Until recently the allowance of machine guns in our army has been two to +a regiment, but abroad four to six are used.</p> + + +<h4>AUTOMATIC MACHINE RIFLES.</h4> + +<p>These guns are automatic machine rifles, firing ordinary rifle +cartridges, which (in the Benet-Mercie weapon, a French invention which +we have adopted) are supplied in brass clips of thirty. A small part of +the gas generated by the explosion of the individual cartridge operates +the mechanism, discharging the bullet, throwing out the empty shell and +making ready for the next shot.</p> + +<p>A machine gun is designed to enable one man to fire the equivalent of a +volley, or series of volleys, discharged by an entire platoon (one-third +of a company) of infantrymen. As at present developed, it represents a +step toward the evolution of a shoulder-rifle that will throw a +continuous stream of bullets.</p> + +<p>The latest government rifle—the weapons of the individual soldiers—are +manufactured at the Springfield (Mass.) Armory, which is the +government's great small-arms factory, and at the Rock Island (Ill.) +Arsenal—the facilities of the latter having hitherto been held in +reserve for emergency purposes. The rifle cartridges are turned out at +the Frankford Arsenal, in Philadelphia, and at private plants in Lowell, +New Haven, Bridgeport and Cincinnati. These concerns and another near +St. Louis also make the cartridges for the automatic pistols.</p> + +<p>At the outbreak of the world war we had 150 batteries of light field +guns and 45 batteries of heavy artillery (four guns to each battery), +including cannon provided for by Congress, and since then delivered. +There was an inadequate supply of ammunition for the heavy guns.</p> + + +<h4>MUNITION SUPPLY AUGMENTED.</h4> + +<p>The ammunition supply was immediately augmented and field guns of +various calibers turned out as fast as possible, including 9-inch +howitzers.</p> + +<p>A 3-inch field gun fires projectiles weighing 15 pounds, with a muzzle +velocity of 1700 feet per second.</p> + +<p>A 4.7-inch field gun fires projectiles weighing 60 pounds, with the same +velocity.</p> + +<p>A 6-inch howitzer fires projectiles weighing 120 pounds, with a muzzle +velocity of 900 feet per second.</p> + +<p>The principal difference between the field gun and the howitzer is that +the latter can be pointed at a high angle, to assail infantry protected +by intrenchments, or for other purposes.</p> + +<p>While reference has been made to siege guns, which were used by the +Germans in their attacks on the Belgian and French forts, the fact is +that the large caliber mortars and howitzers are what wrought the havoc.</p> + +<p>The large caliber howitzers and mortars throw shells containing huge +charges of explosives, and are more adaptable in their application than +the ordinary siege guns or cannons.</p> + +<p>One novelty which had not been used up to the entrance of the United +States into the war is a device invented by a Los Angeles man, which +makes a "periscope gun" of any ordinary service piece.</p> + +<p>In trench warfare, as developed abroad, the periscope has been used by +the men in the trenches to observe the movements of the opposing forces +and watch for scouts without exposing themselves to the fire of +"snipers" or sharpshooters, who are always looking for a head or mark to +aim at.</p> + +<p>The new device comprises two mirrors attached to the gun by a metal +frame in such manner that one mirror is above the range of vision and +reflects the image to be fired at upon the other mirror below the stock +or butt of the gun. The attachment enables the soldier sitting in a +trench or shelter to accurately aim his gun and conveniently shoot while +his head is kept below the safety line, or top of the parapet, or +properly built trench.</p> + + +<h4>THE TRENCH PERISCOPE.</h4> + +<p>With this attachment, approved by the United States Ordnance Department, +a rifleman, from his concealed point of vantage, can survey a 30-foot +field at 200 yards. The attachment can be removed at will and the metal +bars and parts can be easily carried. The device adds about one and +one-half pounds to the weight of the gun.</p> + +<p>In the same category with the aeroplane, the automobile, the submarine, +the torpedo, in their effect upon the method of waging modern warfare +are the telephone and the wireless telegraph. There were no telephones +and no wireless instruments in the days of our own Civil War, and the +stories related of the bravery and astuteness displayed by orderlies, +messengers and scouts of those days will not be repeated.</p> + +<p>Today the army carries a complete telephone system and wonderful +wireless apparatus. The commander sits in his headquarters and +communicates with his officers in all parts of the field, reaching +points miles distant. Wires are strung through trenches, along fences +and wherever needed, and telephone "booths" are set up wherever it is +found necessary. Switchboards are mounted on motor cars and encased in +armor plate. The "repair" wagons are motor vehicles, and lines cut or +destroyed are quickly repaired or replaced.</p> + +<p>Aerial stations for the wireless are carried, and are of many varieties. +Some of them are similar to the observation towers and ladders. The +French army regulations provide for wireless service between the general +staff headquarters and the army corps, connecting these with the heavy +cavalry divisions and lines of communication. The wireless companies in +the French army are made up of 10 officers and 293 men.</p> + +<p>Nearly all of the other nations have patterned their wireless companies +after the French. The company carries 302 miles of wire and cable and +about 96 sets of instruments. The rate of operation is more than 400 +words a minute. The mast for the aerial station is made in sections, on +the telescope plan, and can be erected by a trio of men in a few +minutes. The whole outfit for a station weighs about 750 pounds and the +range of service is about 200 miles.</p> + + +<h4>"KNAPSACK" STATIONS.</h4> + +<p>There are, in addition to the field stations, "knapsack" stations, which +are divided into sections so that four soldiers can carry an outfit. The +sections weigh about 20 pounds each. The small station set up with this +apparatus has a range of from 5 to 10 miles and in service replaces the +orderlies and such visual signs and signalling, as was used before the +wireless came into existence. Such an outfit can forward more +information in a few minutes than a whole squadron of orderlies could +riding at full speed.</p> + +<p>The aeroplanes carrying a wireless outfit can communicate with the field +stations, and have rendered wonderful service on the battlefields. The +cavalry also carry wireless outfits, and in the Allied armies the second +regiment of every cavalry brigade has a wireless detachment of 4 +troopers, 1 cyclist and 3 horses, besides a wagon. There is also a +division with tools and material for both destroying and repairing +lines.</p> + +<p>The French army also has automobile wireless stations. The automobile +outfit is complete in every particular and is not augmented. It carries +its own crew and has a traveling radius of several hundred miles. The +car containing the station is completely enclosed and the walls are +deadened so that the noise made by the apparatus may not betray the +presence of the station to the enemy scouts.</p> + +<p>The practical application of portable wireless outfits to military usage +is probably less than four years old, but the portables can transmit +messages over a radius of 200 to 250 miles. Expressed in technical +terms, the portable stations have a capacity of about 200 mile +wave-lengths.</p> + +<p>The one weakness of the wireless is that the enemy can purloin secrets, +though adroitness in manipulation can overcome some of this difficulty.</p> + + +<h4>A WORD ABOUT "HEAVY ARTILLERY."</h4> + +<p>It would not do to mention armaments and weapons without a word about +the "heavy artillery" of the commissary department, for this branch of +the army service is represented by formidable field kitchens, which are +again carried on trucks or motor cars. The officers' field kitchen +follows the advance of the officers to the field of action. Some of +these kitchens, particularly those of the Kaiser and the Crown Prince in +the German army, are described as almost luxurious. They contain +complete equipment—range, bake-oven, pantry, ice-box, china closet and +every device needed for preparing a complete meal.</p> + +<p>Supplies are hurried after the troops in motor trucks from stations +where the supplies are delivered by rail and soups and sturdy meals are +prepared which were lacking in the campaigns through which the soldiers +of the Civil War passed. The pioneer mobile military field kitchen which +has been the subject of widespread comment was developed by the German +army.</p> + +<p>It consists of a four-wheeled vehicle drawn by two horses, though +motors have supplanted the horses in some cases. The front carriage is +detachable from the rear and is actually a separate contrivance. On the +rear truck is a 200-quart copper, double, or jacketed vat. Also a +70-quart coffee tank. Both receptacles have separate fireboxes and ash +pits. One section carries extra rations for the men, the daily quota of +provisions, extra rations for horses, folding canvas water pails and +utensils.</p> + +<p>The actual food is cooked within the vat or caldron inside the water +jacket, so that the heat does not come in contact with the food direct, +thus preventing burning. The food will cook slowly for hours when once +the water is heated, and will remain hot for a long time. The men can +get water in an emergency and hot coffee is always ready for the +sentries and men on guard duty to carry with them at night. Of course a +bottle of the thermos type is used by these men so that they can have +hot coffee when on the line of duty. The kitchen outfits are complete +and so arranged that they can be rushed over rough ground without +spilling their contents.</p> + +<p>Electric flash lights, batteries for setting off dynamite and other +explosives used for blowing out trenches and other fortifications, +searchlights, mirror signaling devices, illuminating bombs, which are +shot high in the air to explode and illuminate the field for hundreds of +yards, signal bombs, and many ingenious contraptions never dreamed of +are part of the army's equipment used on the battlefields of the +greatest war that the world has ever known.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h3> + +<h4>THE WORLD'S ARMIES.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Efficient German Organization—The Landwehr and +Landsturm—General Forms of Military Organization—The Brave French +Troops—The Picturesque Italian Soldiery—The Peace and War +Strength—Available Fighting Men—Fortifications</span>.</p> + + +<p>No one scoffs at the military organization which Germany has developed +through the years—yes, almost centuries—of moulding and training, for +Germany has proved herself efficient, even if egotistical and +domineering. She built up what at the beginning of the war was +recognized as the most powerful, most efficient and well balanced +military organization the world has ever known. And it was not an army +in the sense that America has been taught to think of armies. It was a +trained nation for war—a nation armed—rather than a small, compact +fighting machine.</p> + +<p>The strength of the German army on October 1, 1913, has been given in +fairly authentic reports as 790,788 men and 157,916 horses. Of the men +30,253 were officers and 2,483 sanitary officers. There were 104,377 +non-commissioned officers and 641,811 common soldiers. The general +divisions were 515,216 infantry and 85,593 cavalry, 126,042 artillery, +and the rest in the general service, including the commissary and +quartermasters' departments, as these are known in America. The +estimated army on a war footing is more than four times this number and +approximates about 4,000,000, while the entire available force was given +at probably 8,000,000.</p> + +<p>The infantry is designated as the main body of the army. The infantrymen +carry the "98" gun, already referred to, which is an improved Mauser, +and the non-commissioned officers and ambulance drivers carry revolvers. +There are several classes of infantrymen, a distinction being made +between the sharpshooters, and some of the others, variously known as +grenadiers, musketeers and fusileers.</p> + +<p>The cavalry is armed with lance, saber and carbine. There are +distinctions in this branch of the service, too, among the cavalry units +being cuirassiers, hussars, uhlans and dragoons. The field artillery +carries batteries of cannon and light howitzer, and the drivers are +armed with a sword and revolver. The cannoneers have a short knife or +dagger as well as the revolver.</p> + +<p>The communication troops are what parallel the engineers in the United +States army. They build the roads, put up the telegraph lines and +telephone service, construct bridges and make the travel possible.</p> + + +<h4>STRENGTH OF GERMAN ARMY.</h4> + +<p>While the full strength of the German army is given at 4,000,000 on a +war footing, the total availables from the nation's reserve is double +that sum. These forces are gathered from three sources: the first line, +with an estimated strength of 1,750,000; the Landwehr 1,800,000, and the +Landsturm 4,500,000.</p> + +<p>All who enter the service pass into the Landsturm after 19 years and +remain until they are 45. The cavalry service is three years with the +colors and four years in the army reserve. The horse artillery are +subject to the same service, while those in other branches serve two +years with the colors and five with the army reserve. The soldier passes +from the army reserve into what is described as the Landwehr, where +artillerymen and cavalrymen remain three years; those of other branches +of the military five years. The soldier passes from the first division +or class of Landwehr to the second, where he remains until his 39th +birthday.</p> + +<p>The Landsturm of the first class includes those between the ages of 17 +and 39, who have not reached the age of service, and those who have not +been called into active service because the ranks were full and there +was no room for them in the regular army. The second class includes +those who have passed through the other branches and whose ages are +between 39 and 45.</p> + +<p>There is a wide difference between the military organizations of the +different countries. Whereas the United States army regiment +approximates 1500 men, the German army regiment contains almost 3000. In +the German army six battalions form an infantry regiment. Two regiments +form a brigade, two brigades a division, and two divisions an army +corps. There are 10 divisions composed of 3 brigades each, but of course +the whole organization was augmented when war broke out. Adding the +necessary auxiliary troops, viz: an artillery brigade of 12 batteries +composed of 6 guns each—or 4 in the case of the horse Batteries—a +regiment of cavalry of 4 squadrons, an engineer battalion, sanitary +troops, etc., a German 3-brigade division at war strength numbers about +21,000, and an army corps—to which are further attached 4 batteries of +howitzers and a battalion of rifles—about 43,000 combatants. The +cavalry division is composed of 3 brigades of 2 regiments each and 2 or +3 batteries of horse artillery, a total of 24 squadrons and 8 to 12 +guns.</p> + +<p>In a general way it may here be interpolated that the organization of an +army is given in the military manuals as follows:</p> + + +<h4>INFANTRY.</h4> + +<p>A squad is 8 men under the command of a corporal.</p> + +<p>A section is 16 men under the command of a sergeant.</p> + +<p>A platoon is from 50 to 75 men under a lieutenant.</p> + +<p>A company is 3 platoons, 200 to 250 men, under a captain.</p> + +<p>A battalion is 4 or more companies under a major.</p> + +<p>A regiment is 3 or more battalions under a colonel, or a +lieutenant-colonel.</p> + +<p>A brigade is 2 or 3 regiments under a brigadier-general.</p> + +<p>A division is 2 or more brigades under a major-general.</p> + +<p>An army corps is 2 or more divisions, supplemented by cavalry, +artillery, engineers, etc., under a major-general or lieutenant-general.</p> + + +<h4>CAVALRY.</h4> + +<p>A section is 8 men under a corporal.</p> + +<p>A platoon is 36 to 50 men under a lieutenant, or junior captain.</p> + +<p>A troop is 3 to 4 platoons, 125 to 150 men, under a captain.</p> + +<p>A squadron is 3 troops under a senior captain, or a major.</p> + +<p>A regiment is 4 to 6 squadrons under a colonel.</p> + +<p>A brigade is 3 regiments under a brigadier-general.</p> + +<p>A division is 2 or 3 brigades under a major-general.</p> + + +<h4>ARTILLERY.</h4> + +<p>A battery is 130 to 180 men, with 4 to 8 guns, under a captain.</p> + +<p>A group or battalion is 3 or 4 batteries under a major.</p> + +<p>A regiment is 3 or 4 groups (battalions) under a colonel.</p> + +<p>When regiments are combined into brigades, brigades into divisions, and +divisions into army corps, cavalry, artillery, and certain other +auxiliary troops, such as engineers, signal corps, aeroplane corps, +etc., are joined with them in such proportions as has been found +necessary. Every unit, from the company up, has its own supply and +ammunition wagons, field hospitals, etc.</p> + + +<h4>THE UNITED STATES ARMY.</h4> + +<p>Prior to 1915 the regular United States army was a mere police body as +compared with the armed forces of other countries. It was concededly +highly efficient, but for the purpose of entering into conflict with +such forces as those presented by Germany, France and some of the other +European countries it was admittedly inadequate.</p> + +<p>The entire force consisted of 5,004 officers and 92,658 men. The forces +were divided into 15 regiments of cavalry and 765 officers and 14,148 +men; 6 regiments of field artillery, with 252 officers and 5,513 men; +the coast artillery with 715 officers and 19,019 men, and 30 regiments +of infantry, with 1,530 officers and 35,008 men. The Philippine scouts +had 182 officers and 5,733 men; the Military Academy 7 officers and +6,266 men and the Porto Rico regiment of infantry with 32 officers and +591 men.</p> + +<p>The signal corps had 106 officers and 1,472 men, and the engineer corps +237 officers and 1,942 men. There were also about 6000 recruits in the +various branches of the service under training.</p> + +<p>The marine corps, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, had +346 officers and 9,921 enlisted men.</p> + + +<h4>THE REGULAR ARMY.</h4> + +<p>The regular army was supplemented by the National Guards of the various +States which had 7,578 regiments with 9,103 commissioned officers and +123,105 enlisted men, or a total organization of 132,208. The "reserve +militia," which was in fact little more than a name, consisted of the +availables for service between the ages of 18 and 45 years, and +estimated on the basis of population, numbered about 20,000,000.</p> + +<p>Before there was any real indication that the country would become +actively involved in the world war steps were taken to reorganize and +develop an efficient army, and under the Act which became effective on +July 1, 1916, and which provides for the establishment of basic units +for the army, the War Department orders and regulations fixed the basis +of the organization as follows:</p> + +<p>Sixty-four infantry regiments, 25 cavalry regiments, 21 regiments of +artillery, a coast army corps, the brigade division, army corps, and +army headquarters, with their detachments and troops. A general staff +corps, adjutant general's department, inspector general department, +judge advocate general department, quartermaster corps, medical +department, corps of engineers, and ordnance department, signal corps, +officers of the bureau of insular affairs, militia bureau and detached +officers.</p> + +<p>The law specifies that the total armed force shall include the regular +army, volunteer army, officers' reserve corps, enlisted reserve corps, +and the National Guard of the various States, subject to call for duty +within the borders of the United States.</p> + +<p>The reorganization of the army was being effected at the time Uncle Sam +was called to fight for humanity, and only an approximation of the +condition can be made, for about two-thirds of the National Guard had +been taken into the regular service incident to the trouble with Mexico, +when the Guardsmen were summoned to the border to protect the country, +and recruiting was proceeding in all branches of the service to bring +all the regiments up to a war footing.</p> + + +<h4>UNITS ON WAR FOOTING.</h4> + +<p>The various units, on a war footing, are: Infantry regiment, 1,800 men; +cavalry regiment, 1,250 men; field artillery, light regiment, 1,150; +field artillery, horse regiment, 1,150; field artillery, heavy regiment, +1,240; field artillery, mountain regiment, 1,100; engineers, pioneer +battalion, 490; engineers, pioneer battalion, mounted, 270; engineers, +pontoon battalion, 500; signal troops, field battalion, 160; signal +troops, field (cavalry) battalion, 170; signal troops, aero squadron, 90 +men. Trains—infantry division: ammunition, 260; supply, 190; sanitary, +530; engineer, 10. Cavalry: ammunition, 60; supply, 220; sanitary, 300.</p> + +<p>A division of infantry consists of 3 brigades of infantry, 1 cavalry +regiment, 1 artillery brigade, 1 regiment of engineers, 1 field signal +battalion, 1 aero squad, 1 ammunition train, 1 supply train, 1 +engineer's train and 1 sanitary train, and comprises approximately +22,000 men and 7,500 horses and mules, and 900 vehicles, including guns. +The latter figures are, however, changed by reason of the introduction +of motor trucks, and automobiles, there being a consequent reduction in +the number of horses and mules and a slight increase in the number of +men.</p> + +<p>A cavalry division consists of 3 cavalry brigades, 1 regiment of field +artillery, 1 battalion of mounted engineers, 1 field signal battery, +mounted; 1 aero squadron, 1 ammunition, 1 supply, 1 engineer and 1 +sanitary train.</p> + +<p>A brigade, in the main, consists of three regiments, the infantry having +5,500 men, cavalry brigade 2,500 and artillery brigade 2,500 men.</p> + +<p>Under the reorganization plan the United States army would have about +293,000 in the service, but with the advent of the country's entrance +into the conflict of world powers Congress passed the Conscription bill +authorizing the drafting, for military purposes, all young men between +the ages of 21 and 31 in the country.</p> + + +<h4>MILLIONS NOT IN THE COUNTRY'S SERVICE.</h4> + +<p>The registration of those subject to call under this bill showed that +there were about 11,000,000 men in the country, not in the army, navy or +supporting branches, available. The bill designed to produce, within a +year from the time of the signing of the law by President Wilson, of a +national army of more than 1,000,000 trained and equipped men, backed by +a reserve of men and supplies and by an additional 500,000 under +training.</p> + +<p>Meantime the State authorities were authorized to fill up the National +Guard units and regiments to full war strength, so that with the regular +army there would be a total of 622,954—293,000 regular and 329,954 +guardsmen, to be taken over by the War Department. This was the physical +state of the army when the country found it necessary to ship men into +France to assist the Allies in their fight against the German and +Austrian forces, and General Pershing was sent to command the American +troops.</p> + +<p>The United States army and all of the military branches are armed with +the Springfield magazine rifle, which holds five cartridges. It shoots a +pointed bullet of tin and lead and is of .30 inch caliber. The Colt +automatic pistol is used as the service weapon by officers and those +requiring this sort of arm. It is a .45 caliber pistol with a magazine +holding seven cartridges, which can be fired successively by simply +holding the trigger back.</p> + + +<h4>THE FRENCH ARMY.</h4> + +<p>Military spirit in France has had an almost incredible resurrection +within the past few years. The increase in the standing army of Germany +was watched closely, and as new units were added to the standing army of +the latter country France retaliated by lengthening the term of military +service from two to three years. This accomplished practically the same +purpose without causing a ripple of excitement, and as France determined +to recover her lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine her fight is to the +limit of her endurance.</p> + +<p>There were, at the outbreak of war, 869,403 men in the National Army of +France, which was composed of the Metropolitan army, having a total of +753,403 men, of the Colonial army, numbering 116,000 men. These figures +do not include the personnel of the Gendarmerie, or military police, +which numbered 25,000 men.</p> + +<p>Military service is compulsory in France and all males between the ages +of 20 and 48 years must serve three years in the army, the only cause +for exemption being physical disability. Following the active service +the soldier passes to the reserve for 11 years, after which he is seven +years in the Territorial army and seven years in the Territorial +reserve. The training in the active reserve consists of two periods of +training and maneuvers which last for four weeks each, in the +Territorial army one period of two weeks, and in the Territorial +reserve, no fixed period. There are more than 2,000 reservists per +battalion produced by the length of the reserve service, and when the +troops are mobilized the active units can be easily maintained at full +war strength. The number available in this way gives enough men for each +battalion and regiment in the field with enough men left over for +routine home guard work.</p> + + +<h4>FRENCH MILITARY DIVISIONS.</h4> + +<p>There are two infantry regiments, composed of from six to eight +battalions, to the brigade, in the French army, with two brigades to a +division and two divisions to an army corps. A field artillery regiment, +consisting of nine batteries of four guns each, is attached to each +division. With nine field and three howitzer batteries and six +reinforcing batteries added under mobilization, each corps on a war +footing has 144 guns. There is also added to every army corps in the +field one cavalry brigade of two regiments, one cavalry battalion, +engineer companies and sanitary and service troops. The cavalry +divisions are composed of three brigades of two regiments each—together +with three batteries of horse artillery. There is in an army corps, when +mobilized, approximately 33,000 combatants, and in a cavalry division +4,700 men. An aeronautical corps in the French army consists of 334 +aeroplanes and 14 dirigibles.</p> + +<p>In the Reserve army at the time of mobilization there were two divisions +in each region, corresponding to those in the active army. When they +were mobilized the 36 reserve divisions contained virtually the same +organization and strength as the troops of the line. There were a large +number of troops for garrisoning the various fortresses when the +regional regiments, engineers and foot artillery were utilized for this +work.</p> + +<p>The Territorial army also consists of 36 divisions and garrison troops. +When the remaining men of the Reserve and Territorial armies were +summoned to the depots they were available to maintain the field army at +full strength.</p> + +<p>In the French field army there were 20 army corps, a brigade consisting +of 14 battalions, and 10 divisions of cavalry, when war was declared. +When this was raised to its full war strength the active army numbered +1,009,000 men, the reserves and depots 1,600,000, the Territorial army +818,000, and the Territorial Reserve 451,000, a grand total of 3,878,000 +soldiers. At this critical time, therefore, France had at her command +about 5,000,000 trained men.</p> + +<p>Lebel magazine rifles of .315 inches caliber are used by the infantry, +while the cavalry uses the Lebel carbine. The field piece is a +rapid-fire gun of 7.5 centimeters, or 2.95 inches, of the model of 1907, +and is provided with a shield for the protection of the gunners. A +howitzer of 12 or 15.5 centimeters is the type used by the French army.</p> + +<p>The French artillery is generally admitted to be in a class by itself, +and the commissariat is excelled by none other. The infantry is most +deceptive in appearance, but the ability of the French to march and +attack has never been surpassed.</p> + + +<h4>THE RUSSIAN ARMY.</h4> + +<p>There are 1,284,000 men in the Russian army in times of peace, while the +war strength is 5,962,306. The young man of Russia is compelled to enter +the army at the age of 20 years, the military service being compulsory +and universal, terminating at the age of 43 years. The period of service +in the active army is three years in the case of the infantry and +artillery, and four years in other branches of the service. The soldier +then passes to the reserve, where he serves for 14 or 15 years, during +which period he receives two trainings of six weeks each. After 18 years +in the active and reserve armies he is transferred to the Territorial +army for five years. There also exists a modified system of volunteers +for one year who supply the bulk of officers required for the reserve +upon mobilization.</p> + +<p>The Russian army is divided into three forces, the army, of the +European Russia, the army of the Caucasus and the Asiatic army. There +are 1,000 men in a Russian battalion, 4 battalions constituting a +regiment, 2 regiments a brigade and 2 brigades a division.</p> + + +<h4>RUSSIAN FIELD BATTERIES.</h4> + +<p>The field batteries are composed of 8 guns, the horse batteries of 6. +The ordinary army corps is made up of 2 divisions, a howitzer division +and one battalion of sappers, and has a fighting strength of +approximately 32,000 men. The rifle brigades form separate organizations +of 8 battalions with 3 batteries attached. The Cossacks, who hold their +lands by military tenure, are liable to service for life, and provide +their own equipment and horses. At 19 their training begins; at 21 they +enter the active regiment of their district; at 25 they go into what is +termed the "second category" regiment, and at 29 the "third category" +regiment, followed by 5 years in the reserve. After 25 years of age, +their training is 3 weeks yearly. In European Russia the field army +consists of the Imperial Guard and Grenadier Corps, 27 line army corps +and 20 cavalry divisions; in the Caucasus of 3 army corps and 4 cavalry +divisions. The Asiatic army is composed of Russians with a few Turkoman +irregular horse, and is mainly stationed in East Siberia. Since the +Russian-Japanese war these forces have been increased and reorganized +into a strong army which, at the outbreak, was capable of mobilizing, +together with auxiliary troops, more than 200,000 men.</p> + +<p>The small-arm of the infantry is the "3-line" rifle of the 1901 model. +It has a magazine holding five cartridges, a caliber of .299 inches, a +muzzle velocity of 2,035 foot seconds, and is sighted to 3,000 yards. +The arm of the cavalry and Cossacks has a barrel 2-3/4 inches shorter, +but uses the same ammunition, and is provided with a bayonet which no +other mounted troops use. The field piece is a Krupp rapid-fire, +shielded gun, of the 1902 model, with a muzzle velocity of 1,950 foot +seconds, the shell weighing 13-1/2 pounds.</p> + + +<h4>AUSTRIA-HUNGARIAN ARMY.</h4> + +<p>There are 472,716 men in the army of Austria-Hungary during times of +peace, with a war strength of 1,360,000 soldiers. Military service is +universal and compulsory, beginning at the age of 19 years, and ending +at the age of 43 years. The term of service in the common or active arm +of the service is for two years in the case of the infantry and three +years in the cavalry and horse artillery.</p> + +<p>There is a Landwehr, or first reserve, in which the term of service is +10 years in the infantry, and seven for the cavalry or horse artillery, +which service is followed by that in the Landsturm, or second reserve, +in which the soldier serves until his forty-second birthday. Hungary +possesses a separate and distinct Landwehr and Landsturm, which +constitute the Hungarian National army. There is also a supplementary +reserve intended to maintain the units of the common army at full +strength.</p> + +<p>The Empire is divided into 16 army corps districts, each presumed to +furnish a complete army corps of two divisions to the active army. Every +infantry division is composed of two brigades of 8 battalions each, 1 +artillery brigade and 10 batteries of six guns, a regiment of cavalry, +and a rifle battalion. The army corps also contains a regiment of field +artillery or howitzers, a pioneer battalion and a pontoon company, and +numbers about 34,000 combatants.</p> + +<p>There are 6 permanent cavalry divisions, each made up of 2 brigades—24 +squadrons, 3 batteries of horse artillery and a machine-gun detachment +numbering about 4,000 men. It is estimated that the war strength is, +active army, 1,360,000; Austrian Landwehr, 240,000; Hungarian Landwehr, +220,000; Landsturm, 2,000,000 and reserve of 500,000, or a grand total +of 4,300,000.</p> + +<p>The infantry carries the Mannlicher magazine rifle, .315-caliber and a +cavalry carbine of the same make. The field gun is a Krupp which uses a +14-1/2-pound shrapnel and the field howitzer is a 10.5 centimeter piece +which fires a 30-pound shell. The Hungarian cavalry is accounted fine, +but the main force is not regarded as efficient as the German or French.</p> + + +<h4>THE ITALIAN ARMY.</h4> + +<p>The army of Italy on a peace footing is only about 250,860 men, +exclusive of the troops in Africa, but the country is able to mobilize a +large force, and some of its branches of service are the most efficient +in the world. Service is compulsory and general, beginning at the age of +20 years. After two years in the standing army there are six years in +the reserve, four years in what is known as the mobile militia and seven +years in the territorial militia.</p> + +<p>There is compulsory training in both the reserve and the territorial +militia, ranging from two weeks to six weeks. In organization each +division of the army consists of 2 brigades composed of 2 regiments, +comprising 3 battalions, together with a regiment of field artillery, +with 5 batteries. The division has a war strength of 14,156 officers and +men and 30 guns. The cavalry division comprises 2 brigades of 4 +regiments and 2 horse batteries. Each army corps has two divisions in +which are included a regiment of field artillery, 3 heavy batteries, a +regiment of cavalry and one of light infantry.</p> + +<p>There is available for army service the military police, known as the +Carabinieri, besides the aeronautical corps, with half a dozen or more +companies, 30 aeroplanes and a dozen airships. There are also the +frontier troops organized for defense of the mountains, and which troops +waged heroic and picturesque warfare in the mountain passes. There are +in these troops 8 regiments of Alpine infantry, comprising 26 +battalions, and 2 regiments of 36 mountain batteries.</p> + +<p>The army strength approximates 2,600,000, made up of 700,000 active +army, 400,000 mobile militia, which is the second line of defense, and +the territorial militia, about 1,500,000. The infantry is armed with a +magazine rifle of 6.5 millimeters caliber known as the Mannlicher +Carcano, but up to the beginning of the war the territorials used a +different type.</p> + + +<h4>GREAT BRITAIN'S ARMY.</h4> + +<p>The military establishment of Great Britain consists of the Regular army +and the Territorial army, aside from the Indian army and the local +forces in the various colonies. These armies are recruited from youth +between the ages of 18 and 25 years, who are recruited by voluntary +enlistment. The enlistment period is for 12 years, although it can be +prolonged under certain circumstances to 21 years.</p> + +<p>Three to nine years is the period with the colors, and the remainder of +the enlistment is with the Army Reserve. Many men elect to serve seven +years with the colors and five with the reserve. Recruits are subjected +to five months' training, and each year are called out for six weeks, +supplemented by six days' musketry practice for the infantry.</p> + +<p>The Home army consists of 9,740 officers and 172,610 men, the Army +Reserve of 147,000 and the Special Reserve of 80,120, and the +Territorial army of 313,485, a total of 724,955 men. Raised to war +strength, these forces would number 29,330 officers, 772,000 men and +2,072 guns, the batteries being of six guns, except the heavy batteries +and those of the Territorial army, which have four. During the Boer War +England put more than 1,000,000 men in the field.</p> + +<p>The United Kingdom is divided into seven "commands," and the London +district, all of which include from two to three territorial divisions, +and one to four territorial cavalry brigades, in addition to detachments +of varying size from the Regular army. Two nearly full divisions are +stationed at Aldershot and in Ireland, one complete division in the +Southern and one in the Eastern "command." There are also six aeroplane +squadrons, each with 18 aeroplanes.</p> + +<p>The Lee-Enfield rifle, caliber .303, is the arm of the infantry and +cavalry. In the Regular army the field artillery has an 18-pounder +Armstrong gun, the horse artillery a 13-pounder, the field howitzers are +40-pounders, and the heavy batteries are armed with 60-pounders.</p> + +<p>The Territorial army was organized along the lines of the American +militia, and could scarcely be expected to distinguish itself when +pitted against the German regulars.</p> + + +<h4>BELGIAN ARMY PEACE FOOTING.</h4> + +<p>The Belgian army peace footing is 3,542 officers and 44,061 men, with a +war strength estimated at from 300,000 to 350,000. The infantry is armed +with the Mauser rifle, the artillery with a shielded Krupp quick-fire +piece of 7.5-centimeter caliber.</p> + +<p>In 1913 the Netherlands had in its standing army 1,543 officers and +21,412 men and 152 guns. On a war footing it could probably be raised to +270,000 men. The small arm is the Mannlicher rifle and carbine, the +field gun is the same as that of Belgium.</p> + +<p>Servia has 10 divisions, divided into 4 army corps. The peace footing is +160,000, and the war strength about 380,000. The rifle is the Mauser +model of 1899, and the field piece a quick-firing gun of the French +Schneider-Canet system.</p> + +<p>Bulgaria has a peace army of about 3,900 officers and 56,000 men. It is +armed with the Mannlicher magazine rifle, the Mannlicher carbine, the +Schneider quick-fire gun and a light Krupp for the mountain batteries. +On a war footing the country musters 4 army corps and 550,000 men.</p> + +<p>Roumania's army is about 5,460 officers and 98,000 men. On a war footing +it has 5 army corps and 580,000 men. The infantry uses the Mannlicher +magazine rifle and the cavalry the Mannlicher carbine. The field and +horse batteries are armed with the Krupp quick-fire gun of the model of +1903.</p> + +<p>In 1912 Greece had a peace establishment of 1,952 officers and 23,268 +men, but the recent war has caused her to augment them to 3 army corps, +and her war footing is not far from 250,000 men. The infantry is armed +with the Mannlicher-Schonauer rifle of the 1903 model and the field +artillery with Schneider-Canet quick-fire guns.</p> + +<p>Japan has a peace strength of 250,000 men, with a reserve of 1,250,000, +and a total war strength of 1,500,000 men, out of a total available +force capable of fighting of approximately 8,239,372 men.</p> + + +<h4>SPAIN'S STANDING ARMY.</h4> + +<p>The standing army of Spain is 132,000 men. The reserves are estimated at +1,050,000, and the total war strength at 1,182,000. The total available +unorganized force is 2,889,197 men.</p> + +<p>The army of Denmark on a peace footing is 13,725 men, with a reserve of +71,609. The total war strength is a little more than 85,000 men, and the +total fighting population is approximately 470,000.</p> + +<p>Sweden has a peace strength in excess of 75,000 men, and a reserve of +more than 500,000, giving an estimated war strength of 600,000 men. The +total available unorganized force is about 500,000.</p> + +<p>Norway has a standing army a little larger than that of Denmark—about +18,000 men—with 90,000 reserves, giving a total war strength of about +110,000 men. The unorganized force available is about 360,000 men.</p> + +<p>Portugal has a peace strength of 30,000 men, with a reserve of 225,000, +making a total war strength of more than one-quarter of a million. The +unorganized fighting material is more than 800,000.</p> + +<p>Turkey, which reorganized its forces within recent years, has a peace +strength of 210,000 men, about 800,000 reserves, giving a war strength +of over a million, and has a total available unorganized force to call +upon of more than 3,000,000.</p> + +<p>The little army of Montenegro is a permanent body of about 35,000 men. +There are no trained reserve forces, but there is an available fighting +population of 68,000, outside of the army, to call upon.</p> + + +<h4>CHINA'S MILITARY RESOURCES.</h4> + +<p>Recent events throw some doubt on the figures regarding China's military +resources, but the last available figures credited the great Republic of +the East with a force of 400,000 men, augmented by 300,000 reserves. +With this total war strength of 700,000 soldiers, estimates of the +available unorganized fighting material reaches the stupendous figure of +63,000,000.</p> + +<p>Brazil has a peace strength of 33,000, with more than 500,000 reserves, +with more than 4,000,000 unorganized available material.</p> + +<p>As relating to the armed strength of the nations abroad, some reference +to the system of fortifications which protect the various countries is +interesting at this point. Following years—in fact, centuries—of +study, Central Europe has been strongly fortified with a system of +embattlements which have reached the limits of human ingenuity.</p> + +<p>In the east of France, along the frontier where France, Switzerland and +Germany meet, there are the first-class fortresses of Belfort, Epinal, +Toul and Verdun in the first line, reinforced by Besancon, Dijon, +Langres, Rheims, La Fere and Maubeuge in the second line, with smaller +fortifications close to the German frontier at Remirement, Luneville, +Nancy and other points. Along the Italian frontier the fortresses are +situated at Grenoble, Briancon and Nice, with Lyons in the rear. There +are strong forts at all naval harbors, the defense of Paris consisting +of 97 bastions, 17 old forts and 38 forts of an advanced type, the +whole forming entrenched camps at Versailles and St. Denis.</p> + +<p>On that line of the German frontier which faces France there are the +fortresses of Neu-Breisach, Strassburg, Metz and Diedenhofen, in the +first line, with Rastatt, Bitsch and Saarlouis in the second line, and +Germershein in the rear. Situated opposite Luxemburg is Mainz, with +Coblentz and Cologne opposite Belgium and Wesel opposite Holland.</p> + +<p>All along the northern coast, from Wilhelmshafen to Memmel, the German +coast is strongly fortified. Memmel is the pivot point of the northern +and eastern frontier, the latter frontier being protected by Konigsberg +and Allenstein, of the first line, and Danzig, Dirschau, Graudenz, Thorn +and the Vistula Passages, of the second line. South of this point are +Posen, Glogau and Breslau, which face Poland, while beginning at Neisse +the strong defense against Austria consists of fortifications at Glatz, +Ingolstadt and Ulm, the approaches to Berlin being guarded by Magdeburg, +Spandau and Kustrin.</p> + + +<h4>POLISH QUADRILATERAL.</h4> + +<p>Along the line of the Russian frontier which guard that country from +attacks by the Germans are the fortresses of Libau, on the Baltic; +Kovna, Ossovets and Ust-Dvinsk, in the Vilna district, and in Poland +there are situated Novo-Georgievsk, Warsaw and Ivangorod, on the +Vistula, and Brest-Litovsk, on the Bug—four strongholds known as the +Polish Quadrilateral. Guarding Petrograd are the smaller fortifications +of Kronstadt and Viborg, with Sweaborg midway down the Gulf of Finland +near Helsingfors. Sebastopol and Kertch, in the Crimea, and Otchokov, +near Odessa, are the fortifications which guard the Black Sea.</p> + +<p>Along the Austrian frontier are the strong embattlements of Cracow and +Przemysl, on the road to Lemberg in Galicia. These forts face Poland. In +Hungary there are Gyula-Fehervar and Arad, on the Maros River, and which +guard the approach from the angle of Roumania. On her frontier facing +Servia there are Alt-Orsova and Peterwardein, on the Danube, and +Sarajevo, in Bosnia, with Temesvar and Komorn blocking the approach to +Vienna from the southeast. On the Adriatic are Cattaro, on the edge of +Montenegro, and the naval arsenals of Pola and Trieste. All the Alpine +passes of the Tyrol are fortified, but neither Vienna nor Budapest has +any defenses.</p> + +<p>The fortifications of Italy, aside from those on her coasts, extend in a +line from Venice, through Verona, Mantua and Piacenza to Alessandria and +Casale, which face the French frontier.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h3> + +<h4>THE WORLD'S NAVIES.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Germany's Sea Strength—Great Britain's Immense War Fleet—Immense +Fighting Craft—The United States' New Battle Cruisers—The Fastest and +Biggest Ocean Fighting Ships—The Picturesque Marines: the Soldiers of +the Sea</span>.</p> + + +<p>Just as Germany at the outset of the war had the most efficient and, +broadly speaking, the greatest army in the world, so England had the +greatest navy in the world. As a matter of fact, Great Britain's +domination of the seas was very largely responsible for the development +of the super-submarine by Germany, and the putting into effect of the +submarine warfare which proved so disastrous to the Allies. This for the +reason that Germany, having sought for means to offset Great Britain's +power and control of the seas, turned to the underseas craft.</p> + +<p>Up to the accession of Emperor William II—the Kaiser—Germany's navy +was little more than a joke. In 1848 the National Parliament voted six +million thalers for the creation of a fleet, and some boats were +constructed. But the attempts to weld Germany, then little more than a +federation, into a nation having failed, the fleet was put up at +auction, and actually sold in 1852. Prussia, a separate state, had +started a fleet of her own and purchased the German boats.</p> + +<p>This fleet, just before the American Civil War, consisted of four +cruisers, carrying 28 cannon, and one cruiser having 17 cannon, besides +which there were 21 "cannon boats," carrying two and three cannons each. +The Prussian fleet merged into the North German Confederation in 1867, +and in turn became part of the fleet of the new German Empire in 1871.</p> + +<p>In the war with France the German fleet played no part. There were one +or two clashes between French and German small boats, but that was all. +Even the successful outcome of the war did not inspire Germany to build +up a navy. Plans for the greater navy were first outlined about 1882, +but for a period of seven years not a battleship was built, +concentration being placed upon the torpedo boat. The idea of developing +the torpedo boat fleet belong to the present Grand Admiral von Tirpitz, +then a young officer. The fleet became the best in the world, but its +usefulness was soon checked by the new inventions, searchlights, gatling +guns, etc.</p> + +<p>Germany's fleet legislation of 1898 for the first time looked ahead and +established rules for future building. The Spanish-American and the Boer +wars disquieted Germany, and about 1900 the fleet was doubled by +legislation. In 1906 the campaign of submarines, torpedo boats and +greater battleships began. Part of the program required that 12 torpedo +boats be built each year. Additional legislation for the construction of +cruisers and battleships was effected in 1908, and in 1912, until at the +beginning of the war, Germany had 38 ships of the line, 14 armored +cruisers, 38 protected cruisers, 224 torpedo boats and 30 submarines. +There were no torpedo-boat destroyers, the small cruisers taking their +places. The naval organization contained 73,000 officers and men. The +largest boats are the dreadnoughts, which are divided into several +classes. One of the last of these built by Germany was the Derfflinger, +which had a displacement of 28,000 tons.</p> + +<p>The personnel of the German navy prior to the war was 79,197 officers +and men.</p> + + +<h4>THE BRITISH NAVY.</h4> + +<p>Because of the fact that the territory of Great Britain is scattered +over the face of the globe and that it is necessary to use the highways +of the sea for reaching her various possessions, the navy of that +country is undoubtedly the greatest collection of fighting ships ever +gathered together under one flag.</p> + +<p>In order to take care of her population of 1,625,000,000 she has +gathered together a navy consisting of 60 modern battleships, 9 battle +cruisers, 34 armored cruisers, 17 heavy protected cruisers, 70 light +cruisers, 232 destroyers, 59 torpedo boats of the latest type, 75 +submarines, together with 50 sea-going auxiliaries of the fleet, which +are used as mother ships to destroyers, mine-layers, distilling ships, +oil ships, repair and hospital ships, with 145,000 officers and men.</p> + +<p>The first group, completed between 1895 and 1898, includes six +battleships, all of 14,900 tons displacement, 12,000 horsepower and +2,000 tons coal capacity. The speed is 17.5 knots, the armor belt being +from 10 to 14 inches at the big guns and with a mean armor belt of 9 +inches. The armament consists of 4 12-inch guns, 12 6-inch rapid fire, +16 3-inch rapid fire, 12 3-pounder rapid fire, 2 light rapid fire and 2 +machine guns. They have one torpedo tube above water and two under +water.</p> + + +<h4>MONSTERS OF THE SEA.</h4> + +<p>A later group of six was built in 1900 and 1902. These monsters of the +sea are of 12,950 tons displacement, 13,500 horsepower and have 2,300 +tons coal capacity. They have a speed of 18.25 knots, 6 inches of armor +belt and from 8 to 12 inches protection for her big guns. The armament +consists of 4 12-inch rapid fire guns, 12 6-inch rapid fire, 10 3-inch +rapid fire and 2 light rapid fire and 2 machine guns. There are four +torpedo tubes.</p> + +<p>Gradually England developed larger and larger vessels from this point, +increasing the displacement in each group from 16,350 tons in 1906 to +20,000 in 1911, and finally to 25,700, when the Queen Elizabeth and +Warspite were completed in 1915. These boats—England's +super-dreadnoughts—are of 58,000 horsepower (turbine), 4,000 tons oil +capacity. They have a speed of 25 knots, 13.5 inches of armor belt and +from 8 to 13.5 inches protection for the big guns. The armament consists +of 8 15-inch, 16 6-inch and 12 3-inch rapid fire guns. They have five +torpedo tubes. There were 150,609 officers and men in the navy when +England entered the war.</p> + + +<h4>THE FRENCH NAVY.</h4> + +<p>At the beginning of the war the French navy ranked fourth among the +navies of the world. She had 18 battleships of the older types, and +which ranged in date of launching from 1894 to 1909. There were building +at that time eight ships of about 23,095 tons displacement. Although +France had no battle cruisers, she had 19 armored cruisers. The heavier +of these ships had a designed speed of 23 knots, and carried from 2100 +to 2300 tons of coal. Their main batteries consisted of 2 7.6-inch rapid +fire and 8 6.4-inch rapid fire guns.</p> + +<p>Two protected cruisers, the D'Entrecasteaux and the Guichen, and 10 +light cruisers of no fighting importance completed the list of French +ships.</p> + +<p>France was, however, strong, so far as numbers go, in destroyers, +torpedo boats and submarines, there being 84 destroyers, with +displacements of 276 to 804 tons and speeds of 28 and 31 knots. She +possessed 135 torpedo boats and 78 submarines, but many of these were of +small size. One hundred and one of her torpedo boats had displacements +of about 95 tons, and 20 of the submarines had displacements of 67 tons.</p> + +<p>Of the submarines, there were 33 which had a displacement of 390 tons, 2 +of 410 tons, 6 of 550 tons, 2 of 785 tons and 7 of 830 tons. This +displacement, which was surface, is usually 70 per cent of the +submerged. The larger submarines carry from six to eight torpedo tubes. +In the early part of 1916 the French Government had 12 submarines +building, these latter having surface displacement of 520 tons and +having Diesel motors of 2000 horsepower. The speed of these submarines +is 17-1/2 knots on the surface and 8 knots submerged.</p> + +<p>Attached to the French fleet are 16 auxiliaries, used as mine-layers, +submarine destroyers and aeroplane mother ships, of from 300 to 7,898 +tons.</p> + +<p>There were 61,240 officers and men in the navy of France when war was +declared.</p> + + +<h4>THE RUSSIAN NAVY.</h4> + +<p>With the ending of the Russo-Japanese war the Russian navy was given an +overhauling. There were but three of the old battleships of the Russian +navy left after this fateful struggle, these being the Tri Sviatitelia, +the Panteleimon and the Czarevitch. The Russian Government labored +diligently to build up her navy, and is still doing her utmost to +readjust that branch of her service.</p> + +<p>With the outbreak of the great war she had six armored cruisers, none of +which was in the Black Sea. These averaged in tonnage from 7,900 to +15,170 tons displacement. There were eight cruisers of from 3,100 to +6,700 tons, and of no fighting value whatever.</p> + +<p>Russia had but 14 torpedo boats, all small and of little value. She had +a fairly good fleet of destroyers and submarines, having 91 of the +former and 55 submarines.</p> + +<p>There were 36,000 officers and men in the service when hostilities +opened.</p> + + +<h4>THE AUSTRIAN NAVY.</h4> + +<p>When the war was declared Austria, Germany's supporter, had nine +battleships ready. These were completed since 1905, as follows: In 1906 +and 1907 there were finished three battleships which displaced 10,433 +tons, had 14,000 horsepower and 1315 tons coal capacity. They had a +speed of 19.25 knots, 6 to 8.25 inches of side armor and 9.5 inches +protection for the big guns. The armament consisted of 4 9.4-inch, 12 +7.6-inch rapid fire, 14 3-inch rapid fire and 16 smaller guns. They had +two torpedo tubes.</p> + +<p>In 1910 three other ships were added to the navy. These were slightly +larger than those described just above, having a displacement of 14,268 +tons, with engines of 20,000 horsepower. They had three torpedo tubes.</p> + +<p>Three ships of 20,000 tons displacement were launched in 1912 and 1913. +They had a speed of 20 knots and four torpedo tubes. Three other +battleships had been built up until 1906, and these, together with 10 +light cruisers, were in the Austrian navy at the breaking out of +hostilities.</p> + +<p>The torpedo boat destroyers, of which there were 18, must not be +forgotten. Twelve of these were of 384 tons, capable of making 28-1/2 +knots. These carried 4 12-pounders and 2 21-inch torpedo tubes. They +were built for oil fuel.</p> + +<p>There were six submarines in this navy, these being of moderate size, +ranging from 216 to 235 tons displacement on the surface.</p> + + +<h4>THE JAPANESE NAVY.</h4> + +<p>There were 9 first-class battleships in the Japanese navy at the +beginning of the world war. Of battle cruisers there were 5, while of +the older battleships 13 were ready for orders. Twelve first-class +cruisers were ready for duty, and there were 9 second-class cruisers and +9 third-class cruisers. Of gunboats there were 5, 60 destroyers, 37 +torpedo boats and 15 submarines. The personnel of the Japanese navy +consisted of 47,000 officers and men.</p> + + +<h4>THE ITALIAN NAVY.</h4> + +<p>Italy was ready for her part on the seas with 7 first-class battleships, +8 of the older type, 9 first-class cruisers, 5 second-class cruisers, 10 +third-class cruisers, 5 gunboats, 46 destroyers, 75 torpedo boats and 20 +submarines. There were 36,000 officers and men to handle these ships.</p> + + +<h4>THE TURKISH NAVY.</h4> + +<p>When hostilities were declared Turkey had a navy consisting of 2 +first-class battleships, 3 battleships of an older type, 2 first-class +cruisers, 2 second-class cruisers, 4 third-class cruisers, 8 gunboats, 2 +monitors, 10 destroyers and 8 torpedo boats. The officers and men in the +Turkish navy numbered 30,000.</p> + + +<h4>THE UNITED STATES NAVY.</h4> + +<p>The United States navy, which has made an enviable reputation for itself +wherever and whenever the boats and men have been engaged, ranked third +at the beginning of the war. While not of the heaviest type, the boats +were of the most improved models, and maintained on a basis that +justified the belief that they would stand up in the face of the +severest opposition.</p> + +<p>There were 12 modern battleships, 30 of an older type, 10 armored +cruisers, 5 first-class cruisers, 4 second-class cruisers, 16 +third-class cruisers, 30 gunboats, 9 monitors, 74 destroyers, 19 torpedo +boats and 73 submarines, manned by 55,389 officers and men. The +California, Idaho, Arizona, Mississippi and Pennsylvania are the latest +battleships of the navy, and are of the super-dreadnought type. All of +these battleships have a displacement of more than 31,000 tons, and have +the most complete equipment that it is possible to command. The +batteries consist of 4 13-inch and 14 6-inch guns, 4 6-pounders, +together with 4 21-inch torpedo tubes. There is a variation in the +batteries, but all have approximately the same kind of armament.</p> + +<p>One of these huge vessels is about 625 feet long, and has a speed of +from 21 to 23 knots. The Pennsylvania, one of the largest, is of 31,500 +horsepower, and cost approximately $7,250,000. In addition to this, +Congress had authorized the construction of what is designed to be the +supreme type of fighting vessel. The plans for these vessels call for +the construction of vessels approximately 875 feet long and nearly 90 +feet wide. Some idea of what enormous vessels these must be may be +gained when it is seen that the cruisers are 250 feet longer than the +super-dreadnought.</p> + +<p>The battle cruisers have six decks, extending from end to end, and are +so extensive that they almost constitute a battlefront.</p> + +<p>This comparison to a battlefront on land becomes interesting when +consideration of it is further pursued. There are even railroads to +fetch ammunition to the guns, though they run vertically instead of +horizontally. The general headquarters is in the conning tower, to which +all lines of "field communication" lead—telegraphs, telephones, etc.</p> + +<p>The "observation posts," for directing and correcting the range and aim +of artillery, are at the tops of the two wire "bird-cage" masts. This +work is helped (as on land) by kite balloons and aeroplanes, which, as +part of its fighting equipment, the battle cruiser carries. To blind the +enemy ships, under suitable circumstances, the big guns create a +"barrage" of water, by directing their fire at the sea in front of the +hostile vessels, throwing over them a mass of spray.</p> + + +<h4>AMPLE PROVISION FOR THE WOUNDED.</h4> + +<p>On board the battle cruiser is a fully equipped field hospital, +supplemented by battle dressing stations near the guns, for the +emergency treatment of the wounded. To the musicians of the ship's band +is assigned the duty of carrying wounded men to the dressing stations +and the hospital, the latter being on one of the lower decks, beneath +the water level.</p> + +<p>The battle cruiser, built long and narrow, has a great speed. The four +monster propellers are driven by electricity, which is generated by +engines fed with fuel oil. The speed attained is 35 knots an hour, which +means the same speed as a train traveling at the rate of 40 miles an +hour, since the sea mile, or knot, is longer than the land mile.</p> + +<p>In order to obtain this enormous speed it was necessary for the +designers of the battle cruisers to sacrifice armor protection. The +armor on these ships is but an eight-inch belt. The real object of the +battle cruiser is to use its superior speed and overwhelming gun power +to overtake and destroy the enemy's ships of the second line, the +auxiliaries and scouts.</p> + +<p>Each of these vessels has a displacement of 34,800 tons—meaning, in +plain language, that they weigh that much, hence displace that much +water when launched. The biggest British battle cruiser, which is the +largest battle cruiser afloat, is the British Tiger, which has a +displacement of 28,500 tons, and is less in length by 150 feet than +these mighty battle cruisers. The Tiger is much less formidably armed, +carrying eight 13 1/2-inch guns. The largest German battle cruiser is +the Derfflinger, of 26,200 tons, and armed with eight 12-inch rifles.</p> + +<p>Our latest commissioned dreadnought, the Arizona, has engines of 31,400 +horsepower. The engines of that monster passenger steamship, the +ill-fated Lusitania, were of 70,000 horsepower. Those of the Tiger boast +120,000 horsepower. But each of our six battle cruisers has 180,000 +horsepower to drive her through the water.</p> + + +<h4>HUGE FIGHTING CRAFT.</h4> + +<p>These huge fighting craft are the most expensive ships ever built. Each +of them cost about $20,000,000, the money outlay being something like +$16,500,000, exclusive of armor and guns. And for each battle cruiser +must be provided, in the way of personnel, 1,153 enlisted men, 64 +marines and 58 officers.</p> + +<p>While the American Navy had but 55,389 men when the war opened it was +quickly increased, and under the Army bill, which provided for the +reorganization and increasing of the land forces, the naval forces were +also increased.</p> + +<p>The bill increasing the authorized enlisted strength of the navy to +150,000 did not provide for any additional officers above the rank of +lieutenant. The increase in the enlisted force amounts to 57,000, the +authorized strength at the time of the law's passage being 93,000. Based +on the increase, the allowance of officers would be 747 lieutenants and +954 lieutenants junior grade and ensigns.</p> + +<p>The increase in the enlisted strength of the Marine Corps from 17,400 to +30,000, or by 12,600, also gives an additional allowance of 504 +officers to the corps, which, under the bill, are distributed among the +grades of major, captain, first lieutenant and second lieutenant.</p> + +<p>The Marine Corps is one of the most picturesque military organizations +in the world. There is, probably, no other such body of trained +soldiery. While they are under the control of the Navy Department, they +can be detached from that branch of the service and assigned for duty +with any other branch of the military forces of the country.</p> + + +<h4>POLICEMEN OF THE SEA.</h4> + +<p>They are the policemen of the sea; they are artillerymen, infantrymen, +cavalry, engineers, and soldiers, first, last and all the time. They are +the first troops in action, and there is no restriction as to the kind +of military duty they are called upon to perform.</p> + +<p>The Marines served on shore and on board vessels of the navy throughout +the Revolutionary War, two battalions having been authorized by the +Continental Congress November 10, 1775. The present organization really +dates from July, 1798, when Congress passed an act approving the +establishment of an organization to be known as the Marine Corps, +consisting of 1 major, 4 captains, 16 first lieutenants, 12 second +lieutenants, 48 sergeants, 48 corporals, 32 drums and fifes and 720 +privates.</p> + +<p>Every one of the 15,000 men who composed the more than a century old +Marine Corps when the war broke out was ready and on his toes when the +call for action came. There was nothing in the way of scientific +preparedness that got by them. In the matter of trench helmets, for +instance, when it was time for the American nation to come to the front +in the great world war, the Marines had a helmet so much of an +improvement on the one used by the Allies that there was no comparison.</p> + +<p>Armored motorcars, likewise, of the most improved type, belonged to the +Marine Corps when the call for action came. These cars are capable of +making 45 miles an hour, and there were plenty of them for service in +the Marine Corps. Some interesting equipment never used before the big +war composed part of the quartermasters' stores in the Marine Corps.</p> + +<p>It's a marvel what these chaps can do with a big naval gun—one of those +big brutes which are bolted down to the deck of a warship. It doesn't +look like a thing to be picked up and carted around the country. That's +precisely what the heavy artillery companies do, however. It takes them +but a few minutes to sling one of these five-inchers over the side of a +ship, land it, and take it wherever it is needed. They do this with the +aid of a single-spar derrick, some little narrow-gauge trucks and a +portable narrow-gauge railroad.</p> + + +<h4>TRANSPORTATION OF BIG GUN.</h4> + +<p>The method is to lay down the railroad—it can be done very swiftly by +men carefully trained in the art of laying tracks over all kinds of +ground—put the gun and its mount, with a specially prepared base of +extremely heavy timbers, on the tracks, and trundle it to the place +where it is needed to pour a rapid fire into the enemy.</p> + +<p>Here a pit has been dug, in which is laid down the heavy timber base, +riveted together with heavy steel bolts. Then it is well packed with +dirt and stone, and the gun carriage made fast ingeniously. The +single-stick derrick has been erected alongside, guyed out in four +directions with heavy ropes, which are made fast to the ground by means +of "dead men," and manipulated by very live gangs of husky marines. A +chain block of powerful type is used to pick up the gun carriage and put +it in place, and afterwards to swing the gun into its sockets on the +carriage.</p> + +<p>Later the breech locks and sights are added, and the big five-inch, +40-caliber naval gun is ready to go into action. These big and heavy +guns, suitable for long range work with high explosive shells, can be +taken a quarter of a mile or so from the ship which carried them, over +rough ground, set up and put in operation in a few days' time.</p> + +<p>But the heavy artillery base is only one of the Marines' work. They have +big howitzers, of the more modern type, most of which are kept at +Annapolis, where they can be loaded aboard ship in short order. Men and +machines can be mobilized at the strategic points in a very short time.</p> + + +<h4>EVERY MAN'S SERVICE.</h4> + +<p>The Marine service is unique in many respects. For one thing, it is +every man's service. The proportion of officers who have risen from the +ranks or who have been commissioned from civilian life is higher in the +Marine Corps than in either the Army or the Navy. This, of course, makes +for democracy in the corps. An enlisted man, who does not wait until he +is too far up in the 20's to enlist, has a very fair chance of earning +his commission. Another thing—and this is of prime importance to the +ambitious fellow—promotion goes by merit. In the army and navy the +young officer is promoted by seniority.</p> + +<p>Things are a bit different in the Marine Corps. In this organization a +man doesn't absolutely have to wait for his number to come around. If he +distinguishes himself above his fellows, he may be promoted without much +regard for age or length of service. He goes up as he is able to, by his +active ability and his readiness to work hard and effectively for Uncle +Sam. There are advocates, of course, of both systems. There are merits +which both systems can justly claim. But it goes without saying that +this possibility of promotion keeps everybody in the Marine Corps on the +jump.</p> + +<p>Even the enlisted men who are too old to get commissions have something +to work for. Not very long since Congress authorized the appointment of +"warrant officers" in the Marine Corps. The Navy had this grade for many +years. It is new in the Marine Corps, and is an added incentive to hard +work.</p> + +<p>Another incentive—and perhaps the strongest one—that draws young +fellows of the up-and-doing sort into the Marine Corps is that of active +service. The Marines boast that they are always on the job; that no +matter how peaceful the time, the Marines are sure to see "something +stirring" right along. It is a saying—and a true one—in the Marine +Corps that every marine who has served the ordinary enlistment in the +corps since the Spanish-American war has smelt powder. Ever since the +fuss with Spain the marines have been covering themselves with glory. In +that little war of 1898 the Marines were the first to land in Cuba. They +held Guantanamo for three months. In 1890 they saw service in the +Philippines; the next year in China. In 1902 the Marines took part in +the fighting against Aguinaldo, the wily Filipino leader. In 1903 they +put down the rebellion in Panama, captured Colon and opened up the +Panama railroad. In 1906 they helped quiet the uprising of that summer +in Cuba. They were in Nicaragua in 1909. From 1911 to 1913 they did more +duty in Cuba, with a whirl in Nicaragua again in 1912. They helped hold +Vera Cruz for three months in 1914. Next year they went to Haiti, where +they have been moderately busy from time to time since. Santo Domingo +saw them in 1916.</p> + + +<h4>AN UNAPPROACHABLE RECORD.</h4> + +<p>Neither the army nor the navy can claim anything to beat it—you +couldn't tell a marine that the rival branches of the service can claim +anything to equal it. And as for the modern implements of warfare—the +European armies have no advantage over the marines for testing out new +devices. They had armored cars, for instance, as far back as 1906; they +began to use motor trucks for military purposes as early as 1909. Every +marine expedition is equipped with its quota of armored trucks. They +would as soon think of voyaging over the seas to put down an incipient +revolution without their armored cars and motor trucks as they would of +going to meet the enemy without their rifle.</p> + +<p>There used to be an old joke about "Horse Marines." A sailorman on a +horse is an incongruous thing—a sight to make you hold your sides. But +the marines are not plain sailormen. They are "soldier and sailor, too," +and as soldiers they have turned the joke on the old saw about "horse +marines." There are "horse marines" these days, and mighty good cavalry +they make.</p> + +<p>The marine can ride with the best of the cavalrymen. And in the fracas +in Domingo there were two cavalry companies of marines organized.</p> + + +<h4>THE MANY-SIDED MARINE.</h4> + +<p>It takes a bit longer to make an efficient marine than to make an +infantryman. This because the marine is a man of many specialties. He +is, of course, in season and out of season, an international policeman. +That's his job in time of peace. But when he fares abroad to fight his +country's battles he may be called upon to do almost any kind of work. +He may be an artilleryman; a signalman; an airman. He may be, and +usually is, anything that his country needs at that particular time. And +he is trained to meet the emergency.</p> + +<p>The new recruit, in ordinary times, is sent for his first instruction to +Port Royal, down in Georgia. There he has nothing to do but drill, +drill, drill, until he can do the infantry evolutions in his sleep. He +learns to drill, he learns to keep clean—the Marines are something of a +dandy corps—and he learns to take care of himself no matter what +happens. He is taught to be a soldier and a man. He learns to walk +straight, shoot straight, think straight. And then he goes for a spell +to sea—for after all, he needs sea legs as well as land legs.</p> + +<p>But these two tricks of duty by no means end the marine's schooling. +When he has become an efficient all-around man he may specialize. He +may, if he chooses, go into the signal corps and learn the multitude of +details connected with this ultramodern arm of the service. He learns to +send messages by every possible means. He learns to operate a radio. +And, it might be mentioned in passing, the Marine Corps is equipped with +the very finest of radio apparatus. They have big trucks which carry the +outfit and supply the power for either sending radio messages or +operating huge electric searchlights. Or he may go into aviation.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus055.png" alt="boundaries" /> +</p> +<p class="center">INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARIES BEFORE THE WAR.<br /> + +This map shows the boundary lines between nations as they were at the +beginning of the war, as also the coast lines of Europe. The latter are +brought out in bold relief.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h3> + +<h4>THE NATIONS AT WAR.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Unexpected Developments—How the War Flames Spread—A Score of +Countries Involved—The Points of Contact—Picturesque and Rugged +Bulgaria, Roumania, Servia, Greece, Italy and Historic Southeast +Europe</span>.</p> + + +<p>The real history of the greatest war of all times is the history of the +entire world, touching every phase of existence in a manner that has +never been approximated by any other conflict. The motives and +ramifications are so great that it is almost impossible for the human +mind to grasp the significance of many things of importance which, at a +glance, seem to be but incidents.</p> + +<p>The world looked on expectantly when the war started, because there was +a general knowledge of the conditions existing in Europe and the +undercurrent was felt by students of international affairs. But that +Russia would revolt and the Czar abdicate, as he did in March, 1917, and +the iron-ruled country would set up a government of its own—would join +the circle of democracies—was not even hinted at. Neither was it +intimated that Constantine I, King of Greece, would abdicate in favor of +his son, Prince Alexander, as he did in the following June, under +pressure, because of his sympathy for Germany.</p> + +<p>Neither was there a suspicion that the fire started by the flash of a +pistol and the bursting of a bomb in Bosnia would spread until sixteen +countries were arrayed against Germany and Austria, supported by the +Bulgarians and the Turks. And to these must be added the entrance into +the conflict of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, possessions of Great +Britain, and smaller possessions of other countries. The flames swept +over the face of the earth in this fashion:</p> + +<p>Starting with the movement of Austria against Servia, after the +assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand, there lined up as a +consequence of the alliances formed between the powers, the countries +referred to in preceding chapters. The triple alliance was originally an +agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, to strengthen +their positions, and the Triple Entente consisted of agreements between +France, England and Russia.</p> + + +<h4>INVASION OF BELGIUM.</h4> + +<p>Briefly, the invasion of Belgium by Germany, and her ambitions in the +southeast, where Russia had what amounted to protectorate relations, +drew first France, England and Russia into the strife, and step by step +there became involved nation after nation. The steps, marked by the +declarations of war, were as follows: On July 28, 1914, Austria declared +war on Servia, and on August 1 Germany made the declaration against +Russia. Next Germany turned upon France, on the third day of August, and +also on Belgium, whereupon, on the following day, Great Britain declared +war on Germany; a day later Austria-Hungary issued the mandate against +Russia, and two days later, or on August 8, Montenegro declared war on +Austria. Austria accepted the challenge, and then Servia took up the +cudgel against Germany. France made formal declaration of war on +Austria-Hungary and by the end of August Montenegro had declared against +Germany; Great Britain on Austria; Japan on Germany; Austria on Japan; +Austria on Belgium. Later, or early in November, Russia declared herself +against Turkey, as did France and Great Britain.</p> + +<p>For six months the battle raged and the rest of the world regarded the +result with grave concern until in May of 1915 Italy, having renounced +her alliance with Germany and Austria, declared war first on Austria, +then on Turkey. In the fall of 1915 Servia took up arms against +Bulgaria, as did Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia. Then Germany +declared against Portugal, whose government replied in kind; Austria +followed Germany in the alignment and finally, in August, 1916, there +were exchanges of sharp "courtesies"—the complete severance of all +diplomatic relations and open warfare—between Roumania and +Austria-Hungary; then between Bulgaria and Roumania, with the consequent +alignment of the Central Powers. Italy had also made her declaration +against Germany specific. So for nine months the war waged with terrible +bitterness until on April 6, the United States, by the proclamation of +President Wilson, was finally at war with Germany.</p> + + +<h4>IN THE NATURE OF MERE FORMALITIES.</h4> + +<p>These steps were, in many instances, in the nature of formalities, for +the relationships of some of the countries involved placed them in the +position of practically being at war before formal announcement was +made. The position then, was that Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey +were supported by Bulgaria, who was anxious to get redress for having +been cheated out of what she regarded as her rightful possessions in the +settlement of the Balkan war question. Those aligned on the other side +were England, France, Russia, Montenegro, Italy, Belgium (which had been +making defensive warfare in keeping with her desire to be true to her +neutral pledges); Servia, Roumania, Japan, Portugal, the United States, +the little principality of Monaco, which is best known as the seat of +Monte Carlo, the great gambling center of Europe, and San Marino, a +similar "patch" on the map of Europe. Brazil, Guatemala, and the little +Republic of Cuba also aligned themselves against Germany in support of +the Allies, though there was no actual engagement of their forces. Thus +there could be counted as at war against the Central Powers in June, +1917, sixteen countries.</p> + +<p>Most interesting of all the countries involved were those belonging to +the Balkan group and centering in southeastern Europe. The Balkan +nations, Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, with Greece, paved the way for +their entrance into the conflict when they formed an alliance, in 1912, +for common protection, particularly for the enforcement of one of the +provisions of the Berlin Treaty, guaranteeing local government to the +Bulgar and Serbian colonies in Macedonia. Montenegro began war on Turkey +in October, and Bulgaria, Servia and Greece joined and drove the Turks +out of many of their strongholds.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus056.png" alt="map" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> OUTLINE MAP OF GERMANY AND THE STATES FORMING THE EMPIRE.<br /> + +This drawing shows the location of the twenty-five States which were +included within the boundaries of the German Empire at the beginning of +the war.</p> + + +<h4>"COMIC OPERA" SOLDIERS.</h4> + +<p>In a month of fighting the little countries, in the picturesque +southeastern section, whose soldiers have been depicted as "comic opera" +soldiers, had rent Turkey; Greece had captured the famous Macedonian +city of Salonica, once known as Thessalonica, where was located the +church in which was addressed St. Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians; +while the Servians had captured Monastir, one of the most important +centers in Macedonia, and the Bulgarians had driven the Turks almost to +the famed city of Constantinople. The Servian soldiers finally marched +to the Adriatic sea, and Albania raised a flag of its own and asked +Austria-Hungary and Italy to recognize its independence and grant it +protection.</p> + +<p>Within little more than two months Turkey had been deprived of the +greater portion of her possessions in Europe and a treaty of peace was +signed between the allied countries and the Turks. By this agreement +Albania became in effect a suzerainty, protected by Austria. But the +agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy—the Triple +Entente—gave those countries a combined power which, when it came to +fixing the terms of peace, left the small allied countries of victory at +a disadvantage, and while Montenegro and Greece gained some territory, +as did Servia, Bulgaria lost what she had gained in the war. Turkey lost +90 per cent of her Empire in Europe, which so aroused the country that +the rising of the young Turks followed and the government was +reorganized. The enforced terms of settlement, however, set the little +countries at each other's throats.</p> + +<p>The field of the Balkan battles is the very center of the world's +history. Along the Adriatic, Ionian and Agean seas are lands and +territories peopled with races that mark their ancestry back to the very +darkest ages. The protected country of Albania, with its rocky surface, +numbers among its peoples descendants of the Arnauts, whose very origin +is a mystery. They were present before the days of Greece and Rome. The +Ottoman Turks, the Bulgars from the plains of the Volga and the Ural +Mountains, the Serbs, the Roumanians, Russians, Italians, the Slavs, +Tartars.</p> + + +<h4>A REGION OF MOUNTAINS.</h4> + +<p>Albania is a mountainous region along the Adriatic coast, peopled with +descendants of the ancients who maintain their characteristics. They are +said to be descendants of the Pelasgian races, which inhabited the +territory before the Greeks builded their Athens.</p> + +<p>The Albanians are wild, daring mountaineers, and though the people have, +to all intents and purposes, been under Turkish rule for centuries, they +have never recognized the sovereignty of the Sultan. It was originally +part of the Turkish Empire in Europe, having been taken by Turkey, in +1467, and is a fertile, but wild country.</p> + +<p>The same picturesque people that make up the population of Albania +constitute the populace of the little country of Montenegro, which was +once part of the Turkish possession. Montenegro contained about 3486 +square miles of territory before its acquisitions in the Balkan wars. +Aided by Russia, the country obtained its independence from Turkey in +1878, and in 1910 became a kingdom. Its present area is about 5650 +square miles and the population 520,000. The capital is Cettinje.</p> + +<p>Bulgaria was also once a part of the Turkish possessions, and under the +Treaty of Berlin, in 1878, became a suzerainty. It is a famous pastoral +country, inhabited by a people for years held under the Ottoman heel. +They are racially Turanians, and kin of the Tartar and Huns, who came +into their present fertile country from the vast plains of eastern +Russia. They made their way thither more than a thousand years ago, and +battling at the very gates of Constantinople, by their fierce crusades, +secured the grants from the Byzantine Empire of the territory, which +constitutes the Bulgaria of today. The population is nearly 5,000,000, +and the country contains about 43,000 square miles.</p> + + +<h4>WHY ITALY ENTERED THE WAR.</h4> + +<p>Italy's reasons for entering the war, aside from her demands for +territory, in exchange for continuance of neutrality, have to do with +matters of years gone by, when she began the struggle for her liberation +from the Austrian domination. Italy desired, among other things, to +acquire Trentino, Goritz, and other adjacent territory controlled by +Austria, but Italian in every attribute. Trentino is a rocky region, and +strategically valuable to the country possessing it, which was proved by +the terrible struggle which the Italians were forced to make in their +attacks against the Austrian forces.</p> + +<p>The city of Trent is the capital of Trentino, famous in history, and the +seat of the long church council in 1545-46. It was in turn controlled by +Roman, Goth, Hun, Lombard and Holy Roman Empire. It is the site of many +historic buildings, notably the cathedral of Trent, which is a fine +example of Lombard architecture, and the church of Santa Maria Maggorie, +where the famous Council of the Roman Catholic Church was held. There +are old towers, and libraries rich in manuscripts.</p> + +<p>Trentino is famous for its mountain passes, over which the Italians have +been compelled to drag their heavy artillery and implements of war. The +Alpini, the mountaineer soldiers of Italy, are among the most +picturesque in the world. They have scaled the almost perpendicular +faces of the Alps, climbing from crag to crag with their bodies roped +together, dragging machine guns in pieces strapped to their shoulders. +Tolmino, Trieste, Istria, Dalmatia, Avlona, the prime harbor of Albania +(seized by Italy in the fall of 1916). These are little spots in the +territory logically Italian, which Italy covets.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus062.png" alt="austria" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> OUTLINE MAP OF THE AUSTRIA-HUNGARY EMPIRE.<br /> + +Drawn and engraved especially to show the Provinces comprising the +Empire, and their locations as they were at the beginning of the war. +This is a country of many nationalities and languages.</p> + + +<h4>DIVIDED INTO SIXTEEN DEPARTMENTS.</h4> + +<p>Italy, since its consolidation into one kingdom in 1870, has been +divided into sixteen departments comprising sixty-nine provinces. The +country has a total area of 110,623 square miles, and a population of a +little more than 35,000,000. The Roman Catholic Church is irrevocably +linked to the history of Italy and Rome, its capital, marked the +farthest advance of civilization in the ancient days. It possesses four +distinct zones, ranging from the almost arctic cold of the mountain +belts to an almost tropical heat in the southern lowlands. It is one of +the picturesque countries of the world, a center of art, industry and +travel.</p> + +<p>Servia, which is separated from Austria-Hungary by the Danube, is of +precisely the same character as the other rich, mountainous region. The +country was subjugated by the Turks, who retained possession of it until +1717. Austria then wrested control from the Turks, and held it until +1791, when Turkey again dominated it. In 1805 the Servians revolted, and +secured temporary independence, only to again come under the Ottoman +rule. Again it secured freedom in 1815, and by the Treaty of Paris, +independent existence was secured for it. Turkey became only a nominal +authority. It became a kingdom in 1882, after having become absolutely +independent with the Berlin Treaty.</p> + +<p>The people are Slavonic, and kin to the Croats of ancient history. They +are described as having come from Poland and Galicia, moving down the +Danube, into what is the present kingdom. In the fourteenth century the +Servian empire comprised the whole Balkan peninsula, from Greece to +Poland, and from the Black Sea to the Adriatic. But Servia warred with +Turkey, and her troops were defeated in the great battle at Kossovo, and +the Ottoman power became supreme. The country has an area of about +34,000 square miles and a population of 4,600,000.</p> + + +<h4>LITTLE BOSNIA'S FUTURE.</h4> + +<p>Bosnia, where was assassinated the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, of +Austria, was a Turkish province, west of Servia, and under the treaty of +Berlin was to be administered for an undefined period by the Austrian +government. The little section contains about 16,000 square miles and +has a population of about 1,750,000, largely of Slavonic origin. They +are partly Mohammedans, partly Roman Catholics and Greek Catholics. In +the middle ages Bosnia belonged to the Eastern Empire. Later it became a +separate kingdom, dependent upon Hungary, only to be conquered by the +Turks. It is the mountainous, rugged country of the Julian and Dinaric +Alps, but has many fertile valleys, and is well watered by the river +Save, and its numerous tributaries.</p> + +<p>Greece, the modern kingdom, is one of the countries that for centuries +were politically included within the limits of the Turkish Empire. In +its present form it represents but a portion of that country, famous in +history, as the Greece of the Ancients—that classic land which holds +the most conspicuous place in the pages of ancient history—but still it +is inclusive of the greatest names belonging to the glorious past. It is +the country of Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes and Argos. It is +separated from Turkey by a winding boundary, extending from the Gulf of +Arta on the west to the Gulf of Salonica on the east.</p> + +<p>The earliest settlers were the Pelasgi, who were in course of time +replaced by the Hellenes. They, in turn, were succeeded by the +Phoenicians, who swayed the country. Athens, Sparta, Thebes and Corinth +came into existence and became the centers of political government, of +the most progressive advancement in civilization. Civil discords brought +on first the Peloponnesian War, about 434 B.C., and made them prey to +the Macedonians. Successively invaded by Goths, Vandals and Normans the +country came into the possession of the Turks in 1481, though for two +centuries the power of the Turk was questioned by the Venetians. Revolt +was had from the Ottoman yoke in 1821, and independence was secured by +the interference of foreign powers after the defeat of the Turk at the +Navarino, in 1827. Through the succeeding years it has been a protected +monarchy.</p> + + +<h4>ONE OF THE BALKAN GROUP.</h4> + +<p>Roumania, the largest of the Balkan group, lying between Russia on the +north, and Bulgaria on the south, is the home of the Gacians, +descendants of the warlike tribes who for years held their own against +Greek and Roman. After the fall of Rome the province became a melting +pot, through which the hordes of invaders, passing from Russia to Asia, +were in a sense made one people. The Goths, the Huns, the Lombards, the +Bulgars and the Magyars traversed the region, leaving many settlers. It +became divided into two provinces, Moldavia and Wallachia, known as the +Danubian provinces.</p> + +<p>Both provinces were conquered by the Turks in the fifteenth and +sixteenth centuries, and under Peter the Great the Russians attempted +the conquest of the provinces. In 1859 the two provinces were united +under a prince whose independence both Turkey and Russia recognized, and +in 1881 the country declared itself a kingdom. The province of Wallachia +derives its name from the people who early settled there, the Wallachs. +The Roumanians claim descent from Vlachi, a colony of Romans, who +settled in Thrace, and, in the twelfth century, emigrated to the Danube. +The name Roumania is derived from the word Roman, the country having +originally been "the Land of the Roumani." Roumania has a population of +about 7,600,000 and comprises 64,000 square miles.</p> + +<p>Macedonia, famous country of Greece in the time of Philip, father of +Alexander the Great, embraced the entire region from the Scardian +Mountains to Thessaly, and from the Epirus and Illyria to the river +Nestos, taking in what is now part of Salonica. It was reduced by the +Persians and subsequently Alexander the Great made it the nucleus of a +vast and powerful empire along with Greece. Ultimately it passed under +Roman sway, until it was ceded, in 1913, to Greece.</p> + + +<h4>AN OBJECT OF CONTENTION.</h4> + +<p>Alsace-Lorraine is worthy of note, as comprising one of the territories +which for centuries have been the cause of conflict between Germany and +France. It is pointed to as the physical evidence of the humiliation of +France at the hands of the Germans, in 1870, and has for nearly one-half +a century been a German imperial territory. The surrender of Alsace and +part of Lorraine was made the principal condition of peace on the +settlement of the war of 1870. Bismarck, it is said, might have been +content with a language boundary, taking only that portion of the +country in which lived those who spoke the German tongue.</p> + +<p>For strategic purposes, however, Alsace and Lorraine, with the exception +of one district, were taken. The strip of country was to be governed by +the power of the German Emperor until the constitution of the German +Empire was established. Many of the inhabitants opposed the Prussian +domination, and a vote was taken on who would declare themselves Germans +and remain in the territory, or French and leave. More than 40,000 left +the country and went into France.</p> + +<p>The German language was made compulsory in the schools, the courts and +the legislative body. The French never forgot their loss, and revenge +for that loss has been a subject of consideration in their foreign +policy ever since the war of 1871. Alsace and Lorraine contain about +5600 square miles, and together have a population of about two million. +About 85 per cent of the people speak German.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus057.png" alt="turkey" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> OUTLINE MAP OF TURKEY IN ASIA.<br /> + +A country where civilization was first born and which is now undergoing +a new birth of a new civilization. The location of the Garden of Eden +was between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The drawing shows the +country which is mentioned largely in Bible history.</p> + + +<h4>PICTURESQUE TURKEY.</h4> + +<p>Turkey, one of the picturesque and ancient countries which is aligned +with the Germans, is a Mohammedan state of the Ottoman Empire in +southeastern Europe and western Asia, whose holdings in Europe have been +steadily decreasing, especially during recent years. The immediate +possessions of Turkey, or those directly under the Sultan's rule at the +time this country became involved in the great world war, extended from +Montenegro, Bosnia, Servia and eastern Roumelia on the north, to the +Agean Sea and Greece on the south, and from the Black Sea to the +Adriatic, the Straits of Otranto and the Ionic Sea. In September, 1911, +the Italian government sent a long list of claims made by Italy against +Turkey for economic and commercial discrimination against Italian +commerce, and the person of Italian citizens all over the world. A reply +was demanded within twenty-four hours, and failing to receive a reply +considered satisfactory, Italy immediately sent warships to Tripoli, +bombarded and captured the city. This meant that Turkey has lost one of +her most important seaports, consequently weakening her position.</p> + +<p>The immediate possessions of Turkey in Europe, at this time, had an area +of 65,350 square miles, with a population of 6,200,000. In Asia Turkey +had possessions of 693,610 square miles, with a population of +16,900,000, while in Africa about 398,000 square miles belonged to the +Turkish Empire, on which lived 1,000,000 persons. This gave Turkey an +area of about 1,157,860 square miles, with a population of 24,100,000. A +number of islands in the Agean Sea belong to Turkey, and Egypt is also +nominally part of the kingdom of the Sultan.</p> + +<p>The population is a motley assortment of races, nationalities and +creeds. About 38 per cent being Ottomans or Turks. The Slavic and Rouman +races come next in importance, then the Arabs, the remaining population +consisting of Moors, Druses, Kurds, Tartars, Albanians, Circassians, +Syrians, Armenians, and Greeks, besides Jews and Gypsies.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus058.jpg" alt="crime" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> A DASTARDLY CRIME WHICH AUTOCRACY CANNOT DENY.<br /> + +Aerial photograph by a British pilot showing four huts of a British +hospital in France, in which were helpless men who were blown to bits. +All plainly shown in the foreground.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus059.jpg" alt="tommy" /> +</p> +<p class="center">A BRITISH TOMMY ON WAY TO TRENCHES.<br /> + +This photograph shows a soldier crossing through a trench—which is +camouflaged. The screen prevents his being seen.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus060.jpg" alt="attack" /> +</p> +<p class="center">AN ATTACK BY AMERICANS.<br /> + +Company H and Company K of the 336th Infantry, 82nd Division are +advancing on enemy positions in France and driving them out while the +307th Engineers of the 82nd Division are clearing the way by blowing up +wire entanglements.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus061.jpg" alt="generals" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> GENERAL BULLARD.</p> + +<p class="center"> GENERAL LIGGETT.</p> + +<p class="center"> GENERAL DICKMAN.</p> + +<p class="center">American Army Commanders who out-generaled the Germans. They were well +supported by the fearless and determined fighters, the U.S.A. troops.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus063.jpg" alt="meeting" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> A RELIGIOUS MEETING ON THE FIELD.<br /> + +American, British, French, Belgian and Portuguese troops are represented +in this gathering of defenders of Liberty listening to a sermon on the +western front.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus064.jpg" alt="holy land" /> +</p> +<p class="center">THE HOLY LAND AND THE WAR.<br /> + +Christmas Day at Bethlehem. Latin procession to the Church of +Nativity.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus065.jpg" alt="fighting" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> FIGHTING IN PALESTINE EAST OF THE JORDAN.<br /> + +Infantry were in the act of occupying an important hill when they were +met with a strong counter-attack. The timely arrival of machine guns and +support troops saves the situation.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus066.jpg" alt="signing" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> SIGNING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE BY +MID-EUROPEAN NATIONS.</p> + +<p>Professor H.A. Miller, Director; Thos. Naroshevitshius (Lithuaniana); +Christos Vassilkaki (Unredeemed Greeks); Christo Dako (Albanians); +Charles Tomazolli (Italian Irredentists); Nicholas Ceglinsky (Ukranian); +Dr. Hinko Ninkovich (Jugoslavs); T.M. Helinski (Poles); Dr. T.G. Masaryk +(Prime Minister of Cezhoslovakia); G. Pasdermadjian (Armenians); Capt. +Vasile Solca (Roumanians): Gregory Zsatkovich (Uhro-Rusins); Ittamar +Ban-Avi (Zionists). Signed Independence Hall, Phila, Oct. 26.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus067a.jpg" alt="Allenby" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> GENERAL ALLENBY.<br /> + +One of the notable events in the history of the war was the surrender of +Jerusalem to the British Army under the command of General Allenby.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus067b.jpg" alt="Townshend" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> GENERAL TOWNSHEND.<br /> + +The British officer who was taken prisoner at Kut-el-Amara, and who +afterwards became the peace negotiator.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus068.jpg" alt="Office" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> OFFICE OF A FIELD CASHIER.<br /> + +This spot was formerly one of the pillbox strongholds of the famous +switch in the Hindenburg line. It was afterwards run by the Canadians.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus069.jpg" alt="band" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> Negro Band of the 814th Infantry Leaving the Celtic After +Her Arrival.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus070.jpg" alt="winners" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> 8th Reg., FRENCH WAR-CROSS WINNERS.<br /> + +Top Row: 1st-Lieut. Hurd, Lieut-Col. Duncane, Major White, Capt. +Crawford, 1st-Lieut. Warfield and Capt. Smith. Bottom Row: Capt. Allen, +Lieut. Browning, Capt. Warner and 1st-Lieut. Tisdale.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus071.jpg" alt="Patton" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> Captain John H. Patton, 370th U.S. Infantry (formerly 8th +Illinois Infantry).</p> + +<p>Regimental Adjutant to September 11, 1918. Commanding 2nd Battalion from +September 11, 1918 to December 17, 1918. Saint Mihiel Sector from June +21, 1918 to July 3, 1918. Argonne Forest from July 16, 1918, to August +15, 1918. Battles for Mont des Signes September 16 to September 30, +1918. Oise-Aisne offensive September 30 to November 11, 1918. Awarded +the French Croix de Guerre (Division Citation for meritorious service +covering the period September 11 to November 11, 1918.)</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus072.jpg" alt="homecoming" /> +</p> +<p>Homecoming of 370th (old 8th Regiment), parade passing +the reviewing stand, Michigan ave., opposite Art Institute, Chicago Ill. +Line of march broken by the great mass of people eager to march with the +soldiers, the greatest gathering ever assembled on Chicago's great +boulevard.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus073.jpg" alt="officers" /> +</p> +<p class="center">Officers of the 370th (old Illinois 8th Regiment)<br /> + +Reading left to right: 2nd-Lieut. Lawson Price, 2nd-Lieut. L.W. Stearls, +2nd-Lieut. Ed. White, 2nd-Lieut. Eliass F.E. Williams, 1st-Lieut. Oaso +Browning, Capt. Louis B. Johnson, 1st-Lieut. Frank Bates and 1st-Lieut. +Binga Desmond.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus074.jpg" alt="Colonels" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> Left to right: Col. Franklin Dennison, Col. J. Roberts +and Lieut. Col. Otis B. Duncan of 370th (old Illinois 8th Regiment).</p> + + +<h4>PHOENIX OF THE GREEK EMPIRE.</h4> + +<p>The Ottoman Empire arose from the ruins of the old Greek Empire, early +in the fifteenth century, Constantinople being made its capital in 1453, +after its capture by Mohammed II. At the accession of Mohammed IV, in +1648, the Turkish Empire was at the zenith of its power. Internal +corruption caused loss of power, and in 1774, a large slice of territory +was ceded to Russia. In 1821 Greece became independent. The Crimean War, +in 1854-56, checked Russia for a while, but in 1875 the people of +Herzegovina rebelled. A year later the Servians and Montenegrins +revolted, and in 1877 Russia began hostile operations in both parts of +the Turkish Empire. At this time Roumania declared her independence. +After the fall of Kars and of Plevna, the Turkish resistance completely +collapsed, and in 1878 Turkey was compelled to agree to the Treaty of +San Stefano.</p> + +<p>Within the year the Treaty of Berlin declared Roumania, Servia and +Montenegro independent; Roumanian Bessarabia was ceded to Russia, +Austria was empowered to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Bulgaria was +made a principality. The main events in the history of the Ottoman +Empire since the Treaty of Berlin were the French invasion of Tunis in +1881, the Treaty with Greece, executed under pressure of the Great +Powers in 1881, by which Greece obtained Thessaly and a strip of Epirus; +the occupation of Egypt by Great Britain in 1882; the revolution of +Philippopolis in 1885, by which eastern Roumelia became united with +Bulgaria. In 1908 Bulgaria declared its independence and the Young Turk +Party extorted a constitution and a parliament from Abdul-Hamud II, who +was deposed in 1909 by the unanimous vote of the national assembly. +Mohammed V, eldest brother of the deposed Sultan succeeded to the +throne.</p> + +<p>Russia, "the Great Bear," whose part in the war brought on internal +strife and revolution which robbed Czar Nicholas of his throne, traces +its history back for more than ten centuries, when the Norse invaded the +territory and founded Veliki Novgorod, for many years one of the chief +Russian cities. The Norse, to use the modern vernacular, "put Russia on +the map" when the Russian army fought its way to the very walls of +Constantinople. Much of the early history of the country is legendary, +and one of the famous stories is that after Igor, who commanded the +great armies, was put to death by rebellious subjects, his widow sought +out the territory where her husband had lost his life and pretending to +make peace with them, requested every householder to give her a pigeon.</p> + + +<h4>WINGED FIREBRANDS.</h4> + +<p>When they gladly complied with her request she sent the tame birds back +home with flaming firebrands tied to their tails, and they entered their +lofts or rests and started fires which destroyed the city of Korosten. +The ascendancy of the Romanoff dynasty, which maintained in Russia +through the centuries, was established through the atrocities of Ivan +the Terrible, who is said to have absolutely destroyed the descendants +of the Rurik, the first Norse chieftain. Ivan the Terrible was the first +Czar of Russia. He conquered Servia and his domestic infamies and +intrigues are among the historical scandals of the country.</p> + +<p>Through every reign in Russian history there ran stories of terrible +crime, cruelties, infamies, immoralities and degradation. Following the +death of Ivan the Terrible came Fedor, one of his sons, who was a +weakling in the hands of the Duma of five, one of whom was Boris +Godounoff. Fedor reigned but a few years, and Godounoff was elected +Czar. He was ambitious, and was founder of the system of serfdom, and +also of the Russian State Church, and like many of the other rulers of +Russia, met death through infamy, supposedly having been poisoned.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus075.png" alt="balkans" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> OUTLINE MAP OF THE BALKAN STATES.<br /> + +This drawing shows the boundary lines as they were at the beginning of +the war. It also shows the location of the principal city of each +country. This part of the world has always been of great importance +since the earliest history of man and nations—a continuous struggle +between nations to control this gateway into southwestern Asia.</p> + + +<h4>BASE IMPOSTER SLAIN.</h4> + +<p>Boris Godounoff was succeeded by his son Feodor, but he was seized by a +pretender, and with his mother, thrown into prison, where they were +murdered. The discovery of the plot, which was laid at the door of the +King of Poland, produced an uprising and Czar Dimitry the Impostor was +slain. Vasili Shouyskie, leader of the mob that slew Dimitry, was +proclaimed Czar, but pretenders sprang up, and one of these, who posed +as a false Dimitry, invaded Russia from Poland, and established a rival +imperial court at Toushin, and some of the Russian cities swore +allegiance to him.</p> + +<p>Vasili Shouyskie held out at Moscow, and after a time Dimitry's cause +failed, whereupon Sigsmund, of Poland, invaded Russia, and put forward +his son Vladislav. Vasili, roused to anger, committed acts which +provoked Moscow, and in 1610 he was compelled to abdicate, and a council +of nobles was formed to run the government until a Czar could be chosen. +Vladislav was finally selected, but Feodor Romanoff sought to prevent +his being crowned. There was a period of anarchy, cities were burned, +and chaos was complete.</p> + +<p>The dignitaries of the church and state finally set to work and +supported the candidacy of Mikhial Feodorovitch Romanoff, who was the +first Romanoff Czar. He reorganized the empire, and reigned for +thirty-three years. His successor, Alexis, the direct heir, reigned for +thirty-one years, and cultivated friendly relations with Ukraine and the +Cossack country. He was followed by Feodor II, and then came Peter the +Great. There were two claimants to the throne, Ivan and Peter, both sons +of Alexis by separate wives, and the difficulty was settled by letting +the two reign jointly under the regency of Sophia, a sister of Ivan.</p> + +<p>When Ivan died Peter assumed the reins, and it was he who gave Russia a +frontage on the Black Sea, and on the Baltic, and built St. Petersburg. +He did much for the development of Russia, creating a navy and a +merchantile marine.</p> + +<p>Catherine the First, his widow, followed him in reign, and at her death, +Peter II occupied the center of the stage. At his death there was chaos +again and counter claims. Anna of Courtland, a daughter of Ivan, brother +of Peter the Great, was finally elected sovereign, but she was a mere +puppet, vesting her authority in a High Council.</p> + + +<h4>FAMILY'S WRETCHED CAREER.</h4> + +<p>During her reign her lover, named Biren, held sway and distinguished +himself by sending thousands of political exiles to Siberia. At the +death of Anna, Ivan IV, her grandnephew, reigned, but was deposed and +sent to prison for life, while Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Peter the +Great, succeeded him. She permitted the government to be run on +comparatively honest lines by favorites, and while they ruled she drank +herself to death.</p> + +<p>Her nephew, Peter III, succeeded her. He was incompetent and a tool in +the Prussian hands. His wife was a German princess, and led a movement +which ended in his being deposed, imprisoned and murdered.</p> + +<p>Catherine, widow of the murdered Peter, succeeded. She was known as +Catherine the Great, and is credited with having been the most infamous +of women in all history. Catherine was succeeded by Paul, who was +assassinated by his own courtiers when he was on the point of joining +Napoleon Bonaparte in his conquest of India.</p> + +<p>His son was Alexander I, who added Finland and Poland to Russia, and +founded the Holy Alliance. He was followed by his son Nicholas, who +ruled for 30 years, and crushed the Poles and Hungarians, but died of a +broken heart in the Crimean War.</p> + +<p>Next came Alexander II, who gained fame as liberator of the serfs, and +died the victim of a Nihilist bomb thrower. Alexander III succeeded him, +and then came Nicholas II, the last Czar, whose reign lasted 22 years. +The beginning of the end was marked by the request of the workingmen in +1905 for an increase in civil rights. They were fired upon, and there +was general disorder, until the Czar proclaimed a constitution, and +established a Duma, or national parliament, which met for the first time +in 1906.</p> + + +<h4>BETRAYAL OF RUSSIA'S MILITARY PLANS.</h4> + +<p>The outbreak of the war was marked by the personal decree of the Czar to +change the name of the capital, St. Petersburg, to Petrograd, but his +evident intent to eliminate evidences of German influence did not stop +the betrayal of Russia's military plans by German spys within the court +circles, and it was charged that supplies were withheld from the Russian +army by those within the charmed circle, who were friendly to Germany.</p> + +<p>Russia was a party to the Franco-Russian and Anglo-Russian agreement, +which constituted the basis of the Triple Entente, but conditions were +such that the soldiers refused to fight, and the situation culminated in +the uprising which ended with the abdication of the Czar, in behalf of +his brother, who, however, declined to accept the throne, unless he +should be elected by the votes of the Russian people. The Duma thereupon +decided to organize a republican form of government, and so the Russian +Republic came into being in March, 1917.</p> + +<p>Spain, a fertile country in the southwestern part of Europe, has played +a prominent part in the development of the world. She has a coastline +extending nearly 1500 miles, and there are about 200,000 square miles +included in her territory. The coastlands and the southern section of +the country are especially rich in fruits and agriculture. Although +watered by many rivers, the land, for the most part, is artificially +irrigated.</p> + +<p>Up until 1898 Spain held possession of magnificent colonies in Cuba and +Porto Rico and the Philippines, but now her colonial possessions are +confined to a strip on the west coast of the Sahara, and the island of +Fernando Po, with some smaller possessions on the Guinea coast in +Africa. Their total area is about 434,000 square miles, the total +population being 10,000,000.</p> + + +<h4>SPAIN, PAST AND PRESENT.</h4> + +<p>Spain formerly composed the ancient provinces of New and Old Castile, +Leon, Asturias, Galicia, Estremadura, Andalusia, Aragon, Murcia, +Valencia, Catalonia, Navarre and the Basque Provinces. These, since +1834, have been divided into 49 provinces. The capital of Spain is +Madrid, and the present constitution dates from 1876. There is a +Congress, which is composed of deputies, each one representing 50,000 of +the population.</p> + +<p>The Roman Catholic faith is the established form of religion, and the +priesthood possesses considerable wealth and power, although the +dominant influence once possessed has been curtailed of recent years. +The peace strength of the army is about 83,000, and what navy she has is +practically new, as the Spanish navy was annihilated in the war with the +United States in 1898.</p> + +<p>During recent years the republican tendencies among the people have +found vent in socialism. The Spanish socialist leaders belong mostly to +the intellectuals, and here again is the weakness of the movement, +whether considered as a means of giving Spain a republic or of +liberating her political system under monarchical form. Some of the +intellectual leaders among the socialists headed straight for +philosophic anarchy, while others expended their energies in building +castles in the clouds.</p> + +<p>The substantial socialism of the recent period was, however, based on +the workingmen's movement. Before the outbreak of the great war the +tendency was to affiliate with the groups in other countries of Europe +which advocated socialism as an international creed. But when the German +socialists placed their country above internationalism, and the French +socialists did the same, and the Italian socialists joined in the +agitation to force the government into war to get back territory lost to +Austria, the international basis of Spanish socialism disappeared.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h3> + +<h4>MODERN WAR METHODS.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Individual Initiative as Against Mass Movements—Trench Warfare a +Game of Hide and Seek—Rats and Disease—Surgery's Triumphs—Changed +Tactics—Italian Mountain Fighting</span>.</p> + + +<p>Warfare such as carried on in the Great World War is so different from +that of any other of the great wars which the world has seen, that it +might be described as a method of fighting distinctively unique. +Undoubtedly, more ancient methods, and even ancient weapons, have been +employed than were used in any of the wars which have changed, from time +to time, the boundary lines of nations. The fighting of mass against +mass has been practically obliterated, and modern evolutions where the +plan is man to man have developed a mode of fighting where terrible +execution has resulted.</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly this means of fighting has developed the personal initiative +of the soldiers, and the modern fighting machine of the nations is of a +high standard, which, together with death-dealing weapons, has resulted +in terrible havoc. Massed movements, such as carried on in the War of +the Rebellion, have been practically done away with, and although there +have been long and costly sieges, they have been carried on by tedious +trench fighting, airships, hand grenades, and massive shells fired from +guns of great caliber, and with a range which is really marvellous.</p> + +<p>Shells are fired, shrapnel in some cases, explosive shells in others, +which are timed to the second, so that when fired from guns many miles +from the objective point, they explode at a measured distance from the +earth. They are exploded within a gauged distance of the target, and the +execution is done over a measured area. On the shells are indicators. +Within the shrapnel shells are hundreds of small shot. As the shell +explodes the shots are scattered over the enemy, and death and +destruction are unavoidable.</p> + +<p>With bomb shells, fired from guns of the largest caliber, there are also +indicators which are timed to the second. The range and time of +explosion previously figured out by officers, the shell explodes where +it is intended that it shall, and the work of the great explosive is +done with resultant damage.</p> + + +<h4>WAR'S MANY DEVELOPMENTS.</h4> + +<p>The war has developed many of the new methods of fighting and revived +many of the old means of warfare. Cavalry has not been as active in the +relation in the great war as in any of the wars of comparatively recent +date, because of the extensive trench warfare which has formed so much +of the fighting plan. Fighting has been a question of trench raids, and +barrage fire, followed by the infantry charge through shell holes. The +impression brought home to the modern observer is that the older +recognized methods of warfare are gone for good.</p> + +<p>The thing which war changed in the work of the cavalryman is in the +nature of an addition, rather than a subtraction from his duties and the +training he must have. The day of cavalry—as cavalry and nothing +else—has passed. For today the cavalryman must be familiar not only +with the sword, lance and revolver, but with the rifle as well. It has +been demonstrated that such long periods of trench warfare may develop +that it becomes necessary for him to dismount and make himself valuable +in the scheme of military economy by fighting as infantry until such +time as the enemy line is broken and he can again take to his horse and +the work of harrying the retreating foe.</p> + +<p>The war has been full of surprising results as regards cavalry. It was +popularly supposed that in facing such terrible modern weapons as the +repeating rifle of long range, the machine gun and the automatic field +pieces which have become so well known as the French "75s," any body of +cavalry which attempted to charge the enemy would be annihilated.</p> + + +<h4>CAVALRY'S SUCCESSFUL CHARGES.</h4> + +<p>Yet all through the early stages of the war one reads of desperate, and, +what is more to the point, successful charges made by British cavalry +against batteries of German field pieces. There was one instance in +France, just back of the Belgian frontier, where a charge of British +lancers against a German battery, which had a commanding position, saved +the day for a greatly-outnumbered allied detachment, which was +conducting that most difficult of all maneuvers, a rear guard action, +covering the retreat of the body of the army. The charge of the lancers +took the Germans so by surprise, and was executed with such speed, that +despite the heavy fire they poured into the advancing horsemen the +latter were at work among them with spear and saber before +reinforcements could be brought up. Then the cavalry, dismounting and +unslinging their carbines, defended the position with such tenacity that +the German advance was delayed several hours, sufficient for the rest of +the allied forces to make good its withdrawal and the consolidation of +the new lines chosen for defense.</p> + +<p>This idea of cavalry serving in the double role of infantry and cavalry +is a distinctly American development, a trick which the Federal and +Confederate armies taught the world during the Civil War, and of which +the British made excellent use in South Africa against the Boers. The +fact which this war has established, however, is that the older use of +cavalry, in the charge against infantry, artillery and even entrenched +positions is still of great value. The idea had developed from the +tactics so largely employed in the Civil War of using the cavalry as +mounted infantry, that the increased deadliness of modern weapons would +make this use of cavalry the sole use.</p> + +<p>Now, however, it seems that not even the lance is to be discounted. +Given the opportunity to reach his objective, the lance becomes a +terrible weapon in the hands of the horseman. In hand-to-hand fighting +the man with the rifle and bayonet has some chance against the mounted +man with the saber. While fighting upward from a lower level he has a +pretty long reach, and the advantage of being completely in control of +his own movements, whereas even the most expert horseman cannot control +the step and movement of his mount as well as a man can control his own. +Barring fire, however, the infantryman has no chance against the lance, +with the speed and momentum of the mounted man behind it.</p> + +<p>So, for this reason, though they are cumbersome weapons under ordinary +circumstances, and make a detachment equipped with them much more likely +to be seen, lances were retained by many of the British cavalry +regiments, just as the German Uhlans retained them.</p> + + +<h4>CAVALRY'S IMPORTANT SERVICE.</h4> + +<p>One of the most important services which cavalry fulfills in modern +warfare is that of drawing the enemy's fire at the time his positions +are being approached. This is done to obtain some idea of his force and +the disposition of his guns.</p> + +<p>Cavalry detachments are sent scurrying across the front, as though +threatening an attack, deliberately furnishing a mark for the enemy +gunners that this object of ascertaining his strength may be attained.</p> + +<p>The more ordinary work of scouting, advance guard work, and riding wide +on the flanks of an advancing force are parts of the cavalryman's work +which are more familiar.</p> + +<p>In the European conflict with tremendous concentration of troops and +continued occupation of the same territory the foraging feature of +cavalry work disappeared. It is no longer possible for an army to "live +on the country as it goes." Food and supplies must be brought up from +depots in the rear through an entirely separate and specialized +department of the military organization, which does its work with a +celerity certainly undreamed of in former days, even as late as our own +war with Spain.</p> + +<p>In the modern campaign trenches have been developed to such an extent +that it is really marvellous how the soldiers live, and to what an +extent the "underground fortresses" have been used for living as well as +fighting purposes.</p> + +<p>In a letter written by a French soldier who took part in a successful +raid upon a German trench, he adequately describes the luxuries enjoyed +by the German soldiers in the front line trenches in the Marne. The +letter was written by a youth who had been wounded in the fight, and was +mailed in April, 1917.</p> + + +<h4>LUXURIOUS DUGOUTS.</h4> + +<p>"We are now living in German lines and dugouts—a magnificent work we +have just now taken—cement and steel are used with profusion, and +electricity in every dugout, even in their front lines. Unharmed +casements and machine guns in cemented shelters and light railways and +immense reserves of food—thousands of bottles of claret.</p> + +<p>"But also, at the middle of each staircase, in the wall, a box with +about seventy pounds of cheddite—to blow the shelter up in case of +retreat. They knew they might have to go back, as they are doing now. +America will gain victory, as until the present moment only the bravery +of our soldiers can put them back, with much exertion and frequent loss.</p> + +<p>"Our men are magnificent in spite of death. We hope your help may be +quick and decisive. I think your flying corps especially may be useful, +the more as yesterday, with four fellows, I was run through the field, +and in a destroyed trench by a German Albatross shooting a machine gun, +and flying very low, he missed us quite near. On the other hand, we have +just a few days hence seen a sausage balloon destroyed by our men. +Anyhow your help may be decisive.</p> + +<p>"I believe your joy is great about the Russian revolution. At home they +are happy, too—only let us hope the Russian army may attack this +summer—to help us.</p> + +<p>"I need not tell you the impression made by your American decision here. +We now know victory is sure. Let us hope it may be this year—though you +may easily guess such is not my belief—next year.</p> + +<p>"I hope my next letter be sent from farther in the German lines—perhaps +from a place they have not had time to destroy."</p> + +<p>Shorn of all technicalities, the plain method of warfare which has +developed as the result of the trench building is that each force +establishes lines along miles of front with trenches in rows, one after +the other, at measured intervals. The soldiers are thus "entrenched." +One force seeks to drive the other from its position.</p> + + +<h4>MANY DEADLY DEVICES.</h4> + +<p>The force of batteries is directed against the entrenchments, hand +grenades, bombs, shells, gases and every device which has fallen to the +use of armies is projected at the ditches in which are hidden the enemy +soldiers. When, by the concentration of attack the trenches are +destroyed or the soldiers driven from their first position, the opposing +force has gained if it has succeeded in advancing its own soldiers to +occupy and reconstruct the trenches or defences from which the enemy was +driven.</p> + +<p>The soldiers carry, in addition to the ordinary weapons, a trench spade, +and in most cases large knives, which are used to cut away brush or dig +in the earth when emergency demands. The close confinement in the +trenches tends to develop disease, and the sanitary force of the modern +army is a thing that was undreamed of in the olden days. More men died +from disease during the Civil War than were killed by bullets or in +hand-to-hand encounter.</p> + +<p>The percentage of those who die from camp fever has been reduced to a +minimum. Napoleon said that armies travel on their stomachs, but the +European War and the Russian-Japanese War have proven, as did our +campaigns in Cuba and Mexico, that soldiers live by reason of the health +which they are permitted to maintain. Some idea of the conditions which +developed in the trenches may be gained from a study of the various +hospital reports, and investigations which have been made by physicians.</p> + + +<h4>INFECTED WITH ASIATIC JAUNDICE.</h4> + +<p>Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, +completed a series of experiments which showed that apparently healthy +wild rats in the European war zone became infected with Weil's disease, +or "infectious jaundice," common in Asia. Weil's disease is +characterized by sudden onsets of malaise, often intense muscular pain, +high fever for several days, followed by jaundice, frequently +accompanied by complications. It becomes more virulent as it is +successively transmitted from one victim to another. This is supposed to +explain the much greater mortality, about 38 per cent. in Japan, as +compared with from 2 to 3 per cent. among European soldiers.</p> + +<p>The study of the disease was made possible by the successful importation +from Japan and Flanders of guinea pigs and rats which had been +inoculated with the causative organism in those two countries. +Experiments previously made showed that the germ of the disease was +carried in the kidneys of a large percentage of apparently healthy wild +rats caught near the districts where the disease had been epidemic. +Experiments in Europe demonstrated the presence of the germ in rats not +only near the infected zones, but also in captured localities some +distance from trenches.</p> + +<p>For purposes of comparison Dr. Noguchi collected a number of rats in +this country and removed their kidneys. His report states that by +inoculating the emulsion made of the kidneys of 41 wild rats into 58 +guinea pigs during a period of three months, he had been able to produce +in three groups of guinea pigs typical cases of infectious jaundice +altogether identical with the findings in the guinea pigs which died of +the injection of the Japanese and Belgian strains of the disease. The +germs taken from wild rats caught near New York produced death in guinea +pigs within nine to twelve days.</p> + + +<h4>AMERICA'S GREAT SERVICE IN WAR ZONE.</h4> + +<p>In studying the conditions and helping to fight the dangers encountered +in the battlefields and camps of Europe, no country in the world +rendered a greater service than America. Long before the country entered +the war hundreds of American nurses, ambulance drivers and surgeons were +on the battlefields and in the hospitals of Belgium, France and England. +Men who were leaders in the medical and surgical world gave their +services to the Allies, and almost every hospital in the United States +sent some of its staff.</p> + +<p>Through the efforts and study of Dr. Alexis Carrel, of New York, deaths +from wounds received in battle were reduced almost 90 per cent. by a +system of treatment which he devised. Dr. Carrel began his work in 1914, +at Compiegne, in connection with the military hospital, and in +collaboration with the Dakin Research Laboratory, under the auspices of +the Rockefeller Foundation.</p> + +<p>Using a solution of sodium hypochlorite, the plain method of treating +wounds which proved such a great boon, was described at the Congress of +Surgeons in Philadelphia in 1916, where many of the wonders of war +surgery were described. By means of a rubber tube, which is run through +or into the wound, the injury is flushed continuously by the solution, +for a period of hours or minutes, according to the nature and character +of the wound.</p> + +<p>The inflammation is reduced, the wound cleaned, and blood poisoning is +averted. Under the treatment the soldier's stay in a hospital is +reduced weeks and even months, and, as has been stated with authority, +where in the old days twenty operations would have been necessary, the +modern methods have reduced the percentage to a point where the twenty +has become as one.</p> + +<p>The story of surgery itself and what it has done in modern warfare would +make a wonderful volume. The shattered bones of the legs and arms have +been spliced, and laid side by side in open wounds, to knit together and +practically form a new limb. Artificial hands, feet, and legs have been +made by ingenious mechanics, which are so perfect that those who have +been deprived of their natural facilities can use them with a degree of +facility never before believed possible.</p> + + +<h4>RESULT OF SCIENTIFIC SURGERY.</h4> + +<p>Armless men and legless men have worked in the munition factories of +both France and of England, and the fact that they are able to do so is +due to the genius of surgeons and of scientists. Thoroughness and +preparation, coolness in execution and scientific accuracy in all +directions is the modern necessity in warfare.</p> + +<p>What this means in modern battle, as demonstrated in the last important +conflict in the clearing of German East Africa by British forces, was +described by Reuters' correspondent in an account of the battle of +Rufiji River.</p> + +<p>This was the last campaign personally commanded by Major General Jan +Christian Smuts, the former Boer commander, and resulted in giving the +British control of all the coastline and the inhabitable portion of +German East Africa.</p> + +<p>For two weary months the army lay upon its weapons, consolidating, +reorganizing, rebuilding railway lines and piling up great dumps of food +and ridding itself of its sick and wounded. Then it moved forward from +Morogoro. The object of the advance was the ejection of the enemy from +his trenches on the Mgeta River and the seizure of the passages of the +Rufiji River.</p> + +<p>The battle was directed and controlled from an observation hill at +Dathumi, but General Smuts spent little time on the hill. He had made +all the dispositions and issued his orders. Nothing remained for him to +do and he was back in his camp calmly reading a book.</p> + +<p>In the straw hut the brigadier general sat at a table on which was an +oriented map showing the strategic and geographical points of the plans +which lay before us, at his elbow the telephone and just below the hut +the wireless instrument incessantly emitted sparks. Higher up the slope +of the hill were the observing stations of the battery commanders.</p> + + +<h4>SIGNALED BEGINNING OF BATTLE.</h4> + +<p>The burning of huts at Kiruru signaled the beginning of the battle. The +brigadier general, a polite little man who has lectured at the staff +college for twenty years and who knows the last word in the science of +warfare, especially of artillery, called the howitzer battery by +telephone.</p> + +<p>"Open fire a little to the right of the palm tree," he said. "You have +the elevation and direction. The Nigerians will be on the move." Just +behind the palm tree and a little to the right a great brown cloud of +mud and smoke rose high in the air. From the plain came the boom of +heavy guns and all along the river branch rose clouds of smoke, mud and +dust.</p> + +<p>The staff officer handed in a telegram reading: "The infantry are now +about to advance; they ask artillery support."</p> + +<p>"Bring the field guns into action," said the general.</p> + +<p>It was all so very matter of fact. This little man, who was about to let +loose upon the German trenches a hell's broth of fire and disaster, +acted as if he were in his own drawing room, deciding how many lumps of +sugar he would take with his tea.</p> + +<p>Down below on the plain the howitzers were lobbing 60-pound shells into +the German Askaris, the Nigerians were advancing by sharp rushes and the +rat-tat of the machine guns and the crackle of musketry broke very +faintly. Airplanes sailed above us. A message came from the Nigerians, +"We are going to take the enemy's trenches; please lift gunfire." The +order was passed along, "All guns lift two degrees."</p> + +<p>Little black dots, like tiny ants, are running where the shells are +bursting. The Nigerians are rushing the trenches. The forward observing +officer reports that the enemy is retiring. The 15-pounders, man-killing +guns, shower shrapnel on the German line of retreat.</p> + + +<h4>SUGGESTS A CUP OF TEA.</h4> + +<p>The infantry report having occupied the German first line trenches, +halting for one hour to consolidate. The brigadier-general commented on +the difficulty of observation in the humid atmosphere and suggested a +cup of tea. It seemed that nothing more would happen until after lunch, +so I visited the commander-in-chief. He was occupied for the moment with +a volume by George Gisslog and was satisfied with the reports he had +received. By dark the whole of the German entrenchments were in our +hands.</p> + +<p>A volume could be written alone on the changes in tactics which have +been developed and practiced by the military geniuses of the contending +forces. In the European War the range of artillery and infantry fire was +three times what it was in the Franco-Prussian War. The flattening of +the trajectory, which means making the bullets go more nearly on a +straight line instead of traveling in an arc, has made the fire so +effective as to compel the soldiers to "travel on their stomachs." To +crawl along the ground like alligators, or advance like moles digging +their way into the earth.</p> + +<p>The tremendous range of the modern rifle, single arm, or rapid-fire gun, +and the development of more powerful explosives for ammunition have +wrought this change. The bullet will travel a longer distance at a +horizontal position than in the old days when ordinary black powder and +a smooth-bore gun were used, and so at hundreds of yards distance the +soldiers can aim direct to kill, without making elevation allowances.</p> + +<p>The machine gun has made it possible for the men to fire from four to +five shots for every one that was fired in the Franco-Prussian War and +probably ten for every one that was fired in the Civil War. The only +time the soldiers exposed themselves on the army frontiers were when +they were storming trenches, and this was not attempted until the trench +had suffered bombardment so it was made untenable.</p> + + +<h4>DIFFICULT MOUNTAIN FIGHTING.</h4> + +<p>Probably nothing in the warfare of nations has been more colorful and +replete with surprises than the campaign waged by the Italian soldiers +on the Alpine passes between Italy and the Austrian strongholds, and in +the discussion of modern warfare, a brief description of some of the +work of these intrepid mountain fighters is interesting.</p> + +<p>Much of this fighting has been the most difficult known in the annals of +modern warfare, save, perhaps, that done by the famous Younghusband +British Expedition to Thibet. And that, by comparison, was a very small +matter.</p> + +<p>The mere height—altitude—at which the Italian warfare against the +Austrians was carried on has been sufficient to entail enormous +difficulties and a great additional strain, due actually to difficult +breathing in a rarefied atmosphere.</p> + +<p>The warfare in the clouds which has characterized the struggle along the +Isonzo front has been conducted at an altitude seldom less than 8,000 +and often rising to 12,000 feet, which is well within the realm of +eternal snow.</p> + +<p>Naturally, therefore, most of the fighting was done in bitter cold. To +this fact add the other that the Italian soldiers who carried it on were +almost exclusively men who had not been accustomed to the cold. They had +been drawn from among dwellers in a semitropical climate, and one gets +an idea of the immense accomplishments of this army which struggled in +the skies.</p> + +<p>The average American knows the Italian as immensely industrious, but +perhaps is disinclined to credit him with great constructive ability or +engineering genius. He would change his estimate of him if he could see +him fight and study his battlefield. The Italian warfare of the mountain +peak and gorges has been a warfare of construction, even more than it +has been a warfare of destruction, and has been rendered possible only +by the exercise of engineering genius comparable with that which sent +our world-beating American railways through the famous Rocky Mountain +passes!</p> + + +<h4>HALTED BY INTIMIDATION.</h4> + +<p>The fact that Italy's warfare has been invariably against positions +stronger than her own is the result of the fact that while, since 1866, +Austria continually strengthened her frontier with fortifications, most +of them of ferro-concrete, the Italians were not able to fortify at all. +Every step in that direction brought forth threats of war. These began +at a time when Italy was in no condition to fight, before, as a unified +nation, she became a world-power.</p> + +<p>Being weak, she was prevented from making any preparations for defense +against a foe which continually was obviously getting ready for attack +upon her. The mere commencement of preparations might have precipitated +war. But Austria continually prepared. Besides, the Italians ever have +been a peace-loving nation.</p> + +<p>As a natural and inevitable consequence of all these conditions all the +dominating positions along the Austro-Italian frontier were strongly +fortified by the Austrians. They have long occupied the crest of every +mountain in such a way that their guns could rake any Italian approach +from below, along a front of 450 miles—about the distance from New York +to Buffalo, and almost the same as that of the whole French-British-Belgian +eastern front in this war.</p> + +<p>During the winter of 1916, one of the most exceptionally hard winters +known in the annals of the Italian Weather Service, the Italians not +only have been fighting for their sunny homeland, but have been fighting +in a region of eternal snow.</p> + +<p>This snow was an obstacle extremely hard to overcome. It may be said +never to have been less than six yards deep on the Isonzo front, so the +task of the consolidation of positions, enabling troops at once to +resist attack and protect themselves from assault from the rear, was +highly difficult.</p> + + +<h4>TYPICAL ROAD BUILDERS.</h4> + +<p>The Italians were ever road-builders, descendants, as they are, of those +Romans who built roads for all Europe. While the Austrians were fully +supplied with roads of the best and most modern character, there were +hundreds of miles on the Italian side where there were not even +mule-tracks.</p> + +<p>Here was a vast problem.</p> + +<p>Literally millions of soldiers were not free to fight, but had been +drafted for the road-building work. Carrying picks and shovels, managing +steam-shovels, working electric hoists, stringing supporting cables, +they were as truly fighting men, however, as any who ever bore rifles or +worked machine-guns.</p> + +<p>Miles of the roads were rebuilt under Austrian fire, by men who built +them well enough, even in the great 8,000-foot heights, that they could +bear heavy artillery of vast weights without suffering damage. They +built them in such easy gradients that heavy artillery could be moved +speedily, the guns and motor-lorries that passed over them frequently +weighing as much as fifteen tons.</p> + +<p>Nor did the problem end with the construction of these marvel-roads. It +was necessary to transport very heavy war material across stretches +where the building of any roads whatever was a sheer impossibility. +Often it was necessary to take heavy guns as far as might be upon +sleighs and then drag them for considerable distances by hand; quite as +often it was imperative that across chasms great cables should be rigged +on which the guns might be swung, sometimes hundreds or even thousands +of feet above the valleys beneath, from one height to another.</p> + +<p>The "wireways" by which much of this unique transportation was +accomplished are of Italian invention, as were other notable and +essential engineering devices of this great war of mountain +transportation.</p> + +<p>Such contrivances, known as "teleferrica," were introduced for the first +time during the winter of 1916, and by summer there were about 200 along +the mountainous front. They not only supplied very advanced positions +with armament, ammunition and food, but transported men back and forth +between them and lower points.</p> + + +<h4>SYSTEM ONE OF TACKLES.</h4> + +<p>The system was one of tackles (where guns and other heavy freight were +to be moved) or cars (like cradles, where men were to be moved), +operated by motor-pulleys directly connected up with great electric +power. One of the most astonishing and picturesque uses to which these +aerial wireways were put was the movement downward of men wounded at the +advanced posts with which the teleferrica communicate.</p> + +<p>To see wounded men going down these wireways, mere dots, each +representing a suspended stretcher upon which a suffering human being is +strapped securely, was described as one of the most amazing spectacles +of the whole war. The experience, to some wounded men, swinging +sickeningly, dizzyingly alone in midair, was probably more terrifying +than actual fighting, although there were few, if any, accidents +connected with the wireways.</p> + +<p>Not infrequently these wireways were within direct range of the enemy +fire, and that complicated matters. So far as is known, there has been +no instance of a cable cut by gunfire, but in several districts it was +necessary that the men, going to their duty and the wounded going +backward, having done theirs, must needs be protected in armored +baskets, somewhat like those which often are swung beneath observation +balloons on the various fronts.</p> + + +<h4>PROBLEMS OF TRANSPORTATION.</h4> + +<p>The problems of transportation, great as they are, are by no means the +only unique difficulties presented to these brave mountain fighters. In +this extraordinary warfare mining by means of high explosives was +carried on upon a hitherto unequaled scale. Such work with high +explosives was not only continually necessary in the construction of +roads and fortifications in a region of solid rock, but sometimes proved +the only effective means of attack upon the enemy.</p> + +<p>The mine was used as an offensive weapon by both sides, and often with +very terrible results.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most extraordinary of the campaign was the mine laid by the +Italians after infinitely difficult and very extensive tunneling in +solid rock at the Cima del Col di Lana.</p> + +<p>This immense effort with explosives blew off the whole top of a +mountain—and that mountaintop was thickly occupied by Austrians at the +time of the explosion of the mine. None on the Italian side knows +exactly what the Austrian casualties were, but it is certain that +through this one explosion more than an entire company—that is, more +than 400—of the enemy's soldiers were destroyed.</p> + +<p>An interesting detail of this operation is the fact that while the +Italians were tunneling for this great mine they were perfectly aware +that the Austrians also were at work upon a similar effort. It amounted +to a race with death, and the Italians won it.</p> + +<p>Correspondents agree that the thing which most impresses the visitor to +the mountain fronts of the Italian army is the immense patience which +it has shown in the face of the difficult tasks of this astonishing +campaign. Italians usually are regarded as temperamental creatures, but +"dogged" has been the word which has meant most in this campaign.</p> + +<p>Some of the movements of troops across exposed snow-covered spaces have +been marvels of incredible patience. To escape observation the soldiers +have been clad in white clothing, but in addition to this it has been +necessary for them to lie flat upon their faces in the snow, moving +very, very slowly, accomplishing their transfers from point to point +literally at snail speed.</p> + +<p>With regard to such work, as with regard to the Italian wounded, one +thing is remarked by all the officers and those who have been privileged +even for a short time to share the hardships of the Italian "common +soldier." He never complains. Healthy or hurt, weary or fresh, he takes +war with a smile full of flashing teeth and with eyes glittering with +interest and good nature.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h3> + +<h4>WOMAN AND THE WAR.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">She Has Won "Her Place in the Sun"—Rich and Poor in the Munitions +Factories—Nurse and Ambulance Driver—Khaki and Trousers—Organizer and +Farmer—Heroes in the Stress of Circumstances—Doing Men's Work for +Men—Even a "Bobbie."</span></p> + + +<p>If it were ever really necessary for woman to "win a place in the sun" +she has done so by her activities with relation to the war. We have +regarded woman with a high degree of sentimentality, and to her pleas +for recognition in world affairs have shrugged our shoulders and +intimated that she was fit to bear children, nurse the sick, do +household chores and cook, cook, cook; but physically, mentally and by +training she was unfit to perform the greater world duties.</p> + +<p>But the world war has proved that all the tasks which men claimed women +were unfitted to perform can as well be done by what we have been +pleased to term the "weaker sex."</p> + +<p>The war has proved a truism that old saying, "The hand that rocks the +cradle rules the world," and also that the burden of war falls upon +women. It is they who give up their sons to their country and send their +husbands and boys to the front to serve as fodder for the cannon.</p> + +<p>In England the work of women in the war secured for them a degree of +recognition in Parliament which all of their agitation and militant +tactics failed to produce.</p> + +<p>National extremity was woman's opportunity; frank invitation to new +lines of work was followed by hearty appreciation on the part of the +men; and a proposition to extend suffrage to 6,000,000 English women was +based avowedly upon the general gratitude felt for their loyal and +effective service in the war. And it is war service, for modern warfare +has greatly enlarged the content of that term. In the modern conception +those who make munitions or in other ways release others for the front +are doing war service as truly as those who bear arms.</p> + +<p>Instead of yielding to fame a few isolated Mollie Pitchers, the war +brought a largely neglected half of the nation's military strength into +practical service. Indeed, though woman dreads war more than man does, +if it comes to actual defense of land and home and young, we find, with +Kipling, that "the female of the species is more deadly than the male."</p> + + +<h4>THE WORK OF WOMEN.</h4> + +<p>The work of the women in the munitions factories in England has +deservedly attracted large attention, and, doubtless, British historians +will for centuries tell how, when England found herself utterly at a +loss before her enemies because of a lack of effective ammunition, the +women responded "as one man" to meet the need and save the Union Jack +from being forced to the shore. It was a repetition, multiplied 10,000 +times, of the Presbyterian parson at Springfield, N.J., supplying +Washington's army with Watts hymn books when it was retreating to serve +as paper wadding for the rifles.</p> + +<p>The innovation of the task, the large scale on which it was carried out +and the striking success of it make it a major event of the war, even to +be compared with the battle of the Marne. And shall not American +historians ascribe to the scores of young girls who lost their lives in +an explosion at Eddystone, Pa., making munitions, the honor of being the +first martyrs of the German-American War?</p> + +<p>It was not alone the working girls of England who tired their arms and +calloused their hands on the heavy shells. When the work was at its full +capacity, a proposition was sent to the women of leisure to undergo +three weeks of training in a munitions factory and then take up the work +at the week-ends to relieve the regular workers, the women shell +machinists, whose strength and skill could best be maintained by saving +them from Saturday and Sunday overtime.</p> + +<p>There was a strange incongruity in paying them less than the men for the +same work. They worked in eight-hour shifts and were required to stand, +except during a single half-hour interval. The prospectus of instruction +suggested short skirts, thick gloves and boots with low heels, adding +that evening dress would not be necessary.</p> + +<p>Hotel accommodations were attempted for these "lady" workers, but this +proved inadequate, and part of them went to the lodgings with the +regular workers. Short skirts were only the first step that promptly led +to overalls, and when these English ladies, whom the girls called +"Miaows," got well grimed with dust and grease, utterly tired out with +handling 12-pound shells and hungry enough to prefer coarse food, they +understood the workgirls as never before, and the men, too, and they had +a new birth of patriotism. One lady said she found great relief and +enthusiasm by thinking of the shells as so many dead Boches or live +Tommies.</p> + + +<h4>VARIED OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN.</h4> + +<p>Making ammunition and hospital supplies, handling luggage and trunks in +baggage rooms, driving motors, conducting trolley cars, carpentry work +on wooden houses for the front, are but a few of the occupations in +which European women engaged in war service. They have served as lift +attendants, ticket sellers, post office sorters, mail carriers, +gardeners, dairy lassies, grocery clerks, drivers of delivery wagons and +vans, commissionaires. More than a million were added to the industrial +workers in England during the first two years of war.</p> + +<p>America coming later into the war, its women naturally followed the lead +of the English and French along many lines tried and proved to be worth +while, but our matrons and maids, famed for their independence and +initiative, developed also new lines of patriotic effort. As soon as it +was evident that German ambitions included designs upon America, the +strong feminine instinct for preservation began to assert itself. +Pacifism had no special appeal to the gentler sex at such a time. She +got behind the recruiting as if it were her own job, and much of the +success of it was due to her efforts.</p> + +<p>The Woman's Section of the Navy League may well be described by quoting +from its own statement of motive and purpose. "Every mother with sons, +every wife with husband, every sister with a brother, feels her heart +stand still with the horror of what war may bring to her."</p> + + +<h4>WOMAN'S MANY SERVICES.</h4> + +<p>These women spread information to arouse interest in the condition of +the United States naval forces, aided recruiting for the Naval Reserve, +assisted in procuring enrollments for the Naval Coast Reserve, and +drawing on their resources provided many needed articles of clothing, +equipment and comfort not furnished by the Government. A knitting +committee makes sleeveless jackets, helmets, wristlets and mufflers. +Comfort kits, games, blankets, underwear, rubber hats, coats and boots +are made or bought by the Comfort and Supplies Committee.</p> + +<p>The two poles of patriotic service are the production of food and +fighting at the front; a world of activity bulges between them. European +women are accustomed to farm labor. Millions of peasant women, serfs, +all but in name, under the late Russian regime; Balkan women, German and +French wives and girls, and, to some extent, the mothers and daughters +of the English poor, would have understood Markham's poem better if he +had called it, "The Woman With the Hoe."</p> + +<p>In the war food crisis the women of America matched the women of the +enemy and vied with those of their own allies in persuading mother earth +to yield her bounty. In heavy shoes, trousers of jean, rolled-up sleeves +and a straw hat, the girls of America here and there turned to the land +and took hold of the tasks of the farm.</p> + +<p>So far we have mentioned only the work at home that women took up for +the war, but this is only a part; the other pole finds them near. The +invaluable service of Red Cross nurses, their zeal and sacrifice and +sometimes martyrdom, from Elizabeth Fry and Florence Nightingale to +Edith Cavell, have been women's glory for more than half a century. This +war multiplied the need many times and veritable regiments of them +responded. Their emblem became the symbol universal of mercy, charity +and good will.</p> + +<p>In addition to the 50 trained nurses for a base hospital, there are 25 +hospital aids, who serve without pay. America has 8000 registered Red +Cross nurses and scores of thousands are in training for aids.</p> + +<p>The effective and helpful work of women in all lines of endeavor, aside +from home and family life, has never before been shown so impressively +as now. Their energy, willingness, faithfulness and capability in every +activity are unsurpassed.</p> + + +<h4>WOMAN BENT ON DOING HER UTMOST.</h4> + +<p>But woman shares the lot of mankind on earth, and in the issues of life +and death, land and home, she fears to do less than her most, and we +would fear to have her do less.</p> + +<p>The woman for ages has been the war nurse, but the American woman has +gone a step further and qualified as the war physician. When the war +clouds first hovered over America more than 200 women physicians +formally offered their services to the Government. At the graduation +exercises of a women's medical college, when America first entered the +war, a prominent official made the statement that 3,000 women physicians +could find unlimited work of mercy behind the first line of firing in +Europe.</p> + +<p>The surgeon general of the United States army did not await an actual +call to arms to notify a physician that the proffer of the services of +women physicians would be accepted when the need came.</p> + +<p>"When I spoke to the women," said this physician, "I asked them this +question:</p> + +<p>"'Can I tell the Government that it may count upon each and all of you +for any work within your power?'</p> + +<p>"Their answer was unanimous. It was 'Yes.'"</p> + +<p>There is a law prohibiting women from going aboard battleships when they +are under way, but such an obstacle has not stood in the way of woman's +desire to help where she can when her country calls, and so Miss Loretta +Walsh became a member of the United States navy—the first woman +enlisted in that branch of the service, with the exception of the +nurses' corps. Her title was chief yeoman.</p> + +<p>Women announced their readiness to assist in another way—in +economizing—one organization having adopted the following resolutions:</p> + + +<h4>RESOLUTION ON ECONOMICS.</h4> + +<p>"Resolved, That all patriotic women be urged to use their influence on +fashions in dress to keep them as economical as possible, and to +register their disapproval of such styles as the melon and peg-top +skirt, or any other styles that imply extravagant changes in the +wardrobe, to the end that the time and money thus saved from clothes may +be devoted to the needs of the nation."</p> + +<p>How often have we heard: "When war comes, when our homes are threatened, +when peril stalks abroad in the land, who shoulders the musket and goes +out to fight? The man! The man!"</p> + +<p>But woman, knowing better than man the impulses of her own heart, only +awaited the opportunity to show what she could do, though, much more +than man, she loves peace, detests strife. But she did not await an +actual call to arms to show the patriotic spirit with which her soul was +fired. Whatever her Government was willing she should do, to that was +she prepared to give her best efforts.</p> + +<p>Lady Frances Balfour, president of the London Society of National Union +of Women Suffragists and president of the Travelers' Aid Society, worked +as hard to win the war as any Tommy in the trenches.</p> + +<p>A daughter of the eighth Duke of Argyll and the widow of a soldier, she +played an important part in Scotch and English public life for many +years, and has done much to advance the cause of British women.</p> + +<p>An authentic view of the situation as it developed with reference to the +reception of women into the everyday work and what American women might +do is contained in the following interview with Lady Balfour:</p> + + +<h4>WOMAN AS WAGE EARNER.</h4> + +<p>"We are doing everything," she said. "We are filling nearly every post. +If the House of Lords had not vetoed the bill we would be solicitors, +but that must wait for a time. British women are now meeting with +success because for the first time they are receiving a proper wage and +are able to live in a way to do their best work. The old sweat shop wage +has gone, and I hope never to return. Women will never return to the +conditions which existed before the war.</p> + +<p>"American women start with a great advantage. They have already the +entree in the business world and fill many clerical places, whereas our +women and girls had to break down the barriers of conservatism existing +in a great number of banks. There was the same objection to women +workers among the farmers of the South of England, though in Scotland +the woman has always done her part on the farm.</p> + +<p>"Girls are beginning on the farm at 18 shillings ($4.50) a week; before +the war men farm hands worked for 11 shillings ($2.75). Our women are +milking cows, running steam plows, digging in the fields and giving +complete satisfaction. I dare not venture to predict what will happen in +the future, but we can face it with confidence, I am certain. Now we are +inspired with the spirit of patriotism; we feel we owe our best to our +country; we are ready to suffer hardship just as our brave men are doing +in the trenches.</p> + +<h4>BRITISH WOMEN'S PATRIOTISM.</h4> + +<p>"The patriotism of British women had stood a hard test; I hope American +women have an easier trial. Lloyd George says he hopes America will +profit by the mistakes of Britain. For more than a year the government +of this country snubbed and discouraged our women. The government does +not pay women at the same rate as men; it does not give them the same +war bonus. There came a time when the government realized the war could +not be won without the women. Then it issued frantic calls for help, and +the women responded nobly, just as they would have done months before. I +hope your American Government will recognize the value of woman's help +from the very start.</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately I must judge your women largely by those who come over +here for the season in peace days. As I remember they spent a great deal +of time and money at the hairdressers, manicures, dressmaking +establishments and hotels. But I am certain the great majority of +Americans care more for their homes and country and less for display. I +feel that they should concentrate on the production of food. We need all +we can get and then we shall not have as much as we require. Money, food +and ships are the things most needed.</p> + +<p>"Your women have been wonderfully generous in giving us money, +supporting hospitals and sending us supplies. We can use some of your +nurses and women doctors. We have a hospital here in London holding +nearly 1000 soldiers and it is run entirely by women. Our Scottish +women's hospitals have done grand work in the various theaters of war. +Not only the nurses, but the doctors and ambulance drivers are women. We +have supplied about 72,000 women for this work alone."</p> + +<p>"How have women regarded the discipline of army life?" was asked.</p> + +<p>"Wonderfully!" said Lady Frances. "It has been good for them. Just see +our women 'bus conductors. They work hard, handle all kinds of people, +but I never heard them say they are unable to meet the emergencies which +arise. And for the most part they are women who come from very humble +surroundings. You hear that women have broken down in health under their +work, but it seems to me I have read frequently about American business +men suffering from nervous breakdowns and overwork."</p> + + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus076.jpg" alt="generals" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> GENERAL PETAIN. GENERAL MANGIN. GENERAL D'ESPEREY.<br /> + +Three French Generals who fought their way to fame. In many a battle +they saved the day, and through their heroic deeds France was saved from +the Hun.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus077.jpg" alt="plane" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> ENGLISH BOMBING PLANE ON THE AISNE FRONT.<br /> + +Preparing the departure for a bombing expedition. The bombs and their +holders can be seen in the foreground.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus078.jpg" alt="troops" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> UNITED STATES COLORED LABOR TROOPS BOARDING A TRANSPORT.<br /> + +An American Negro battallion entering a pier ready to board a transport. +These husky doughboys perform their tasks with a vim and a will.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus079.jpg" alt="look" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> FIRST LOOK AT FRANCE FROM A TRANSPORT.<br /> + +United States soldiers seeing France as the transport arrives in sight +of land. This vessel was formerly a Hamburg-America (German) liner.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus080.jpg" alt="tanks" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> BRITISH TANKS ADVANCING ACROSS THE HINDENBURG LINE.<br /> + +This battery of tanks shows the new superstructure on their fronts, +which is used to carpet the slippery mud which the caterpillar wheels do +not grip.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus081.jpg" alt="gun" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> MAMMOTH BRITISH GUN "KILL JOY."<br /> + +Used by the British forces in Flanders. No gun of more power was used by +any belligerent. It is greater than the "Busy Berthas" of the Germans.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus082.jpg" alt="gun" /> +</p> +<p class="center">A RAPID FIRING GUN ON A FRENCH AEROPLANE.<br /> + +This remarkable picture from a close-up photograph shows the little +Nieuport "scout" plane. The electric gun is worked from the pilot seat +by a wire. It produced great havoc among German birdmen.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus083.jpg" alt="punch" /> +</p> +<p class="center">THE GUN WITH THE PUNCH. A FRENCH 320 M.M.<br /> + +"Photographed While in Action—Loading.<br /> + +One of the largest and most effective guns used in the war. An idea of +its immense size is gained in comparison with the men. It is moved about +on a specially constructed railway.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus084.jpg" alt="scroll" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> THE RETURN OF THE HOLY SCROLL IN JERUSALEM.<br /> + +General E.H.H. Allenby, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in the +Holy Land, is seen seated at the left. The ceremony was very +impressive.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus085.jpg" alt="gun" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> THE GUN WITH THE PUNCH.<br /> + +Huge American railway artillery of 16-inch calibre for the U.S. Army. +This big gun can be put into position in 15 minutes and will fire all +around the horizon. The ammunition car for shell and powder is +attached.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus086.jpg" alt="gun" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> A MONSTER BRITISH HOWITZER NICKNAMED "GRANNY."<br /> + +One of the guns which blasted the way along the Menin Road in the big +offensive. "Shells hastily delivered and with a punch," that's all +Granny had to say. Any German trooper will vouch for its accuracy.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus087.jpg" alt="bomber" /> +</p> +<p class="center">THE HANDLEY PAGE SUPER AERIAL BOMBING DREADNAUGHT.<br /> + +Designed by Mr. Handley Page, a British manufacturer. It was claimed +that this giant plane could cross the ocean under its own power.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus088.jpg" alt="infantry" /> +</p> +<p class="center">AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY MARCHING UNDER INSPECTION.<br /> + +The Anzacs, famous for their brave and daring accomplishments, and among +the best of fighters.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus089.jpg" alt="heroes" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> WELCOME HOME, ALL HAIL TO THE CONQUERING HEROES.<br /> + +When New York's Negro Soldiers marched amid the cheering crowd, Harlem +was mad with joy over the return of its own.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus090.jpg" alt="wounded" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> SOME OF THE WOUNDED IN THE NEW YORK PARADE.<br /> + +The 369th Colored Regiment was cited as a whole for bravery in +action—at Champagne, Chateau Thierry, Mihiel Salient or in the Argonne, +wherever there was hard fighting to be done.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus091.jpg" alt="arms" /> +</p> +<p class="center">MANUAL OF ARMS OF THE UNITED STATES.<br /> + +Showing the different positions in the drill.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus093.jpg" alt="sailors" /> +</p> +<p class="center">GROUP OF RUSSIAN SAILORS.<br /> They are the first to come to +New York since the United States entered the war.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus092.jpg" alt="serbians" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> SERBIAN CORPS ORGANIZED IN THE UNITED STATES.<br /> + +Hundreds of Serbians organized an army and went to France and joined the +offensive. The photo shows the men leaving San Francisco, where they +were mobilized. The United States paid for the transportation of the +men.</p> + + +<h4>SUCCESS BUILT ON RUINS OF FAILURE.</h4> + +<p>No great victories, either in war or in the ordinary relations of life, +are attained without initial blunders. Many a splendid success is built +upon the ruins of failure, and this is a fact that the women of Europe +learned after the first hysteria occasioned by the marching soldiers, +the beat of drums and all the excitement incident to real warfare. +American women, when they joined hands with the Allies against +Prussianism and all that it meant, builded splendid records of their +usefulness upon the mistakes that these women made.</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1914 every girl and woman clamored to be a nurse. Women +with a great deal of money and no experience opened "hospitals" that +were about as fit for the reception and treatment of wounded men as a +henroost is capable of housing an eagle. They all wanted to be in the +"Red Cross" or "V.A.D." (Voluntary Aid Department) and wear caps and +bandage wounds.</p> + +<p>Then there were the amateur nurses who didn't know much about nursing, +"but would love to try." The daughter of a duke tried to go through a +probationary course at St. Bartholomew's Hospital because she thought +the uniform "perfectly sweet." But of course this element of +"fluffiness" exists on the outside of any great movement. It has to be +blown away so that the hard surface of genuine and practical endeavor +can be seen and felt. And that is what happened to England. The "fluff" +disappeared and women knew where they were, and men realized that women +possess a force, a firm and splendid resolve, that gives them the right +to step beside men in the march toward victory.</p> + +<p>Another craze that amounted to a vice was the furious and ill-considered +efforts of totally unskilled women to make shirts and hospital garments +for soldiers. If some of the results had not been pathetic one could +almost be overcome with the comicality of the whole business. Soldiers' +shirts were turned out by a circle of busily sewing ladies that would +not fit a dwarf, while probably the next batch of garments dispatched +with patriotic fervor to a regimental depot might have been designed for +a race of giants.</p> + + +<h4>NATIONAL SERVICE FOR WOMEN.</h4> + +<p>National service for women as well as for men proved a very substantial +portion of Great Britain's strength, but before national service had +been generally thought of an organization called the Women's Service +Bureau had been formed by a group of influential and intelligent women +who were imbued with the idea that only by careful and systematized +registration and selection could the matter of feminine war work be +successfully arranged.</p> + +<p>Lady Frances Balfour was the first president of the Women's Service +Bureau, which with the London Society for Suffrage established 62 +branches in the city of London and its suburbs.</p> + +<p>What the women at the head of this society realized was the necessity +for giving the right women the most suitable employment and also to give +every applicant for work helpful and practical advice. The need for +women's labor in the many trades and professions hitherto closed to +them, and for their increased co-operation in those in which they +already took part, has been forced home even to unwilling minds.</p> + +<p>Here and there on the battlefields of Europe—in Bulgaria, Servia, +Roumania, France, Belgium and Russia—have been noted occasionally the +presence of a woman warrior, a modern Joan of Arc. It was not expected, +however, that in America woman would do more than perform the service +work which fell to the lot of the Red Cross nurses and the women +practicing conservation and effecting organization in England.</p> + +<p>But the women of America were not satisfied with "petticoat +preparedness." They rushed to the khaki suits and to the colors with +unexpected enthusiasm. One khaki-clad woman walked from San Francisco to +New York, making recruiting speeches on the way.</p> + +<p>The infantry, the cavalry, the navy, the marines could all point to +their girls in khaki.</p> + + +<h4>ALL KINDS OF WOMEN ENLISTED.</h4> + +<p>As the women enlisted for all kinds of service, so it may be said all +kinds of women enlisted—that is, women of all ranks of life—some from +society, some from the mills, others from the offices, the shops, the +stage, the restaurants and the colleges.</p> + +<p>Many years ago the country rang with the name of Tippecanoe, and one of +the men who bore arms on the western frontier was William Henry +Harrison. The years went by and Benjamin Harrison came to the White +House as President.</p> + +<p>The Harrison blood showed in the preparedness work, and Old Tippecanoe's +great granddaughter helped to make the women of the country fit for the +burden of war.</p> + +<p>There isn't anything on earth that shows so strongly in the blood as the +soldier element, and Elizabeth Harrison, whose great ancestor faced the +perils of the frontier warfare, was a leader by force of her inherited +ability as a leader. She was elected drill sergeant for the college +girls of the New York University.</p> + +<p>When the war clouds came she was following inherited bent. All of the +Harrison men had been among the country's greatest lawyers and Miss +Harrison was studying for the bar.</p> + +<p>But just as the warwhoop of the West called Tippecanoe from his books +and briefs to bullets and battles, so the daughter of the former +President dropped Blackstone and Kent to take up the Drill Regulations +and the elementary text books of the army.</p> + +<p>She knew that the way to make women fit for their part of war service +was to make them strong and healthy and to give them an idea of the +things that men-at-arms have to do.</p> + + +<h4>NOTED WOMEN IN THE WORK.</h4> + +<p>So Miss Harrison was one of the first workers in the movement to teach +women the elements of war. Many women of importance in the social and +financial world took up the task with a will, and there was a girl for +every signal flag, a maid for every wireless station, and an angel for +every hospital ward in the making as the men pursued the task of +providing guns and the men behind the guns.</p> + +<p>Miss Harrison and the girls she drilled at the University wore +regulation field service uniform, khaki breeches, coat, heavy shoes and +puttees, and a large hat of military cut.</p> + +<p>The American Woman's League for Self-Defence and Preparedness was the +first woman's military organization in America, according to its +president, Mrs. Ida Powell Priest, who is descended from an old Long +Island family, Thomas Powell being one of her ancestors.</p> + +<p>The first cavalry troop, of which Ethel M. Scheiss was first senior +captain, drilled regularly. Their first appearance mounted caused a mild +sensation on Broadway. They were most impressively stern soldierettes as +they trotted and galloped their horses.</p> + +<p>Everywhere the girl in America strove with helpful earnestness to do +"her bit." Every strata of society called out its members in a wonderful +plan of feminine preparedness. Besides the thousands of women members of +the Red Cross some of the most prominent organizations officered and +planned by women include The National League for Women's Service, which +has branches in every large city in the United States. They enrolled +women as motor car drivers, telegraphers, wireless operators, +agriculturists and skilled mechanics.</p> + +<p>Miss Anne Morgan, as head of this organization, devoted an enormous +amount of energy to the success of the work.</p> + + +<h4>OTHER SOCIETIES ORGANIZED.</h4> + +<p>Other societies organized were the National Special Aid Society, Service +of Any Kind, Militia of Mercy, which sends and provides bandages and +other necessities and comforts for the soldiers; Girl Scouts of America, +first aid, signalling and drills; Daughters of the American Revolution; +the Suffrage Party and the Anti-Suffrage Society; the International +Child Welfare League and the Girls' National Honor Guard. The Federation +of Women's Clubs all over the United States also organized for any +patriotic service that women could perform.</p> + +<p>A practical way of doing something to help France and Servia was offered +early in the war by the splendid initiative of Dr. Elsie Inglis and the +Scottish Federation of Women's Suffrage Societies, who organized +hospitals for the wounded, the staffs of which were all women, and +called on other societies for their support.</p> + +<p>The London society responded first by subscriptions from individual +members, then by giving beds, then (in February, 1915) by offering +itself as London agent for the hospitals and undertaking all the +practical work, in the sending out of personnel and equipment, which had +to be transacted in London.</p> + +<p>It is only by carefully systematized organization that great work of +this kind can be carried on. The slapdash, haphazard of hysterical +excitement can have no legitimate place in a movement that provides +stepping stones toward the salvation of the civilized world.</p> + +<p>One of the things which will live long in the history of womankind was +the wonderful work done by the magnificently courageous units of Lady +Paget's nursing force, which went out to Servia, when that country was +laid waste not only by the German beasts, but also by disease.</p> + +<p>It was not the fault of those brave women and men that things happened +at Uskub and in other Servian towns that do not bear repeating.</p> + +<p>It was just the lack of thorough preparedness for a war which was much +worse than humanity had thought possible that deepened the tragedy of +their situation. In Servia, in fact, the career of the hospitals was +quite checkered and the service rendered proportionately more vital.</p> + + +<h4>LONDON-WALES UNIT.</h4> + +<p>At the time of the Austro-German invasion in the autumn of 1915, the +London-Wales Unit was at Valjevo, one of the five Scottish women's +hospitals working in the country. It was under the command of Dr. Alice +Hutchinson and was very highly organized. Doctor Inglis had herself gone +on to Servia to take general charge of the hospitals there in the spring +of 1915. From the time that a typhus epidemic was overcome by women +doctors early in the year to the time of the invasion all seemed to be +going well. Then came three weeks of great pressure of work and of rapid +moves from place to place as the enemy advanced into the country. +Finally, it became a necessity for the personnel of the different units +either to retreat with the Servian army over the mountains into +Montenegro or to fall in the hands of the enemy.</p> + +<p>The story of the retreat is now very generally known. The journey was +one long series of forced marches. Mountains 7000 feet high had to be +traversed in blinding snow, almost the whole journey had to be made on +foot and it was six weeks before the little band reached the coast. +Doctor Inglis meanwhile, with her group of nurses and orderlies, and +Doctor Hutchinson, with the London-Wales Unit, had gallantly stayed +behind and continued to attend to their Servian wounded and to organize +help for them till the work was forcibly stopped by the advancing +Austrian army.</p> + + +<h4>UNIT TAKEN PRISONERS.</h4> + +<p>After being ordered out of Valjevo, Doctor Hutchinson made several +attempts to organize hospitals in the line of retreat. She was at +Vrnyachka Banja when the Austrians entered the town on November 10, +1915. She and her unit were taken prisoners and interned, first near the +Servian frontier and then in Hungary for three weary months. The +cheerful courage with which the members of the unit bore hardship and +uncertainty and hope deferred has been related by Doctor Hutchinson in a +memorable narrative. Their conditions would have been still more +intolerable and their release would have been still longer delayed if +Doctor Hutchinson herself had not known a great deal more about the +Geneva Convention than the Austrian authorities had ever dreamed. She +was thus able to assert herself on behalf of those under her in a way +which taught her captors something new about British women. At the +beginning of February the unit was at last allowed to cross the frontier +into Switzerland. It reached England on February 12. It was only the +perfection of its organization that carried this brave body of women +through amazing hardships.</p> + +<p>Abroad women chauffeurs became almost as common in the war as men; the +public in Paris and London refused to regard the appearance of a woman +on the streets in cap, "knickers" and puttees or heavy boots as unusual, +and in need they in many instances not only drove "taxi," but guided +ambulances in the hospital service.</p> + +<p>The Red Cross in America, in the matter of preparedness, organized a +class for women chauffeurs. One of these, started in Philadelphia, had +among its instructors Mrs. Thomas Langdon Elwyn and Miss Letitia McKim, +both of whom drove ambulances for the Allies in England.</p> + +<p>The National League for Woman Service, working in conjunction with the +Council of National Defense, canvassed the country through its Bureau of +Registration and Information to provide statistics for mobilizing the +entire woman-force of the Nation; all of which was done with the +approval of the Secretary of Labor.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the outstanding incident of industrial employment among women +was that of several women in France as locomotive engineers. It is true +that they operated only the shunting engines about the yards at the +military camps, but it was noted in dispatches in every quarter of the +globe that Mesdames Louis Debris and Marie Viard, whose husbands were +killed in the war, were piloting the engines which their husbands had +formerly driven.</p> + + +<h4>WOMAN'S INGENUITY.</h4> + +<p>And woman has proved her ingenuity. In the damp trenches of the +battlefields abroad the men need protection from the dampness and cold, +which ordinary clothing will not provide. It was found that the +leather-lined huntsmen's coats, and the sort of garments worn by the +chauffeur, the aviator and the mountaineer served the men in the +trenches well, and particularly along the Russian frontier and in the +cold mountainous regions.</p> + +<p>But the price of leather soared, with the demand for millions of pairs +of shoes, saddles, harness, headgear, and whatnot, and leather-lined +coats were at a premium. The women were not to be denied, and through +the Suffrage organizations which turned in to prepare America for the +struggle and to render assistance to the Allies, the unique plan was +adopted of making linings for the airmen and soldier's coats of old kid +gloves.</p> + +<p>One group of women in a single section of Philadelphia gathered a +thousand pairs of old gloves in a canvass. The seams were ripped and the +gloves cut down one side and laid open. The fingers of one glove so +treated were dovetailed between the fingers of another glove so cut, and +stitched together. Thus one glove was sewed to another until a section +of leather was formed sufficient to make a lining for a coat. And many +such were devised and incorporated in the garments sent to the front by +the various agencies dominated by the women of the land.</p> + + +<h4>WOMEN AS POLICEMEN.</h4> + +<p>While women to a limited degree were rendering service as "policemen" in +certain sections of the United States and on Continental Europe the war +was responsible for the development of an organized force in London, +which will probably remain a permanent organization to the end of time. +Miss Darner Dawson is chief of the London woman "bobbies," and M.S. +Allen is chief superintendent.</p> + +<p>The force was organized in 1914, shortly after the outbreak of the war +and has relieved the men of a large amount of responsibility. The force +is uniformed, the women wearing military costumes with visored caps. +They operate under the supervision, or with the authority of Sir Edward +Henry, Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan police, and serve for duty +at the munition plants where women workers are employed, besides doing +regular patrol duty and welfare work.</p> + +<p>The service in London is in the nature of a training for special service +and the women after sufficient experience are sent to suburbs and small +towns to do police duty. They are highly spoken of and declared to be +very efficient, rendering service in the barrooms and looking after +women in a manner that the regular "bobbies" cannot approximate.</p> + +<p>It was declared in England, by way of closing the comment on this phase +of the war that no one thing so stimulated the enlistments for service +as the execution of Miss Edith Cavell, the English nurse who was shot as +a spy by Germany. That her name will go down in history as a martyr to +the cause of liberty and humanity goes without saying.</p> + +<p>Miss Cavell had been a nurse in Brussels, and after the occupation of +the Belgian capital by the Germans, she remained where she used her +private hospital for the nursing of wounded soldiers; not excluding the +Germans. It had been intimated that she had better cross the border, but +she insisted on remaining at her post. Ultimately she was accused of +being one of the instigators of a plot to smuggle English, French and +Belgian soldiers across the lines, and of serving the enemies of +Germany.</p> + +<p>To the German mind she was more than a spy; Her conduct was +reprehensible, because in the capacity of nurse she had won a degree of +confidence. She was therefore held as a spy and traitor. And though +Brand Whitlock, America's Minister to Belgium, and other diplomats +sought to save her, she was shot by the ruthless Germans.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h3> + +<h4>THE TERRIBLE PRICE.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">A Nation of Men Destroyed—Millions in Shipping and Commerce +Destroyed—World's Maps Changed—Billions in Money—Immense +Debts—Nation's Wealth—The United States a Great Provider</span>.</p> + + +<p>The human tongue seems almost devoid of power to convey to the human +mind what the war has actually cost the world in lives, money, property, +ideals and all that is dear to humanity. In all the world there is not a +human being who has not contributed something to the awful cost and the +loss due to the destruction of property, the stopping of industry, the +waste of energy and the curtailment of human endeavor in the interest of +civilization, and the effects which the struggle has had upon the world +cannot even be approximated in dollars and cents.</p> + +<p>We have been taught to regard war as a terrible thing and to realize +that thousands must be slain, but in no war in the history of the world +has there been as many troops engaged as have been killed in the +European war on the battlefields of Belgium and France.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the year 1917 it was estimated that the total +casualties of the war were 22,500,000. In a report based on figures +compiled in Washington it was stated: The human estimated waste and +financial outlay are staggering. The combined casualties of the war, +partly estimated because all belligerents do not publish lists, are +22,500,000. The figures included killed, permanently injured, prisoners +and wounded returned to the front. Of this number the Central Powers +were estimated to have suffered permanent losses in excess of 4,000,000, +and the entente perhaps twice that number, Russia being by far the +heaviest loser.</p> + +<p>The financial outlay, based in part on official reports and statements +and in part on estimates, was placed at approximately $80,000,000,000, +divided $50,000,000,000 to the entente and $30,000,000,000 to the +Central Powers. The entente lost more than 3,500,000 tons of merchant +shipping and approximately 800,000 tons of naval vessels. On the other +side the loss of naval tonnage was approximately 250,000 tons, and +merchant ships aggregating 211,000 tons were reported captured or +destroyed.</p> + + +<h4>IMMENSE LOSS TO COMMERCE.</h4> + +<p>Of the foreign commerce the Central Powers had lost $10,000,000,000 in +the two and a half years of war, including imports and exports. The loss +of commerce of Great Britain and her allies with the Central Powers +probably was in the neighborhood of $7,000,000. This was largely made up +at least on the import side by increased trade with the United States +and other neutral countries and enlarged trade with the colonies.</p> + +<p>Germany lost virtually all her African colonies and all her possessions +in the Pacific Ocean, an aggregate of more than 1,000,000 square miles. +Turkey also lost a large area of territory held at the outbreak of the +war, while Austria lost most of Bukowina and Galicia. To offset the +territory losses of the Central Powers, the entente have lost in Europe +approximately 300,000 square miles. Of this large area, all of it +thickly populated in normal times, 175,000 square miles were wrested +from Russia on the eastern battlefield.</p> + +<p>The staggering losses in men include the vast number on both sides +wounded in such a way as to permanently cripple them and render them +unfit for military service. The figures are based on official reports +and estimates by military experts.</p> + +<p>Germany's permanent losses were placed at 1,500,000 men, including about +1,000,000 in killed. The permanent losses of Austria-Hungary were placed +at about 1,000,000 more than those of Germany, owing to the fact that so +much of the hard fighting on the eastern front was in the +Austro-Hungarian theater. The losses of the Austro-Hungarians during the +drive of General Brusiloff in 1916 were frightful. Large numbers of +Austrians were taken prisoner by Brusiloff.</p> + +<p>Russia's casualties for the first year of the war were estimated by +military experts at more than 3,500,000 men, and these were doubled in +the succeeding year, according to estimates by American military +experts. Russia returned to the fighting line a smaller percentage of +wounded than any of the other great Powers.</p> + + +<h4>GREAT BRITAIN'S CASUALTIES.</h4> + +<p>Great Britain's casualties were placed in excess of 1,250,000 despite +the limited front of British operations in France in the early stages. +The aggregate of Italy's casualties was estimated at 1,500,000, while +Belgium's were placed at 200,000, Servians at 400,000, Montenegro's at +150,000 and Rumania's at more than 300,000.</p> + +<p>While the area of the territorial losses of the Central Powers was +nearly four times as great as that of the entente group, with the +exception of the occupied portions of Bukowina and Galicia, the value of +the territory included in them is comparatively small. For example, +Germany's African colonies were sparsely settled, largely by natives, +with virtually all development in the future. Despite this fact, their +loss was a severe blow to Germany.</p> + +<p>The territorial losses of the entente covered all but a small corner of +Belgium, a highly developed, thickly populated industrial country; a +large slice of northern France, virtually all of Servia, all of +Montenegro, more than three-fourths of Rumania and 175,000 square miles +of Russia, the major part of it in the grain-growing section.</p> + +<p>According to military experts on the "war map" of Europe as it stood at +that time, the Central Powers had won the war. But when their enormous +loss of foreign commerce and territory is considered, their "victory" +was shown to have most decided limitations, especially because of their +admission that they eventually would have to give up all occupied +territory in view of the frightful cost in men and money.</p> + + +<h4>FIGURES POSITIVELY STAGGERING.</h4> + +<p>Supplementing these statements, as showing the progress of the war, it +was stated just before the United States took its memorable step to +break off diplomatic relations with Germany, members of the National War +Council estimated the total casualties of the war at that time as in +excess of the population of the United Kingdom, which in 1911 was more +than 45,000,000. This of course included those maimed, injured or so +stricken that they were unfit for future service. The number actually +killed was estimated at more than 7,000,000.</p> + +<p>Staggering as these figures are they are easily conceivable when it is +remembered that the German front lines covered more than 500 miles with +Allied troops opposing them, and that in a single battle millions of +shells were fired by one side or the other. In one battle it was +officially reported that 4,000,000 shot and shell were used, and in +another the English mined the German trenches for a distance of several +miles and blew out the strongholds, using more than 1,000,000 pounds of +high explosives.</p> + +<p>One of the great 42-centimeter guns of the Germans is said to have used +a charge of guncotton involving the use of a full bale of cotton to make +the explosive—and a bale of cotton contains 500 pounds. The shrapnel of +the heavy field artillery of the United States contains 717 balls or +bullets about the size of a common marble, and the shell, so timed that +it explodes just before it touches the ground, scatters the bullets or +balls over an area estimated at one yard for every bullet, or more than +700 yards. With thousands of such shells being rained over the +entrenchments is it any wonder that the list of wounded and killed was +great?</p> + +<p>Thousands were killed by poisoned gases, and where they were not killed +a very large percentage of those affected suffered consequences which +rendered them unfit for battle—turned them into invalids. The gas bombs +produced hemorrhages of the lungs and bowels in thousands of cases and +left those who inhaled the fumes in an anemic and permanently disabled +condition. And what of the thousands who succumbed to fevers, and who +because of the terrible shock became mental and physical wrecks and were +made unfit for further duty on the actual firing lines?</p> + + +<h4>A MATTER OF DOLLARS AND CENTS.</h4> + +<p>When it comes to the cost in dollars and cents it is possible to tell +something of what they mean with reference to war construction and +maintenance, although no one can estimate what it represents in +destruction. No one has yet devised an accounting system to determine +the percentage of "depreciation" through wear and tear on guns and +devices that cost thousands of dollars each, but everybody knows that +guns wear out and that some of the larger ones have a very decided limit +on the number of times they can be fired without being rebored or +rifled.</p> + +<p>Railroads which have taken years to build and develop have been +destroyed, telephone and telegraph lines put out of commission, great +castles and temples razed, works of art burned, whole cities devastated, +green fields turned into great craters torn up by bombs and shells, +factories dismantled, herds of cattle fed into the maw of the armies, +and the ruthless Germans even went so far as to wantonly cut down and +destroy whole forests and magnificent shade trees which it took +generations to grow.</p> + +<p>How the indebtedness of the nations grew during the progress of the war +is shown in the following statement issued by some of the financial +institutions of the country in the Spring of 1917:</p> + +<p>"Indebtedness of the seven principal nations engaged in the European war +has crossed $75,000,000,000. In the middle of 1914 the indebtedness of +these seven nations was $27,000,000,000."</p> + +<p>Financing on an extensive scale followed this state of affairs. France +issued a second formal war loan, Germany a fifth loan and Russia a sixth +loan. Great Britain issued temporary securities in enormous sums.</p> + +<p>The war cost $105,000,000 every twenty-four hours, according to the +statistics, expenditures of the Entente Allies being fully double those +of the Central Allies.</p> + + +<h4>COMPARATIVE WAR EXPENSES.</h4> + +<p>Without for one moment taking into consideration the billions which were +thrown into the war-pot by America the figures are staggering. An +interesting comparison is found in the cost of the previous great world +wars. The American Civil War, the greatest conflict in prior history +cost $8,000,000,000, a sum equalled every three months in the conduct of +the European war.</p> + +<table summary="cost of war"> +<colgroup span="2" width="250"> +</colgroup> +<tr> +<td></td><td align="right">Approximate cost.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815</td><td align="right">$6,250,000,000</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>American Civil War, 1861-1864 </td> <td align="right">8,000,000,000 </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871 </td><td align="right">3,000,000,000 </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>South African War, 1900-1902 </td><td align="right"> 1,250,000,000 </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905 </td><td align="right">2,500,000,000 </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>European War, 1914-1917 (3 years) </td><td align="right">75,000,000,000 </td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>It was further estimated that after the year 1917, the payment of +$3,800,000,000 a year would be required to pay the interest on the debt, +and that the total Government expenditures in Europe for bond interest +and support of the various branches of the Governments would require in +the neighborhood of 20 per cent of the people's income.</p> + + +<h4>POPULATION AND WEALTH OF COUNTRIES.</h4> + +<p>Another comparative table that is important to any one desiring to study +the costs and their effects is that relating to population and wealth of +the principal countries. The latest available figures are:</p> + +<table summary="wealth of countries"> +<colgroup span="3" width="175"> +</colgroup> +<tr> +<td> </td><td align="right">Population</td><td align="right">Wealth </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>United States </td> <td align="right">101,577,000 </td><td align="right">$187,739,071,090 </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>British Empire </td> <td align="right">394,930,000 </td><td align="right">130,000,000,000 </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> Germany</td> <td align="right"> 67,810,000 </td><td align="right">80,000,000,000 </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>France </td> <td align="right">39,700,000 </td><td align="right">50,000,000,000 </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Russia </td> <td align="right">187,379,000 </td><td align="right">40,000,000,000 </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Austria-Hungary </td> <td align="right"> 53,000,000</td><td align="right">25,000,000,000 </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Spain </td> <td align="right"> 20,000,000 </td><td align="right">5,400,000,000 </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Belgium </td> <td align="right">7,500,000 </td><td align="right">9,000,000,000 </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Portugal </td> <td align="right"> 5,958,000 </td><td align="right">2,500,000,000 </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Italy </td> <td align="right">37,048,000 </td><td align="right">20,000,000,000 </td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<p>Taxes have been the main sources for raising money to carry on the war. +In Germany taxes on all incomes from the Kaiser to the ordinary business +man were kept at the highest rate, the Kaiser paying $500,000 on his +fortune of $35,000,000 during the early part of the struggle. This was +in addition to his income tax which amounted to $440,000, making a total +annual tax of nearly $1,000,000. The Krupps are said to have been +assessed at $3,000,000.</p> + +<p>When the new military service laws were approved in Paris, which was +about the middle of July, 1913, the French Cabinet was at its wit's end +to provide the financial end of the tremendous military budget. +Investment markets were sluggish, and there were thousands of notes +whose values were rapidly depreciating. The French Government was unable +to float a loan of $200,000,000 which was necessary for making +preparations.</p> + +<p>Then in her desperation Paris closed her doors to all foreign loans. +The Viviani Ministry practically duplicated the plan of its predecessor +in proposing an issue of $360,000,000 3-1/2 per cent bonds, which were +redeemable in 25 years.</p> + +<p>One year previously to this financial struggle the Belgian Government +had started to raise $62,800,000 in order that the people of this +country might prevent its being used as the battleground for the world +war which they had seen away off in the future. This money was raised +for the purpose of making Antwerp an impregnable fortress.</p> + + +<h4>IMMENSE SUM FOR ARMY AND NAVY.</h4> + +<p>Russia had taken steps to raise $3,700,000,000 which the Russian +Minister of Finance had informed the Budget Committee must be spent in +the next five years on the army and navy. During the first year of the +war there was $500,000,000 spent by this country in military and naval +defence. This does not include the cost of those strategic railroads of +which so many were constructed by the Russian Government, and which cost +so many hundreds of thousands of dollars.</p> + +<p>Previous to the time Great Britain declared war on Germany the House of +Commons had voted $525,000,000 for Emergency purposes, and within a +couple of days of this appropriation an additional $500,000,000 was +granted by the British Parliament.</p> + +<p>One of the things accomplished by war was to bring out the fact that the +resources of individuals are far greater than is ordinarily suspected. +In 1870 Bismarck imposed an indemnity of $1,000,000,000 on France, never +believing that country could meet the great debt, but with the help of +all the inhabitants the debt was lifted within a few months.</p> + +<p>When countries are at war the cost of continuing fighting does not stop +with those actually engaged. The trade of the world is affected, and +this means loss in all quarters of the globe. Of the import trade of the +United States more than $500,000,000 was directly with those nations +engaged in the war at the opening of hostilities. This was out of a +total of $1,850,000,000. A great part of this commerce is classed as +among that which yields the greatest import tax, which means that +internal taxes must be imposed on the people to make up for the money +necessary to meet with the yearly loss occasioned during the continuance +of the war.</p> + + +<h4>ANNUAL NATIONAL INCOME.</h4> + +<p>In the United States there is an annual national income of +$50,000,000,000, the total bank resources being $35,000,000,000, the +individual deposits being $24,000,000,000, with cash held by the banks +totaling $2,500,000,000, total gold stock in the country being +$3,000,000,000, and available additional commercial credits on the basis +of cash holdings totaling $6,000,000,000.</p> + +<p>The borrowing power of the American Government does not total less than +$40,000,000,000, from domestic sources, and this does not disturb the +ordinary financial and economical affairs of the nation.</p> + +<p>During the first five months in 1917 the Government of the United States +reached a record for expenditures never before equalled in American +history. The total amount expended was $1,600,000,000.</p> + +<p>The chief item of the increase—$607,500,000—was the purchase of the +obligations of foreign Governments in exchange for loans advanced to the +Allies. The sum did not represent by approximately $140,000,000 the +total amount authorized in loans. An increase of approximately +$245,000,000 in the ordinary disbursements of the Government, chiefly +due to military and naval needs, also was recorded and another item +going to swell the grand total of expenditures was the payment of +$25,000,000 for purchase of the Danish West Indies.</p> + +<p>War loans of the six chief European belligerents, early in 1917, +aggregated approximately $53,113,000,000.</p> + +<p>Loans of the chief Entente nations, Great Britain, France, Russia and +Italy, were placed at about $36,300,000,000; those of Germany and +Austria-Hungary, not including the sixth German loan reported to have +yielded about $3,000,000,000, at $18,800,000,000.</p> + +<p>The amounts of the various loans were placed at:</p> + +<p>Great Britain, to March 31, 1917, $18,805,000,000; France, to February +28, $10,500,000,000; Russia, to December 31, 1916, $7,896,000,000; +Italy, to December 31, 1916, $2,520,000,000; Germany, to December 31, +1916, $11,226,000,000; Austria, to December 31, 1916, $5,880,000,000; +Hungary, $1,730,000,000.</p> + +<p>The total included the advances made by the United Kingdom and France to +the smaller belligerent countries allied with them.</p> + + +<h4>SOME IDEA OF NATIONAL FINANCING.</h4> + +<p>Some idea of what all this financing means to a country may be judged by +the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who in October, 1916, +replying to questions regarding the English loans in the House of +Commons, declared that England was paying at that time about $10,000,000 +a day in the United States, for every working day in the year.</p> + +<p>When the English mission visited the United States in May, 1917, after +the country had entered the war, there was handed to Arthur James +Balfour, ex-Premier of England, a check for $200,000,000, said to have +been one of the largest single checks ever paid in this country. It was +a loan for war purposes. In the month of June it was stated that the +total advance made to the Allies was $923,000,000, among the loans made +then was one of $75,000,000 to Great Britain, and $3,000,000 to Servia. +The Servian loan, the first made by the United States to that country, +was mainly for the improvement of railway lines. A small portion was +used for the relief of the distressed population, and Red Cross work.</p> + +<p>It was stated that the allied countries would spend in America, in the +neighborhood of $200,000,000 a month for the year; which brings +attention to the resources which America turned in against Germany when +she joined the allied forces. To meet the demands made upon it the +Government borrowed at once $3,000,000,000 by popular subscription—a +matter of history of which the nation is proud.</p> + +<p>From its funds the country loaned Russia $100,000,000, which was the +first loan made by the United States to that Government. A credit of +$45,000,000 to Belgium was also established by the Secretary of the +Treasury. This also was Belgium's first participation in the loan of the +Allies.</p> + + +<h4>COUNTRY'S NATURAL RESOURCES.</h4> + +<p>Aside from the financial resources of the United States, the country is +undoubtedly the richest in agricultural, mineral and other natural +resources. It annually produces more than 3,500,000,000 bushels of corn, +wheat touching the high point of 1,500,000,000 bushels; 1,600,000,000 +bushels of oats; 250,000,000 bushels of barley; 40,000,000 bushels of +rye; 22,000,000 bushels of buckwheat; 425,000,000 bushels of potatoes; +77,000,000 tons of hay; 30,000,000 bushels of flaxseed; 7,000,000,000 +pounds of cotton; more than 1,000,000,000 pounds of tobacco; 2,000,000 +long tons of sugar and 275,000,000 pounds of wool.</p> + +<p>There are nearly 70,000,000 swine, and as many cattle, more than +25,000,000 head of horses and mules, and 62,000,000 sheep. Coal is mined +at the rate of more than 500,000,000 tons yearly, and the copper mines +yield 1,250,000,000 pounds of metal. Petroleum wells yield 225,500,000 +barrels yearly. There are 270,000 manufacturing plants with a yearly +output of more than $25,000,000,000. The products of the farm total more +than $11,000,000,000 annually.</p> + +<p>As to Germany's position, economists all over the world have considered +her position as not only lacking soundness, but as crazy—crazy in that +no attention whatever has apparently been paid to what are recognized +as firmly fixed economic laws. The world has been at a loss to +understand Germany's attitude, and it can only be explained by assuming +that Germany was perfectly well aware of the entire unsoundness of her +commercial and financial position, and was willing, or, in fact, had to +risk everything with the hope of acquiring sufficient indemnity, +resulting from the war, to bring her financial affairs to a sound basis. +Germany's entire structure from the close of the Franco-Prussian war +evidently was built upon rotten foundations.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3> + +<h4>THE WORLD RULERS AT WAR.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodrow Wilson, the Champion of Democracy—The Egotistical +Kaiser—The German Crown Prince—Britain's Monarch—Constantine Who Quit +Rather than Fight Germany—President Poincaire—And Other National +Heads</span>.</p> + + +<p>No matter what the human frailties may be there are always men who rise +in the stress of circumstances to unexpected heights. They thrive upon +difficulties and in the emergencies become protectors and saviors of +men. In the world's greatest melting-pot—the burned and blood-stained +battlefields of Europe—there were tried and tested millions of men of +all nationalities and characteristics, and though the experience was one +of bitterness, there was found in it the satisfaction that in their own +way millions of men proved themselves great.</p> + +<p>Out of the hordes that rode over mountains, sailed the seas or picked +their way through trenches and across the scarred surface of the earth +there looms the figures of some whose names will go down in history for +all time. Their names will be written indelibly upon the pages of life +and they will be known for ages after the evidences of the great strife +have been obliterated and the peace for which the world struggled has +been made a permanent thing.</p> + +<p>Among those whose names will be forever linked with the terrible war as +a leader of men—whose figure stands out against the mass of +humanity—is Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America. +Though he neither faced bullets nor tramped the historic byways of +Europe in the terrible struggle, he was to all intents and purposes the +commander-in-chief of all the world forces seeking to break the +autocratic domination of the Hohenzollerns of Germany and give +democracy its place among the nations of the world which its character +justifies.</p> + +<p>President Wilson, when he was elevated to the highest position in +America which the Nation could bestow, was recognized as one of the +greatest essayists and students of history, political economy, +constitutional law and government in the country. And those who made +light of his "book-learning" and referred to him as "the school-master +president," came to know that his training and the very character of his +life's work fitted him better than probably any other man in America to +deal with the great national and international problems which +confronted, which culminated with or grew out of America's entrance into +the great war.</p> + + +<h4>WILSON'S MANY HONORS.</h4> + +<p>He was born in Staunton, Va., in 1856, the son of Rev. Joseph Woodrow +Wilson, and received his early education at Davidson College, N.C. +Subsequently he received a degree at Princeton University and graduated +in law at the University of Virginia, later practicing law at Atlanta. +After this he received degrees at Johns Hopkins, Rutgers, University of +Pennsylvania, Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale Colleges, and was +professor of history and political economy, first at Bryn Mawr College +and later at Wesleyan University, and finally professor of jurisprudence +and political economy, then jurisprudence and politics and afterward +president at Princeton University, from which post he was elected +Governor of the State of New Jersey in 1913. He resigned from the +Governorship and was elected President of the United States for a term +beginning March, 1913, and was re-elected in November, 1916, for a +second term beginning March, 1917, both times on the Democratic ticket.</p> + +<p>As against the figure of President Wilson there stands that of the +Emperor William of Germany, whose policies indirectly precipitated the +war and impelled the alignment of nations to defend themselves against +his autocratic domination. For years the head of the House of +Hohenzollern, descendant of the ancient margraves of Germany who have +battled with the old Romans, made it manifest in speech and by action +that his ambition was to create a world empire.</p> + + +<h4>GERMANY MUST BE RECKONED WITH.</h4> + +<p>Once at the launching of one of the great German warships he said: "The +ocean teaches us that on its waves and on its most distant shores no +great decision can any longer be taken without Germany and without the +German Emperor. I do not think that it was in order to allow themselves +to be excluded from big foreign affairs that, thirty years ago, our +people, led by their princes, conquered and shed their blood. Were the +German people to let themselves be treated thus, it would be, and +forever, the end of their world-power; and I do not mean that that shall +ever cease. To employ, in order to prevent it, the suitable means, if +need be extreme means, is my duty and my highest privilege."</p> + +<p>In a famous interview in the London "Daily Mail" in 1908, discussing the +attitude of Germany toward England, the Kaiser was quoted as follows:</p> + +<p>"You English," he said, "are mad, mad, mad as March hares. What has come +over you that you are so completely given over to suspicions quite +unworthy of a great nation? What more can I do than I have done? I +declared with all the emphasis at my command, in my speech at Guildhall, +that my heart is set upon peace, and that it is one of my dearest wishes +to live on the best of terms with England. Have I ever been false to my +word? Falsehood and prevarication are alien to my nature. My actions +ought to speak for themselves, but you listen not to them but to those +who misinterpret and distort them. That is a personal insult which I +feel and resent. To be forever misjudged, to have my repeated offers of +friendship weighed and scrutinized with jealous, mistrustful eyes, +taxes my patience severely. I have said time after time that I am a +friend of England, and your Press—or at least a considerable section of +it—bids the people of England refuse my proffered hand, and insinuates +that the other holds a dagger. How can I convince a nation against its +will?"</p> + +<p>And then as if to impress upon the world the belief that he was chosen +of God, the Kaiser repeatedly gave voice to such bombastic utterances as +when to his son in Brandenburg, he declared: "I look upon the people and +nation handed on to me as a responsibility conferred upon me by God, and +that it is, as is written in the Bible, my duty to increase this +heritage, for which one day I shall be called upon to give an account; +those who try to interfere with my task I shall crush."</p> + + +<h4>THE "GOD-APPOINTED" HOHENZOLLERNS.</h4> + +<p>Again he expressed the same sentiment when he said: "It is a tradition +of our House, that we, the Hohenzollerns, regard ourselves as appointed +by God to govern and to lead the people, whom it is given us to rule, +for their well-being and the advancement of their material and +intellectual interests."</p> + +<p>And finally in his address to the people in August, 1914, he said at the +beginning of war: "A fateful hour has fallen for Germany. Envious +peoples everywhere are compelling us to our just defence. The sword has +been forced into our hands. I hope that if my efforts at the last hour +do not succeed in bringing our opponents to see eye to eye with us and +in maintaining the peace, we shall, with God's help, so wield the sword +that we shall restore it to its sheath again with honor.</p> + +<p>"War would demand of us an enormous sacrifice in property and life, but +we should show our enemies what it means to provoke Germany. And now I +commend you to God. Go to church and kneel before God, and pray for His +help for our gallant army."</p> + +<p>This is the picture of "Kaiser Bill" whose egotism gave expression to +itself in 1910 when in a speech he said: "Considering myself as the +instrument of the Lord, without heeding the views and opinions of the +day, I go my way."</p> + + +<h4>EMPEROR WILLIAM'S CHILDREN.</h4> + +<p>William II, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia, was born January 27, +1859, succeeding his father, Emperor Frederick the III, in June, 1888. +He married the Princess Augusta Victoria, of +Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and had the following issue: +Frederick William, Crown Prince, born May 6, 1882; William +Eitel-Frederick, born 1883; Adalbert, born 1884; August, born 1887; +Oscar, born 1888; Joachim, born 1890, and Victoria Louise, born 1892.</p> + +<p>Crown Prince Frederick William is one of the remarkable figures of the +war. A profound admirer of Napoleon he has always made a close study of +that great French soldier, and has long been one of the leaders of the +war-seeking element in Germany. The Crown Prince, who was born in 1882, +is tall, slim and impulsive. The late Queen Victoria, his great +grandmother, was his godmother.</p> + +<p>After he had completed a military course he attended Bonn University, +and on the completion of his college course he set out on extensive +travels. After his return he was placed in the offices of the Potsdam +provincial government so that he might study local administration. After +completing this study he was given a course in the intricate routine +through which two-thirds of the German people are governed, by being +placed in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior. Naval administration +has also been a part of the studies of the Crown Prince, in fact he was +deeply engrossed in that study when the war was declared.</p> + +<p>The Crown Prince married Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in +1905.</p> + +<p>King George V, of Great Britain, the only surviving son of the late King +Edward, was born in 1865. He was the second son of the king, his brother +Prince Albert, the heir to the throne, dying suddenly in 1892 and +bringing the second son, who had been destined for the navy, into direct +succession. In 1893 Princess Mary of Teck, who was to have married +Prince Albert, was married to Prince George, and there is one daughter, +Princess Mary, and five sons—Edward, Prince of Wales, and Princes +Albert, Henry, George and John.</p> + + +<h4>THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT.</h4> + +<p>Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, who is now Governor General of +Canada, is an uncle of the King. He was married to Princess +Louise-Margaret of Prussia, the daughter of Prince Frederick-Charles of +Prussia and Princess Marie-Anne of Anhalt. He has three children; +Margaret, the oldest, is the Crown Princess of Sweden; Prince Arthur is +married to his cousin, Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife, and Princess +Victoria-Patricia, who is unmarried.</p> + +<p>King Edward had three brothers and five sisters, two brothers falling +heir in turn to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.</p> + +<p>King George V is uncle by blood to Olaf, Crown Prince of Norway, and by +marriage with Queen Mary, to three Princes and three Princesses of Teck. +He is brother-in-law to King Haakon VII of Norway and Prince of Denmark, +Duke Adolph of Teck, and Prince Alexander of Teck. He is a first cousin +on his father's side to Emperor William II of Germany, and his brothers +and sisters, among whom, principally, is the Queen of Greece; to +Ernst-Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, and his four sisters, one of whom is +the wife of Prince Henry of Prussia, and another is Alice, former +Czarina of Russia. The first and second cousins of the King run well up +into the hundreds.</p> + +<p>The Royal Family of Belgium was founded when, in 1831, the people +elected King Leopold I to rule the destinies of that country. The king +was married to Princess Louise of Orleans, after which practically all +the marriages of the family were with the southern group of royal +houses.</p> + +<p>There were three children born to the couple, the oldest son succeeding +to the throne as King Leopold II. The latter married Archduchess Marie +Henriette of Austria. One son, and three daughters were born, the son +dying when he was 23 years old. The oldest of the daughters became the +wife of Prince Philip of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the second wedding Crown +Prince Rudolph of Austria-Hungary, who died in youth, and the third +becoming the wife of Prince Napoleon Bonaparte. The daughter of Leopold +I is the widow of the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, who was +executed there in 1867.</p> + + +<h4>SECOND SON OF LEOPOLD I.</h4> + +<p>The second son of Leopold I was Philip, the Count of Flanders, who was +married to Princess Marie of Hohenzollern, sister of the Prince Leopold +of Hohenzollern and King Charles of Roumania. The son to this marriage +is King Albert of Belgium, who succeeded his uncle, Leopold II, in 1909. +The Queen of Belgium is Princess Elizabeth of the Ducal House of +Bavaria. Through her King Albert is allied to the Crown Prince of +Bavaria, the Grand Duchess of Luxemburg, the Duke of Parma, the late +Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and the present heir-apparent, Archduke +Charles Francis Joseph. The King and Queen have two sons, Leopold, born +in 1902, and Charles Theodore, who is two years younger. There is also a +daughter, the Princess Marie-Josephine, born in 1906.</p> + +<p>King Nicholas I, ruler of the picturesque little country of Montenegro, +which was the scene of much bitter fighting, was born October 7, 1841, +and proclaimed Prince of Montenegro, as successor to his uncle Danilo I, +in 1860. He became king in 1910. Nicholas I married Milena Petrovna +Vucotic. The children are Princess Militza, who married the Russian +Grand Duke Peter Nikolaievitch; Princess Stana, who married George, Duke +of Leuchtenberg, but which marriage was dissolved, the Princess +subsequently marrying the Russian Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaievitch. The +other children are Prince Danilo Alexander, heir-apparent; Princess +Helena, who married Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy; Princess Anna, who +married Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg; Prince Mirko, who married +Natalie Constantinovitch; Princess Zenia, Princess Vera and finally +Prince Peter, who was born in 1889.</p> + + +<h4>KING OF SERVIA.</h4> + +<p>Peter I, King of Servia, one of the figures of the war, is the son of +Alexander Kara-Georgevitch. He was born in Belgrade in 1844, and was +proclaimed King after the murder of King Alexander and Queen Draga. He +ascended the throne on June 2, 1903. He was married in 1883 to Princess +Zorka, of Montenegro, who died in 1890. He has two sons and a daughter; +George, who was born in 1887, and who renounced his right to the throne +in 1909; Alexander, born in 1889, and Helen, who was born in 1884. +Because of his ill health King Peter, for a long time, delegated +authority to his son Alexander for the purpose of government.</p> + +<p>Nicholas II, the last Czar of Russia, who abdicated in June, 1917, was +born May 18, 1868, and succeeded his father, Emperor Alexander III, on +November 1, 1894. He married Princess Alexandra Alice, daughter of +Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and has four daughters and one son: +Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia and Alexis.</p> + +<p>The family is descended in the female line from Michael Romanof, first +elected Czar in 1613, and, in the male line, from Duke Karl Frederick of +Holstein-Gottorp. As the result of intermarriages and connections with +the royal houses of Germany, they are practically Germans by blood.</p> + +<p>It was in fact the German influence, which is said to have been the +immediate cause of the revolt in the great country.</p> + +<p>The revolution may be said to have had its inception when a small group +of men opposed to the German influence at court assassinated the monk +Gregory Rasputin, who had a great influence over the Czar.</p> + + +<h4>A REACTIONARY CABINET INSTALLED.</h4> + +<p>Czar Nicholas in anger dismissed Premier Trepoff and installed a +thoroughly reactionary Cabinet. Trepoff had been in office only a short +time, having followed M. Sturmer, who had bitterly fought the Duma. It +had been commonly reported that the real power in the Russian Government +after Sturmer went out was in the hands of the Minister of the Interior, +M. Protopopoff. Sturmer had been called to the premiership to succeed M. +Goremykin, who was in office when the war began.</p> + +<p>The fact that Michael Rodzianko, president of the Duma and one of the +leading advocates of liberalization of the Government, was named as the +chief figure in the provisional government, showed that the movement is +in the hands of the same forces which had demanded the overthrow of the +bureaucracy and a more energetic prosecution of the war.</p> + +<p>There were many changes in the Russian Government during the war, +although the censorship was enforced so rigidly that the significance of +the rapid shifts was apparent. Vague reports reached the outside world +of high councilors of State who were obstructing instead of assisting +the work of carrying on the war, and the strength of German influence at +Petrograd. The most conspicuous case of this sort was that of General +Soukhomlinoff, former Minister of War, who was dismissed from office and +imprisoned as a result of charges of criminal negligence and high +treason.</p> + +<p>M. Sazonoff, Russia's Foreign Minister at the beginning of the war and +an ardent believer in the prosecution of the war, was deposed early in +the reactionary regime and sent as envoy to London. It was suggested +that the motive for this was not to honor an anti-German, but to get him +out of Russia.</p> + + +<h4>MEMBERS OF THE RUSSIAN CABINET.</h4> + +<p>The members of the Russian Cabinet, as announced for the Provisional +Government, were:</p> + +<p>Prince Georges E. Lvov, well known as president of the Zemstvos' Union, +Prime Minister.</p> + +<p>Alexander J. Guchkoff, Minister of the Interior.</p> + +<p>Paul Milukoff, well known as a Constitutional Democrat leader, Minister +of Foreign Affairs.</p> + +<p>M. Pokrovski, Minister of Finance.</p> + +<p>General Manikovski, chief of the Artillery Department, War Minister.</p> + +<p>M. Savitch, Minister of Marine.</p> + +<p>M. Maklakoff, Minister of Justice.</p> + +<p>M. Kovalevski, Minister of Education.</p> + +<p>M. Nekrasoff, Minister of Railways.</p> + +<p>M. Konovaloff, Moscow merchant, Minister of Commerce and Industry.</p> + +<p>M. Rodischneff, Secretary for Finland.</p> + +<p>M. Kerenski, Minister without portfolio.</p> + +<p>The executive committee of the Imperial Duma, as the provisional +Government styles itself, is composed of twelve members, under M. +Rodzianko, including two Socialists, two Conservatives, three Moderates, +five Constitutional Democrats and Progressives.</p> + +<p>Constantine I, King of Greece, who abdicated in favor of his son, Prince +Alexander, on June 11, 1917, under pressure from the Allied countries, +was born in 1868. His father, King George, was assassinated at Salonica +on March 18, 1913. The abdication of King Constantine in June, 1917, was +due to his opposition to the forces in the government which desired to +join the Allies in the war against Germany. The influence in favor of +the Germans in the royal family of Greece was Queen Sophia, a sister of +the Kaiser.</p> + +<p>For a time Constantine was a veritable idol in Greece. In 1896 when his +country was drifting into war with Turkey, he sounded a warning that the +Greek army was unprepared for a campaign. The infantry was armed with +condemned French rifles; the cartridges were 15 years old; there was no +cavalry; the artillery was obsolete, and the officers few. When the +country went to war despite his warning, the result was a disastrous +defeat. A similar situation developed when King George tried to oppose +the popular clamor for the annexation of Crete. The King knew that +Turkey was waiting for another opportunity to crush Greece, and there +was a second uprising.</p> + + +<h4>CONSTANTINE BECOMES AN IDOL.</h4> + +<p>Constantine had been in command of the military forces, and King George +was obliged to dismiss him as Generalissimo. In the Balkan war of 1912, +however, when he led an army of 10,000 Greeks to the capture of +Salonica, causing 30,000 Turks to lay down arms, he became an idol. On +ascending the throne, it was said that he aimed to restore the grandeur +of the ancient Hellenic Empire, and that he was a firm believer in the +old national prophecy that, under the reign of a "Constantine and a +Sophia," the Eastern Empire would be rejuvenated and the cross restored +on Saint Sophia in Constantinople, supplanting the Crescent of the Turk. +In fact, after the Balkan war, when Greece added a section of Turkish +territory to her domain, and the islands of Crete were annexed, King +Constantine hoisted the ancient Hellenic flag over the fort.</p> + +<p>The climax in Grecian affairs was precipitated when Turkey entered the +great World War on the side of Germany. The question of intervention on +the part of Greece arose, and King Constantine insisted on strict +neutrality being observed. The cabinet, headed by Premier Venizelos, +which was for war on the side of the Allies, tendered its resignation. +When the operations began against the Dardanelles the Government +believed that the time had come for Greece to enter the war. The King +refused to countenance the plan, arguing that the sending of forces to +the Dardanelles would dangerously weaken the Greek defences on the +Bulgarian frontier. Queen Sophia was regarded as bitterly opposed to the +country joining the Allies, and was reported to have threatened several +times to leave the country.</p> + +<p>The criticism directed against Constantine was severe because, under the +terms of the treaty made in the Balkan war, Greece was committed to ally +herself with Servia if that country were attacked by another power. +Austria did invade Servia, but Constantine asserted that the treaty +applied only to an attack by another Balkan nation.</p> + + +<h4>ACCUSED OF EVASION.</h4> + +<p>The occupation by troops of the Entente Powers of a part of Macedonia, +and the seizure of Salonica as their base, involved the King of Greece +in a long series of clashes with the Entente commanders, and he was +accused of evasion and attempting to gain time in the interests of +Germany. A temporary understanding was obtained, but meantime the +provisional government, headed by Venizelos, had been growing in +strength, and obtained the recognition of the Entente Powers.</p> + +<p>The Allies laid an embargo on the supplies of Greece, and Constantine +was denounced by the people of Crete and other territory, who demanded +his dethronement. This was the situation, in a general way, which led to +his abdication and his retirement to Berlin, with the Queen, in the +summer of 1917.</p> + +<p>Alexander, who succeeded his father, was a second son, born August 1, +1893. He was a captain in the First Regiment, artillery, in the Greek +army.</p> + +<p>Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, who threw the weight of his country with +the Allies, repudiating the treaty with Germany and Austria-Hungary +which established what was known as the Triple Entente, was born in +1869, the only son of King Humbert, second King of United Italy, who was +murdered at Monza, in July, 1900. Victor Emmanuel married Princess +Elena, daughter of Nicholas, King of Montenegro, and has four children: +Princess Yolanda, Princess Mafalda; Prince Humbert, heir-apparent, and +Princess Giovanna. The mother of King Emmanuel—Dowager Queen +Margherita—is a daughter of the later Prince Ferdinand of Savoy.</p> + + +<h4>TRAGEDY THE PATHWAY TO THRONE.</h4> + +<p>Charles I, the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, was born in 1887 +and succeeded his grand uncle, Francis Joseph I, in November, 1916. His +way to the throne lay through tragedy, for he came into the crown +immediately through the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, +heir-apparent, and his morganatic wife Countess Sophie Chotek, in +Bosnia, and which crime was the signal for the war. Nor would Charles +have been entitled to succeed to the throne but for the fact that the +Archduke Rudolf, heir-apparent to the throne, committed suicide in 1889.</p> + +<p>The right of succession went with his death to the second brother of the +then Emperor Francis Joseph, or Archduke Charles Louis, father of the +assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand. It passed then after the +tragedies to Archduke Otto, brother of Francis Ferdinand, Charles I +being the son of the Archduke Otto. The young Emperor married Princess +Zita of Bourbon Parma in 1911. She is the daughter of Duke Robert of +Parma, and sister of the first wife of Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria. The +Emperor has four children: Francis Joseph Otto, Adelaide Marie, Robert +Charles Ludwig and Felix Frederic August.</p> + +<p>Ferdinand of Bulgaria, Czar, is son of the late Prince Augustus of +Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and late Princess Clementine of Bourbon-Orleans, +daughter of King Louis Philippe. He was born in 1861 and succeeded +Prince Alexander, who abdicated. He married Marie Louise, daughter of +Robert of Parma, and after her death married Princess Eleanore of +Reuss-Kostritz. There are four children by the first marriage: Prince +Boris, heir-apparent; Prince Cyril, Princess Eudoxia, Princess Nadejda.</p> + +<p>Alfonso XIII, King of Spain, was born May 17, 1886, his father, King +Alfonso XII, having died nearly six months previous to his birth. Maria +Christina, mother of the heir to the Spanish throne, was an Austrian +princess. In 1906 King Alfonso XIII married the English Princess +Victoria Eugenie, daughter of the late Henry of Battenberg and Princess +Beatrice, a daughter of the late Queen Victoria.</p> + + +<h4>KING ALFONSO'S SONS.</h4> + +<p>King Alfonso XIII has four sons: Alfonso, Prince of the Asturias, heir +to the Spanish throne; Prince Jaime, who is deaf and dumb; Prince Juan, +and Prince Gonzalo. There are two daughters, Princess Beatrice, and +Princess Maria Christina.</p> + +<p>The King's sisters were Maria de las Mercedes, who married Prince Carlos +of Bourbon, in February, 1901, and died in 1904, and Infanta Maria +Teresa, who died suddenly from the effects of childbirth. She was the +wife of Prince Ferdinand, who afterward remarried Dona Maria Luisa Pie +de Concha, who was created Duchess of Talavera de la Reina, and given +the courtesy title of Highness by Alfonso. Don Carlos, who was born in +1848, and was the pretender to the Spanish throne, was a second cousin +to the King. He died in 1909, leaving a son, Prince Jamie, born in +1870, and who is the present pretender, and four daughters.</p> + +<p>The Spanish reigning family are the Bourbons, descendants of King Louis +XIV of France.</p> + +<p>Ferdinand, King of Roumania, was born in 1865, and is a nephew of the +late King Carol, who died in 1914. In 1893 he married Princess Marie of +Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and two sons and four daughters were born to the +royal couple as follows: Charles, who was born in 1893, and who is +heir-apparent; Nicholas, Elizabeth, Marie, Ileana and Mircia, the latter +dying when four years old.</p> + + +<h4>POINCAIRE'S VERSATILITY.</h4> + +<p>President Poincaire, of France, is a bearded, pale-faced, short, and +rather stout man, who leaves upon those who come in contact with him, an +impression of his mental ability. He was born in 1860, and is regarded +as one of the few strong characters who have held the office of +President since the war which brought about the third Republic. He is an +author of widely read books, and has won a place in the French Academy. +As a lawyer he was a leader at the bar, and before being chosen +President, in 1913, he served as Minister of Finance, and as Minister of +Public Instruction. While serving as Minister of Finance he is credited +with having put on the statutes admirable laws regulating and equalizing +the taxations of millions. President Poincaire is a patron of art, and +has been counsel of the Beaux Art, of the National Museum and President +of the Society of Friends of the University of Paris.</p> + +<p>The Sultan of Turkey, the outstanding nation in the conflict, not +Christian, was chosen ruler and took the Osman sword on May 10, 1909, +and was designated Mohammed V. His name is Mohammed Reshad Effendi, and +he succeeded Abd-ul-Hamid, who was deposed. The latter became Sultan in +1876, succeeding Abd-ul-Aziz, who was preceded by Abd-ul-Mejid.</p> + +<p>The history of the Ottoman Empire is filled with mystery, romance and +stories of intrigue, cruelty and barbarities, involving internal wars, +uprisings, almost continuous struggles with practically all of the +European countries and massacres that aroused the whole world. Legend +assigns Oghuz, son of Kara Khan, father of the Ottoman Turks, whose +first appearance in history dates back to 1227 A.D.</p> + +<p>The reign of Abd-ul-Aziz in the latter part of the last century was +marked by many massacres and the extravagant conduct of affairs by the +Sultan, who visited England in 1876 and was honored by Queen Victoria, +who bestowed upon him the Order of the Garter. He was deposed and +Abd-ul-Hamid succeeded. He made feeble attempts to reorganize the +Government, but his efforts were fruitless and following wars and +uprisings and further internal troubles and the loss of territory he was +deposed and the present Sultan was chosen.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h3> + +<h4>THE WAR'S WHO'S WHO.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Striking Figures in the Conflict—Joffre, the Hero of +Marne—Nivelle, the French Commander—Sir Douglas Haig—The Kaiser's +Chancellor—Venizelos—"Black Jack" Pershing</span>.</p> + + +<p>One of the most striking figures among those whose names are irrevocably +linked with the history of the world fight for democracy, is that of +Joseph Joffre, Marshal of France, former Commander of the French forces +and victor of the famous battle of the Marne, who led the French Mission +to the United States, after America entered the war.</p> + +<p>The Commander-in-Chief of all the French armies, a man of humble birth, +saw the light of day at Perpignan, near the Pyrenees, in 1852.</p> + +<p>The future General early showed a deep interest in mathematics and +obtained the degree of Bachelor of Science at the College of Perpignan +at the early age of 16. He was a student at the Polytechnic Institute +when the Franco-German War of 1870 broke out. Joffre was placed in +charge of a large part of the defense of Paris and drew the plans of the +fortifications in the direction of Enghein. At the age of 19 he was +promoted to Captaincy in the presence of Marshal MacMahon and his whole +staff.</p> + +<p>Marshal Joffre traveled much and spent a great many years fighting +France's colonial wars. He served in the Formosa campaign of 1885; +constructed a chain of forts at Tonkin, Cochin-China; was decorated for +distinguished bravery in leading his troops in action there in the +eighties; was Chief Engineer of the Engineering Corps at Hanoi, and +undertook the building of a railroad from Senegal to the Niger River in +1892.</p> + +<p>Joffre fought through the Dahomey Campaign in 1893; saved the day for +the French in a brilliant rear-guard action and entered Timbuctoo as a +conqueror. Later he proceeded to Madagascar, where he constructed +fortifications and organized a naval station.</p> + +<p>Recalled to France, General Joffre became a Professor in the War College +and obtained his stars in 1901. He later entered the Engineering +Department of the War Ministry; then became Military Governor of Lille. +Later he was promoted to be a Division Commander in Paris and then +commander of the Second Army Corps at Amiens. He gained the honor in +1911 of a unanimous vote of the Superior Council of War making him +Commander of all the military forces of France.</p> + + +<h4>A FAMOUS WAR RECORD.</h4> + +<p>His record in the World War is well known. Every one has read of his +masterly conduct of the retreat from the Belgian border; of his work in +regrouping the shattered and retiring French forces; of his ringing +appeal to the men to strike back at the moment he had determined upon. +At the Marne he saved France and perhaps the world.</p> + +<p>Joffre is unsympathetic and grim when at work. He has no patience for +anything but the highest efficiency. At a single stroke he cashiered a +score of Generals who did not measure up to his standards. He is a +master builder, organizer and strategist. Though rather taciturn he is +loved both by the officers and poilus. Among the latter he became known +as "Papa" Joffre.</p> + +<p>He showed by his appointments and acts that a new inspiration—an +inspiration of patriotism—controlled the Republic. Joffre's accession +to supreme command symbolized that France had experienced a new birth, +that the army was well organized and that the man who for three years +had been silently performing the regeneration of the land forces had +rightly been placed over the forces he had reformed.</p> + +<p>Almost unknown to the masses, Joffre was placed at the head of the +French troops in the summer of 1914. Among his associates he was known +as an authority on aeroplanes, automobiles, telegraphs and the other +details of modern warfare. Above everything else he stood for efficiency +and preparedness, and lacked the qualities of the French soldier of +literature. To be prepared for instant war had been his effort for three +years, and when that time came France found herself nearly as well +prepared for the conflict as was Germany, which had prepared for +twenty-five years.</p> + + +<h4>ADJURATION TO SCHOOL CHUMS.</h4> + +<p>One of his few published speeches, made to his old school chums, is on +this theme. "To be prepared in our days," he said, "has a meaning which +those who prepared for and fought the wars of other days would have +great difficulty in understanding. It would be a sad mistake to depend +upon a sudden burst of popular enthusiasm, even though it should surpass +in intensity that of the volunteers of the Revolution, if we do not +fortify it by complete preparation.</p> + +<p>"To be prepared we must assemble all the resources of the country, all +the intelligence of her children, all their moral energy and direct them +toward a single aim—victory. We must have organized everything, +foreseen everything. Once hostilities have begun no improvisation will +be worth while. Whatever lacks then will be lacking for good and all. +And the slightest lack of preparation will spell disaster."</p> + +<p>What Joffre said to his chums he had done for the French army, and +President Poincare, after the Battle of the Marne, summed up his +qualities which made it a French victory in this message to Joffre: "In +the conduct of our armies you have shown a spirit of organization, order +and of method whose beneficent effects have influenced every phase, from +strategy to tactics; a wisdom cold and cautious, which has always +prepared for the unexpected, a powerful soul which nothing has shaken, +a serenity whose salutary example has everywhere inspired confidence and +hope."</p> + +<p>These words of the President of the French Republic are an epitome of +the character and the military record of Joffre. He is representative of +the real France, not the France of Paris and scandals. He is of the +peasantry, and he and his kind, men of character, brought about the +glorious France of the war.</p> + +<p>Among those who accompanied Joffre on his visit to the United States was +Rene Viviani, ex-Premier of France and Minister of Justice. He was born +in Algeria in 1862, his family being Corsican, and originally of Italian +blood.</p> + + +<h4>VIVIANI A SOCIALIST LEADER.</h4> + +<p>M. Viviani became a lawyer in Paris and built up a large practice. In +1893 he entered the Chamber of Deputies as a Socialist. Together with +Briand, Jaures and Millerand he was long a leader of the parliamentary +delegation of Socialists. On June 1, 1914, one month before the outbreak +of the war, M. Viviani became Prime Minister. He showed himself a +brilliant leader and tireless worker. His speeches embodying the spirit +of fighting France were read and admired the world over. Many persons +consider Rene Viviani France's greatest orator. Volumes of his speeches +have had a wide sale.</p> + +<p>M. Viviani was succeeded in the Premiership by M. Briand, and recently +he became Minister of Justice in the Ribot Cabinet. He is a man of great +culture. Though an excellent Latin and Greek scholar, he speaks no +English. Rene Viviani has had some experience as a newspaper man, as a +special writer and as managing editor of the Petite Republique. His +younger son, aged 22, was killed in the war. His older son has been +wounded but is back at the front.</p> + +<p>Another member of the French mission was M. de Hovelacque, the French +Inspector General of Public Instruction. He is well known in the United +States because of his marriage to Miss Josephine Higgins, of New York +State.</p> + +<p>The Right Honorable Arthur Balfour, ex-Premier of England, who came to +America to join in the conferences at which the policies for carrying +the war were outlined after America became an Ally, is described as one +of the most intellectual statesmen in England, and one who, although he +won all the honors his country could give him, never realized his own +possibilities. At sixty-nine, at the height of his mental development, +he occupies a place in the English cabinet, a place which was given him +because of his great hold upon the autocracy of England.</p> + + +<h4>BALFOUR'S INTELLECTUAL ABILITY.</h4> + +<p>As the Premier of England, as Secretary of Ireland and as the leader of +the House of Commons Mr. Balfour displayed great intellectual agility, +but at no time was credited with having displayed the industry which +spurred on such men as Lloyd George to success. He is of the aristocracy +and his position in English politics came to him as the nephew of Lord +Salisbury.</p> + +<p>He was born in 1848 and educated at Eton and Cambridge and entered the +House of Commons at the age of 26. Mr. Balfour was known in his early +years as a philosophically and religiously inclined young man, and it +occasioned some surprise when he followed the traditions of his family +by entering politics.</p> + +<p>Some years after taking his seat he joined what was known as the Fourth +Party, a conservative rebel faction, consisting of three members, Lord +Randolph Churchill, Sir Henry Drummond Wolff and Sir John Gorst. This +group constituted a sort of mugwump element that voted independently on +every party question and that tried to rouse the Conservatives from +their party prejudices and narrow leanings.</p> + +<p>To Mr. Balfour belonged the distinguished honor of attending the Berlin +Conference of 1878 as private secretary to Lord Salisbury. In 1885 he +became President of the Local Government Board. The Conservatives were +thrown out of power for a short time at this juncture, but when they +were restored in 1886 Balfour became Secretary for Scotland. Shortly +after he was promoted to be Chief Secretary for Ireland.</p> + +<p>Despite his gentle manners and quiet ways, the new Chief Secretary ruled +the then disturbed Ireland with an iron hand. He was known as "Bloody +Balfour" by the Irish agitators until he began to show his milder ways +upon the restoration of peace. He remained in Ireland until 1891. He had +endured abuse and faced threats and had come away triumphant. From +Ireland Mr. Balfour went to England as First Lord of the Treasury.</p> + +<p>Arthur James Balfour showed his friendship for the United States when, +in 1897, as Acting Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he refused to give +England's consent to a continental proposal that Spain be permitted to +govern Cuba as she chose.</p> + + +<h4>LIBERALS COME INTO POWER.</h4> + +<p>When Lord Salisbury died in 1902 Mr. Balfour succeeded him as Prime +Minister. He remained in that office until 1905, when the Liberals came +into power. In the coalition Ministry formed since the outbreak of the +European War, he was nominated First Lord of the Admiralty. He showed +remarkable ability in this office. Upon the resignation of Mr. Asquith's +Cabinet, Mr. Balfour became Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He is an +enthusiastic sportsman and has written a book on golf.</p> + +<p>The other English envoys who accompanied Mr. Balfour to Washington were +Rear Admiral Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair, and Lord Walter +Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England.</p> + +<p>Rear Admiral de Chair was born August 30, 1864. He entered the Royal +Navy at the age of 14, and received his early training aboard His +Majesty's Ship Britannia. He served in the Egyptian war and was naval +attache at Washington in 1902.</p> + +<p>Admiral de Chair commanded the Bacchante, Cochrane and Colossus +successively in the years between 1905 and 1912. From 1912 to 1914 he +acted as Assistant Controller of the Navy and subsequently he was the +Naval Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty. At the outbreak of +the war he became Admiral of the training services and of the Tenth +Cruiser Squadron. Admiral de Chair is a member of the Royal Victorian +Order and a Companion of the Bath.</p> + + +<h4>LORD WALTER CUNLIFFE.</h4> + +<p>Lord Walter Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England, is 52 years old. +He received his education at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge, +from which he graduated with the degree of Master of Arts. He is a +Lieutenant of the City of London.</p> + +<p>Lord Cunliffe has been active in the banking field for many years and is +a member of the firm of Cunliffe Brothers. He is a Director of the North +Eastern Railway Company and has been a Director of the Bank of England +since 1895. He became Deputy Governor of the bank in 1911 and has been +Governor since 1913. Lord Cunliffe is the first Governor of the Bank of +England to receive the honor of re-election after serving his term of +two years. In 1914 he was created the First Baron of Headley.</p> + +<p>Among the dominating characters of the war and upon whose judgment and +ability the destinies of France and the Allies depended for a long +period is General Robert Nivelle, Commander of the French armies, and +who succeeded General Joffre. General Nivelle is a man of silence; he +speaks little. General Nivelle is four years younger than Joffre.</p> + +<p>As a boy of fourteen he could not take part as did Joffre and Gallieni +and Pau and Kitchener also, in the tragical war of 1870. Joffre studied +at the Ecole Polytechnique, in Paris; Gallieni, at Saint Cyr, without +the walls; Nivelle studied at both; he may claim to belong to all arms, +artillery, infantry—even cavalry. And, in his youth, he was not only a +magnificent all-round athlete, as indeed he still is, but also a +headlong rider of steeplechases, in which, had he been fated to break +his neck, his neck would infallibly have been broken. This is a trait he +shares with General Brussiloff, and, like the great Russian General, he +was famous for the skill with which he tamed and trained cavalry mounts.</p> + + +<h4>SERVES AS JUNIOR OFFICER.</h4> + +<p>As a junior officer Nivelle saw service in the French General Staff; his +part in the expedition to China we have recorded; he also served in +Northern Africa. So that, like Joffre, Gallieni, Lyantey, Roques and so +many leaders of French armies, Nivelle gained an invaluable element of +his training in the out-of-the-way corners of France's vast colonial +empire, which has outposts in every continent and measures nearly five +million square miles.</p> + +<p>At the outbreak of the World War Nivelle, with the rank of Colonel, +commanded the Fifth Regiment of Artillery, which is the artillery +element of the Seventh Army Corps, the corps of Besancon and the old +Franche-Comte, under the Jura Mountains, at the corner of Switzerland +and Alsace.</p> + +<p>It was, in fact, in the section of Alsace invaded and retaken by the +French army of General Pau—who lost an arm in Alsace in the war of +1870—that Nivelle struck the first of many hard blows which made him +Field Commander of the splendid army of France. He directed the guns of +his Fifth Regiment with such deadly accuracy against a group of German +guns that he first scattered their gunners in flight and put them out of +action, and then led them off in triumph, twenty-four guns in all, the +first great trophy won by the arms of France.</p> + +<p>In the battle of the Ourcq, fought with superb tenacity and dash by +Manoury and his men, the first decisive blow of the great battle, the +first definite victory, was gained; General von Kluck's right wing was +smashed in and out-flanked, with the result that the whole German line +was dislocated and sent hurtling backward.</p> + +<p>In that battle and victory Colonel Nivelle, as he then was, had his +part; but it was on the Aisne, a few days later, that a strikingly +brilliant act brought him into especial prominence. The Seventh Corps +was attacked by exceedingly strong enemy forces and forced backward over +the Aisne. Colonel Nivelle, commanding its artillery, saw his +opportunity, and, himself leading on horseback, brought his batteries +out into the open, right between the retreating Seventh Corps and the +strong German forces that were pursuing them, already sure of victory.</p> + + +<h4>VICTORY TURNED TO SLAUGHTER.</h4> + +<p>With that calm serenity which is his dominant characteristic in action, +he let the Germans come close up to his guns in serried masses. Then he +opened fire, at short range, with deadly precision, so that the expected +victory was turned into a slaughter. The broken German regiments, +fleeing to the woods beside the Aisne for safety, ran upon the bayonets +of the rallied Seventh Corps, inspired to splendid valor by the +magnificent action of their artillery. Of 6000 Germans who made that +charge few indeed returned to their trenches.</p> + +<p>This was on September 16, 1914. Before the New Year the Artillery +Colonel had been made a General of Brigade, and in January, 1915, the +new General distinguished himself by stopping the tremendous and +unforeseen German drive against Soissons. He was forthwith recommended +for further promotion, and on February 18 was gazetted General of +Division. Shortly after this be gained new laurels by capturing from the +Germans the Quenevieres salient.</p> + +<p>This great commander was the son of Colonel Nivelle—and an English +mother, a former Miss Sparrow, whose family lived at Deal, on the +English Channel. In his married life General Nivelle has been +exceedingly happy.</p> + +<p>The dominating figure in the English army when America entered the fray +was Sir Douglas Haig. He succeeded Sir John French.</p> + +<p>Sir Douglas Haig was born under so favorable a star that he has long +been known as "Lucky" Haig. Not that he has depended upon his luck to +push him ahead in the army, for his record as a student and a worker +wholly disproves this. But nevertheless fortune has showered many favors +upon him. Among these favors the first and by no means the least is his +very aristocratic lineage and the consequent high standing he has had in +royal and influential circles.</p> + + +<h4>HAIG'S FAMILY TREE.</h4> + +<p>Haig's family tree dates back at least six centuries and he comes of the +very flower of Scotch stock. The virtues of the "Haigs of Bamersyde" +were extolled by the poets of the thirteenth century. And to discuss +this feature of his career without giving due credit to the position and +influence of his wife would be ungallant as well as unfair. She was the +Hon. Dorothy Vivian, daughter of the third Lord Vivian, and +maid-of-honor to Queen Alexandra, and the pair were married in +Buckingham Palace.</p> + +<p>He did not enter the army until after his graduation from Oxford and +then he took service in the cavalry, the usual choice of the English +"gentleman." When twenty-four years old, he received his commission as a +Lieutenant in the Queen's Own Hussars, one of the ultra-fashionable +regiments. Six years later he was made a Captain and then decided to +take a regular military course at the Staff College.</p> + +<p>In 1898 he took part in Kitchener's campaign up the Nile and in the +Soudan as a cavalry officer. He was then thirty-seven years old. He +distinguished himself in several engagements, was "mentioned in the +dispatches," was awarded the British medal and the Khedive's medal and +was promoted to Major.</p> + +<p>His career in the Boer war, which followed that in Egypt, was +characterized by distinguished services and numerous rapid promotions. +It was during this latter war that Haig became attached to the staff of +Sir John French, whom he succeeded in France and Flanders. He came out +of the war in South Africa a full-fledged Colonel, and with a fresh +supply of medals and "mentions." Then he was sent to India as Inspector +General of Cavalry.</p> + + +<h4>DIRECTOR OF MILITARY TRAINING.</h4> + +<p>He remained in the Indian service three years, and then was given a post +at the war office in London, with the title of "Director of Military +Training." He remained in London three years, when he was sent to India +as Chief of the Staff of the Indian Army. Three years later he returned +to England and was given what was known as the "Aldershot Command," +which, in fact, was the command of the real active British army. He had +this post when the war broke. His assignment as Commander of the First +Army Corps under Sir John French soon followed.</p> + +<p>The man, who next to the Kaiser had more to do with Germany's plans for +world domination, is Dr. Theobold von Bethmann-Hollweg, Imperial +Chancellor of Germany.</p> + +<p>The elevation of Hollweg to the Chancellorship came when Prince Bulow +stood in the way of complete domination of Germany's policies by the +militarists, headed by the Kaiser. Prince Bulow was dismissed and +Bethmann-Hollweg became Chancellor in 1909. From that time on he +dedicated his life to the achievement of a single aim—the completion of +Germany's plans of aggression.</p> + +<p>Bethmann-Hollweg comes from an old Prussian family ennobled in 1840. He +was born about 1855 and was a student with the Kaiser at the University +of Bonn. He studied law at Gottingen, Strassburg and Berlin, and for +several years followed the law and was appointed a judge at Potsdam.</p> + + +<h4>APPOINTED PRUSSIAN HOME SECRETARY.</h4> + +<p>In 1905 he was appointed Prussian Home Secretary, and it was then that +his name first became familiar to the man in the street in Berlin. +Shortly afterward he was appointed Assistant Chancellor of Prince Bulow, +who was then Chancellor.</p> + +<p>It was during his service as Home Secretary that Bethmann-Hollweg became +largely converted to all that the most advanced Prussian militarism +stood for. Ultimately he became a far more ardent Pan-German even than +Prince Bulow. In a speech at Munich in 1908 he declared that though +Germany was then happily free of all immediate anxiety so far as her +foreign relations were concerned, her present and future position as a +great Power must ultimately rest on her strong arm and though the +strength of her arm was greater than it ever had been it must grow yet +stronger.</p> + +<p>It was a speech after the Kaiser's own heart—provocative and boasting +to a degree. It had, as a matter of fact, it is said, been prepared by +the Emperor, and was delivered by the Kaiser's order for the special +benefit of Prince Bulow, who had at that time fallen out of favor with +the Emperor.</p> + +<p>Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz is said to be the man who made the German +navy. Having won the recognition of the Kaiser in 1894 he was promoted +to Chief of Staff in the German navy, and was placed in command of Kiel. +He was made Secretary of State in 1898 and immediately began the +building up of the navy. New and modern methods of engineering were +developed and finally he made such an impression with the Kaiser that he +was ennobled. Von Tirpitz was the principal advocate of Germany's plans +during a decade for having the navy powerful enough to equal the +combined powers of any three great naval powers.</p> + +<p>Sir John Jellicoe, Vice Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the British +Naval Home Fleet had served more than forty years in the navy when the +war broke out. He was a Lieutenant at the bombardment of Alexandria and +was a member of the Naval Brigade which participated in the battle of +Tel-el-Kebir, for activity in which he was presented with the Khedive's +Bronze Star for gallant service. He was in command of the naval brigade +which went to China in 1898 to help subdue the Boxers and was shot at +Teitsang, where he was decorated by the German Emperor, who conferred +upon him the Order of the Red Eagle. He was Rear-Admiral of the Atlantic +Fleet in 1907-08, and Commander of the Second Home Squadron in 1911-12. +To Admiral Jellicoe is given credit for having developed a high degree +of efficiency among the gunners in the English navy.</p> + + +<h4>ADMIRAL HUGO POHL.</h4> + +<p>Admiral Hugo Pohl, of the German navy, was born at Breslau in 1855. He +became a Lieutenant in the Imperial German navy when but 21 years of +age. He gained rapid promotion, and within a few years was Commodore in +charge of the scouting ships. He had charge of setting up the now famous +German naval stations from Kiel to Sonderberg in Schleswig in 1908 and +was afterwards made Vice Admiral. He wears the medal of the Order of the +Crown, bestowed upon him by the Kaiser for admirable service.</p> + +<p>One of the men whose names will be forever linked with the war, +particularly with relation to the adoption of new methods of warfare, is +that of Count Zeppelin, who died on March 8, 1917, and who was the +father of the Zeppelin or dirigible balloon. The idea for the big +airship did not originate with Count Zeppelin, but with David Schwartz, +a young Austrian, who built his first dirigible in 1893. He tried to +arouse interest in his aircraft in Russia, but failed and finally went +to Berlin, where he interested the then Baron Zeppelin. A balloon was +made, but Schwartz fell ill and died. Zeppelin was later accused of +attempting to steal the young Austrian's patents, and the courts made an +award to Schwartz's widow of $18,000.</p> + +<p>Count Zeppelin's first airship came out about 1898. It was 300 feet long +and had an aluminum frame. Short cruises were made in 1899 and 1900, and +the craft maintained a speed of about sixteen miles an hour. A second +airship was completed in 1905, and later a third aircraft was finished. +This dirigible made a cruise of 200 miles at an average speed of twenty +miles. The success led Count Zeppelin to make his most ambitious attempt +and he tried to cross the Alps carrying sixteen passengers.</p> + + +<h4>IN THE AIR THIRTY-SEVEN HOURS.</h4> + +<p>He succeeded and passing through hailstorms, crossing eddies and +encountering cross-currents he traveled 270 miles at an average speed of +twenty-two miles an hour. Subsequently he made a flight to England, +remaining in the air thirty-seven hours. Fate played him false, however, +in many of his ventures and he returned home after making remarkable +voyages, only to have his craft destroyed at its very landing place.</p> + +<p>The German Government and the Kaiser joined in giving him a grant of +money to carry on his work, and a plant was built at Frederichshafen. +But while Count Zeppelin's name will be forever identified with +aeronautics the successes which he attained were not enduring, for the +Zeppelins proved not entirely satisfactory in military warfare in +competition with the aeroplane.</p> + +<p>In the counsels of Greece the outstanding figure from the beginning of +the war was Eleutherois Venizelos. He is credited with being responsible +for the national revival in Greece when the country seemed doomed after +the Turkish war of 1897. He was the leader of the country in the +movement to join the Allies in the fight against German domination and +he swayed the nation and held them as few men have. He was born in the +Island of Crete in 1864, and according to tradition, his family +descended from the medieval Dukes of Athens. He was educated in Greece +and Switzerland and became active in Cretan politics, and won +recognition as the strong man of the "Great Greek Island."</p> + + +<h4>TRANSFORMS A NATION.</h4> + +<p>In less than three years after the distress in which the country found +itself in 1909 he transformed the nation into one of solidarity. There +had been meaningless squabbles of corrupt politicians and a sordid +struggle for preferment. The army was degenerating and the popular fury +became so great that there was an uprising of the army, which under the +title of the "Military League," ousted the Government and took control +of the country. The heads of the League brought forward Venizelos. The +League dissolved and reforms were instituted which started the country +on a new path, and when the Balkan war broke in 1912 Greece made a +record and emerged in many respects the leader of the Balkan states.</p> + +<p>Sir John French is one of the English commanders who have rendered +yeoman service in the war. He is one of the most striking military +figures in England. He has seen service in India, Africa and Canada, and +was one of the uniformly successful commanders in the Boer war. At the +Siege of Kimberly he was shut up in Ladysmith with the Boer lines +drawing closer. He managed to secrete himself under the seat of a train +on which women were being carried to safety. Outside the lines he made +his way to the Cape, where he was put in charge of cavalry and in a +terrific drive he swept through the Free State and reached Ladysmith in +time to save the day.</p> + +<p>He originally entered the navy, but remained for a short time. He +commanded the 19th Hussars from 1889 to 1903 and then rose steadily in +rank until he was made General Inspector of the Forces and finally Field +Marshal in 1903.</p> + +<p>There should be no discrimination in naming those who have represented +America in the country's activities at war, but because they came into +the world's line of vision by being sent abroad for service there are +some American commanders whose names will ever be remembered.</p> + +<p>Vice-Admiral William S. Sims is one of these. He is a Pennsylvanian who +was born in Canada. His father was A.W. Sims, of Philadelphia, who +married a Canadian and lived at Port Hope, where Admiral Sims first saw +the light of day. He went to Annapolis when he was 17 years of age and +was graduated in 1880. After this he secured a year's leave of absence +and went to France, where he studied French. Subsequently he was +assigned to the Tennessee, the flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron +and passed through all grades of ships. He received promotion to a +Lieutenancy when he was about 30 years of age. For a time he was in +charge of the Schoolship Saratoga, and later was located at Charleston +Navy Yard, and also with the receiving ship at the League Island Navy +Yard, Philadelphia. After this he went to Paris as Naval Attache at the +American Embassy. He was similarly Attache at the American Embassy at +St. Petersburg.</p> + +<p>Admiral Sims was relieved of his European assignment in 1900 and joined +the Asiatic fleet, and while abroad studied the methods of British +gunnery. When he returned to America later he inaugurated reforms which +increased the efficiency of the gunnery in the service 100 per cent. His +successful efforts led to his appointment as Naval Aide to President +Roosevelt. He made a report on the engagement between the British and +German naval fleets at Jutland which was startling, and declared that +the British battle cruisers had protected Great Britain from the +invasion of the enemy.</p> + +<p>When he reached the European waters in command of the United States +naval forces, with a destroyer flotilla, and the British officers who +greeted him asked when the flotilla would be ready to assist in chasing +the submarine and protecting shipping, Admiral Sims created a surprise +by tersely replying: "We can start at once." And he did. Admiral Sims +married Miss Anne Hitchcock, daughter of Former Secretary of the +Interior. The couple have five children.</p> + +<p>Major General John J. Pershing, of the United States Army, Commander of +the forces in France and Belgium, is one of the most picturesque figures +in American military circles. "Black Jack" Pershing is what the officers +call him, because he was for a long time commander of the famous Tenth +Cavalry of Negroes, which he whipped into shape as Drillmaster, and +which saved the Rough Riders from a great deal of difficulty at San Juan +Hill in the Spanish-American War. He was also at the battle of El Caney +where he was given credit for being one of the most composed men in +action that ever graced a battlefield. He served with signal results in +the campaign against the little "brown" men in the Philippines; was in +charge of the expedition which chased Villa into Mexico.</p> + +<p>General Pershing was born in 1864 in Laclede, Missouri, and is tall, +wiry and strong. Every inch of his six feet is of fighting material. He +is a man of action and has a penchant for utilizing the services of +young men rather than staid old officers of experience. Pershing is a +real military man, and has been notably absent from such things as +banquets and other functions where by talking he might get into the lime +light. It is true that he was jumped over the heads of a number of +officers by President Roosevelt, but he has carved his way by his own +efforts, and no man could have more fittingly been sent to take charge +of the American forces abroad than "Jack" Pershing.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h3> + +<h4>CHEMISTRY IN THE WAR.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Substitutes for Cotton—Nitrates Produced from Air—Yeast a Real +Substitute for Beef—Seaweed Made to Give up Potash—A Gangrene +Preventative—Soda Made Out of Salt Water—America Chemically +Independent</span>.</p> + + +<p>It is when men are put to the test that they develop initiative and are +inspired to great things. In the stress of circumstances there were +created through and in the great war many unusual devices and much that +will endure for the benefit of mankind in the future. It is probable +that the advancements made in many lines would not have been attained in +years but for the necessity which demanded the exertion of men's +ingenuity, and in no field was this advancement greater than in that of +chemistry.</p> + +<p>Any struggle between men is, in the last analysis, a battle of wits, but +it remained for those planning and scheming to defeat their fellow men +or protect themselves in the world conflict to make for the first time +in history the fullest use of the chemist's knowledge. Largely the +successes of the war have been due to the studies and activities of the +chemists, working in their laboratories far from the actual field of +strife.</p> + +<p>Not only has their knowledge been turned to the creation of tremendously +destructive explosives, the like of which have never before been known +in warfare, but the same brains which have been utilized to assist man +in his death-dealing crusades have been called upon to thwart the +efforts of the warring humans and save the lives of those compelled to +face the withering fire of cannon, the flaming grenade and the +asphyxiating gas bomb.</p> + +<p>In the food crisis which confronted the nations, chemists drew from the +very air and the waters of the river and sea, gases and salts to take +the place of those which became limited in their supply because of the +demands of the belligerents.</p> + +<p>The chemist is one of those who fights the battles at home. The +resisting steel, the penetrating shell, the poisonous gas, the +power-producing oil, the powerful explosive—all these are his +contributions to the war's equipment, but he also is the magician who +waves the wand and out of the apparently useless weeds and vegetable +matter produces edibles. He turns waste products into valuable chemicals +or extracts needed chemicals from by-products.</p> + + +<h4>GERMANY'S GREAT PRIVATION.</h4> + +<p>Germany, deprived of many imports by the sea power of England, first +transformed herself into a self-supporting nation through the agency of +the chemist. Substitutes had to be provided for food products which the +Germans could not get, and it is said that the ability of the Kaiser and +his henchmen to withstand the attacks of the Allied forces was due as +much to the service rendered by the chemists as by the army and navy.</p> + +<p>Not only were artificial foodstuffs manufactured, but natural food +products previously neglected were prepared for use. What had been +regarded as useless weeds were found to possess food value. A dozen +wild-growing plants were found that might be used as a substitute for +spinach, while half a dozen others were shown to be good substitutes for +salads. Starches were obtained from roots, and cheap grades of oils and +fatty wastes of all sorts were turned into edibles.</p> + +<p>Up until the advent of the present war cotton formed the base of most of +the so-called propellant explosives used in advanced warfare. Such +terrible explosives as trinitrotoluene occasionally mentioned in the +published war reports, as well as many others, have as the principal +agent of destructive force guncotton, which is ordinary raw cotton or +cellulose treated with nitric or sulphuric acid, though there are, of +course, other chemicals used in compounding the various forms of deadly +explosives.</p> + +<p>At the same time there are innumerable explosives which are of a +distinct class. Lyddite, mentioned occasionally as one of the modern +death-dealing explosives, has for a base picric acid. The Lyddite shells +referred to occasionally in various articles about the war are shells in +which Lyddite is used as the explosive. The largest percentage of +explosives used in modern gunnery are those formed of nitrated +cellulose—guncotton.</p> + + +<h4>TWO GREAT FACTORS.</h4> + +<p>Therefore any shortage in the supply of cotton and cellulose is a +serious matter in war time, for the country which has the most plentiful +supply of ammunition is the one that has the greatest relative +advantage. It was, for instance, stated from Washington several times +after the war started and the United States commercial and industrial +forces were being mobilized, that America could make enough almost +unbelievably powerful explosives to blow Germany off the face of the +European map, were it possible to transport the dangerous materials. +Dozens of new explosive compounds were placed before the Government for +consideration and in application for patents. One of the new ones, it +was said, was so powerful that little more than a pinch of it exploded +beneath such an immense structure as the Woolworth Building, New York, +would destroy the entire edifice.</p> + +<p>The curtailment of the supply of cotton to Germany when the war started, +because of England's blockade, and later when America entered the +conflict, threatened disaster to the "Fatherland." The German chemists +began working immediately to supply substitutes for cotton, to be used +both in the manufacture of explosives and fabrics. They developed the +processes of producing cellulose from wood pulp to take the place of +cotton for making guncotton, and certain forms of wood fiber and paper +were used in the textile trades. Willow bark was one of the substances +utilized to a limited degree in making fabrics.</p> + +<p>Likewise synthetic—or artificial—camphor to take the place of that +secured from nature's own laboratory—the camphor tree—was also +produced of necessity, for camphor is an ingredient largely used in +making smokeless powder. Before the war most of the camphor was obtained +from Japan.</p> + +<p>Compounds—alloyed steel, iron and aluminum—have also been used in the +industrial world to supplant copper. In America we have been educated to +regard copper as the ideal metal for conducting electrical power, but in +Europe aluminum was used successfully in a large way, even before the +war. After the conflict started in all of the countries where there was +a scant supply of copper, substitutes were developed by the +metallurgists and chemists.</p> + + +<h4>POTENCY OF MODERN CHEMISTRY.</h4> + +<p>The acids and salts used in powder making and the creation of explosives +were also secured from new places. Nitric acid, which is necessary to +the manufacture of guncotton, for many years was made principally with +saltpeter and sulphuric acid. Modern chemists, however, made it from +nitrogen of the very air we breathe, and in Germany it was made during +the war from ammonia and calcium cyanamide, both of which may be +obtained from the air.</p> + +<p>Many such methods of obtaining acids were known and tested before the +war, but the processes had not been perfected to such an extent as to +make them commercially profitable. However, the increased prices of +chemicals, due to the excessive demands of war, and the absolute +necessity for producing them inspired the chemists to get the required +results, and Germany by the development of these sources of supply found +the acids necessary for her own use in war, whether for explosive making +or medical purposes.</p> + +<p>Great quantities of sugar are used in making powder and explosives, too, +and when the supply became limited the German chemists began producing +in larger quantities the chemical substitute—saccharine. Later even +this sweet was denied the population because the chemicals were needed +for war uses. So in every line Germany found use for everything which +its chemists and chemical laboratories could produce.</p> + +<p>The terrible gas and liquid fire bombs which the Germans were first +reported using contained chemical compounds invented for the purpose by +the chemists. Some of the chemicals and the gases produced when the +bombs exploded were so powerful that men and animals in the range of the +fumes were killed instantly. The effect was to paralyze them in some +cases and it was reported that many of the soldiers were found dead +standing upright in the trenches or in the attitudes which they had +assumed at the moment they were overcome.</p> + + +<h4>BASIC PRINCIPLE OF BOMBS.</h4> + +<p>Nitrous-oxide, or chlorine, in some chemical form is supposed to have +been the base of the bombs, and concerning the liquid fire it was +reported in connection with the dropping of bombs on London from a +Zeppelin, that some of the bombs contained what is chemically known as +Thermit, which is a mixture of aluminum and iron oxide used in brazing +and welding. When ignited the oxygen is freed from the iron and combines +with the aluminum with great rapidity. During the chemical reaction an +intense heat is produced—a heat so great that it almost equals that of +an electric arc.</p> + +<p>So in the world of agriculture and industry the German chemists, +recognized leaders of the world, actually made or produced from the air +and other unsuspected sources things without which they could not have +withstood the siege against them for a single year. In the absence of +concentrated foods for cattle and humans, the chemists produced absolute +substitutes. They took the residue or waste from the breweries and +extracting the bitter hops taste from the dried yeast produced a +substitute for beef extract.</p> + +<p>So also they secured ammonium sulphate by a direct combination of +nitrogen and hydrogen in the air. At the same time they utilized other +minerals than those usually available for the manufacture of sulphuric +acid and placed the country on an independent footing.</p> + +<p>But Germany was not alone in its advancement. The United States, which +found itself without quantities of dye-stuffs and many other chemically +produced things when the war came on, took the lesson unto itself and is +today nearer self-supporting than it ever was in the history of the +nation. The Department of Agriculture has experimented and produced from +yeast, vegetable boullion cubes, which taste like beef extract and +contain greater nutriment.</p> + + +<h4>DOMESTIC DYE-STUFFS.</h4> + +<p>America, too, has extracted sulphate of ammonium from the air and the +dye-stuffs which we could not get from abroad are being made at home. +Two of the things which America found lacking when war developed were +potash and acetone, both of which are factors in powder and explosive +making. The former is used in the ordinary black gunpowder, but the +latter is necessary in the making of the smokeless powder. England +wanted Cordite, one form of this powder which the British think is the +best propellant in the world. It is made of guncotton and nitroglycerine +and acetone is one of the chemicals required in its manufacture. England +turned to the United States for quantities of this explosive and also +for the acetone, but America did not produce anywhere near enough, and +England wanted this country to make something like 20,000,000 pounds of +the explosive.</p> + +<p>A number of mushroom chemical plants were developed by the powder +company to produce the desired acetone—one very much like a vinegar +plant near Baltimore, and another at San Diego, California, where the +munitions maker's chemists refined acetone and potash extracted from +kelp, or sea weed, and besides supplying the powder and the chemicals +which the English needed America developed a permanent industry.</p> + + +<h4>RELIEVED BY AMERICAN INGENUITY.</h4> + +<p>Carbolic acid, too, was one of the badly needed chemicals of the war, +not only for medical purposes, but also for explosive making. Again the +ingenuity of America asserted itself and Thomas A. Edison produced the +plans for two benzol-absorbing plants which were erected at great steel +works and within a few months these plants were turning out benzol and +Mr. Edison's carbolic-acid plant was being supplied with the raw +material.</p> + +<p>And then it was believed that America could not make dyes to take the +place of those which came from Germany. All the United States, it was +said, would have to wear white stockings. The country just could not +produce the dyes necessary, and the product of the American plants was +inferior. But America could make the same dyes. She is making them. +Right now she is making practically as great a variety as Germany ever +sent over here.</p> + +<p>A few miles outside of Philadelphia, at Marcus Hook, on the busy +Delaware river where the ships of the world are being made, the Benzol +Products Company turns out large quantities of aniline oil. The aniline +oil, the essential basis of aniline dyes, is made into tints as fair and +perfect as any the wizards of Germany ever conjured out of their test +tubes.</p> + +<p>The tale about America's inability was proved to be a fable. The Marcus +Hook plant is one of three which sprang up when the war began. Others +are the Schoellkopf Aniline and Chemical Works at Buffalo and a third is +the Becker Aniline and Chemical Works at Brooklyn. The three are now +merged into one great operating company and Germany will have some +difficulty in getting back her dye trade when she is ready to again +fight for the world markets.</p> + +<p>Moreover, the world-famous duPont Company, which has made powder and +chemicals for all the nations, turned in and purchased the Harrison +Chemical Works in 1917, and besides making "pigments" has entered the +coal tar dye industry. The company made an intensive study of the dyeing +industries—cotton, calico printing, wool, silk, leather, paper, paints, +printing inks, &c., and made plans to meet the requirements of each. The +Harrison plant is but one of the immense group operated by the duPont +Company and it has been famous for the manufacture of white lead and +acids.</p> + + +<h4>A CHEMICAL DISCOVERY.</h4> + +<p>There is in fact no line in which the chemists of America did not rise +to the emergency and the "romances of the industrial" world are not more +entrancing than are those of the medical and other fields. Chemistry, +for instance, discovered an antitoxin for the deadly gangrene, or gas +bacillus, poisoning of the battlefields. The discovery was made by +research workers in Rockefeller Institute.</p> + +<p>It is one of the most important discoveries in medical research as +applied to war, having an even greater bearing on the treatment of war +wounds than the Dakin-Carrel treatment of sluicing wounds previously +referred to. The serum works on the same principle as the anti-tetanus +serum used to prevent lockjaw. The gangrene antitoxin is injected to +prevent the development of gangrene poisoning.</p> + +<p>The serum was developed by Dr. Carrel Bull and Miss Ida W. Pritchett, of +the Rockefeller Institute, by immunizing horses by the application of +the bacillus germs, then obtaining the resultant serum from the horses. +The new serum displaces, in a measure, the Dakin-Carrel method of +treating wounds. As soon as a soldier is picked up wounded, the plan is +to give him an injection of the serum so that he can be rushed to the +rear ambulances with no fear that the deadly gas infection will develop.</p> + +<p>The use of the serum means the wiping out of the big death rate from +infection, with death resulting merely from wounds that are in +themselves fatal. The gas bacillus was discovered by Dr. William H. +Welch, of Johns Hopkins University, 25 years ago. The bacillus +frequently is present in soil and when carried to an open wound +germinates quickly, developing into bubbles of gaseous matter, whence +comes the name "gas bacillus." The bubbles multiply rapidly, a few hours +often being sufficient to cause death.</p> + + +<h4>A WOUND-FLUSHING SYSTEM.</h4> + +<p>Possible gangrene poisoning has been offset by the Dakin-Carrel system +of constantly flushing the open wounds, but patients are frequently too +far off to be given the advantage of the flushing method and this is +where the serum is chiefly valuable. The ambulance or medical corps +"shoots" the serum into the wounded soldier even before they douse his +wound with iodine.</p> + +<p>The progress that has been made along these lines is indicated by the +statement of Lord Northcliffe, who after a visit to the front declared +that the annual death rate in the English army was 3 per cent of 1000 +and that the average illness, including colds and influenza, was less +than in London, despite the discomforts of the trenches.</p> + +<p>In the past disease has been as destructive as battles. Biology and +pathology, to say nothing of surgery and therapeutics, have made such +strides that disease has been virtually eliminated as a factor in +warfare. War takes medical science into the field, where the control of +large masses of men enables it to develop the highest efficiency.</p> + +<p>Even in normal peace conditions biological and pathological science has +been accomplishing results not popularly understood. Individual cures by +surgery and medicine appeal to personal interests, but these are +negligible compared to the prevention of plagues like smallpox, typhus +and tuberculosis. If such diseases had not been successfully combated by +science three out of four of the present civilized population would not +be in existence at all. The organized and intensive application and +developments of science, of preventive medicine, constitute the strictly +neutral work in this war by which all humanity will profit for all time +to come.</p> + +<p>In passing it is interesting to note that the great power supplied by +Niagara Falls is being utilized to produce some of the chemical marvels. +One great industry there is making soda by the electrolytic process. +That is, salt brine is pumped from the saline deposits in western New +York and piped to the works. This is run into electric cells and through +these a current of electricity is led. The salt, which is composed of +chlorine and sodium, decomposes under the electric attack. The sodium +goes to one pole and combines with water to form caustic soda, whereas +the chlorine escapes at the other pole. Let us follow the chlorine, +which is a yellowish-green gas, more than twice as heavy as air, and has +found a new use as poison gas in the great war—for which all the world +should be ashamed.</p> + +<p>It is collected and compressed to a liquid form and shipped in +containers under pressure for use in chemical works and bleacheries and +for the purification of drinking water. It has been found above all +things effective in destroying noxious bacilli. A surprisingly small +amount of the gas dissolved in the water is enough. In New York city the +water has been chlorinated and no single case of typhoid fever has been +traced to the supply.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h3> + +<h4>OUR NEIGHBORING ALLY.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Canada's Recruiting—Raise 33,000 Troops in Two Months—First +Expeditionary Force to Cross Atlantic—Bravery at Ypres and +Lens—Meeting Difficult Problems—Quebec Aroused by Conscription</span>.</p> + + +<p>The world has marvelled at the achievement of Canada at Valcartier camp +near Quebec and the dispatch across the Atlantic Ocean of a fully +equipped expeditionary force of 33,000 men within two months of the +outbreak of war between Great Britain and Germany. But the magnitude of +that feat cannot be appreciated properly until one considers that on +August 4, 1914, Canada had a permanent force of only about 3500 men.</p> + +<p>These soldiers, who for the most part were instructors and men on guard +duty, provided a nucleus for a training organization. In addition to its +"standing army," the Dominion had an active militia numbering +approximately 60,000 men. Their training consisted of what has been +aptly called "after-supper soldiering." Members of city regiments +drilled for one night each week, participated in an annual church parade +and spent two weeks every year in summer camp.</p> + +<p>The training of the rural regiments consisted almost entirely of the two +weeks in summer camp. Yet from these militia units were drawn a large +proportion of the men in the first Canadian oversea contingent, while +the militia regiments, to a large extent, formed the basis of Canada's +recruiting organization after the outbreak of hostilities.</p> + +<p>Enlistments during the first two years in the expeditionary force +numbered approximately 415,000, while probably 150,000 applicants were +rejected as physically unfit.</p> + +<p>Immediately upon the declaration of war Major General Sir Sam Hughes, +Minister of Militia, telegraphed the officers commanding the militia +regiments to commence recruiting for oversea service. After the +recruits were signed up and accepted, they lived at home and drilled +during the day at the armories throughout the Dominion.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Valcartier camp was being prepared for the gathering army. +The building of this great military center almost overnight was an +engineering feat of no mean magnitude. Two weeks after work was started, +troops recruited by the militia regiments began to arrive, and before +the end of a month Valcartier was a tented city of 25,000 soldiers.</p> + +<p>There were some complaints, of course. They were inevitable in an +encampment so hastily prepared. But the essentials were there, and when +the contingent sailed from Gaspe, on the coast of Quebec, on October 3, +it was a well-trained, efficient body of soldiers, besides being the +largest army that ever crossed the Atlantic at one time.</p> + + +<h4>AN EFFICIENT COMMANDER.</h4> + +<p>The contingent was in command of Lieutenant-General Edwin Alfred Hervey +Alderson. He was born at Ipswich in 1859 and began his military career +with the Militia, going to the regular army in 1878. He joined the Royal +West Kent Regiment as Second Lieutenant and rapidly won promotion. He +served in the Transvaal, later in Egypt and participated in actions at +Kassassin and Tel-el-Kebir, receiving the Khedive's bronze star. Service +in South Africa and in India followed, during which General Alderson +successively became Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel. He became a +Colonel in 1903 and was placed in charge of the Second Infantry Brigade, +and in 1908 commanded the Sixth Division, Southern Army of India, having +meantime been given the rank of Major General.</p> + +<p>After the departure of the first contingent recruiting was continued by +the militia regiments, and during the winter the men were quartered in +exhibition grounds, Y.M.C.As., sheds, etc. In the spring of 1915 +existing camps were enlarged and new ones opened.</p> + +<p>During this period the recruiting machinery developed from the militia +regiments. Through the latter officers were recommended to command new +battalions. These O.Cs. selected most of their subordinate officers from +their own militia regiments and used the parent organization as a +general basis for recruiting operations, headquarters being located at +the regimental armories.</p> + +<p>The keen competition existing between the militia units was maintained +between the new oversea formations, and battalions were raised in a few +weeks. For months enlistments all over Canada averaged more than 1000 +men daily, and with recruits coming forward at this rate, there was no +necessity of protracted delay in bringing battalions up to strength.</p> + + +<h4>DIFFICULTY OF RECRUITING.</h4> + +<p>There was a disposition, especially in military circles, to attribute +the increasing difficulty of the recruiting situation during the winter +of 1915-16 and since to a change of system and the introduction of the +so-called "political colonels." The change, however, was rather the +result of new conditions than the cause of it. Recruiting had slowed +down—largely from natural causes.</p> + +<p>A new appeal was needed to reach a class of eligible men who had not yet +enlisted. The recruiting problem apparently had outgrown the facilities +of the militia organizations. Rightly or wrongly, the government +commissioned a number of well-known men, without military experience, to +raise battalions. Their popularity and local confidence in them were the +excuses for their appointment—and the experiment was in the main +successful.</p> + +<p>Perhaps there was a suggestion of politics about it, although it may be +stated emphatically that politics had not been a serious influence in +connection with the recruiting, training or leadership of Canada's +oversea forces. That such is the case stands to the enduring credit of +Major General Hughes.</p> + +<p>The attempt to "popularize" recruiting was soon found to entail serious +evils. Competition for recruits in an already well-combed field became +very keen. The new political colonels realized that their reputations +were at stake, and in the effort to fill up their battalions various +undignified and regrettable expedients were employed. Cabarets, +bean-counting contests, lotteries and callithumpian methods generally +marked a period in Canada's recruiting history not pleasant to review, +and which brought discredit upon the entire voluntary enlistment system +as a permanent method of filling up armies.</p> + + +<h4>TRAINING SERIOUSLY DELAYED.</h4> + +<p>Besides the moral influence of such schemes to get men in khaki, the +recruiting efforts of the political colonels had a serious effect in +delaying the training of new men. With their personal reputations as +organizers involved, the commanding officers were reluctant to admit +inability to fill up the ranks of their units, and repeatedly pleaded +for more time.</p> + +<p>For months partly recruited battalions made little or no progress with +their training, while the officers devised new recruiting "stunts" and +while men were being sought in the highways and byways.</p> + +<p>The situation was complicated by allowing a number of infantry +battalions to recruit in the same area at the same time, with the result +that the new men came in driblets, valuable time was lost and much money +wasted. In some cases it has taken well over a year from the date when +they were authorized before battalions were dispatched oversea—due very +largely to ineffective recruiting methods. Battalions were allowed to +continue the heart-breaking quest for recruits long after they should +have been amalgamated and sent to England. Such amalgamations came +ultimately, battalions retaining their identity when leaving Canada only +when 600 or more strong.</p> + +<p>The high cost of recruits was a direct consequence of competition among +battalions recruiting independently in the same territory at the same +time. The government allowance was not adequate to maintain the pace and +had to be supplemented by private funds.</p> + +<p>There was in Toronto a certain group of fifty recruits referred to as +the "$10,000 squad," because it is estimated that the cost of recruiting +them averaged nearly $200 each, the money coming from private funds of +officers and their friends. Perhaps the estimate involves some +exaggeration, but many units added to their ranks only at a cost of $50 +or more per recruit.</p> + +<p>Some idea of the waste of such a system may be secured when it is stated +that, with men coming forward freely, the cost of recruiting is +considerably less than $10 per man, even after allowing a generous bonus +to the recruiting sergeants. More serious than the cost in money was the +delay in training men needed at the front.</p> + + +<h4>A POLITICAL IMPOSSIBILITY.</h4> + +<p>Canada's experience constitutes a severe indictment of the voluntary +system of recruiting, although sterner measures at the outset were a +political impossibility. The free-will enlistment plan had to be given a +thorough test, and its inadequacy demonstrated and repeatedly emphasized +before public opinion would support resort to compulsion.</p> + +<p>English-speaking Canada at least learned that lesson, and it is +extremely doubtful whether the United States would have adopted the +selective draft system at the commencement of its participation in the +war, if it had not been that the experience of Canada and the United +Kingdom established the weakness inherent in the voluntary system.</p> + +<p>Besides the camp at Valcartier, a great artillery camp was set up at +Petewawa, where the best facilities existed for long range gun practice. +Ontario saw two camps at Niagara and Camp Borden; Manitoba saw one on +the plains, Alberta another in the picturesque district near Calgary, +while British Columbia had its camp at Vernon.</p> + + +<h4>INADEQUATE RECRUITING.</h4> + +<p>The volunteer recruiting in Canada, in its incipiency, while resultful, +was soon found to be not adequate. Under it, however, there was a +widespread response that stirs the blood, for men hurried to the lines +from the Yukon and the Peace Rivers; from Hudson's Bay and the farther +hinterlands, from prairie and mountain; white men and the red men; +cowboys and city chaps, harvesters and hunters, mechanics and +mountaineers, backwoodsmen and frontwoodsmen. And also among the +enlisters were thousands of Americans who fought side by side with +Canadian, Briton and Frenchman.</p> + +<p>Canada has large German settlements, including 300,000 German and +Austrian settlers in the western provinces. Prompt action was taken on +the outbreak of the war to deal with the alien element that might prove +dangerous and disloyal. Nearly 10,000 were speedily interned, from Nova +Scotia to British Columbia. A large proportion were Austrian laborers +who had been railway navvies. These were placed in western camps and +used in building trails and roads in national parks, or in clearing the +forest for future settlement in Northern Ontario.</p> + +<p>Many individuals of known pro-German sympathies were also put out of +harm's way, and some famous trials were held which served to give +salutary warnings to all others that freedom of speech has its +limitations in times of war, and that the rumors that the sinking of the +Lusitania was being celebrated behind closed doors was hardly palatable.</p> + +<p>Others, again, were caught in attempts to destroy property and it is to +the credit of police and military vigilance that few succeeded in their +nefarious designs. The internment camp proved a wholesome example, and +the pro-German in Canada took the advice of the United States Government +to its German subjects "to keep their mouths shut." It is also a fact +that the occupants of the detention camps in the Dominion were well fed +and treated, in striking contrast to the disturbing reports that leaked +through as to the way Canadian war prisoners in Germany fared.</p> + + +<h4>CANADA'S WAR FINANCIERING.</h4> + +<p>Next, the story of how Canada is financing her share of the war, for it +is a costly business. Three domestic war loans, totaling $450,000,000, +were voluntarily subscribed, each in fact being doubly underwritten, and +yet the savings of the people in the banks is (1917) the highest on +record—over a billion and a quarter. Part of the war revenue is being +raised by war taxes on letters, checks, legal documents and some +articles of import. Happily the normal revenue of the country was never +so large nor the trade of the Dominion so buoyant. All these factors are +helping to carry the war burden.</p> + +<p>The generosity of the people, under the heavy strain, was most marked. +Many millions were given to the various war help funds, chiefly to the +Red Cross and the Canadian Patriotic Fund, of 700 branches, which +supplements the Government separation allowance to soldiers' dependents +by other grants. Canada had, up to that time, by the way, the highest +paid soldiery in the world, privates getting $33 a month.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to note that there are several branches of the +Canadian Patriotic Fund in the United States, which looked after the +families and dependents of Americans who enlisted in the Canadian ranks.</p> + +<p>Canadian total givings in cash and kind to their own, as well as to the +Belgians, French, Servian, Armenian and other funds and Governmental +grants of grain and provision, would represent a very much larger figure +than that here mentioned.</p> + +<p>The orders placed in Canada averaged $1,500,000 worth for every day in +the year.</p> + +<p>The women of Canada in every way render practical patriotic service. +Hundreds of nurses were placed in overseas and home hospitals. The +farmers' wives raised large sums of money as did the school children. +Organizations of all kinds came into existence, not alone collecting +money, but contributing vast quantities of war material and soldiers' +comforts, and sending packages of food and clothing regularly to +Canadian prisoners in German camps.</p> + +<p>Still another war problem was the care of the returned wounded soldiers, +and a serious problem it was. The procession of the disabled was a +pathetic one. Military convalescent hospitals were set up in many +centres, in addition to the opening of private homes for the same +beneficent purpose.</p> + + +<h4>CANADA PART OF AMERICA.</h4> + +<p>Canada may be an English possession, but to us it is part of America, +and certainly no two countries have rested side by side in greater +friendship than the "Dominion" and the United States. You can find no +great fortifications along the 3000 odd miles of border between Canada +and the United States. The countries have lived in peace and harmony and +together, or side by side they have battled for peace on the fields of +Flanders.</p> + +<p>All the world knows what Canada has done on the battlefields abroad, +fighting with those troops from Australia, New Zealand, India and lesser +English territory, to drive the ruthless Germans back and crush the +Empire to which they swear allegiance.</p> + +<p>The Canadian troops were taken after landing in France to a point within +the country between St. Omer and Ypres, where they served with honor to +themselves, their presence having a salutary effect on the British +soldiery, who had been facing the German forces. At the battle of Neuve +Chapelle the Canadians held part of the line allotted to the first army, +and while not engaged in the main attack, rendered valuable help, their +artillery being very active, and at the battle of Ypres in April, 1915, +they took a notable part.</p> + +<p>In the latter part of April, the Canadian division held a line of about +5000 yards, connecting with that of the French troops, and faced the +memorable gas attack of the Germans, which was the first noted in the +war. The asphyxiating gas was projected into the trenches by means of +force pumps and pipes laid under the parapets, the German sappers having +carefully placed these conductors. The bulk of the gas was directed +against the French, largely made up of Turcos and Zouaves, who were +driven back, suffering agonies.</p> + + +<h4>POSITION BRAVELY HELD.</h4> + +<p>The Canadians suffered to some extent from the poison, and though there +were in the commands lawyers, college professors, business men, clerks +and workers of all sorts, who had been turned into soldiers within a few +months, and without previous military experience, they held their +position bravely. The Canadians were, of course, compelled to change +their position after the French fell back, and the Allied troops were, +to all effects and purposes, routed. But when the Germans, recognizing +the weakened position of the Canadians, attempted to force a series of +attacks, the Canadian division, as a matter of record, fought through +the day and through the night, for forty-eight consecutive hours, and +finally, in a counter-attack, drove the Germans back and regained a +position which had been lost by the British troops in the earlier +conflict.</p> + +<p>Later, in the face of a devastating fire, in which many officers were +killed, battalions of the Canadians carried warfare to the first line of +German trenches, and in a desperate hand-to-hand struggle won the +trench. This attack, it is said, secured and maintained during the most +critical moment of the campaign the integrity of the Allied line.</p> + +<p>In connection with the experience of the Canadians with the gas fumes, +it is necessary to note that at that time they were unprovided with gas +masks, or means of protecting themselves against the fumes, and the best +they could do was to stuff wet handkerchiefs in their mouths. The fumes, +although extremely poisonous, were not so effective with the Canadians +as on the French lines, largely because of the position of the +Canadians, and the direction of the wind, but in the several attacks a +number of the Canadians were asphyxiated.</p> + + +<h4>HEROES WIN RECOGNITION.</h4> + +<p>So, all through the Ypres campaign, the Canadians faced the shot, shell +and poisonous gases of the Germans, and won recognition for their heroic +conduct which will stand to the credit of Canada for all time. At +Festubert, Givenchy, and, last but not least, Lens, the Canadians, step +by step, kept pace with the Allied advances.</p> + +<p>In their general advance on Lens the Canadians occupied the strongest +outpost in the defense of that place, and pushing their troops on toward +La Coulotte, entered that village. The Germans withdrew in this +neighborhood from a line about one and three-quarters miles long.</p> + +<p>The task of the Canadians was to capture German outposts southwest of +Reservoir Hill. The attack was evidently expected. The Germans scuttled, +abandoning ground upon which machine gun fire was immediately turned by +Germans located on the hill. This was speedily followed by heavy +artillery fire, which continued during the night in the vicinity of the +Lens electric station.</p> + +<p>The enemy's dugouts were searched, found to be empty, and wrecked.</p> + +<p>The German retirement ceased during the night. Patrols sent out opposite +Mericourt and to the south found the enemy's front line strongly held. +The Germans made huge craters at all cross roads in Avion and leading +towards Lens.</p> + +<p>Patrols which were sent out reached the summit of Reservoir Hill without +opposition and pushed on down the eastern slope and the strong Lens +outpost was effectively occupied. Meanwhile, south of the Souchez River +the Canadians drove forward on the heels of the retiring Germans. +Railway embankments east of Lens electric station were occupied. The +advance was then continued toward La Coulotte. As night fell strong +parties were sent out to consolidate the positions occupied, while +patrols were sent forward to keep in touch with the Germans.</p> + + +<h4>WANTON DESTRUCTION.</h4> + +<p>Several days previous the Germans were known to be destroying houses in +the western part of Lens, with the object of giving a wider area of fire +for their guns. It was their intention of clinging to the eastern side +of the city and prolonging the struggle by house-to-house fighting.</p> + +<p>Under a protecting concentration of artillery fire, Canadian troops +successfully stormed and captured the German front line before Avion, a +suburb of Lens. By the advance the British line was carried forward to +within one mile of the centre of Lens.</p> + +<p>The Canadians, heartened by successes gained in a few days at a +relatively small cost, decided to attack across the open ground sloping +upwards to Avion and the village of Leauvette, near the Souchez River. +They met with opposition of a serious character at only one point, where +a combination of machine gun fire and uncut wires delayed the advance. +The attack was not intended to be pressed home at this particular spot, +as the ground specially favored the Germans, so that the delay did no +harm. The assaulting troops comprised men from British Columbia, +Manitoba, Central Ontario and Nova Scotia.</p> + +<p>The attack was made along a two-mile front. On the extreme left, Nova +Scotians pushed their way up the Lens-Arras road to the village of +Leauvette. Here they took a number of prisoners. At the other end of the +line, east of the railway tracks, enemy dugouts were bombed. Their +occupants belonged to the crack Prussian Guards Corps, the Fifth Guard +Grenadiers, who refused in most cases to come out and surrender.</p> + +<p>At daybreak, Canadian airplanes, flying low over Avion, saw few Germans +there. Craters which had been made by mine explosions at the crossroads, +seriously hindered them in bringing up troops from Lens for +counter-attacks.</p> + + +<h4>GERMAN AVIATIK DEFEATED.</h4> + +<p>In an air duel fought at probably the highest altitude at which +aviators, up until that time, had met in combat, nearly four miles, a +Canadian triplane pursued and defeated a German two-seated Aviatik. The +German machine had sought safety by climbing upward and the triplane +pursued. At a height of 20,000 feet the pilot of the German craft either +fell or jumped from it and disappeared at the moment of the first burst +of fire from the gun on the Canadian. The German observer then was seen +to climb out upon the tail of the machine, where he lost his hold and +plunged headlong. The Aviatik turned its nose down and fell.</p> + +<p>It is meet that some note be taken of the fact that while the Canadian +soldiers were battling for humanity and the preservation of the British +Empire in Flanders there was being celebrated in their native land the +fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Dominion. All Canada took +part in the celebration on June 1, 1917, as did large numbers of men +from the United States officers' training camp at Niagara, where +recruits were preparing to receive Commissions in Uncle Sam's Army.</p> + +<p>Up until 1867 Canada had been the scene of bitter strife between the +French and British. At that time the provinces were brought quite +closely together, and commenced a new era of prosperity. The foundation +was then laid for a wonderfully prosperous country, one filled with +almost limitless possibilities.</p> + +<p>The confederation of Canada had its birth in a meeting of delegates +from all over British North America, which was held in 1864, and these +delegates, after deliberating for nearly three weeks, passed a large +number of resolutions which formed the basis of what eventually became +the Act of Union. In the following January these resolutions were +submitted to the Legislature of Canada and after due debate there was +passed in both chambers of Parliament a measure for the purpose of +uniting the provinces in accordance with the provisions of the Quebec +resolutions. The meeting was in Quebec.</p> + + +<h4>PLAN OF UNION PASSED.</h4> + +<p>A number of difficulties were encountered, so that it was 1867 before +the plan of union was submitted to the Imperial Parliament, where it was +warmly received and passed without alteration of any description within +a few days. The royal assent was given on March 29, and the act +constituting the new Canada went into effect on July 1, which day has +since become known as Dominion Day, and is the chief of all Canadian +holidays.</p> + +<p>The federal Constitution of Canada is contained in an Imperial Act of +Parliament, known as the British North America Act, and it is based very +largely upon that of the mother country. The ministry of the day holds +office at the pleasure of the House of Commons, the members of which are +elected by the people. At the head of the affairs is a Governor-General, +who is appointed by the Crown and paid by the people of Canada. As is +the case with the British sovereigns, he acts with and on the advice of +the ministers for the time being, and also like the King, he can +dissolve the Parliament.</p> + +<p>The number of members of the House of Commons is regulated by the +following clauses of the act: "On the completion of the census in the +year 1871, and of each subsequent decennial census, the representation +of the four provinces shall be readjusted by such authority in such a +manner, and from such time as the Parliament of Canada from time to +time provides."</p> + +<p>Previous to the passing of the British North America Act, the great +Dominion had consisted of a conglomeration of provinces, some of them of +almost fabulous extent, into which the white man from the West had +penetrated. Tradition has it that some thousand years ago a Norseman, by +name Leif Ericson, coming in his great beaked galley, through the +northern seas, from Greenland, was the first white man to stand on +Canadian soil.</p> + +<p>Another five centuries were, however, to pass before John Cabot, sailing +from Bristol, in the days of Henry Bolingbroke, brought the first +British ship into a Canadian port. After him the fishermen of Europe +came in increasing numbers to the great banks, with the result that +little by little, as their tiny vessels touched the American shores, the +great continent began to be known to the people of Europe.</p> + + +<h4>DOMINION'S FOUNDATIONS LAID.</h4> + +<p>It was not really, however, until the year 1534 that the foundations of +the Dominion may be said to have been sunk. In that year Jacques Cartier +sailed from the port of St. Malo, with two little ships, intending to +attempt the northwest passage to Japan. Francis the First was then +ruling in Paris, and there was great adventure in the air of France. +Cartier did not make the northwest passage, but he did touch the coast +of Canada, or, to be more exact, the coasts of Labrador and +Newfoundland. It was then the 10th of May, and having sailed around the +island, he steered south, and crossing the gulf entered the bay which, +by reason of the great heats of midsummer, he named Des Chaleurs. +Holding along the coast, he came to the little inlet of Gaspe, and here, +at the entrance to the harbor, he erected a huge cross surmounted by the +arms and lilies of France. He could find no passage, however, to the +northwest, and so he turned his ship, and sailed back to St. Malo.</p> + +<p>The Court in Paris heard his story with interest. His cause was taken up +by the King; and, as a result, in the succeeding May, he sailed again to +the new world with three well found ships. On the day of Saint Lawrence +he entered the great bay, to which he at once gave the name of the +Saint, and passing on came, in September, to anchor in the Isle of +Orleans.</p> + + +<h4>REAL FOUNDER OF CANADA.</h4> + +<p>The man, however, with whose name the early history of Canada is most +fully connected, had not as yet been born. Nor was it until the year +1567 that, at Brouage in Saintonge, Samuel de Champlain came upon the +scene. In the year 1603, when Elizabeth was ruling in England, and Henry +of Navarre in France, Champlain came to Canada. He had been a soldier of +le Bearnais, in the great wars with the League, an officer of marine, +and a man with no little knowledge of natural science, as knowledge was +then accounted. He came now in command of an expedition, fitted out by +the merchants of Rouen, with the idea of forming a Canada company, as +England had her Barbary Company, her Eastland Company, her Muscovie +Company, or her Turkey Company. And in this way the French came into +Canada.</p> + +<p>Thus there began those American wars between the two countries, divided +at home only by the English Channel, which went on century by century, +largely through the employment of the Indian tribes, until that +September night when Wolfe's boats drifted in, from the fleet to the +shore, and the battle on the Plains of Abraham permanently settled the +question of domination in favor of the British.</p> + +<p>The British conquest of Canada did not, however, mean the cessation of +fighting. There came, presently, the war between Great Britain and the +American colonies, one of the most amazing exploits of which was the +marvelous march of Arnold and Montgomery through the forests of Maine +to the St. Lawrence, ending in the wonderful siege, of the year 1775, +and the heroic failure to storm the defenses by scaling the rocks from +the river bed. Eventually the boundary between the United States and the +British possessions was settled by the Treaty of Paris, in 1783, just +twenty years after an earlier Treaty of Paris had recorded the surrender +of Canada by France to Great Britain.</p> + + +<h4>CANADA, FROM COLONY TO DOMINION.</h4> + +<p>For the last century and a half the story of Canada has been the story +first of a British colony and then of a British Dominion. A great flood +of new colonists had come into the country after the victory of the +States in the War of Independence, when many of the royalists of New +England crossed the border. As a result, there had grown up the two new +provinces of Upper Canada, now known as Ontario, and New Brunswick. The +relations between all the provinces were, however, far from harmonious, +with the result that what between quarrels among themselves and risings +against the British authority, the condition of Canada was anything but +promising, when, after the Rebellion of 1837, Lord Durham was sent over +to try to evolve order out of chaos.</p> + +<p>He found the "habitant" still unreconciled to the British rule; he found +a condition of many little Pontiacs, all very much as was that famous +village on the summer evening when Valmond threw the hot pennies to the +children, as the auctioneer and monsieur le cure came down the street; +he found another Canada of British colonists with so little sympathy for +the habitant, that, he declared, the two never met save in the jury box, +and there only to obstruct justice.</p> + +<p>It was then that Lord Durham, by a great stroke of statesmanship, +brought peace to Canada. A democratic form of representative government +was bestowed on the people. The division of Quebec into two provinces, +which the habitant had desired when they were one, and resented when +they were two, was annulled, with the result that the ground was +prepared for the union which was to come just thirty years later.</p> + +<p>Lord Durham made history and made a nation, for the confederation, when +it came, was the inevitable superstructure built upon the foundations of +his laying, but he ruined a reputation. His contempt for the conventions +of politics, the radicalism of his methods, his failure to make any +obeisance to the governmental deities, official or ex-official, combined +with his almost superhuman tactlessness, gave his enemies every +opportunity they could desire.</p> + +<p>He was viciously attacked, and finally throwing up his mission, returned +to England and gave up politics.</p> + + +<h4>REPORT NOT TO BE DISPOSED OF.</h4> + +<p>The good, however, men do lives after them. Lord Durham's report, +drafted for him by two master hands, those of Charles Buller and Edward +Wakefield, could not be disposed of by perfervid orators or ill-informed +editors. It passes into the category of historic and illuminating state +papers. And, though Lord Durham fell, when, on the first of July, 1867, +the British North America Act became operative, it was the handle of his +trowel that struck that great cornerstone of liberty and empire, and +declared it well and truly laid: the first of the Dominions, now having +a population of approximately 8,000,000.</p> + +<p>Thrown upon their own resources, when Great Britain began to draw in its +loans of 1911-12, the people of Canada were temporarily at a loss as to +how to meet the situation; the hardships which followed, however, +prepared them to meet, with resolute determination, the greater problems +that crowded upon them in 1915-16. Canada, through all the past, had +been a dependent and a debtor nation; the war made it self-reliant, +spurred its people on to the development of natural resources, and +assured them, not only that the Dominion could stand alone, but that, +throughout all the future, it can be a pillar of strength to the Empire +and to democracy.</p> + +<p>There were times when she was threatened by more than the ordinary +difficulties which come to a nation, as when it became necessary in 1917 +to pass a Conscription Act, the Province of Quebec threatened to secede. +Quebec is a French territory, and it was a matter of world-wide comment +that the volunteer enlistments for the Canadian army from the province +were insignificant.</p> + +<p>While the French Canadians were proud of France and their cousins across +the seas, they were opposed to being compelled to fight for England, and +the proposal to secede was largely advocated by the French-Canadian +clergy.</p> + + +<h4>RECIPIENTS OF UNSTINTED HONORS.</h4> + +<p>Among the heroic troops that faced the Germans in Flanders none was more +honored in all Canada and England than the Princess Patricia's Light +Infantry. Out of this battalion, which sailed away from Canada's shores +with the first expeditionary force, scarcely one-fourth of the proud +number lived through the terrible campaigns of Flanders, in which the +Dominion forces participated.</p> + +<p>The battalion constituted what was regarded as one of the most efficient +military units in Canada, and in August, 1914, had been presented with +colors wrought by the hand of Princess Patricia, daughter of the +Governor General of Canada, the Duke of Connaught. The Princess, +standing beside her mother, the Duchess of Connaught, in Lansdowne Park, +Ottawa, presented the colors to the little force, wishing them a safe +return, while thousands applauded and the spirit of patriotism ran high.</p> + +<p>The "Princess Pats," as they came to be known, had within the +organization a large portion of men of military experience who had seen +service in South Africa and elsewhere, and consequently when they landed +in France they were the first to be sent into the trenches and to +action. In the winter and spring of 1914-15 they had some bitter +experiences and participated in several desperate attacks and defenses, +but it was not until the campaign at Ypres that the organization was +almost annihilated, when it faced one of the most terrific bombardments +of the war, and fought in a section largely cut off from the main line. +Here Lieutenant-Colonel Farquhar, commander of the battalion, lost his +life and nearly all of the officers were wounded.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h3> + +<h4>THE HEROIC ANZAC.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Forces that Stirred the World in the Gallipoli Campaigns—Famous as +Sappers—The Blasting of Messines Ridge—Two Years Tunneling—30,000 +Germans Blown to Atoms—1,000,000 Pounds of Explosives Used—Troops that +were Transported 11,000 Miles</span>.</p> + + +<p>When the final history of the war is written, and the years have passed +into ages, the story of the Anzac will form a brilliant passage in the +book of nations. The Anzac in the campaigns at Gallipoli, the +Dardanelles, and in Flanders served England with a loyalty and heroism +not excelled by any other force. And what were the Anzacs? They were the +soldiers of Australia and New Zealand. Let A represent Australia, N.Z., +New Zealand, and A.C., army corps, and you have the basis of the word +Anzac.</p> + +<p>Generally in the news dispatches, the Anzacs have been referred to as +Australians. They are described as fearless, daring and fierce fighters, +whose presence added pep to every engagement in which they participated. +No more picturesque group has ever been written into the history of +armies. Composed of men who were bushrangers, cattlemen, miners and +hardy outdoor workers, many of whom served in Egypt, India and wherever +the British flag floats, their character is indicated by the fact that +they have been at times called the "Ragtime Army."</p> + +<p>The description of the landing of these troops at the Dardanelles, where +in a rain of artillery fire, they dashed into the Turkish trenches, is +one of the most thrilling of the war. With the shells from the ships +falling upon the Turkish forces the Anzacs chased the Turks step by step +inland, engaging in the most desperate hand-to-hand encounters.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the story of that first battle might have been different had not +Turkish reinforcements appeared upon the scene. As it was the British +men of Anzac were temporarily driven back, retiring with terrible loss. +For hours the Australians engaged in solid fighting through a broken and +hilly country, digging at night to establish entrenchments, with a +renewal of the defense at daybreak, and then repeating the program. This +is what the Australians and New Zealanders did, living upon short +rations the while.</p> + +<p>In all of the campaigns in which the Anzacs have participated their work +as sappers has been a feature. Sappers, by the way, are those men who, +in modern warfare, burrow in the earth, planting mines, digging +trenches, dugouts and fortifications. The Australians are fitted for +this work for a large percentage of them had civil experience in the +mines, and on extensive contract and excavation work.</p> + + +<h4>AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND SAPPERS.</h4> + +<p>Probably one of the most effective attacks of the English against a +German stronghold in Belgium was made possible through the work of the +Australian and New Zealand sappers. That was the blowing up of the +Messines Ridge in June, 1917. In this action the Anzac shone in a manner +that can never be forgotten.</p> + +<p>On June 7, 1917, the British, with one terrible stroke, tore asunder the +strong German position south of Ypres. This stroke was in a little +corner of Belgium, where the armies of the Allies had successfully +outgeneralled the enemy for two and a half years.</p> + +<p>During almost two years of this time several companies of Australian, +New Zealand and British sappers were busily but silently engaged in +mining the hills of the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge, on which were the +guns of the Germans which had been raking the troops of the Allies all +this time. Nineteen great mines which contained a total of 1,000,000 +pounds of ammonite upon their completion, had been dug into the vitals +of these hills. Great charges of this new and powerful explosive had +been placed in the mines nearly one year before their completion, yet no +one except those actually engaged in the work knew of it. The secret was +kept and the troops of Australia and New Zealand worked directly beneath +the great German fortifications.</p> + +<p>Then came the crucial moment. At exactly 3.10 o'clock in the morning of +June 7, the whole series of mines were discharged by electrical contact, +and the hilltops were blown high in the air in one terrific burst of +flame, which poured forth as from craters of volcanoes. The ground for +miles around was rocked as in an earthquake, and the roar emitted was +distinctly heard in England by Lloyd George, the Prime Minister, +listening for it at his country home 140 miles away.</p> + + +<h4>A PRE-ARRANGED SIGNAL.</h4> + +<p>The explosion of the mines was a pre-arranged signal for the beginning +of a heavy shell fire by the artillery. The whole section affected by +the mines was subjected to a most intense shellfire, and following up +this death-dealing storm came the troops of General Haig, under Sir +Herbert Plumer, who finished the work of the great mines and big guns +with a brilliant charge of men, who used rifle and bayonet most +effectively. Within a few hours the whole of the Messines Ridge was +securely in the hands of the British, and they had captured 7000 +prisoners and many guns. The German casualties were estimated at 30,000, +those of the British being about 10,000.</p> + +<p>Rushing the whole sector south of Ypres, from Observation Ridge to +Ploegsteert Wood, north of Armentieres, the British forces succeeded in +capturing that position with little loss. Then came the assault of the +rear defenses, which were formed by the ridge itself. The natural +formation of the land greatly helped the Germans in arranging their +defenses, and the fighting was very fierce. The work of British troops, +in which were many Australians and New Zealanders, together with English +and Irish, all under the command of General Sir Herbert C.O. Plumer, +was given great credit in the reports of the commander to the War +Office.</p> + +<p>The British War Office summarized the attack as follows in its report of +June 8:</p> + +<p>"The position captured by us yesterday was one of the enemy's most +important strongholds on the western front. Dominating as it did the +Ypres salient and giving the enemy complete observation over it, he +neglected no precautions to render the position impregnable. These +conditions enabled the enemy to overlook all our preparations for +attack, and he had moved up reinforcements to meet us. The battle, +therefore, became a gauge of the ability of the German troops to stop +our advance under conditions as favorable to them as an army can ever +hope for, with every advantage of ground and preparation and with the +knowledge that an attack was impending.</p> + + +<h4>GERMAN FORWARD DEFENSE.</h4> + +<p>"The German forward defenses consisted of an elaborate and intricate +system of well-wired trenches and strong points forming a defensive belt +over a mile in depth. Numerous farms and woods were thoroughly prepared +for the defense, and there were large numbers of machine guns in the +German garrisons. Guns of all calibers, recently increased in numbers, +were placed to bear not only on the front but on the flanks of an +attack. Numerous communicating trenches and switch lines, radiating in +all directions, were amply provided with strongly constructed concrete +dugouts and machine-gun emplacements designed to protect the enemy +garrison and machine gunners from the effect of our bombardment. In +short, no precaution was omitted that could be provided by the incessant +labor of years, guided by the experience gained by the enemy in his +previous defeats on the Somme, at Arras, and on Vimy Ridge.</p> + +<p>"Despite the difficulties and disadvantages which our troops had to +overcome, further details of yesterday's fighting show that our first +assault and the subsequent attacks were carried out in almost exact +accordance with the timetable previously arranged. * * *</p> + +<p>"Following on the great care and thoroughness in preparations made under +the orders of General Sir Herbert Plumer, the complete success gained +may be ascribed chiefly to the destruction caused by our mines, to the +violence and accuracy of our bombardment, to the very fine work of the +Royal Flying Corps, and to the incomparable dash and courage of the +infantry. The whole force acted in perfect combination. Excellent work +was done by the tanks, and every means of offense at our disposal was +made use of, so that every arm of the service had a share in the +victory."</p> + +<p>A good description of the Australian soldier, as he follows up his +victory, was given in a story of an American war correspondent, who +wrote concerning Flanders:</p> + + +<h4>NEW LAND OF WARFARE.</h4> + +<p>"After these many months of trench warfare there is keen delight for the +Australian soldier in this new land of warfare which the German +retirement has opened up. The fighting is in open country now, over +gently rolling downs of what looks like grass land. It is really most of +it wheat or turnip land which has not been cultivated for a year or two. +The country is as open as the Australian central plains.</p> + +<p>"It is quite a new sort of battlefield for the Australians. They march +down to it through valleys almost exactly like the valleys in the +peaceful parts of France. There are whole acres in which one cannot see +a single shell hole. Back across the green country or down the open +roads come men in twos or threes occasionally, sauntering as one might +find them on a country road. They are the wounded helping one another +back to the dressing station. The walking wounded have to help each +other back in these modern battles. It is no longer looked upon as +meritorious for an unwounded combatant to leave the field and help a +wounded comrade to the rear.</p> + +<p>"Nearest the front the country becomes more feverish. Angry bursts of +tawny color are seen in a haphazard sort of way dotting the horizon and +the countryside. Here and there are Australians standing behind mounds +of earth with their rifles pointed over the top, bayonets always fixed. +Frequently, when there is no other shelter there are hastily scooped +trenches. A quarter of a mile away another party is lining a roadside, +flat on their stomachs in the ditch, bayonets peeping over the top. +Shells are whizzing by at the rate of two or three a minute, high +explosives bursting on contact behind their backs about as far away as +the other side of a cottage parlor.</p> + + +<h4>PRISONER AND ESCORT.</h4> + +<p>"Frequently one meets a prisoner being escorted to the rear. There is +something very impressive about these little processions of two men, +prisoner and escort. The prisoner, usually a young German private in +neat gray uniform and steel helmet, walks in front. After him, grasping +his rifle with both hands across his chest, his weatherbeaten brows +puckered as he picks his way over the tumbled stones, comes the living +embodiment of the Australian back country. Nine cases out of ten, +somehow, the soldier who escorts a prisoner seems to be that bit of pure +Australian, either Western Australia or South Australia, the Warrego or +the Burdskin.</p> + +<p>"He is an earnest man, intent on executing his errand with dispatch and +exactitude. 'Can you tell me the way to headquarters?' he asks as he +passes. Then he disappears slowly up the street on the heels of his +silent companion.</p> + +<p>"These Australians are just as good fighters in this new warfare as they +were at Gallipoli or in the trenches, perhaps even better. They had +their first encounter with German cavalry the other day, but it was only +a feint at a flank and lasted but a few minutes."</p> + +<p>Australia is ambitious, some might even say self-centered, and Germany +undoubtedly made the mistake of considering that Australia was awaiting +a chance to become unfriendly to Great Britain when she started to +fight. But no nation ever made a greater mistake. As soon as the House +of Hohenzollern placed the mother country in a perilous position +Australia was at the command of Great Britain. Notwithstanding the fact +that the Australians are primarily peace-loving, most intent on +attending to their own affairs, the response to the call was immediate +and whole-hearted.</p> + + +<h4>AUSTRALIA'S COMMENDABLE PROMPTNESS.</h4> + +<p>The Australian centers buzzed with activity, and within two months after +war was declared the Australian fleet, which consisted of five unarmored +cruisers, three torpedo-boat destroyers, and three light gunboats, which +had been built and manned at the expense of the Australians, were in +possession of the German Pacific Islands—Samoa, Marshall, Carolines, +Pelew, Ladrones, New Guinea, New Britain—had broken the wireless system +of the Germans, and had captured eleven of the vessels of Germany. She +also forced twenty-five other ships to intern, and prevented the +destruction of a British ship in Australian waters.</p> + +<p>Then came the scouring of the seas by the German ship Emden, and her +trip to Australian waters, with the object of carrying on the work of +destruction which had marked her career in South American waters. She +lay in wait for Australian transports, with the result that the +Australian warship Sydney sent her to the bottom but three months after +war had been declared. Shortly after this the Australian fleet drove von +Spree's squadron from the Pacific directly into the trap set by Admiral +Sturdee at the Falkland Islands.</p> + +<p>The fact that all the troops of Australia must be transported to +London—a distance via the Suez route of approximately 11,000 miles, and +through the Panama Canal of 12,734 miles—did not keep back these brave +men from quickly enlisting. The great distance made fighting extremely +expensive, but the task was loyally assumed by the military of the far +continent. Universal military service was inaugurated for the first time +by an English-speaking community, and war loans were offered and quickly +accepted. Transports were immediately constructed out of seventy +steamers which were requisitioned.</p> + +<p>At the declaration of war in November, 1914, the entire Australian army, +which consisted of 20,000 men, left Australia for Egypt, and at the end +of the first year of the conflict there were 76,000 men in the field. By +July, 1916, nearly 300,000 volunteers had been recruited and had crossed +the seas. The creation, equipment, and supplying of this army by the +people of Australia, a task involving enormous cost and personal +sacrifice, constitutes a thrilling chapter in the history of loyalty.</p> + + +<h4>GEOGRAPHICALLY ALIKE.</h4> + +<p>To those who think that Australia is a little island situated in the +Pacific ocean it might be interesting to know that this continent, in +size and shape, is almost the exact duplicate of the United States. +There are also outlying provinces, that of Papua, a tropical land, +offsetting Alaska. Then there is the rich little Lord Howe Island, and +Norfolk Island. The surface of Australia is the most level in surface +and regular in outline of all the continents, and is the lowest +continent, with an average elevation of Ohio.</p> + +<p>There are 2,974,581 square miles in Australia, while the land area of +the United States is 2,973,890 square miles, a difference of 691 square +miles. This, of course, is only the continental United States. Only +about one-twentieth of the total area of Australia lies in a latitude +farther removed from the Equator than Chattanooga, Tennessee; Clarendon, +Texas; and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and there is less than one-third of +the area of this unique continent which lies in a cooler latitude than +the sugar-cane lands of Louisiana.</p> + +<p>The streams of Australia are fewer and carry less water than those of +any other continent. The heart of this great island is dry and barren +and thinly populated. Most of the inhabitants are found within easy +reach of the coastline. The population of this great land, at the census +of 1911, was 4,568,707 persons.</p> + +<p>New Zealand is situated a little more than 1200 miles to the east of +Sydney, which is in the southeastern section of Australia. It consists +of three fairly large islands, together with a number of small adjacent +islands. The area is 105,340 square miles, the population being, in +1911, 815,862. The surface of the principal islands is diversified, +being mountainous in some parts, and undulating in others. The best +harbors are in the northern district.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h3> + +<h4>AMERICA STEPS IN.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">President Wilson's Famous Message to Congress—The War +Resolution—April 6, 1917 Sees the United States at War—Review of the +Negotiations Between Germany and America—The U-Boat Restricted Zone +Announcement of Germany—Premier Lloyd George on America in the +Conflict</span>.</p> + + +<p>The hoisting of the American flag to the top of the staff as the emblem +of world-wide Liberty followed the action of Congress in authorizing +President Wilson to declare a state of war existed between Germany and +the United States. What the conditions were which developed during the +months in which Germany to all intents and purposes "laughed up her +sleeve" at the United States, ignored our protests against her wanton +disregard of human rights on land and sea, can no better be told than in +the words of President Wilson himself in his message stating the +position which the Government took.</p> + +<p>His message to Congress will go down in history, not only as an +instrument of world-wide importance, but as a classic in literature. Its +effect on the Nations was greater than that of any other message issued +by any one country, probably in the history of the world, and while +there were critics who regarded some of President Wilson's utterances as +too idealistic, time proved that his vision was greater than that of +those who criticised him, and within a short time the eyes of the entire +world were turned toward Washington, which became the active centre from +which the campaign for world-wide democracy was waged.</p> + +<p>The hands of Liberty stretched out to Russia, Serbia, Italy, France, +Belgium, England, little Montenegro, and they were given help in the +most critical periods of their careers. The President's message was +presented to Congress on April 3, 1917, as follows:</p> + +<p>"I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there +are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made +immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally permissible +that I should assume the responsibility of making.</p> + +<p>"On the third of February last I officially laid before you the +extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and +after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all +restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every +vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and +Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled +by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean.</p> + + +<h4>COMMANDERS UNDER RESTRAINT.</h4> + +<p>"That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare +earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Government +had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in +conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger boats should +not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels +which its submarines might seek to destroy when no resistance was +offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given +at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats.</p> + +<p>"The precautions taken were meager and haphazard enough, as was proved +in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and +unmanly business; but a certain degree of restraint was observed.</p> + +<p>"The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every +kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their +destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom +without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, +the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents.</p> + +<p>"Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved +and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with +safe-conduct through the prescribed areas by the German Government +itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have +been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle.</p> + +<p>"I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would in +fact be done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to the +humane practices of civilized nations. International law had its origin +in the attempt to set up some law which would be respected and observed +upon the seas, where no nation had the right of domination and where lay +the free highways of the world.</p> + +<p>"By painful stage after stage has that law been built up, with meager +enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be +accomplished, but always with a clear view, at least, of what the heart +and conscience of mankind demanded.</p> + + +<h4>SWEEPS RIGHT ASIDE.</h4> + +<p>"This minimum of right the German Government has swept aside under the +plea of retaliation and necessity and because it had no weapons which it +could use at sea except those which it is impossible to employ as it is +employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity or +of respect for the understandings that were supposed to underlie the +intercourse of the world.</p> + +<p>"I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and +serious as this is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of +the lives of non-combatants, men, women and children, engaged in +pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern +history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for; +the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be.</p> + +<p>"The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare +against mankind. It is a war against all nations. American ships have +been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very +deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and +friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the +same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all +mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it.</p> + +<p>"The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of +counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our +motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will +not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the +nation, but only the vindication of human right, of which we are only a +single champion.</p> + + +<h4>ARMED NEUTRALITY IMPRACTICABLE.</h4> + +<p>"When I addressed the Congress on the twenty-sixth of February last I +thought it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with arms, our +right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to keep +our people safe against unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, it now +appears, is impracticable.</p> + +<p>"Because submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German +submarines have been used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to +defend ships against their attacks as the law of nations has assumed +that merchantmen would defend themselves against privateers or cruisers, +visible craft giving chase upon the open sea. It is common prudence in +such circumstances, grim necessity, indeed, to endeavor to destroy them +before they have shown their own intention. They must be dealt with upon +sight, if dealt with at all.</p> + +<p>"The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all +within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the defense +of rights which no modern publicist has ever questioned their right to +defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed guards which we have +placed on our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of law +and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be.</p> + +<p>"Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best; in such circumstances +and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual; it is +likely once to produce what it was meant to prevent; it is virtually +certain to draw us into the war without either the rights or the +effectiveness of belligerents.</p> + +<p>"There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making; we will +not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of +our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. The wrongs against +which we now array ourselves are not common wrongs; they cut to the very +roots of human life.</p> + + +<h4>A CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY.</h4> + +<p>"With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the +step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, +but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I +advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial +German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the +Government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the +status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it and that it +take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough +state of defense, but also to exert all its power and employ all its +resources to bring the Government of the German Empire to terms and end +the war.</p> + +<p>"What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable +co-operation in counsel and action with the Governments now at war with +Germany, and as incident to that, the extension to those Governments of +the most liberal financial credits, in order that our resources may, so +far as possible, be added to theirs. It will involve the organization +and mobilization of all the material resources of the country to supply +the material of war and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the +most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way possible.</p> + +<p>"It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in all +respects, but particularly in supplying it with the best means of +dealing with the enemy's submarines. It will involve the immediate +addition to the armed forces of the United States already provided for +by law in case of war at least 500,000 men, who should, in my opinion, +be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service, and also +the authorization of subsequent additional increments of equal force so +soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training.</p> + + +<h4>WELL-CONCEIVED TAXATION.</h4> + +<p>"It will involve, also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to +the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be +sustained by the present generation, by well-conceived taxation. I say +sustained so far as may be equitably by taxation because it seems to me +that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now be +necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most +respectfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may against the +very serious hardships and evils which would be likely to arise out of +the inflation which would be produced by vast loans.</p> + +<p>"In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be +accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of interfering +as little as possible in our own preparation and in the equipment of our +own military forces with the duty—for it will be a very practical +duty—of supplying the nations already at war with Germany with the +materials which they can obtain only from us by our assistance. They are +in the field and we should help them in every way to be effective there.</p> + +<p>"I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several executive +departments of the Government, for the consideration of your committees +measures for the accomplishment of the several objects I have mentioned. +I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as having been +framed after very careful thought by the branch of the Government upon +which the responsibility of conducting the war and safeguarding the +nation will most directly fall.</p> + +<p>"While we do these things—these deeply momentous things—let us be very +clear, and make very clear to all the world, what our motives and our +objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its habitual and +normal course by the unhappy events of the last two months, and I do not +believe that the thought of the nation has been altered or clouded by +them.</p> + + +<h4>FIRM STAND FOR VINDICATION.</h4> + +<p>"I have exactly the same things in mind now that I had in mind when I +addressed the Senate on the twenty-second of January last; the same that +I had in mind when I addressed the Congress on the third of February and +on the twenty-sixth of February. Our object now, as then, is to +vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world +against selfish and autocratic power and to set up among the really free +and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and +action as will henceforth insure the observance of those principles.</p> + +<p>"Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the +world is involved and the freedom of its peoples and the menace to that +peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments backed +by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the +will of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality in such +circumstances.</p> + +<p>"We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the +same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrongdoing shall be +observed among nations and their Governments that are observed among the +individual citizens of civilized States.</p> + +<p>"We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling toward +them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse +that their Government acted in entering this war. It was not with their +previous knowledge or approval.</p> + +<p>"It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined upon in the +old, unhappy days when peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers +and wars were provoked and waged in the interest of dynasties or of +little groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to use their +fellow-men as pawns and tools.</p> + +<p>"Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor States with spies, or +set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of +affairs which will give them an opportunity to strike and make conquest. +Such designs can be successfully worked out only under cover and where +no one has the right to ask questions.</p> + + +<h4>PRECONCEIVED DECEPTION.</h4> + +<p>"Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression carried it may be +from generation to generation, can be worked out and kept from the light +only within the privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded +confidences of a narrow, privileged class. They are happily impossible +where public opinion commands and insists upon full information +concerning all the nation's affairs.</p> + +<p>"A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a +partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic Government could be +trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. It must be a +league of honor, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals +away; the plotting of inner circles who could plan what they would and +render account to no one would be a corruption seated at its very heart. +Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady to a +common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest of +their own.</p> + +<p>"Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope +for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening +things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia? +Russia was known by those who know it best to have been always in fact +democratic at heart in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the +intimate relationships of her people that spoke their natural instinct, +their habitual attitude toward life.</p> + + +<h4>POLITICAL AUTOCRACY.</h4> + +<p>"The autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long +as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not, +in fact, Russian in origin, character or purpose; and now it has been +shaken off and the great, generous Russian people have been added in all +their native majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for +freedom in the world, for justice and for peace. Here is a fit partner +for a league of honor.</p> + +<p>"One of the things that have served to convince us that the Prussian +autocracy was not and could never be our friend, is that from the very +outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and +even our offices of Government with spies and set criminal intrigues +everywhere afoot against our national unity and counsel, our peace +within and without our industries and our commerce.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, it is now evident that its spies were here even before the war +began; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture, but a fact proved +in our courts of justice, that the intrigues which have more than once +come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the +industries of the country have been carried on at the instigation, with +the support, and even under the personal direction of official agents of +the Imperial Government accredited to the Government of the United +States.</p> + +<p>"Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them, we have +sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them +because we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or +purpose of the German people toward us (who were, no doubt, as ignorant +of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish designs of a +Government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. But +they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that that +Government entertains no real friendship for us and means to act against +our peace and security at its convenience. That it means to stir up +enemies against us at our very doors the intercepted note to the German +Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence.</p> + +<p>"We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that +in such a Government, following such methods, we can never have a +friend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying in +wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured +security of the democratic Governments of the world.</p> + + +<h4>NATURAL FOE TO LIBERTY.</h4> + +<p>"We are now about to accept gage of battle with this natural foe to +liberty, and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to +check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that +we see the facts with no veil of false pretense about them, to fight +thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its +peoples, the German peoples included; for the rights of nations great +and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of +life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its +peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty.</p> + +<p>"We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. +We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the +sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the +rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been as +secure as the faith and the freedom of the nations can make them.</p> + +<p>"Just because we fight without rancour and without selfish object, +seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all +free people, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as +belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio +the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for.</p> + + +<h4>UNDISGUISED WARFARE.</h4> + +<p>"I have said nothing of the Governments allied with the Imperial +Government of Germany because they have not made war upon us or +challenged us to defend our right and our honor. The Austro-Hungarian +Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified indorsement and +acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now +without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has, +therefore, not been possible for this Government to receive Count +Tarnowski, the Ambassador recently accredited to this Government by the +Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; but that Government +has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United +States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of +postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. +We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there +are no other means of defending our rights.</p> + +<p>"It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents +in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, +not in enmity toward a people or with the desire to bring any injury or +disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible +Government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of +right and is running amuck.</p> + +<p>"We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and +shall desire nothing so much as the early re-establishment of intimate +relations of mutual advantage between us, however hard it may be for +them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our +hearts.</p> + +<p>"We have borne with their present Government through all these bitter +months because of that friendship, exercising a patience and forbearance +which would otherwise have been impossible. We shall, happily, still +have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and +actions toward the millions of men and women of German birth and native +sympathy who live among us and share our life, and we shall be proud to +prove it toward all who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the +Government in the hour of test.</p> + + +<h4>TRUE AND LOYAL AMERICANS.</h4> + +<p>"They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had +never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand +with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different +mind and purpose.</p> + +<p>"If there should be disloyalty it will be dealt with with a firm hand of +stern repression; but if it lifts its head at all it will lift it only +here and there, and without countenance except from a lawless and +malignant few.</p> + +<p>"It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the Congress, +which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, +many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful +thing to lead this great, peaceful people into war—into the most +terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be +in the balance.</p> + +<p>"But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the +things which we have always carried nearest our hearts—for democracy, +for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their +own government, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a +universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall +bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last +free.</p> + +<p>"To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything +that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who +know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood +and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and +the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no +other."</p> + +<p>While all the world knew that an actual state of war had existed between +the two countries for months, the resolution declaring war as adopted by +Congress on the plea of President Wilson and signed by the President +shortly after 1 o'clock on the afternoon of April 6, 1917—Good +Friday—was as follows:</p> + +<p>"Whereas, The Imperial German Government has committed repeated acts of +war against the government and the people of the United States of +America; therefore, be it</p> + + +<h4>A WAR RESOLUTION.</h4> + +<p>"Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States of America, in Congress assembled, that the state of war between +the United States and the Imperial German Government which has thus been +thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and that the +President be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to employ the +entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources +of the government to carry on war against the Imperial German +Government; and to bring the conflict to a successful termination all of +the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the +United States."</p> + +<p>Immediately President Wilson issued a proclamation in which he called +upon the people of the country to co-operate and give their support, +pointing out the necessity for doing things other than putting men upon +the firing line. And in his brief proclamation he outlined the entire +comprehensive plan which, within a few months, was well under way.</p> + +<p>The placing of the navy upon a war footing; the creating and equipping +of an adequate army; the supplying of ships; creating of loans; the +financing of the Allies; the conservation of food products; the +development of food and material resources; the providing of munitions +and supplies for the fighting forces abroad—all of these things were +pointed to as necessary in the President's proclamation.</p> + +<p>Thus America, which had endeavored to remain neutral during months when +Germany was arrogant and insulting, became aligned with the Allies in +the struggle which for nearly three years had been waged in Europe.</p> + + +<h4>NEGOTIATIONS CARRIED ON.</h4> + +<p>The negotiations between this country and Germany over the question of +submarine warfare as affecting the lives of non-combatants and the +rights of neutrals on the high seas in time of war had been carried on +for two years. They had their origin on February 10, 1915, when, +following the German announcement of February 4 that "the waters around +Great Britain and Ireland, including the whole English Channel, are +declared a war zone on and after February 18, 1915," William J. Bryan, +then Secretary of State, sent the "strict accountability" note to +Berlin.</p> + +<p>Through successive stages the exchange of diplomatic papers continued, +with growing feeling on both sides, because of the acts of German +submarines, until the torpedoing of the cross-Channel steamer Sussex, on +March 24, 1916, when the lives of twenty-five American citizens were +imperiled and several suffered bodily injuries or shock. This attack +resulted in the "Sussex note," or so-called "ultimatum" to Germany.</p> + +<p>The Sussex note, signed by Secretary Lansing, and sent to Germany April +19, 1916, concluded with the following declaration:</p> + +<p>"Unless the Imperial Government should now immediately declare and +effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare +against passenger and freight-carrying vessels, the Government of the +United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with +the German Empire altogether."</p> + + +<h4>QUESTIONS GERMANY'S RIGHT.</h4> + +<p>The first American note to the Imperial Government, of February 10, +1915, disputed the right of Germany to declare such a war zone as it had +announced the week before, and contended for the international procedure +of "visit and search" before attack on or capture of a neutral vessel. +It embodied this phrase:</p> + +<p>"If such a deplorable situation should arise (wanton destruction of an +American ship) the Imperial German Government can readily appreciate +that the Government of the United States would be constrained to hold +the Imperial German Government to a strict accountability for such acts +of their naval authorities and to take any steps it might be necessary +to take to safeguard American lives and property and to secure to +Americans the full enjoyment of their acknowledged rights on the high +seas."</p> + +<p>In reply the German Government sent a note under date of February 16, +1915, setting forth that the war zone proclamation was in reprisal for +the "blockade" of Great Britain and that if "at the eleventh hour" the +United States should prevail upon Germany's enemies to abandon their +methods of maritime warfare, Germany would modify its order. It charged +misuse of neutral flags and the arming of merchant ships by Great +Britain.</p> + +<p>On February 20, in an identic note to Germany and Great Britain, the +American Government suggested that both Powers cease their illegal +activities. Such an agreement this Government proposed as a "modus +vivendi" giving opportunity for further discussion of the points in +controversy. Berlin accepted this note as "new evidence of the friendly +feelings of the American Government," but reserved a "definite +statement" of the position of the Imperial Government until it learned +"what obligations the British Government are on their part willing to +assume."</p> + +<p>Subsequently, on March 28, the British steamship Falaba was sunk, with +the loss of 163 lives, including one American. On April 28 the American +steamship Cushing was attacked by an aeroplane, and on May 1 the +American tanker Gulflight was attacked by a submarine and three United +States citizens were lost.</p> + +<p>On May 1, also, the German Embassy at Washington caused to be inserted +in many of the leading American newspapers the now famous advertisement +warning Americans and others from taking passage on the Cunard liner +Lusitania, intimating that it would be attacked. This was the day the +Lusitania sailed on her ill-fated voyage. A number of the prominent +passengers received personal notes when they reached the pier, advising +them not to go, but most of them scouted the thought of danger.</p> + + +<h4>SUBMARINE ISSUE AND DIPLOMACY.</h4> + +<p>After the sinking of the Lusitania, on May 7, off Fastnet, Ireland, with +the loss of more than 1100 persons, among them 115 Americans, the +submarine issue assumed a large and gravely important place in the realm +of diplomacy.</p> + +<p>The accumulation of cases affecting Americans was taken up in the first +"Lusitania note" to Germany, which was dispatched May 15, 1915. It +characterized the attacks on the Falaba, Cushing, Gulflight and +Lusitania as "a series of events which the United States has observed +with growing concern, distress and amazement." It pointed to Germany's +hitherto expressed "humane and enlightened attitude" in matters of +international right, and expressed the hope that submarine commanders +engaged in torpedoing peaceful ships without warning were in such +practice operating without the sanction of their Government. The note +closed with these words:</p> + +<p>"The Imperial German Government will not expect the Government of the +United States to omit any word or act necessary to the performance of +its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its +citizens and of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment."</p> + +<p>On May 28, 1915, Germany replied with a note which covered a wide range +of argument and was in every respect unsatisfactory. It alleged that the +Lusitania had masked guns aboard; that she in effect was a British +auxiliary cruiser; that she carried munitions of war; that her owning +company, aware of the damages she risked in the submarine war zone, was +in reality responsible for the loss of American lives, and referred to +the fact that the British Admiralty had offered large rewards to ship +captains who rammed or destroyed submarines.</p> + + +<h4>PROMISED TO PAY DAMAGES.</h4> + +<p>The note met none of the contentions of the United States so far as the +Lusitania and Falaba incidents were concerned, although a supplementary +note did acknowledge that Germany was wrong in the attacks on the +Cushing and the Gulflight, expressed regret for these two cases and +promised to pay damages. While the American reply to the note was being +framed dissension in the Cabinet resulted in the resignation of +Secretary Bryan, who contended for a policy of warning Americans off +belligerent ships. He resigned because he thought he could not sign the +next note to Germany, which he feared would lead the United States into +war.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile several sensational incidents cropped up in connection with +the negotiations, chief of which was the sending of a message to the +Berlin Foreign Office by Doctor Dumba, the Austrian Ambassador, +afterward recalled at the request of President Wilson, which was +represented as stating substantially that Mr. Bryan had intimated to the +Ambassador that the vigorous tone of the American notes should not be +regarded in Berlin as too warlike.</p> + +<p>Secretary Lansing took office as Mr. Bryan's successor, and his reply to +the German note took issue with every contention Germany had set up in +the Falaba and Lusitania cases, denied flatly the contention that the +Lusitania was armed or was to be treated as other than a peaceful +merchant ship.</p> + +<p>The note averred that the declaration of a submarine war zone could not +abbreviate the rights of Americans on lawful journeys, and added: "The +Government of the United States therefore very earnestly and solemnly +renews the representations of its note transmitted to the Imperial +German Government on May 15, and relies in these representations upon +the principles of humanity, the universally recognized understandings of +international law and the ancient friendship of the German nation."</p> + + +<h4>JAGOW'S EVASIVE ANSWER.</h4> + +<p>To that note Germany did not reply until July 8, and the German +rejoinder was preponderately characterized by American newspapers not as +a note, but as an address by Foreign Minister von Jagow to the American +people. In official circles it was said to come no nearer to meeting the +American contentions than did the former German note.</p> + +<p>The nature of the reply was regarded officially as convincing evidence +that Germany was holding the submarine warfare negotiations as a club +over the United States to force this Government into some action to +compel Great Britain to relax the food blockade. President Wilson +steadfastly refused to permit the diplomatic negotiations of the United +States with one belligerent to become entangled with the relations with +another.</p> + +<p>To that the United States replied on July 21 that the German note was +"very unsatisfactory," because it failed to meet "the real differences +between the two Governments." The United States, it declared, was keenly +disappointed with Germany's attitude. Submarine attacks without warning, +endangering Americans and other neutrals, were characterized as illegal +and inhuman and manifestly indefensible. The German retaliation against +the British blockade, it maintained, must not interfere with the rights +of neutrals, which the note declared were "based upon principles, not +expediency, and the principles are immutable." It declared that the +United States would continue to contend for the freedom of the seas +"from whatever quarter violated, without compromise and at any cost." +The American note concluded with these words of warning:</p> + +<p>"Friendship itself prompts it (the United States Government) to say to +the Imperial Government that repetition by the commanders of German +naval vessels of acts in contravention of those rights must be regarded +by the Government of the United States, when they affect American +citizens, as deliberately unfriendly."</p> + + +<h4>"INFORMAL CONVERSATIONS."</h4> + +<p>The negotiations at this point seemed to have come to such an impasse +that the exchanges of notes between Washington and Berlin were stopped +and the controversy was brought into the realm of "informal +conversations" between Secretary Lansing and Count von Bernstorff, the +German Ambassador. It was thought that much could be accomplished by +personal contact which was lost in a cold exchange of documents.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Arabic was sunk on August 19. Coming close on the +unsuccessful Lusitania negotiations and a continuation of submarine +attacks in which Americans had suffered, it seemed that the United +States and Germany had at last reached the point of a break. Then, on +September 1, came the first rift in the threatening situation. Count von +Bernstorff presented this written assurance to Secretary Lansing:</p> + +<p>"Liners will not be sunk by our submarines without warning and without +safety of non-combatants, provided that the liners do not try to escape +or offer resistance."</p> + +<p>The United States had agreed all along that ships hailed for visit and +search by a war vessel took a risk if they attempted to flee, but it +contended not for the safety of "liners" alone, but for the immunity of +all peaceful merchant vessels. The word "liners" was the perplexing +point in Germany's assurances and a complete agreement on what it +actually meant never was finally reached.</p> + +<p>More hopefulness was added to the situation when, on October 5, the +Arabic case was disposed of by Germany disavowing the sinking and giving +renewed assurances that submarine commanders had been again instructed +to avoid repetition of the acts which provoked American condemnation. +Count von Bernstorff delivered to Secretary Lansing this communication:</p> + + +<h4>BERNSTORFF'S COMMUNICATION.</h4> + +<p>"The orders issued by his Majesty the Emperor to the commanders of +submarines—of which I notified you on a previous occasion—have been +made so stringent that the recurrence of incidents similar to the Arabic +case is considered out of the question. The Imperial Government regrets +and disavows this act and has notified Commander Schneider accordingly."</p> + +<p>With that the negotiations reverted to the Lusitania case. Germany +already had agreed to pay indemnity for American lives lost, but the +negotiations were delayed by a seeming deadlock over the words in which +Germany should acknowledge the illegality of the destruction of the +liner. Germany, unwilling to use the word "illegal," substituted a +declaration that "reprisals must not be directed at others than enemy +subjects." A formal communication, including such a declaration and +expressing regret for loss of American lives, assuming liability and +offering reparation in the form of indemnity, was submitted to Secretary +Lansing.</p> + +<p>A favorable settlement of the long and threatened controversy seemed to +be in sight when all the progress that had been made was reduced to +nothing by Germany's declaration of a new submarine policy of sinking +without warning all armed merchant ships. That precipitated a new +situation so vitally interwoven with the whole structure of the +Lusitania case that President Wilson declined to close the Lusitania +settlement while the other issue was pending, and there the whole matter +rested while German submarine warfare was contained and new cases +involving loss of American lives piled up.</p> + +<p>Finally the accumulation of evidence reached such proportions with the +torpedoing of the Sussex that President Wilson, convinced that +assurances given in the Lusitania and Arabic cases were being violated, +dispatched another note to Germany, and went before Congress, reviewed +the entire situation from the beginning, and made this declaration:</p> + + +<h4>PRESIDENT'S DECLARATION.</h4> + +<p>"I have deemed it my duty to say to the Imperial German Government that +if it is still its purpose to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate +warfare the Government of the United States is at last forced to the +conclusion that there is only one course it can pursue; and that, unless +the Imperial German Government should now, immediately, declare and +effect an abandonment of its present methods of warfare against +passenger and freight-carrying vessels this Government can have no +choice but to sever diplomatic relations altogether."</p> + +<p>It will be noted that the President went further than "liners," and said +"passenger and freight-carrying vessels."</p> + +<p>In the note sent at this time the President said:</p> + +<p>"No limit of any kind has in fact been set to the indiscriminate pursuit +and destruction of merchantmen of all kinds and nationalities within the +waters constantly extending in area where these operations have been +carried on, and the roll of Americans who have lost their lives on ships +thus attacked and destroyed has grown month by month until the ominous +toll has mounted into the hundreds. Again and again the Imperial German +Government has given this Government its solemn assurances that at least +passenger ships would not be thus dealt with, and yet it has again and +again permitted its undersea commanders to disregard those assurances +with entire impunity."</p> + + +<h4>OPPOSED TO SUBMARINE WARFARE.</h4> + +<p>During all the negotiations the Berlin Foreign Office looked to Count +von Bernstorff to prevent a break. His attitude was represented as +propitiatory from the viewpoint of the United States and opposed to the +submarine warfare of Von Tirpitz. On several occasions he is said to +have warned his Emperor personally that a continuance of the warfare +against which the United States protested would surely lead to a break. +Meanwhile the Ambassador's own position was embarrassed by the +operations of German sympathizers in the United States plotting against +American neutrality. Some of these operations were traced directly to +the military and naval attaches of the embassy, who were withdrawn.</p> + +<p>Germany's final note in the Sussex case, received in Washington on May +5, said that "the German naval forces have received the following +order":</p> + +<p>"In accordance with the general principles of visit and search and the +destruction of merchant vessels recognized by international law, such +vessels, both within and without the area declared a naval war zone, +shall not be sunk without warning and without saving human lives, unless +the ship attempts to escape or offers resistance."</p> + +<p>Contending that the Imperial Government was unwilling to restrict an +effective weapon if "the enemy is permitted to apply at will methods of +warfare violating the rules of international law," the note expressed +the hope that the United States would "demand and insist that the +British Government shall observe forthwith the rules of international +law." The communication added:</p> + +<p>"Should the steps taken by the Government of the United States not +attain the object it (the German Government) desires, to have the laws +of humanity followed by all belligerent nations, the German Government +would then be facing a new situation in which it must reserve to itself +complete liberty of decision."</p> + +<p>To any such reservations the United States demurred in no uncertain +terms.</p> + + +<h4>PRESIDENT WILSON'S REPLY.</h4> + +<p>"The United States feels it necessary to state," said President Wilson's +reply, "that it takes it for granted that the Imperial German Government +does not intend to imply that the maintenance of its newly announced +policy is any way contingent upon the course or result of diplomatic +negotiations between the Government of the United States and any other +belligerent Government, notwithstanding the fact that certain passages +in the Imperial Government's note might appear to be susceptible of that +construction."</p> + +<p>In completing the declaration that there must be no misunderstanding +that rights of American citizens must not be made subject to the conduct +of some other Government, the note concluded by saying: "Responsibility +in such matters is single, not joint; absolute, not relative."</p> + +<p>The climax came on February 1, 1917, when Count von Bernstorff, German +Ambassador at Washington, handed to Secretary Lansing a note from +Germany on the U-boat policy, supplemented by the "order" and +declaration that the Imperial Government proposed to stop sea traffic in +the "zones" which it marked as prohibited, by every means at its +command. This is the restricted zone order:</p> + +<p>"From February 1, 1917, sea traffic will be stopped with every available +weapon and without further notice in the following blockade zones +around Great Britain, France, Italy and in the Eastern Mediterranean.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus094.png" alt="zones" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> THE BLOCKADE ZONES.</p> + +<p>"In the North: The zone is confined by a line at a distance of twenty +sea miles along the Dutch coast to Terschelling fireship, the degree of +longitude from Terschelling fireship to Udsire (Norway), a line from +there across, the point 62 degrees north 0 degrees longitude to 62 +degrees north 5 degrees west, further to a point three sea miles south +of the southern point of the Farve (Faroe?) Islands, from there across a +point 62 degrees north 10 degrees west to 61 degrees north 15 degrees +west, then 57 degrees north 20 degrees west to 47 degrees north 20 +degrees west, further to 43 degrees north, 15 degrees west, then along +the degree of latitude 43 degrees north to 20 sea miles from Cape +Finisterre and at a distance of 20 sea miles along the north coast of +Spain to the French boundary.</p> + +<p>"In the south (Mediterranean):</p> + +<p>"For neutral ships remains open: The sea west of the line Pt des' +Espiquette to 38 degrees 20 minutes north and 6 degrees east, also north +and west of a zone 61 sea miles wide along the North African coast, +beginning at 2 degrees longitude west. For the connection of this sea +zone with Greece there is provided a zone of a width of 20 sea miles +north and east of the following line: 38 degrees north and 6 degrees +east to 38 degrees north and 10 degrees west to 37 degrees north and 11 +degrees 30 minutes east to 34 degrees north and 22 degrees 30 minutes +east. From there leads a zone 20 sea miles wide west of 22 degrees 30 +minutes eastern longitude into Greek territorial waters.</p> + + +<h4>NEUTRAL SHIPS' RISK.</h4> + +<p>"Neutral ships navigating these blockade zones do so at their own risk. +Although care has been taken that neutral ships which are on their way +toward ports of the blockade zones on February 1, 1917, and which have +come in the vicinity of the latter, will be spared during a sufficiently +long period, it is strongly advised to warn them with all available +means in order to cause their return.</p> + +<p>"Neutral ships which on February 1 are in ports of the blockade zones +can with the same safety leave them.</p> + +<p>"The instructions given to the commanders of German submarines provide +for a sufficiently long period during which the safety of passengers on +unarmed enemy passenger ships is guaranteed.</p> + +<p>"Americans en route to the blockade zone on enemy freight steamships are +not endangered, as the enemy shipping firms can prevent such ships in +time from entering the zone.</p> + +<p>"Sailing of regular American passenger steamships may continue +undisturbed after February 1, 1917, if</p> + +<p>"(a) The port of destination is Falmouth.</p> + +<p>"(b) Sailing to or coming from that port course is taken via the Scilly +Islands and a point 50 degrees north, 20 degrees west.</p> + +<p>"(c) The steamships are marked in the following way, which must not be +allowed to other vessels in American ports: On ship's hull and +superstructure three vertical stripes one meter wide each to be painted +alternately white and red. Each mast should show a large flag checkered +white and red and the stern the American national flag. Care should be +taken that during dark national flag and painted marks are easily +recognizable from a distance, and that the boats are well lighted +throughout.</p> + +<p>"(d) One steamship a week sails in each direction, with arrival at +Falmouth on Sunday and departure from Falmouth on Wednesday.</p> + +<p>"(e) United States Government guarantees that no contraband (according +to German contraband list) is carried by those steamships."</p> + +<p>Immediately after the signing of the Congressional resolution declaring +America at war, President Wilson ordered the mobilization of the United +States Navy, and the Senate voted an emergency war fund of $100,000,000 +for the use of the President. The forces of the United States on land +and sea and in every country under the sun were notified that a state of +war existed.</p> + +<p>The entrance of America was regarded throughout the world as one of the +most significant moves in the history of nations, and it filled the +Allied forces with enthusiasm. Typical of the expressions on the part of +the representatives of the Governments at war with Germany was that of +Lloyd George, Premier of England, who said:</p> + +<p>"America has at one bound become a world power in a sense she never was +before. She waited until she found a cause worthy of her traditions. The +American people held back until they were fully convinced that the fight +was not a sordid scrimmage for power and possessions, but an unselfish +struggle to overthrow a sinister conspiracy against human liberty and +human rights.</p> + +<p>"Once that conviction was reached, the great Republic of the West has +leaped into the arena, and she stands now side by side with the European +democracies, who, bruised and bleeding after three years of grim +conflict, are still fighting the most savage foe that ever menaced the +freedom of the world.</p> + +<p>"The glowing phrases of the President's noble deliverance illumine the +horizon and make clearer than ever the goal we are striving to reach.</p> + + +<h4>DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM AND PEACE.</h4> + +<p>"There are three phrases which will stand out forever in the story of +this crusade. The first is that 'the world must be made safe for +democracy,' the next, 'the menace to peace and freedom lies in the +existence of autocratic governments backed by organized force, which is +controlled wholly by their will and not by the will of their people,' +and the crowning phrase is that in which he declares that 'a steadfast +concert for peace can never be maintained except by the partnership of +democratic nations.'</p> + +<p>"These words represent the faith which inspires and sustains our people +in the tremendous sacrifices they have made and are still making. They +also believe that the unity and peace of mankind can only rest upon +democracy, upon the right to have a voice in their own Government; upon +respect for the right and liberties of nations both great and small, and +upon the universal dominion of public right.</p> + +<p>"To all of these the Prussian military autocracy is an implacable foe.</p> + +<p>"The Imperial War Cabinet, representative of all the peoples of the +British Empire, wish me on their behalf to recognize the chivalry and +courage which call the people of the United States to dedicate the whole +of their resources to the greatest cause that ever engaged human +endeavor."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h3> + +<h4>UNCLE SAM TAKES HOLD.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Makes World's Biggest War Loan—Seize German Ships—Intrigue +Exposed—General Pershing and Staff in Europe—The Navy on Duty in North +Sea—First United States Troops Reach France—Germany's Attempts to Sink +Troop Ships Thwarted by Navy's Guns</span>.</p> + + +<p>Scarcely had the ink had time to dry on the Nation's command to begin +war than Congress voted an appropriation of $7,000,000,000 for war +purposes. This, the largest single appropriation ever made by a +government in the world, was passed without a dissenting vote. Still +later, a deficiency bill of $2,827,000,000 for war expenses was passed. +Other legislative measures provided for the increase of the army and +navy and for "selective conscription," although the latter was passed in +the face of considerable opposition on the part of many who believed +that in a democracy armies should be raised by volunteer recruiting. +Many felt that compulsory service was not in accordance with the ideals +of liberty.</p> + +<p>The Conscription Act provided for the registration of every male citizen +or resident in the United States between the ages of 21 and 31 years, +and was enacted on May 19, 1917. Registration of these military +available was made on June 5, when 10,000,000 names were entered on the +rolls as subject to draft by the Government. The principle of "selective +conscription" is that the authorities shall have the right to exempt +from military duty among those registered such persons whose employment +in civil life is necessary to the maintenance of the industries and +business of the country, as well as those who, though physically fit, +have others dependent upon them for support.</p> + +<p>One of the first acts of the Government after the declaration of war was +the seizure of the German merchant vessels interned in United States +ports. These vessels had a tonnage of upward of 629,000 tons and were +estimated as being worth in the neighborhood of $100,000,000. The +seizure was notable in that it was the largest ever made by a country at +war.</p> + +<p>When the Government went to take charge of the vessels it was found that +the German officers had destroyed parts of the machinery in many of them +in an attempt to put them out of commission. The condition of the boats +was such that all of them had to be put in drydock, and it was several +months before some of them could be put in condition for use.</p> + + +<h4>SIXTY RINGLEADERS ARRESTED.</h4> + +<p>Immediately the ships had been seized an order was issued by Attorney +General Gregory for the arrest of sixty alleged ringleaders in German +plots, conspiracies and machinations throughout the United States. The +Department of Justice, which had long been gathering evidence in +connection with the suspects, had complete reports about their +activities. They were all German citizens, had participated in German +intrigues, and all were regarded as dangerous persons to be at large.</p> + +<p>They were all arrested, bail was refused them, and they were locked up +for safekeeping. This was the first step in the general rounding up of +the conspirators throughout the country. The men were placed in three +groups: Those having previously been arrested charged with violation of +American neutrality in furthering German plots of various sorts and who +were at liberty under bond awaiting the action of higher courts; those +who had been indicted by Federal Grand Juries for similar offenses and +were at liberty under bond awaiting the action of the higher courts, and +persons who, although they had never been indicted or convicted, had +long been under surveillance by the Secret Service, or the investigators +of the Department of Justice.</p> + +<p>These arrests were the first of alien enemies made in this country in +more than a century, under the direct order of the Attorney General +without reference to the courts or obtaining warrants. Under an act of +Congress passed in 1798 the President is empowered to adopt this course. +The right had not been invoked, however, since the war with Great +Britain in 1812.</p> + + +<h4>ARREST OF GERMAN PLOTTERS.</h4> + +<p>The arrests were only the beginning of the work of the Secret Service +Department in a complete investigation of the activities of the +thousands of German reservists, stationed in the United States, and +suspected of being connected with plots which daily were cropping out. +These plots were being exposed constantly. Some were abandoned before +being completely worked out, owing to the fact that the Germans +suspected they were being shadowed. It was estimated that there were in +the United States at the time of the discoveries of conspiracies between +15,000 and 18,000 German reservists in the prime of life, whose energies +were undoubtedly being employed in the spreading of the German +propaganda. It was upon this army that the Secret Service men kept a +close watch, and who were generally found to have within their ranks the +men wanted at various times in connection with the advancement of German +plans.</p> + +<p>Many of the Germans arrested were quasi-officials of the German +government. Some of them, it is alleged, were the instrumentalities +through which Captain Boy-Ed and Captain von Papen had carried out their +activities in this country against the Allies. A number of those +arrested were properly classed as spies. Camps were established for the +sailors taken from the interned German vessels, and many of them were +sent to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, where they were held.</p> + +<p>The far-reaching influence of the German spy system was at this time +laid before the American public, with all of its startling +ramifications. For months there had been stories of German intrigue and +conspiracies, and the Secret Service had unearthed innumerable plots to +destroy ammunition plants and industrial establishments, which would +have the effect of making it difficult for America to supply ammunition +to the Allies.</p> + +<p>The most insidious scheme unearthed by the government was that which had +to do with the attempt of Germany to secure the alliance of Mexico and +Japan to make war on the United States.</p> + +<p>Japan, through Mexican mediation, was to be urged to abandon her allies +and join in the attack on the United States.</p> + +<p>Mexico, for her reward, was to receive general financial support from +Germany, reconquer Texas, New Mexico and Arizona—lost provinces—and +share in the victorious peace terms Germany contemplated.</p> + + +<h4>MACHINATIONS OF GERMAN MINISTER.</h4> + +<p>Details were left to German Minister von Eckhardt in Mexico City, who by +instructions signed by German Foreign Minister Zimmerman, at Berlin, +January 19, 1917, was directed to propose the alliance with Mexico, to +General Carranza, and suggest that Mexico seek to bring Japan into the +plot.</p> + +<p>These instructions were transmitted to von Eckhardt through Count von +Bernstorff, former German Ambassador.</p> + +<p>Germany pictured to Mexico, by broad intimation, England and the entente +allies defeated, Germany and her allies triumphant and in world +domination by the instrument of unrestricted submarine warfare.</p> + +<p>A copy of Zimmerman's instructions to von Eckhardt, sent through von +Bernstorff, is in possession of the United States government. It is as +follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p style="margin-left: 25em;">"Berlin, January 19, 1917.</p> + +<p>"On the first of February we intend to begin submarine warfare +unrestricted. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor to +keep neutral the United States of America.</p> + +<p>"If this attempt is not successful we propose an alliance on the +following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and +together make peace. We shall give general financial support, and +it is understood that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in +New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. The details are left to you for +settlement.</p> + +<p>"You are instructed to inform the President of Mexico of the above, +in the greatest confidence, as soon as it is certain that there +will be an outbreak of war with the United States, and suggest that +the President of Mexico, on his own initiative, should communicate +with Japan, suggesting adherence at once to this plan; at the same +time, offer to mediate between Germany and Japan.</p> + +<p>"Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the +employment of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel +England to make peace in a few months.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;">"ZIMMERMAN."</p></div> + + +<h4>BETHMANN-HOLLWEG'S FALSE STATEMENT.</h4> + +<p>This document was in the possession of the government at the very time +Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg was declaring that the United States had +placed an interpretation on the submarine declaration "never intended by +Germany," and that Germany had promoted and honored friendly relations +with the United States "as an heirloom from Frederick the Great."</p> + +<p>Of itself, if there were no other, it is considered a sufficient answer +to the German Chancellor's plaint that the United States "brusquely" +broke off relations without giving "authentic" reasons for its action.</p> + +<p>The document supplies the missing link to many separate chains of +circumstances, which until then had seemed to lead to no definite point. +It shed new light upon the frequently reported but indefinable +movements of the Mexican government to couple its situation with the +friction between the United States and Japan.</p> + +<p>It added another chapter to the celebrated report of Jules Cambon, +French Ambassador in Berlin before the war, of Germany's world-wide +plans for stirring strife on every continent where they might aid her in +the struggle for world domination, which she dreamed was close at hand. +It added a climax to the operations of Count von Bernstorff and the +German Embassy in this country, which had been colored with passport +frauds, charges of dynamite plots and intrigue, the full extent of which +never had been published.</p> + +<p>And last but not least, it explained in a very large degree the attitude +of the Mexican government toward the United States on many points.</p> + + +<h4>UNCLE SAM NOT BOTHERED.</h4> + +<p>But the efforts of the German enthusiasts, which carried them beyond the +bounds of reasonable safety in the United States, did not bother Uncle +Sam much in the prosecution of his war plans. Within a short period +after the declaration of war the country had written a chapter in +national achievement unrivalled in the history of the world.</p> + +<p>American destroyers were mobilized, outfitted and sent to the North Sea +within a few days after the nation entered the conflict. With them went +their own supply vessels and numerous converted craft adapted to naval +use. Their number and the exact duty they have assumed never have been +revealed, but that they have been recognized as a formidable part of the +grand allied fleet was evidenced by the designation of American Vice +Admiral Sims to command all the forces in the important zone off +Ireland.</p> + +<p>The fleet began actual duty in the European waters on May 4, and the +presence of the vessels and the American sailors was the subject of +official correspondence. The British admiralty announced the arrival of +the American destroyers as follows:</p> + +<p>"The British Admiralty states that a flotilla of United States +destroyers recently arrived in this country to co-operate with our naval +forces in the prosecution of the war.</p> + +<p>"The services which the American vessels are rendering to the allied +cause are of the greatest value and are deeply appreciated."</p> + +<p>Vice Admiral Sir David Beatty, commander of the British Grand Fleet, +sent the following message to Admiral Henry T. Mayo, commander of the +United States Atlantic Fleet:</p> + +<p>"The Grand Fleet rejoices that the Atlantic Fleet will now share in +preserving the liberties of the world and maintaining the chivalry of +the sea."</p> + +<p>Admiral Mayo replied:</p> + +<p>"The United States Atlantic Fleet appreciates the message from the +British Fleet and welcomes opportunities for work with the British Fleet +for the freedom of the seas."</p> + + +<h4>GENERAL PERSHING IN ENGLAND.</h4> + +<p>Less than a month later Major General John J. Pershing, with his staff, +were safely in England ready to take command of the first expeditionary +force that ever set foot on the European shores to make war. General +Pershing's personal staff and the members of the General Staff who went +to perform the preliminary work for the first fighting force, numbered +57 officers and about 50 enlisted men, together with a civilian clerical +force.</p> + +<p>The party landed at Liverpool on June 8, after an uneventful trip on the +White Star liner Baltic. The party was received with full military +honors and immediately entrained for London, where it was welcomed by +Lord Derby, the Minister of War; Viscount French, commander of the +British home forces, and a large body of American officials.</p> + +<p>In London General Pershing was later received at Buckingham Palace by +King George.</p> + +<p>He was presented to the King by Lord Brooke, commander of the Twelfth +Canadian Infantry Brigade. General Pershing was accompanied to the +palace by his personal staff of twelve officers. After the audience the +officers paid a formal call at the United States embassy.</p> + + +<h4>PERSHING RECEIVES ROYAL GREETING.</h4> + +<p>After the formal reception the King shook hands with General Pershing +and the members of his staff, and expressed pleasure at welcoming the +advance guard of the American army. King George chatted for a few +moments with each member of General Pershing's staff. In addressing +General Pershing the King said:</p> + +<p>"It has been the dream of my life to see the two great English-speaking +nations more closely united. My dreams have been realized. It is with +the utmost pleasure that I welcome you, at the head of the American +contingent, to our shores."</p> + +<p>Major General Pershing's staff has been characterized as "one of live +wires." Most of the officers are West Pointers, but there are among them +some who rose from the ranks, including Major James G. Harbord, chief of +staff.</p> + +<p>General Pershing reached France on June 13, where he was given a +tumultuous welcome. He landed at Boulogne in the morning and was met by +General Pelletier, representing the French government and General +Headquarters of the French army; Commandant Hue, representing the +Minister of War; General Lucas, commanding the northern region; Colonel +Daru, Governor of Lille; the Prefect of the Somme and other officials.</p> + +<p>Among the latter were Rene Besnard, Under Secretary of War, representing +the Cabinet; Commandant Thouzellier, representing Marshal Joffre, and +Vice-Admiral Ronarch, representing the navy.</p> + +<p>The scene in the harbor as General Pershing set foot on French soil was +one of striking beauty and animation. The day was bright and sunny. The +quays were crowded with townspeople and soldiers from all Entente +armies, with French and British troops predominating.</p> + +<p>The shipping was gay with flags and bunting, many merchant craft +hoisting American flags, while along the crowded quays the American +colors were everywhere shown as a token of the French welcome.</p> + + +<h4>PERSHING RECEIVES AN OVATION.</h4> + +<p>A great wave of enthusiasm came from the crowds as General Pershing +stepped upon the quay and as the band played the "Marseillaise" he and +the members of his staff stood uncovered. M. Besnard, in greeting the +American commander in behalf of the government, said the Americans had +come to France to combat with the Allies for the same cause of right and +civilization. General Pelletier extended a greeting to the Americans in +behalf of the army.</p> + +<p>General Dumas, commandant of the region in which Boulogne is located, +said:</p> + +<p>"Your coming opens a new era in the history of the world. The United +States of America is now taking its part with the United States of +Europe. Together they are about to found the United States of the World, +which will definitely and finally end the war and give a peace which +will be enduring and suitable for humanity."</p> + +<p>General Pershing stood at parade as the various addresses were delivered +and acknowledged each with a salute.</p> + +<p>British soldiers and marines lined up along the quays had rendered +military honors as the vessel flying the Stars and Stripes, preceded by +destroyers and accompanied by hydroplanes and dirigible balloons, +steamed up the channel. Military bands played "The Star-Spangled +Banner" and the "Marseillaise" as General Pelletier and his party +boarded the boat to welcome General Pershing.</p> + +<p>After the representatives of the French authorities had been presented +to the American officers, the party landed and reviewed the French +territorials. The Americans then entered motor cars for a ride around +the city. All along the route they were followed by crowds of people who +greeted General Pershing with the greatest enthusiasm.</p> + + +<h4>PERSHING IN PARIS.</h4> + +<p>The General and his staff were taken in a special train to Paris, where +General Pershing was received by Marshal Joffre, Ambassador Sharp and +Paul Painleve, French Minister of War. In the French capital General +Pershing and staff were received by the populace with wild enthusiasm, +and for several days they were feted and entertained.</p> + +<p>There were, during the short period of entertainment, several incidents +which will long be noted in history, as when General Pershing visited +the Tomb of Napoleon and when he took from its case the sword of the +world conqueror and kissed it, and again when he placed a wreath on the +grave of Lafayette.</p> + +<p>Within a few days General Pershing had established the army headquarters +in the Rue De Constantine and began the work preliminary to the campaign +on the firing line.</p> + +<p>Second only to the enthusiastic reception tendered General Pershing and +his staff was that accorded the first United States Medical Unit, which +reached London in June. The vanguard of the American army, composed of +26 surgeons and 60 nurses, in command of Major Harry L. Gilchrist, was +received by King George and Queen Mary, the Prince of Wales and Princess +Mary, at Buckingham Palace.</p> + +<p>The reception to General Pershing and the Medical branch was, however, +nothing as compared to the popular demonstration which marked the +arrival of the first of the American armed forces on European shores to +participate in war. The vanguard of the army reached France on June 27. +No official announcement was ever made of the number of men in the first +expeditionary force, but it is an incident of modern history that the +United States made a record for the transportation of troops across the +seas scarcely equalled by that of any other country.</p> + + +<h4>ABSOLUTE SECRECY OBSERVED.</h4> + +<p>All America knew that troops were being sent to France, but no +information had been given as to the time of departure or as to their +destination. The world was, therefore, fairly electrified when the +announcement was made that in defiance of the German submarines, +thousands of seasoned regulars and marines, trained fighting men, with +the tan of long service on the Mexican border, in Haiti, or Santo +Domingo still on their faces, had arrived in France to fight beside the +French, the British, the Belgians, the Russians, the Portuguese and the +Italian troops on the Western front.</p> + +<p>Despite the enormous difficulties of unpreparedness and the submarine +dangers that faced them, the plans of the army and navy were carried +through with clock-like precision.</p> + +<p>When the order came to prepare immediately an expeditionary force to go +to France, virtually all of the men who first crossed the seas were on +the Mexican border. General Pershing himself was at his headquarters in +San Antonio. There were no army transports available in the Atlantic. +The vessels that carried the troops were scattered on their usual +routes. Army reserve stores were still depleted from the border +mobilization. Regiments were below war strength. That was the condition +when President Wilson decided that the plea of the French high +commission should be answered and a force of regulars sent at once to +France.</p> + +<p>At his word the War Department began to move. General Pershing was +summoned quietly to Washington. His arrival created some speculation in +the press, but at the request of Secretary Baker the newspapers +generally refrained from discussion of this point.</p> + +<p>There were a thousand other activities afoot in the department at the +time. All the business of preparing for the military registration of +10,000,000 men, of providing quarters and instructors for nearly 50,000 +prospective officers, for finding arms and equipment for millions of +troops yet to be organized, of expanding the regular army to full war +strength, of preparing and recruiting the National Guard for war was at +hand.</p> + + +<h4>PERSHING SETS UP HEADQUARTERS.</h4> + +<p>General Pershing dropped quietly into the department and set up the +first headquarters of the American expeditionary forces in a little +office, hardly large enough to hold himself and his personal staff. +There, with the aid of the general staff, of Secretary Baker and of the +chiefs of the War Department bureaus, the plans were worked out.</p> + +<p>Announcement of the sending of the force under General Pershing was made +May 18. The press gave the news to the country and there were daily +stories.</p> + +<p>There came a day when General Pershing no longer was in the department. +Officers of the general staff suddenly were missing from their desks. No +word of this was reported. Then came word from England that Pershing and +his officers were there. All was carried through without publicity.</p> + +<p>Other matters relating to the expedition were carried out without a word +of publicity. The regiments that were to go with General Pershing were +all selected before he left and moving toward the seacoast from the +border. Other regiments also were moving north, east and west to the +points where they were to be expanded, and the movements of the troops +who were to be first in France were obscured in all this hurrying of +troop trains over the land.</p> + +<p>Great shipments of war supplies began to assemble at the embarkation +ports. Liners suddenly were taken off their regular runs with no +announcement. A great armada was made ready, supplied, equipped as +transports, loaded with men and guns and sent to sea, and all with +virtually no mention from the press.</p> + +<p>The navy bore its full share in the achievement. From the time the troop +ships left their docks and headed toward sea, responsibility for the +lives of their thousands of men rested upon the officers and crews of +the fighting ships that moved beside them or swept free the sea lanes +before them. As they pushed on through the days and nights toward the +danger zone, where German submarines lay in wait, every precaution that +trained minds of the navy could devise was taken.</p> + + +<h4>A BRILLIANT CLIMAX.</h4> + +<p>The brilliant climax to the achievement was made public when it was +announced that not only had the last units of the expeditionary force +been landed on July 3, but that the American navy had driven off two +German submarines, probably sinking one of them, when the transport +ships and convoys had been attacked.</p> + +<p>The last units of the American expeditionary force, comprising vessels +loaded with supplies and horses, reached France amid the screeching of +whistles and moaning of sirens. Their arrival, one week after the first +troops landed, was greeted almost as warmly as the arrival of the troops +themselves.</p> + +<p>Many of the American soldiers crowded down to the wharf to greet the +last ships of the expedition and the American vessels in the harbor, +which had made up previous contingents of the force, joined in the +welcome. The late arrival of the supply ships was due not only to later +departure from America, but also to the fact that the vessels were +slower than those which had come before. The delay caused little +anxiety, although it worked temporary inconvenience to the troops, who +had been waiting for materials with which to work.</p> + +<p>Probably the happiest man in port was Rear Admiral Gleaves, commander of +the convoy. From the bridge of his flagship he watched the successful +conclusion of his plans with characteristic modesty and insisted upon +bestowing the lion's share of credit for the crossing on the navigating +officers of his command.</p> + + +<h4>ADVANCE PLANS BRIEFLY SKETCHED.</h4> + +<p>Sketching briefly the advance plans whereby all units of the contingent +had to keep a daily rendezvous with accompanying warships, he said, +that, thanks to his navigating officers and despite overcast skies, +which made astronomical observations impossible, each rendezvous had +been minutely and accurately kept by each unit. The orders he issued at +the outset, which comprised scores of details, were observed, the +Admiral declared, with such exactness that the contingent units and +convoying warships invariably met each other within half an hour of the +appointed time.</p> + +<p>A big contributing factor in the crossing, according to officers of both +branches of the service, was the hearty co-operation between the army +and navy. From the time of the departure until the landing there was not +the slightest suggestion of friction, and co-ordination played its part +distinctively in the success of the expedition.</p> + +<p>The startling fact of the entire journey across the sea was that the +Navy had won its first victory in driving off attacking submarines. The +news of the fight was given out by the Navy Department and the Committee +on Public Information, with the announcement of the final landing of the +troops and the safe arrival of the supply ships.</p> + +<p>The announcement, sponsored by Secretary Daniels, of the Navy, shows +beyond the shadow of doubt that the Berlin Admiralty had been "tipped +off" that the American expeditionary force was on its way, and had +carefully planned to send the transports to the bottom of the Atlantic.</p> + +<p>Realizing that an attack might be expected in the war zone, and that +every precaution would be taken to ward it off, the Germans moved far +out from land, in the hope of catching the American gunners napping. +They were fooled. Uncle Sam's jackies were at the guns when the fleet of +submarines stuck their periscopes above the waves and trained their +torpedo tubes on the lines of transports.</p> + + +<h4>WAVES COVERED WITH SHELLS.</h4> + +<p>The torpedo boats and other craft opened up and covered the waves with +shells. The Germans soon lost at least one submarine and, having had +enough of the fight, they disappeared. As the little destroyers dashed +straight at the submarines and shot under water explosives in their wake +as they submerged, the transports dashed through the night at top speed +without having been scratched.</p> + +<p>The extreme degree to which the Germans had prepared to destroy the +American force is shown by the second part of the official announcement, +which tells how another section of the transport fleet was waylaid under +cover of darkness, but how the American gunners were too quick for the +Germans.</p> + +<p>The text of Secretary Daniels' announcement was:</p> + +<p>"It is with the joy of a great relief that I announce to the people of +the United States the safe arrival in France of every fighting man and +every fighting ship. Now that the last vessel has reached port, it is +safe to disclose the dangers that were encountered and to tell the +complete story of peril and courage.</p> + +<p>"The transports bearing our troops were twice attacked by German +submarines on the way across. On both occasions the U-boats were beaten +off with every appearance of loss. One was certainly sunk, and there is +reason to believe that the accurate fire of our gunners sent others to +the bottom.</p> + +<p>"For purposes of convenience, the expedition was divided into +contingents, each contingent including troopships and a naval escort +designed to keep off such German raiders as might be met.</p> + +<p>"An ocean rendezvous had also been arranged with the American destroyers +now operating in European waters in order that the passage of the danger +zone might be attended by every possible protection.</p> + +<p>"The first attack took place at 10.30 on the night of June 22. What +gives it peculiar and disturbing significance is that our ships were set +upon at a point well this side of the rendezvous, and in that part of +the Atlantic presumably free from submarines. The attack was made in +force, although the night made impossible any exact count of the U-boats +gathered for what they deemed a slaughter.</p> + + +<h4>HIGH SEAS CONVOY.</h4> + +<p>"The high seas convoy, circling with their searchlights, answered with +heavy gunfire, and its accuracy stands proved by the fact that the +torpedo discharge became increasingly scattered and inaccurate. It is +not known how many torpedoes were launched, but five were counted as +they sped by bow and stern.</p> + +<p>"A second attack was launched a few days later against another +contingent. The point of assault was beyond the rendezvous and our +destroyers were sailing as a screen between the transports and all harm. +The results of the battle were in favor of American gunnery.</p> + +<p>"Not alone did the destroyers hold the U-boats at a safe distance, but +their speed also resulted in the sinking of one submarine at least. +Grenades were used in firing, a depth charge explosive timed to go off +at a certain distance under water. In one instance, oil and wreckage +covered the surface of the sea after a shot from a destroyer at a +periscope, and the reports make claim of sinking.</p> + +<p>"Protected by our high seas convoy, by our destroyers and by French war +vessels, the contingent proceeded and joined the others in a French +port.</p> + +<p>"The whole nation will rejoice that so great a peril is passed for the +vanguard of the men who will fight our battles in France. No more +thrilling Fourth of July celebration could have been arranged than this +glad news that lifts the shadow of dread from the heart of America."</p> + +<p>Upon receipt of the announcement, Secretary Baker wrote the following +letter to Secretary Daniels, conveying the army's thanks to the navy:</p> + +<p>"Word has just come to the War Department that the last ships conveying +General Pershing's expeditionary force to France arrived safe today. As +you know, the navy assumed the responsibility for the safety of these +ships on the sea and through the danger zone. The ships themselves and +their convoys were in the hands of the navy, and now that they have +arrived, and carried, without the loss of a man, our soldiers who are +the first to represent America in the battle for democracy, I beg leave +to tender to you, to the Admiral and to the navy, the hearty thanks of +the War Department and of the army. This splendid achievement is an +auspicious beginning and it has been characterized throughout by the +most cordial and effective co-operation between the two military +services."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h3> + +<h4>A GERMAN CRISIS.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Downfall of Bethmann-Hollweg—The Crown Prince in the Lime +Light—Hollweg's Unique Career—Dr. Georg Michaelis Appointed +Chancellor—The Kaiser and How He Gets His Immense Power</span>.</p> + + +<p>The active participation of the United States in the war, as distinctly +marked by the sending of troops to France, aside from giving needed +inspiration to the Allied forces, may be said to have had a decided +effect in Germany. While the German subjects are loyal, there has +developed in the country, as in every other country, a large element of +Socialists and progressives.</p> + +<p>Something of a climax was reached in the affairs of the Hohenzollern +dynasty just when the United States troops were preparing to take their +places on the battle line in France and when the first of the +conscripted forces of the country were being summoned to the colors.</p> + +<p>With a suddenness that startled the entire world, Dr. von +Bethmann-Hollweg, the German Imperial Chancellor, resigned on July 14, +thus ending his career as the spokesman of the Kaiser, which he had +maintained for a surprisingly long period. At the same time Dr. Alfred +Zimmermann, Foreign Minister, who was responsible for the correspondence +which revealed the fact that Germany was trying to induce Mexico and +Japan to form an alliance against the United States, also quit his post.</p> + +<p>The resignation of the Chancellor came quite unexpectedly, for von +Hollweg, in the prolonged party discussion and heated debates of the +main committee of the Reichstag which had been in progress, seemed to +have triumphed over his opponents.</p> + +<p>His opponents had been clamoring for his head, but he made concessions, +and by the declaration that Germany was fighting defensively for her +territorial possessions evolved a formula which for a time seemed +satisfactory to both those who clamored for peace by agreement and those +who demanded repudiation of the formula, "no annexation and no +indemnities." In this position Dr. von Hollweg was backed by the +Emperor.</p> + +<p>The advent of the Crown Prince upon the scene—summoned by his imperial +father to share the deliberations affecting the future of the +dynasty—seems to have changed entirely the position with regard to the +Imperial Chancellor. The Crown Prince at once took a leading part in the +discussions with the party leaders, and his ancient hostility toward Dr. +von Bethmann-Hollweg, coupled with his notorious dislike for political +reform, undoubtedly precipitated the Chancellor's resignation.</p> + + +<h4>APPOINTMENT OF DR. GEORG MICHAELIS.</h4> + +<p>The resignation of Dr. von Hollweg was followed by the appointment of +Dr. Georg Michaelis, Prussian Under Secretary of Finance and Food +Commissioner.</p> + +<p>The fall of Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg removed the last of the +statesmen who were in charge of the great Powers of Europe at the +beginning of the war, and brought to an end a career which in successful +playing of both ends against the middle was almost without parallel in +recent history.</p> + +<p>Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, an aristocrat and personal friend of +the Emperor, stood out strongly against democratic agitation before the +war, and at times was sharply outspoken in his defiance of socialism and +his rejection of any move toward making the Chancellor and his +subordinates, the other Ministers, responsible to the Reichstag. Yet in +the early stages of the war he became known as a moderate, and it has +been generally accepted that his influence was usually employed against +the breaking of relations with America and ruthless submarine warfare.</p> + + +<h4>PRESERVES A JUDICIOUS BALANCE.</h4> + +<p>When the opposition of the parties favoring the most desperate measures +became too strong for him, he conceded a little ground, taking up a +middle position in which he balanced himself for a long time against +both the Conservative Junkers and the National Liberal trust magnates on +the one side and the radical Socialists on the other. Neither side could +claim him; neither could interpret his ambiguous utterances as support +of its policies, and between the antagonisms of the two he maintained +his position until at last he was overthrown by the attack of Erzberger, +leader of the more liberal wing of the Catholic party, the traditional +holders of the middle ground.</p> + +<p>Bethmann-Hollweg's agility was demonstrated by the fact that he survived +Asquith and Grey, Viviani, Sazonoff, Berchtold, Salandra, Jagow, and all +the rest of the statesmen who were in power in Europe in August, 1914.</p> + +<p>In personality the Chancellor was studious, scholarly and pleasant, +lacking the brilliance of his predecessor, Von Buelow, but generally +regarded as one who was if anything too mild rather than too severe.</p> + +<p>Dr. Georg Michaelis, the successor to Hollweg, was the first commoner to +be appointed to that high office, without even a "von" before his name.</p> + +<p>The son of a Prussian official, he was born on September 8, 1857, in +Haynan, Silesia. He received a university education, making the law his +profession. In 1879 he became a court referee in Berlin, and in 1884 was +attached to the District Attorney's office in that city. Several years +later he went as professor of law and political economy to the +University of Tokio.</p> + +<p>Returning to Germany in 1889, he was chosen District Attorney for +Berlin. His services won much praise and he was afterward sent by the +government as an official in the provisional government at Trevas, +Germany. In 1897 he was transferred to Westphalia, where he was Chief +Councilor for the government there.</p> + +<p>In 1900 he was made Provisional President of Liebnitz and in 1902 First +Privy Councilor in Breslau. His work there won him an appointment as +Under Secretary of State in the Department of Finance, which post he +held in connection with his work as Food Commissioner.</p> + +<p>Doctor Michaelis was selected for the post of Prussian Food Commissioner +in February, 1917, after all efforts of Adolph von Batocki's +organization—the food regulation board—had failed to lay hands on +large supplies of grain, potatoes and other produce which the Prussian +landlords were holding for the fattening of cattle and swine instead of +making them available for general consumption.</p> + + +<h4>GOVERNMENT ORDERS DISREGARDED.</h4> + +<p>The orders of Herr Batocki and the Central Government for the surrender +of these supplies were disregarded or evaded at least, if not, as +charged in Germany, with the actual assistance and support of the +reactionary Prussian Minister of Agriculture, Baron von Schorlemer.</p> + +<p>Doctor Michaelis was eventually selected as Food Controller as the +result of an agreement between von Bethmann-Hollweg and the military +authorities as a fearless, determined official, who would execute his +mission without fear or favor and produce results if such were possible. +The selection was justified.</p> + +<p>The conditions in Germany which marked the ascendancy of the Crown +Prince in the deliberations of the Imperial Government and brought about +the upheaval in the Ministry are the logical result of the system under +which the country is ruled.</p> + +<p>There is, in the mind of the public generally, a theory that Germany +with its Bundesrath and Reichstag has a government akin to that of +England and even the United States, but the impression is an erroneous +one. It is true that Germany has a dual system of government and +independent state sovereignties. There is, however, nothing democratic +about the system.</p> + +<p>To begin with, the Kaiser is a constitutional monarch in his capacity as +German Emperor, but as King of Prussia he is a self-appointed and +arrogant ruler—all that he advertises himself to be in the way of a +God-chosen ruler.</p> + + +<h4>STATUS OF GERMAN SOVEREIGNTY.</h4> + +<p>To understand the difference in relationship between the King of Prussia +and the German Emperor it is necessary to realize that the German +constitution describes the Emperor thus: "The presidency of the Union +belongs to the King of Prussia, who bears the title of German Emperor." +On the other hand the King of Prussia, who happens to be the Kaiser, has +his right to rule by birth. When the first king was crowned, about 1701, +he placed the crown upon his own head, and that right has descended to +King William. But as German Emperor the duties of the Kaiser are as +clearly defined as those of the ruler of a modern democracy.</p> + +<p>The difference between the Kingdom and the Empire is that the German +Empire is a creation of sovereign states, ruled over by German Grand +Dukes, Princes, and whatnot, who trace their lineage back to the days +when might was right, and who won their power to rule by defeating their +fellow men. At one time there were several hundred of these ruling +princes. When Napoleon got through in Germany there were about +twenty-two left. The German Empire today consists of these twenty-two +states, and three free cities, comprising in all a group of twenty-five +communities. It is a bond or association. It consists, in fact, of the +twenty-five communities, of which it is composed, and represented by +twenty-five kings, dukes, princes, etc., and not by the 65,000,000 +population of the communities themselves. The sovereignty rests with +the princes of the several states, who have bestowed a fixed power upon +the Kaiser. As Emperor his office dates back to 1871.</p> + +<p>The legislative machinery which has been devised for the use of these +German sovereigns consists of the Bundesrath and the Reichstag. +Sometimes the Bundesrath is likened to our Senate, or to the hereditary +English House of Lords, while the Reichstag is compared to the House of +Representatives or the House of Commons. But comparisons are odious.</p> + + +<h4>THE BUNDESRATH.</h4> + +<p>The Bundesrath is an assembly in which the German kings, grand dukes, +dukes, princes, etc., come together (by proxy) to direct the affairs of +the Empire. Each of these sovereigns sends a specified number of +delegates, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. Thus +the Kaiser, as the King of Prussia, sends seventeen delegates, while the +King of Bavaria sends six. The total number of delegates is fifty-eight, +so right in the beginning the Kaiser has a pretty good representation.</p> + +<p>The delegations in the Bundesrath vote en masse—that is the "unit rule" +prevails. The seventeen delegates from Prussia must vote as instructed +by the Kaiser, and if there chanced to be but one member present he +still would cast seventeen votes for the delegation. The members of the +Bundesrath are referred to quite frequently as ambassadors. There is no +need for discussion in the body since the delegations vote, in any +event, as a unit.</p> + +<p>The power of the German Bundesrath is, however, astonishing. Usually the +lower house is supposed to be the one in which originates legislation, +such as finance, affecting the people. But in Germany it is the +Bundesrath which has the power to tax, and the lower chamber, the +Reichstag, merely has the vetoing power.</p> + +<p>This makes the taxing power in Germany primarily the privilege of the +crown.</p> + +<p>The financial program is prepared by the Chancellor, who is the direct +representative of the Kaiser, and responsible only to him. In other +governments members of the ministry are appointed by the legislative +bodies, but the Chancellor is personally named by the Kaiser, and is not +even a member of the Reichstag. He has the right, however, to address +this body, as the privilege of a member of the Bundesrath of which, as +the personal representative of the Kaiser, he is the presiding officer.</p> + +<p>Since the Bundesrath, as already shown, practically controls the German +Empire, and the King of Prussia, with his seventeen votes in the +Bundesrath holds sway in that body, it is easy to see how the Kaiser is +the dominating figure in the German Empire.</p> + + +<h4>THE KAISER'S DUAL PREROGATIVE.</h4> + +<p>A unique provision of the German constitution is that fourteen votes in +the Bundesrath can defeat any proposed amendment, and since the Kaiser +controls seventeen votes, as King of Prussia, besides several others, he +has a voting strength which can block any attempt to change the regime. +Also, as King of Prussia, he can instruct his Chancellor to prepare laws +to be introduced in the Bundesrath.</p> + +<p>It is the power which the Kaiser possesses, as the King of Prussia, +which gives him his control as the German Emperor. Prussia is the +largest of the German states, and when the Kaiser, as King of Prussia, +says that he is master in Prussia, he speaks the truth.</p> + +<p>There is a ministry in Prussia, and the head of this body is usually the +same person who occupies the position of Imperial Chancellor, and the +Kaiser appoints this Minister as well as his associates, whom he can +remove without reference to the Ministry as a body. There are two +chambers in Prussian Ministry commonly known as the House of Peers, and +the House of Representatives.</p> + +<p>Just to give the King of Prussia a little more control, he has the right +to appoint all the members of the House of Peers, and also to designate +the number. The House of Representatives, on the face of it, is a +popular body, because the members are supposed to be elected by +universal suffrage. The taxpayers vote for representation in this +chamber, but they do not vote directly nor on equal terms.</p> + +<p>Members of the House of Representatives are chosen by an electoral +college, and several hundred of these colleges are selected at each +election. Though taxpayers vote for the electors, all the votes do not +have the same relative value. The taxpayers whose combined taxes +represent one-third of the whole amount of taxes in an electoral +district choose one-third of the members from that district to the +House. Those who pay the next one-third of the taxes choose another +third of the electors, and the remaining body of voters choose the last +third.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h3> + +<h4>UNCLE SAM AND THE NEUTRALS.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">President Wilson Puts Embargo on Food Shipments—Scandinavian +Countries Furnishing Supplies to Germany Inspires Order—The Difficult +Position of Norway, Denmark, Holland and Switzerland</span>.</p> + + +<p>When America first declared its intentions there were in the United +States thousands who held to the theory that "America in War" simply +meant that we should shut ourselves within our borders, perhaps furnish +supplies to the Allied forces, lend money to England, France, Belgium +and Russia, use our navy to protect our merchant shipping and go about +our business, leaving the fighting to the forces joined in conflict +against Germany.</p> + +<p>They were disabused when the English and French Commission and the +representatives of Belgium and Russia made it apparent that it would be +necessary for America to actually raise a fighting army and General +Pershing was sent to France. But they learned, too, that mobilizing the +forces of the country and waging warfare were not simple matters. The +truth was brought home that the whole nation must fight; that it must +use its brains, its money, its resources of every sort, its whole power, +both in an offensive and in a defensive way.</p> + +<p>Not only must its soldiers and sailors face the guns of the Teutons, but +the machinery of government must be used to bring the arrogant +Hohenzollerns to their knees. Some startling things were discovered, and +the brains of the diplomatic force of the government were put to the +test. International problems arose which were never before encountered +in the history of nations.</p> + +<p>England, with its blockade against Germany, and Germany with its +submarine warfare against British and neutral shipping, developed +problems which had to be solved relative to keeping Germany from +getting supplies which would enable her to withstand the siege, and also +as to the sending of supplies to England, Belgium, France and Russia, +and particularly to our own forces fighting with the Allies in France.</p> + + +<h4>A BIG FACTOR IN WAR.</h4> + +<p>Unfortunate as it may seem, one of the biggest factors in waging +successful war is to prevent the enemy from getting food supplies. It is +a frequently repeated truism that "an army travels on its stomach," and +in the pleas for conservation and efficient management the leaders in +every country declared frequently that "the war would be won by the last +loaf of bread," or that it was not a question of ammunition, but of +wheat.</p> + +<p>One of the serious problems which the government was therefore called to +face within a very short period after the American troops were first +landed in France was that of dealing with the food situation, both at +home and abroad. At that time the German U-boats had sunk merchant ships +having a total of more than 5,000,000 tonnage, and the food situation +was precarious in the Allied countries. Germany, on the other hand, +because of long preparation for the struggle, coupled with efficient +management and practices, was more largely independent of other +countries.</p> + +<p>At this time it was learned that Germany was securing large quantities +of foodstuffs through the medium of some of the neutral countries. +America was, therefore, called upon to take steps to prevent the Germans +getting supplies from this country, through the intermediary of Holland +and the Scandinavian countries. As a result the government placed an +embargo on a long list of articles including fuel, oils, grains, meats +and fodder. The embargo, which was made effective by a proclamation of +President Wilson, forbade the carrying of such supplies as were +mentioned from the United States or its territorial possessions to +neutral countries.</p> + +<p>The purpose of the embargo was not to prevent the neutral countries from +securing foodstuffs from America for their own consumption, but to +prevent their reselling such supplies at a profit to Germany. The +position of the government was made plain in the statement of President +Wilson, who said:</p> + + +<h4>DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN NEEDS.</h4> + +<p>"It is obviously the duty of the United States in liberating any surplus +products over and above our own domestic needs to consider first the +necessities of all the nations engaged in war against the central +empires. As to neutral nations, however, we also recognize our duty. The +government does not wish to hamper them. On the contrary, it wishes and +intends, by all fair and equitable means, to co-operate with them in +their difficult task of adding from our available surpluses to their own +domestic supply and of meeting their pressing necessities or deficits. +In considering the deficits of food supplies, the government means only +to fulfill its obvious obligation to assure itself that neutrals are +husbanding their own resources, and that our supplies will not become +available, either directly or indirectly, to feed the enemy."</p> + +<p>While the conservation of our resources had a great deal to do with the +issuing of the embargo, the action was partly taken as the result of +information lodged by England that Holland, Sweden and Norway had been +supplying Germany and her allies with food, despite the latter's hostile +action in sinking ships owned by the neutrals. The government made an +investigation and discovered that the shipment to these neutral +countries had become abnormally large. It was reported, particularly, +that many Holland business men had become fabulously wealthy by trading +in the supplies which came from America, and which they resold to +Germany.</p> + +<p>The embargo became operative under a method of license procedure, so +that all shipments could be watched by the government authorities. The +order compelled all persons seeking to export goods to make application +for a license to the Secretary of Commerce, or bureaus designated in +various parts of the country.</p> + +<p>In support of the contentions that the neutral countries were supplying +Germany, Great Britain furnished the Government with the following table +as representing the minimum of food exports from Scandinavia and Holland +to Germany in 1916: Butter, 82,600 metric tons; meat, 115,800 tons; pork +products, 68,800 tons; condensed milk, 70,000 tons; fish, 407 tons; +cheese, 80,500 tons; eggs, 46,400 tons; potato meal, 179,500 tons; +coffee, 58,500 tons; fruit, 74,000 tons; sugar, 12,000 tons; vegetables, +215,000.</p> + +<p>These figures are most impressive, it is asserted, in relation to fats, +the scarcest thing in Germany. Fat, it is claimed, is the only food +seriously lacking now in the diet of the German people. Imports of this +food, the British declare, furnish one-fourth of the daily German fat +ration.</p> + + +<h4>NATIONS WHO SUFFER FROM EMBARGO.</h4> + +<p>There are five neutral countries whose positions were anything but +enviable during the war, and it is perhaps worth interpolating a little +something about them at this particular point. Norway, Sweden, Holland, +Denmark and Switzerland were the neutrals at the time the embargo was +placed on foodstuffs.</p> + +<p>Switzerland, as all the world knows, is one of the most picturesque +countries in Europe, and is a republic in the west central part of the +continent, bounded on the north by Baden, Wurtemburg and Bavaria; on the +east by the Tyrol, on the south by Italy and on the west by France. +There is no national tongue, three languages being spoken within the +boundaries of the republic. Where it comes in contact with the French +frontier, the French language is largely spoken; while Italian is the +language spoken in the southern part, where it is bounded by Italy. In +the northern section the German language is spoken. The country has an +area of 15,992 square miles.</p> + +<p>In the main, Switzerland is mountainous, the chief valley being that of +the Rhone, in the southern part. The most level tracts are in the +northwestern section, where there are a number of mountain-locked +valleys. Mountain slopes comprise about two-fifths of the area of the +country, and practically all of the rivers are rapid and unnavigable. +The forests are extensive and consist of large trees. Cereals, along +with hemp, flax and tobacco, are raised, and the pasture lands are +fertile and abundant. Hence, the dairy products, as well as hides and +tallow, are produced in profusion. Fruits of the hardier varieties grow +well and profitably.</p> + + +<h4>A FEDERAL UNION.</h4> + +<p>The republic consists of twenty-two States or Cantons which form a +Federal Union, although each is virtually independent in matters of +politics. The Swiss Constitution, remodelled in 1848, vests the ruling +executive and legislative authority in a Diet of two houses—a State +Council and a National Council. The former consists of 44 members—two +from each Canton—and corresponds in its functional action with the +United States Senate. The National Council is the more purely +representative body, and is composed of 128 members elected triennially +by popular suffrage. Both chambers combine and form what is called the +Federal Assembly.</p> + +<p>The chief executive power is exercised by the so-called Federal Council, +or Bundesgericht, which is elected triennially. Its governing officers +are the President and Vice President of the republic. International and +inter-cantonal questions are discussed before and adjudicated by the +Bundesgericht, which serves as a high court of appeal. The army consists +of 142,999 regulars and 91,809 landwehr; total, 231,808 men of all arms. +Every adult citizen is de facto liable to military service, and +military drill and discipline are taught in all the schools. The +Protestant faith forms the ruling form of religion in 15 of the cantons, +Roman Catholicism prevailing in the rest. Education is well diffused by +numerous colleges and schools of a high grade; and its upper branches +are cared for at the three universities of Berne, Basle and Zurich.</p> + +<p>Denmark, whose home possessions comprise 14,789 square miles, is, by the +way, barely one-half the size of Scotland. It consists of a peninsular +portion called Jutland, and an extensive archipelago lying east of it. +It has a number of territorial possessions in the Atlantic ocean, among +them the islands of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe islands in the +north.</p> + + +<h4>GERMAN AMBITION FRUSTRATED.</h4> + +<p>One of its possessions in the West Indies was purchased by the United +States almost at the time America entered the war, and created a +situation which was not calculated to inspire the friendship of Germany +for the little country, since it was intimated that Germany would liked +to have had the island for a base. The islands cost the United States +about $25,000,000. Including the colonial possessions, the total area of +the Danish possessions is 80,000 square miles, the population being +2,726,000 persons.</p> + +<p>Copenhagen is the capital, the other chief cities being Odense, Aarhuus, +Aalborg, Randers and Horsens. For administrative purposes Denmark is +divided into 18 provinces or districts, besides the capital, nine of +these making up Jutland and the other nine comprising the island +possessions. On the south Denmark is bounded by Germany and the Baltic, +on the west it is washed by the North Sea; while to the north lies +Norway, separated by the Skagerrack, and on the east lies Sweden, +separated by the Cattegat and the Sound.</p> + +<p>The line of seaboard is irregular and broken, and the low, flat nature +of the country necessitates the construction of dykes, in many places, +in order to prevent the ocean from making inroads. There are few +rivers, and these are small and not of value commercially. Timber is not +abundant, and minerals are scarce and of little value. The climate is +generally moist and cold, fogs are frequent and the winters generally +severe. Cereals, potatoes, wool and dairy products are the principal +products. Cattle raising is carried on extensively, much of the beef +being exported.</p> + +<p>The Danes, physically, are sturdy, and represent the truest physical +characteristics of Scandinavian types. The people are brave, sober and +industrious, and the sailors from this country are among the leading +navigators of the world. The government is a constitutional monarchy, +with the executive power vested in a king and a ministry, who are held +responsible to the Rigsdag, which is the parliament.</p> + + +<h4>LANDSTHING AND FOLKSTHING.</h4> + +<p>This parliament consists of a Senate, or Landsthing, and a lower house, +or Folksthing. The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the State religion, +but all other persuasions are fully and freely tolerated. Education is +compulsory, and is largely disseminated. The army consists of 60,000 +men, while the navy is quite small, having a personnel of about 4000 +officers and men.</p> + +<p>The authentic history dates from 1385, the year of the accession of +Margaret, the "Semiramis of the North," and wearer of the triple +Scandinavian crowns. The latest monarch, Frederick VIII, came to the +throne in 1906.</p> + +<p>Holland, the most picturesque of the neutral countries, aside from +Switzerland with its wonderful scenery, is credited with having profited +very largely by the war. It rests along the North Sea and adjoins the +German Empire on the east and borders Belgium on the South. It contains +about 11 provinces, with a total area of 12,582 square miles and a +population of about 6,000,000.</p> + +<p>Always one thinks of windmills, dykes, fat cattle, butter, eggs, ducks +and green farms when Holland is mentioned, and it is in many respects +one of the most highly developed commercial countries in the world. The +country manufactures many articles of world-wide distribution, including +chocolate, linens, fine damasks, pottery, chemical and pharmaceutical +products, and Amsterdam is a center of diamond-cutting.</p> + +<p>It has a large mercantile marine and was at one time a tremendous +maritime power, doing an immense trading business in many waters. It +still has rich and extensive colonies, including the Dutch possessions +in the East Indies, comprising the Sunda Islands, except a portion of +Borneo and Eastern Timor, and New Guinea. Java and Madura are two of the +richest of the group and have a population of more than 30,000,000. +There are also possessions in the West Indies and in South America.</p> + + +<h4>A SMALL BUT EFFICIENT ARMY.</h4> + +<p>The Dutch army has approximately 40,000 officers and men and is regarded +as one of the most efficient armies in the world of its size. There is +also a colonial army in the East Indies with 1300 officers and 35,183 +men. Its navy has 4000 officers and men and has about 200 vessels of all +sorts, none of them of the modern dreadnought or super-dreadnought type.</p> + +<p>The history of the rich little country is one of the most interesting in +literature. It was originally part of the Empire of Charlemagne. +Subsequently, it became divided into a number of petty principalities, +and by heritage became a possession of the Austrian monarchy. In the +long struggle against the Spanish power it became one of the Seven +United Provinces. The country made rapid progress, and during the 17th +century withstood the power of Louis the XIV of France, but later was +overrun by the French, and finally in 1806 was made a kingdom by +Napoleon, in favor of his brother Louis. Under the Treaty of Paris +Belgium and Holland were united to form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, +and this arrangement remained until 1830, when Belgium broke away. +Holland attempted to reduce the revolting province by force, but the +powers intervened and an adjustment was made. The last King was William, +III, who died in 1890, leaving his daughter Wilhelmina, then but 10 +years old, Queen.</p> + +<p>Of the neutral countries none endured more than heroic Norway. With a +long coast line practically undefended and with the full force of the +German navy anchored but a few hours away, and a none too friendly +country on her land border, possessing an army greater than her own, +Norway's position was extremely difficult.</p> + +<p>Had she flung herself into the war with the Allies when the breach came +she would have been of little help to them, for she would have placed +them in the position of being called upon to help defend her long coast +line. It is probable also that a break with Germany would have let loose +the Swedish army on the side of the Teutons.</p> + + +<h4>BETWEEN TWO FIRES.</h4> + +<p>The little country was between two fires, and she suffered great strain. +In the first place, while Norway attempted to maintain her export trade +and her shipping, the Allies inspected her import invoices and subjected +her to much annoyance, while Germany, without provocation, ruthlessly +attacked her merchant ships and sent many of them to the bottom of the +ocean.</p> + +<p>There were intimations that Germany's real intent was to precipitate a +rupture which would justify her attack on the little country, which she +would be able to subdue with ease and seize the rugged coast and ports +of vantage. But Norway remained neutral, and was not at all pleased with +the embargo placed upon shipments by the United States, though it +developed that the restrictions would not prevent the country from +getting its share of grain and other supplies from America.</p> + +<p>Norway is the western portion of the Scandinavian peninsula, and has an +area of about 125,000 square miles. Its northern coast is washed by the +cold waters of the Arctic Ocean, and against the northeast is Lapland, +while Sweden bounds it on the east and the famed North Sea on the south +and the broad Atlantic on the west.</p> + +<p>The rugged country is separated from Sweden by the Kiolen, or the Great +Scandinavian chain of mountains, and in the hills and mountains are +found the wonderful Norway spruce and fir trees familiar in commerce. +Its fisheries and shipbuilding industry are also of great importance in +the world of business.</p> + + +<h4>DEMOCRACY OF NORWAY.</h4> + +<p>The constitution of Norway is one of the most Democratic in all Europe. +Although a monarchy, its executive and legislative power is vested in +the parliament, called the Storthing, and the King has merely a nominal +command over the army and navy, with power to appoint the +governor-general only. The latter has a limited right to veto acts of +the parliament. Hereditary nobility was abolished in 1821.</p> + +<p>Under the treaty of Vienna in 1814, and following the defeat of +Napoleon, it was arranged that Denmark must give up Norway, and the two +countries were united under the Swedish Crown. Norway demanded a +separate consular service in 1905, and the Storthing declared the union +with Sweden at an end. Prince Charles of Denmark then became King, +reigning as Haakon VII.</p> + +<p>The country has a population of 2,340,000, and her full military force +mobilized for war is only 110,000 men.</p> + +<p>Sweden, Norway's next-door neighbor on the Scandinavian peninsula, in +contradistinction to the latter, is a constitutional monarchy, with +extraordinary powers vested in the King, who is assisted in the +administration of affairs by a council of ministers. The Diet, or +legislature, consists of two chambers, or estates, both elected by the +people.</p> + +<p>Like Norway, the country is very rugged. Lapland and Finland are at the +northeast, and on the east is the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic, and on +the south the Baltic, the Sound and the Cattegat. It joins Norway on the +west. Its area is 172,875 square miles, and its coast line is more than +1400 miles long.</p> + +<p>Sweden, while it does not have a first-class navy, possesses a score of +armored vessels of small displacement, besides torpedo boats, +destroyers, etc., and has an army of 40,000 at peace strength. The +country is particularly rich in minerals, and some of the finest iron +ore in the world comes from its mines. Nickel, lead, cobalt, alum and +sulphur are also produced in large quantities; while it gives to the +world, too, immense quantities of lumber and larger quantities of hemp, +flax and hops.</p> + +<p>The reigning monarch is King Gustavus V, who succeeded his father, Oscar +II, who died in 1907. The population of the country is about 5,000,000.</p> + +<p>Of these neutrals, both Holland and Switzerland did a great deal for the +suffering Belgians when Germany pounded through the country of King +Albert, sending money for the relief of the sufferers and offering +refugees shelter.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h3> + +<h4>THE ACTIONS OF THE WAR.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">From Bosnia to Flanders—Marne the Turning Point of the +Conflict—The Conquests of Servia and Rumania—The Fall of +Bagdad—Russia's Women Soldiers—America's Conscripts</span>.</p> + + +<p>The end of August, 1917, found twenty-one nations in a state of war and +five in what might be termed a condition of modified neutrality, with +nearly 40,000,000 summoned to arms and 5,000,000 killed in bitter +warfare.</p> + +<p>This was the fiery reflection of the shots which caused the death of the +Archduke Francis Ferdinand, of Austria, in the quiet little town of +Serajevo, the capital of Bosnia, in June, 1914. And so, with their backs +to the wall, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Turkey and Bulgaria faced Servia, +Russia, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Montenegro, Japan, Italy, +Portugal, Rumania, the United States, Cuba, Brazil, Greece, Siam, China +and little Liberia, while Guatemala, Panama, Haiti, Uruguay and Bolivia +stood by in a position of neutrality, but for the most part indicating a +willingness to help the Allies.</p> + +<p>And in those elapsed three years after the Bosnia tragedy an Emperor of +Austria had died; a Czar had stepped from his throne, and a King had +been compelled to toss aside his crown. Prime Ministers and Ministers of +War in all of the principal countries, who held the confidence of their +peoples when the war started, were no more.</p> + +<p>Cabinets had been dissolved and new ones set up, statesmen brushed aside +and commanders of the war forces compelled to step out that others might +carry on the battles.</p> + +<p>Though it was Austria's ultimatum to Servia which precipitated the +world-wide struggle, it was Germany that took the first step and crossed +the French frontier with its armed forces. After Servia refused to +accede to all of the demands of Austria-Hungary and war had formally +been declared by the latter country, Russia began a partial mobilization +of her armed forces, since she had given warning that she would extend +protection to Servia. Germany retaliated by calling together her warring +forces and declaring war on the Czar; France came to Russia's aid. Then +when Belgium refused to permit the German army to pass through the +country and Germany disregarded international treaties and invaded the +territory, Great Britain declared war upon the Kaiser, and Montenegro +aligned itself with the Allies.</p> + + +<h4>GERMANY'S DESIGNS ON PARIS.</h4> + +<p>Germany's action and subsequent events prove that the war lords had +planned to capture Paris by a swift attack from the north, before France +could gather her forces to resist and before Russia was prepared to +assist. Belgium, however, proved a stumbling block. The natives, +battling like demons for the protection of their homes and honor, held +the Teuton hordes at Liege for several weeks, or until the famous +fortifications there were reduced, and then the terrible machine of the +Germans swept forward until the soldiers were within fifteen miles of +the French capital.</p> + +<p>It was here, within a few hours' march of Paris, that the French and +Allied troops showed their real metal. General Joffre met the German +hordes beside the River Marne and with his troops began the battle which +was to guarantee the security of the French capital and result in the +routing of the army of Von Kluck, regarded as the pick of the Prussian +forces. In the famed battle of the Marne there were fought a number of +separate engagements, which have been termed the battles of Meaux, +Sezanne, Vitry and Argonne.</p> + +<p>The German forces were driven back step by step to the north bank of the +Aisne, where the army was able to entrench itself and the Germans and +the Allied forces began digging themselves into the ground in a manner +that had never before been practised in warfare.</p> + +<p>While Germany was striking at France, the Russians had invaded Austria, +capturing Tarnapol and Lemberg and investing the great fortress of +Prezemsyl. Austria was compelled to call upon Germany for assistance and +four German army corps, under Von Hindenburg, were drawn from East +Prussia and went to the rescue. Instead of trying to stem the progress +of the Russians, he made a counter offensive with Warsaw as the +objective. Russia was compelled for a time to abandon its positions and +retreat, and Von Hindenburg got within seven miles of Warsaw before the +Russians rode down upon his forces with 100,000 horsemen and compelled +retreat. Von Hindenburg's strategy had, however, been successful, and +his action on the Eastern front at this time marked the first step +toward his pre-eminence as a military commander.</p> + + +<h4>BRITISH AND GERMAN FORCES COMPARED.</h4> + +<p>During 1915 the Allied forces were able to do little more than hold +their positions. Lord Kitchener had builded up a British volunteer army +in which great hopes were placed, but in the matter of offensive +military tactics they could not cope with the formidable German forces, +nor had the Allies developed an offensive which would win without +terrible sacrifice, and in the encounters the very flower of Great +Britain's manhood, as well as thousands of the best fighting men of +France, were lost to the world forever. It was in this year, when +Germany made use of asphyxiating gas for the first time, that Canada +received its most stinging blow. The famous Princess Pats, the finest +military body of the Dominion, was practically annihilated, and in the +final formidable attack of the year made by the French against the +Germans in September, the latter were driven back several miles, but at +a cost of more than 100,000 French lives.</p> + +<p>In this year, too, the Germans succeeded in capturing much territory and +a number of valuable positions which had been taken by the Russians, and +the combined forces of Von Hindenburg and Von Mackensen finally +conquered Poland. Warsaw was evacuated in July, and in August Prince +Leopold led the Bavarian into the Polish capital. On August 19 the great +stronghold of Kovno fell, and the conquest was made complete with the +surrender of Brest-Litovsk.</p> + + +<h4>CONQUEST OF SERVIA.</h4> + +<p>The conquest of Servia by the Teutons also marked the year 1915. Among +the first shots of the war were those fired by the Austrians when they +bombarded Belgrade, the capital of Servia, and made an attempt to invade +the country. The Servians and Montenegrins almost annihilated Austrian +troops which attempted to cross the Danube into Servia, and the Austrian +invasion fell. But the combined Austro-German forces invaded the country +later as part of the Prussian program to conquer all the territory from +the Baltic to the Bosporus. The Entente Allies made an effort to save +the little country by landing troops at Salonica, but it was too late. +Just before winter set in, the Austro-German forces and the Bulgarian +forces, invading from opposite sides, met, and the conquest of the +country was complete.</p> + +<p>It was in 1915, too, that what is conceded to have been one of the most +disastrous and futile campaigns of the war was attempted by England. +Constantinople was to be captured and the Turks crushed, with a view of +opening communication with Russia by way of the Black Sea. The British +fleet was sent out to bombard the Dardanelles, and the now famous +Anzacs—Australian and New Zealand troops—were landed on the peninsula +of Gallipoli to strike at the Turkish capital from behind. The campaign +was waged through the summer, but with little hope of success, and +finally abandoned after the British had lost more than 100,000 of its +most daring, hard-fighting and loyal Colonial soldiers.</p> + +<p>After this came "Verdun"—that conflict in which France won immortal +glory and the German's attack upon the French fortress town of Verdun +was successfully repulsed. The battle raged for four months, beginning +in February, 1916. The German troops, with the German Crown Prince in +command, captured two forts close to Verdun, but little by little the +French troops drove them back, and finally, in command of General +Nivelle, with General Petain looking after the defense of Verdun, the +French, co-operating with the British, made an attack on the Somme, and +the Germans were compelled to abandon the Verdun offensive. In the +Verdun campaign the Germans lost more than 500,000 men, while the French +lost not half the number.</p> + + +<h4>RUSSIA'S CONQUEST OF ARMENIA.</h4> + +<p>Russia's conquest of Armenia was one of the features of 1916. The troops +under General Brussiloff renewed their endeavors in Galicia and for +several months made great progress; then Rumania entered the war and the +Russian forces in Galicia slowed down. In Caucasus, however, Russian +troops gained Erzerum, one of the Turk fortresses, and captured the +seaport of Trebizond, practically gaining Armenia. Like the Germans in +retreat from Flanders, the Turks practiced unspeakable horrors. Their +cruelties were such as to almost exterminate the race.</p> + +<p>The tragedy of the Balkans in 1916 was Rumania. With an army of more +than half a million men, she entered the war with the approval of the +Entente and entered Transylvania. But the Germans began a counter-attack +in Dobrudja, and the Rumanians were compelled to withdraw some of their +forces from Transylvania. The German commander then threw his forces +across the remaining Rumanians and drove them across the border, after +which he swung his own troops through the mountain passes into Rumania. +The two German forces invading Rumania met at Bucharest, and the +Rumanian capital was occupied.</p> + +<p>Another fiasco was that of the British expeditionary force which was +sent from India by way of the Persian Gulf and up the Tigris river to +Bagdad. General Townsend succeeded in getting within 15 miles of Bagdad, +but he was defeated by a superior Turkish force and compelled to fall +back to Kut-el-Amara. Here his inadequate force, lacking medical and +transport facilities, was fairly starved out before he was relieved. He +was finally compelled to surrender the last week in April, 1916.</p> + +<p>Little more than a year after the collapse of this expedition, however, +the famous old city of Bagdad was captured by the English after a +well-directed campaign under General Maude.</p> + + +<h4>ITALY'S HELP TO THE ALLIES.</h4> + +<p>Italy, having begun active warfare with the Allies in 1915, waged war +along the Austrian border, compelling the Austro-German forces to +concentrate a larger body of troops for duty on the Italian frontier, +and to that extent materially assisted the Allies. At the same time the +Italians fought their way up over the mountains and won more than 500 +square miles of territory and took nearly 90,000 prisoners.</p> + +<p>The final alignment of the Greeks with the Allies marked the progress of +affairs in the middle of 1917, when Constantine was forced from his +throne in favor of his second son, and Venizelos was returned as +Premier. But the entrance of the Greeks did not materially alter the +situation.</p> + +<p>The two most important events of 1917 were the entrance of America into +the conflict and the revolt in Russia, which caused the abdication of +the Czar and turned the great country into a republic. The ultimate in +Russia's history is still to be written, but the change was fraught with +disaster. The people let free, and unaccustomed to self-government, +could not be controlled, and the army became demoralized.</p> + +<p>The element which had been loyal to the Romanoffs refused to fight for +liberty, and the Germans, taking advantage of the situation, drove the +Russian troops back over the frontiers and gained all that the Russians +had once taken in conflict. And out of this grew one of the most +picturesque incidents of the entire war. Russian women and girls, filled +with ideals and with a deep sense of the responsibilities which rested +upon the nation, formed a corps, and, dressed in full military costume, +went to the front and attacked the German troops. No soldiers of any +nation have shown more heroism, or more capability, for the women faced +the bullets, and, while they were being mowed down by the German guns, +they urged their men to face the enemy and fight—fight—fight.</p> + + +<h4>BRITISH NAVY AN EFFECTIVE ASSET.</h4> + +<p>While there have been few of the picturesque battles on the seas, which +the world has long regarded as a necessary adjunct to a successful war, +the work of the British Navy has proved through the period of the +conflict to be one of the most powerful and effective assets of the +Allied forces. Through the operation of the British fleet, later +augmented by an American war fleet, the German ships have been corked up +in their home ports and chased from the seas.</p> + +<p>The first naval battle of the war was an engagement between portions of +the British squadron in the Pacific and a superior German force. The +engagement occurred off the coast of Chili in November, 1915. Two +British vessels were lost and a third badly damaged. However, a few +months later, the German squadron, in command of Admiral von Spee, was +met off the Falkland Islands by a second British squadron, and in the +engagement four of the German vessels were sunk and a fifth damaged. +This vessel was later sunk.</p> + +<p>The most important naval engagement was the battle of Jutland in May, +1916, when Admiral Beatty met a German fleet in the North Sea. The +German boats made a dash from the Kiel canal and engaged the British off +the coast of Denmark. Both England and Germany claimed victory, the +former declaring that Germany lost eighteen ships, while the German +Government claimed that the British lost fifteen vessels. Berlin +admitted a loss of 60,720 tons and 3966 men, while England conceded a +loss of more than 114,000 tons and 5613 men. But the English fleet which +engaged the German fighting ships was but a small portion of the force +on guard outside of Helgoland and the Kiel Canal, and the effect was to +keep the German navy from venturing forth again.</p> + +<p>These are the main events which had punctuated the action of the world's +fighting machines at the close of August, 1917, when America was +preparing to thwart the German U-boats in their destruction of the +world's shipping, and had under actual call to arms more than 1,000,000 +men, a minor part of which had been safely landed in France.</p> + + +<h4>WORLD'S AWFUL MARITIME LOSS.</h4> + +<p>In the three months prior to August the German underseas boats had sunk +464 vessels, or an average of 426,000 tons of shipping a month, while +America, working with her fleets in conjunction with the British Navy to +foil the submarine in its endeavors, was also building more than 12,000 +cargo-carrying craft and submarine chasers with which to flood the +traffic lanes of the sea.</p> + +<p>Likewise, contracts had been awarded for 10,000 flying machines with +which to drive the "eyes of the German army," as the air machines are +called, from the heavens. Finally, as the Allies in the closing days of +August were driving the German hordes back under avalanches of shells, +629,000 of the youth of America, called to fight under the conscript +act, were preparing to move to camps in a dozen different sections of +the country to train themselves for invading foreign countries and +facing the brutal Teutons. Likewise, some 20,000 picked men were +training to officer these civilian forces, and half a million men of the +National Guards of the various States, formally mustered into the +service of the country, were moving by orders of the Government to +points whence they would find their way to the side of the loyal French +soldiers and the sturdy English, Scotch, Canadian, Australian and virile +Italian fighters.</p> + +<p>The records of three years show that the American ambulance drivers; +daring thousands of our countrymen who fought with the French and +English because they believed the war was a just one, and without +compulsion; scores of Red Cross nurses, and aviators who hunted the +Teutons in the air, all Americans, have had their names written high in +the roster of heroes. Americans have always been pioneers and history +makers, and they are making history now.</p> + +<p>With the approach of cold weather, and following months of intensive +training under the direction of French and English soldiers, the +American expeditionary forces began actual participation in the great +world war as a unit. Previously their achievements were principally in +connection with the French aviation corps and ambulance sections.</p> + + +<h4>SINKING OF FIRST AMERICAN WAR BOAT.</h4> + +<p>The first untoward incident involving America's forces on land or sea +was the sinking of the transport Antilles on October 27, 1917, by a +German submarine, when 67 men—officers, seamen and soldiers—were lost. +The vessel was returning from a French port after having landed troops +and supplies. This was the first loss sustained by the United States, +and the event brought home the seriousness of the country's +participation in the war as no previous event had done.</p> + +<p>Almost immediately following this the world awoke one morning to learn +that silently and unheralded the American soldiers had marched from +their quarters in a French village to the "front" and in a slough of mud +had entered the trenches, and for the first time in history United +States troops launched shells against the forces of Germany.</p> + +<p>The initial shot was fired by artillerists at the break of day on +October 24, and America was formally made an active agent in the horrors +of warfare on "No Man's Land." Ten days later the brave Americans, +occupying a position in the trenches for instruction, early on the +morning of Saturday, November 3, received their baptism of fire, and in +the cause of Democracy 3 soldiers were killed, 5 wounded and 12 captured +by the Boche forces.</p> + +<p>Cut off from the main line of the Allied forces, the Americans were +stormed under the protection of a heavy barrage fire by a German raiding +party and engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand encounter. The 20 +Americans, with several French instructors, according to official +report, were pitted against 210 picked Germans. A rain of shells from +Boche guns was laid back of the American section so that there was no +retreat. The lieutenant in command made a heroic attempt to reach the +main fighting line, but was caught in the barrage fire and rendered +unconscious from shell-shock.</p> + +<p>Previously American scouts had captured a German prisoner—a mail +runner; Lieutenant de Vere H. Harden, of the Signal Corps had been +wounded by a bursting German shell, and a German gunner was reported +killed by an American sharpshooter, as opening incidents of the +skirmish.</p> + +<p>And so at the beginning of November, 1917, with the whole United States +giving support to the Government in subscribing upwards of five billions +of dollars to the second Liberty Loan, and all forces working to +conserve food, furnish men, ships, ammunition, clothing and supplies to +her own troops and to her Allies, the world found America true to +traditions, battling for the right and giving her best that liberty +might endure and the burden of Prussianism be lifted from humanity.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h3> + +<h4>AMERICAN FORCES BECOME FACTOR.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">United States Soldiers Inspired Allied Troops—Russian Government +Collapses—Italian Army Fails—Allied War Council Formed—Foch Commands +Allied Armies—Pershing Offers American Troops—Under Fire—U-Boat Bases +Raided by British</span>.</p> + + +<p>The influence exerted by the actual presence of the American troops on +the western front was soon apparent. The spirits of the English, French +and Canadian troops were raised and the presence of the Americans was +heralded to the world as an evidence of complete unity on the part of +the Allies that meant ultimate death to Kaiserism.</p> + +<p>The advent of Uncle Sam's fighting men on the firing line had, however, +one serious effect, viewed from the Allied standpoint. Germany realized +that every day she delayed in making attack meant the strengthening of +the Allied forces by the arrival of additional United States troops, and +it was seen by the English and French leaders that the Kaiser would make +an early drive to annihilate, if possible, the stubbornly resisting, +though somewhat tired and weakened, lines opposing his brutal soldiery. +Not for months, therefore, was it permitted the world to know anything +about the numerical strength of the American troops sent into France.</p> + +<p>Simultaneously with the action of American troops in entering the +resisting line of Allied troops on the western front the Austro-German +troops had swept into the Italian plains, capturing 100,000 prisoners +and upward of 1,000 guns, taking several towns and compelling the +retreat of the Second and Third Italian armies. The Italian forces were +opposed by four times their number, but it was also said that the unity +of the Italian forces was broken by the spreading of German propaganda.</p> + +<p>The failure of some of the troops was shown in an official dispatch from +Rome, in which it was stated:</p> + +<p>"The failure to resist on the part of some units forming our second +army, which in cowardice retired without fighting or surrendered to the +enemy, allowed the Austro-German forces to break into our left wing on +the Julian front. The valiant efforts of other troops did not enable +them to prevent the enemy from advancing into the sacred soil of our +fatherland. We now are withdrawing our line according to the plan +prepared. All stores and depots in the evacuated places were destroyed."</p> + + +<h4>ITALIAN HEADQUARTERS CAPTURED.</h4> + +<p>These troops were compelled to fall back along a front almost 125 miles +long and Undine, the Italian headquarters, was captured. Germany had +found the weakest spot in the Italian line and occupied about 1,000 +square miles of territory before General Cadorna's forces were able to +establish a line of strong defense.</p> + +<p>The retirement of the Italian troops was one of the most picturesque in +the history of the war, and Germany made her gains at terrible cost.</p> + +<p>The retirement was accompanied by shielding operations of the rear +guard, which poured a deadly fire into the advancing columns and at the +same time destroyed powder depots, arsenals and bridges with the double +purpose of giving time for the withdrawal of the Italian heavy guns and +of preventing military stores falling into the hands of the enemy.</p> + +<p>The Germans encountered stubborn resistance on the Bainsizza plateau, +and heaps of enemy dead marked the lines of their advance. Around Globo +ridge a bersaglieri brigade, outnumbered five to one, held back the +enemy while the main line had an opportunity to get its retreat in +motion. In one of the mountain passes a small village commanding the +pass was taken and retaken eight times during desperate artillery, +infantry and hand-to-hand fighting.</p> + +<p>Before the Italians were able to establish a line of resistance they +were compelled to fall back to the Piave, and at some points to a much +greater distance. Meantime the Allies rushed assistance to the retiring +forces, and while the collapse of Cadorna's line was unfortunate, it had +the effect of making it more obvious that there should be more unity of +operation between the Allied forces.</p> + +<p>Russia's republic, under the leadership of Premier Kerensky, collapsing +at the same moment, intensified the seriousness of the Allied situation, +and largely at the suggestion of America an Inter-Allied War Council was +formed.</p> + + +<h4>REVOLT IN PETROGRAD.</h4> + +<p>Premier Kerensky called upon the United States to help Russia bear the +burdens of conflict until the forces could be reorganized by the new +government. Almost immediately there was revolt in Petrograd, and the +radicals under the leadership of Leon Trotsky, president of the +Executive Committee of the Petrograd Council of Soldiers' and Workmen's +Delegates, seized the telegraph wires, the State bank and Marie Palace, +where the preliminary parliament had suspended proceedings in view of +the situation.</p> + +<p>The Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates assumed control of the City of +Petrograd and Kerensky was compelled to flee. The Winter Palace was +bombarded. A General Council of the Soldiers' and Workmen's Delegates +announced the taking over of government authority:</p> + +<p>"We plan to offer an immediate armistice of three months, during which +elected representatives from all nations and not the diplomats are to +settle the questions of peace," said Nikolai Lenine, the Maximalist +leader, in a speech before the Workmen's and Soldiers' Congress today.</p> + +<p>"We offer these terms," M. Lenine added, "but we are willing to +consider any proposals for peace, no matter from which side. We offer a +just peace, but will not accept unjust terms."</p> + +<p>Meantime General Cadorna was relieved of command of the Italian armies +and General Diaz put at the head of the Italian forces, while General +Foch, chief of staff of the French War Ministry, and General Wilson, +sub-chief of the British Staff, were made members of an Inter-Allied +Military Committee serving with General Cadorna to straighten out the +Italian situation. This was the first step looking to the unifying of +the Allied forces which was brought about shortly thereafter by the +formation of the Inter-Allied War Council at Versailles. It was chiefly +at the suggestion of President Wilson that the War Council was called, +the President issuing a stirring appeal in which he pointed out the +necessity of unity of control, if the resources of the United States +were to be of the greatest value to the Allied interests.</p> + + +<h4>SUPREME WAR COUNCIL.</h4> + +<p>The Supreme War Council, which was made a permanent body, was composed +of the Prime Minister and a member of the Government of each of the +Great Powers whose armies were fighting at the front. Each Power +delegated to the Supreme Council a permanent military representative +whose function was to act as adviser to the Council. As the result of +the deliberations of the War Council, and following the suggestion of +General Pershing, General Foch was made Commander-in-Chief of the Allied +Armies. General Foch was Commander of the French troops at Verdun and a +recognized authority on military strategy.</p> + +<p>While the problem of solving the military phases of the situation was +being considered by the Allied War Council the Russian forces under +Kerensky and those under Trotzky, known as the Bolsheviki, clashed again +and again at Petrograd, Moscow and other points, and the hope of the +Allies as to any help from Russia sank. Germany entered into a peace +compact with Ukrainia, and the hand of the Kaiser was seen in the +Russian situation when officers of the German Army were reported in +Petrograd in conference with the representatives of the various Russian +factions. Russia suggested a separate armistice, or a separate peace, +against which both the U.S. and France protested.</p> + +<p>The failure of the Russian Government to assume any degree of stability +made it possible for the Germans to withdraw many troops and transfer +them to the Italian and Western Fronts.</p> + +<p>One result of the Allied War Council deliberations was to show the +necessity of rapid action on the part of the United States and get +troops into France so that they might take over a definite sector. While +it was estimated that several hundred thousand Americans were in France, +the necessity for a larger force was made apparent by the statement that +90 reserves are required for every 400 fighters on the line.</p> + + +<h4>DROPPED THEIR TOOLS FOR RIFLES.</h4> + +<p>The first bitter attack in which American troops figured was when a +company of United States engineers, caught between cross-fires, dropped +their tools for rifles and joined the English troops in helping to +repulse the Germans near Cambrai.</p> + +<p>A notable event in the progress of the war was the declaration of war +upon Austria by the U.S. on Dec. 8, 1917, Congress adopting a resolution +of war with but one dissenting vote.</p> + +<p>Events which brought the seriousness of the war home to America began at +this point to occur rapidly. First the Torpedo Boat Destroyer Jacob +Jones was sunk in the war zone when nearly 30 men were reported lost. +This was followed shortly by a report to the War Department that 17 +Americans caught in the cross-fire by the Germans at Cambrai were +missing or killed. The report of the sinking of the Alcedo, a patrol +boat, with the loss of several officers, was also received, as was that +of the sinking of the U.S. Destroyer "Chauncey" rammed in a collision, +when two officers and eighteen men were lost.</p> + +<p>One of the high spots of the war and one of the notable events in the +history of the world, was the surrender of the City of Jerusalem to the +British on Saturday, December 8, 1917. Gen. Allenby entered the famed +city and established his troops on the ancient Jerico Road.</p> + +<p>The capture of Jerusalem by the British forces marked the end, with two +brief interludes, of more than 1200 years' possession of the seat of the +Christian religion by the Mohammedans. For 673 years the Holy City had +been in disputed ownership of the Turks, the last Christian ruler of +Jerusalem being the German Emperor, Frederick, whose short-lived +domination lasted from 1229 to 1244.</p> + + +<h4>THE FALL OF JERUSALEM.</h4> + +<p>Apart from its connection with the campaign being waged against Turkey +by the British in Mesopotamia, the fall of Jerusalem marked the definite +collapse of the long-protracted efforts of the Turks to capture the Suez +Canal and invade Egypt. Almost the first move made by Turkey after her +entrance into the war was a campaign against Egypt across the great +desert of the Sinai Peninsula. In November, 1914, a Turkish army, +variously estimated at from 75,000 to 250,000 men, marched on the Suez +Canal and succeeded in reaching within striking distance of the great +artificial waterway at several points. For several months bitter +fighting took place, the canal being defended by an Anglo-Egyptian army +aided by Australians and New Zealanders and French and British forces.</p> + +<p>For the greater part of 1915 conflicting reports of the situation were +received from the belligerents, but in December of that year definite +information showed that the Turks had been driven back as far as El +Arish, about eighty-five miles east of the canal. A lull occurred then +which lasted for six months, and in June, 1916, the Turks again advanced +as far at Katieh, about fifteen miles east of the canal. Here they were +decisively defeated, losing more than 3000 prisoners and a great +quantity of equipment.</p> + +<p>Another period followed in which the situation was greatly confused +through the vagueness and contradictory character of the official +statements, but in December, 1916, the British stormed El Arish and a +few days later severely defeated the Turks at Maghdabah, about sixty +miles to the south on the same front. Two weeks later the invaders had +been driven out of Egypt and the British forces crossed the border into +Palestine. On March 7 they captured El Khulil, southeast of Gaza.</p> + +<p>By November 22 the British had pushed within five miles of Jerusalem, on +the northwest, and on December 7 General Allenby announced that he had +taken Hebron. Jerusalem thus was virtually cut off on all sides but the +east.</p> + + +<h4>HISTORICAL INTEREST TO CHRISTIANS.</h4> + +<p>In sentimental and romantic aspect the capture of Jerusalem far exceeds +even the fall of fable-crowned Bagdad. The modern City of Jerusalem +contains about 60,000 inhabitants, and is the home of pestilence, filth +and fevers, but in historic interest it naturally surpasses, to the +Christian world, all other places in the world. Since the days when +David wrested it from the hands of the Jebusites to make it the capital +of the Jewish race Jerusalem has been the prize and prey of half the +races of the world. It has passed successively into the hands of the +Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Arabs, Turks, the +Crusaders, finally to fall before the descendants of that Richard the +Lion-hearted who strove in vain for its possession more than 700 years +ago.</p> + +<p>Early in January, 1918, evidence was forthcoming that Germany was +preparing to make a final drive on the Western Front to break through +and capture some English and French channel ports before America could +be of any great assistance to the Allied forces. As a result Great +Britain determined to call 500,000 more men to hold the Huns, and +Premier Lloyd George issued a stirring appeal to Labor affected by the +Manpower Bill, which provided for the increase taken largely from the +labor forces.</p> + +<p>The German intent to launch an offensive was indicated by the withdrawal +of German lines north of Italy when important defensive positions were +abandoned, and dummy soldiers were left in trench to conceal movement to +the rear. Warnings of a great submarine offensive on American boatlines +to France, to be joined with a big drive on land, were received by +Secretary of War Baker, and on February 2, the American troops occupying +a sector of the Lorraine front in France faced the first big bombardment +in what was preliminary to the most bitter drive Germany had attempted +in four years of warfare.</p> + + +<h4>SINKING OF THE TUSCANIA.</h4> + +<p>True to their promise the German submarines started their portion of the +offensive and sunk the U.S. troopship "Tuscania" a few days later off +the coast of Ireland. The liner carried 2,179 U.S. troops of various +divisions besides a crew of 200. The total number of persons lost was +113. The troops included engineers, members of the aero-squadron, and +regulars.</p> + +<p>The Tuscania was the first troopship to be sunk en route to France, +though the Antilles was sunk in October, 1917. This boat, however, it +must be noted, was returning from France. At this time 70 lives were +lost. The comparatively small loss of life on the "Tuscania" was +accepted as evidence of the efficient training and bravery of American +troops under all conditions.</p> + +<p>The Tuscania was torpedoed when entering what until that time were +considered comparatively safe waters. The ships were within sight of +land, which was just distinguishable in the dusk of evening when the +torpedo hit the Tuscania amidships. This was at about 7 o'clock.</p> + +<p>When the crash came the khaki-clad young heroes of the American army +lined up as though on parade, and sang the "Star Spangled Banner" at the +top of their voices as the Tuscania sank by inches under them. Across +from them their British cousins of the crew came back with the echoing +"God Save the King," which too cool-headed exponents of what occurred in +a crisis of a sea disaster say accounts for the fact the Germans took +only a toll of 113 lives out of the 2,397 souls on board the Cunarder +when she met her fate.</p> + + +<h4>AMERICAN COURAGE PRAISED.</h4> + +<p>If the singing man is a fighting man, he also is hopeful, and in the +combination of fight and hope there came the baffling of the German +attempt to reduce the American war forces by almost a full regiment. +Taking stock after the disaster, the officers of both the army and navy +praised the courage of the Americans as the chief reason for the saving +of more than 90 per cent of the men on board.</p> + +<p>No submarine was seen until the torpedo struck the Tuscania fairly +amidships. A moment later another torpedo passed astern of the vessel. +There was a terrific explosion, and it is believed most of the +casualties were caused by this and by subsequent difficulties in +lowering the boats.</p> + +<p>The vessel immediately took a heavy list and the men were called to +their lifeboat stations, but the list prevented the boats from being +properly lowered, some of the upper-deck boats falling to the lower +deck. Many of the men jumped into the water, and the difficulty in +lowering the boats was responsible for many casualties.</p> + +<p>The survivors of the Tuscania landed at points in Ireland were received +with great honor in the various communities, and great tribute was paid +to the surviving soldiers by the Mayor of Dublin.</p> + +<p>The American troops on the Tuscania were part of the forces being +hurried to France to hold the Germans in check, and at the time American +troops were holding a sector with the French in Lorraine, northwest of +Toul, while American artillery were supporting the French in Champagne. +The date set for the big German drive was announced as January 28, and +the fact that Germany made an open proclamation of the fact that they +proposed to wage offensive warfare was somewhat puzzling to the minds of +those studying the situation. Making her position more impregnable, +Germany halted her armies in Russia upon the acceptance of peace terms +by the Russian delegation at Brest-Litovsk, which were concluded on +March 1, 1918, and daily the activities of the German forces on the +Western Front grew in intensity. On March 6, in anticipation of the +drive, it was for the first time publicly stated that 81,000 troops of +American soldiers were holding an eight mile line on the Lorraine front, +with three full divisions in the trenches. The gathering together of +this force and other American troops in France drew Secretary of War +Baker to the scene of activities. He was the first American Cabinet +officer to cross the ocean after America entered the war.</p> + + +<h4>SEIZURE OF ALL DUTCH VESSELS.</h4> + +<p>Holland having proved herself unwilling to come to a satisfactory +agreement at this time on the British-American demand regarding the use +of ships, President Wilson ordered the seizure of all Dutch vessels +within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States; the Allies +ordered a similar seizure abroad. The President's proclamation +authorized the navy to take over the vessels to be equipped and operated +by the Navy Department and the Shipping Board. A total of 77 ships were +added to the American Merchant Marine.</p> + +<p>Holland's failure to act was on the propositions that the United States +and the Allies should facilitate the importation into Holland of +foodstuffs, and other commodities required to maintain her economic +life, and that Holland should restore her Merchant Marine to a normal +condition of activity.</p> + +<p>On March 21 the greatest German offensive of the war actually began on a +front 50 miles long, running west and southwest of Cambrai. The +preliminary German bombardment covered a front from the River Serre +below St. Quentin, and the River Scarpe east of Arras.</p> + + +<h4>FIERCEST BATTLE IN WORLD'S HISTORY.</h4> + +<p>Field Marshal Haig's report from British headquarters in France +described the German offensive as comprising an intense bombardment by +the artillery and a powerful infantry attack on a front of more than +fifty miles. Some of the British positions were penetrated, but the +German losses were exceptionally heavy.</p> + +<p>It was reported at the end of the first day that the fiercest battle of +the world's history was in progress, and that 80,000 Germans were lost +in battle; while Berlin reported the capture of 16,000 Allied prisoners +and 200 guns.</p> + +<p>The Associated Press correspondent reported that at least forty +divisions of German soldiers were identified as actively participating +in the attack. No such concentration of artillery had been seen since +the war began. The enemy had 1,000 guns in one small sector—one for +every twelve yards. The Germans in many sections attacked in three waves +of infantry, followed up by shock troops. As a result they suffered very +heavy casualties.</p> + +<p>The German massed artillery was badly hammered by the British guns.</p> + +<p>In the first stage of their offensive the Germans failed badly in the +execution of their program, as was attested by captured documents +showing what they planned to do in the early hours of their offensive.</p> + +<p>By March 24 the attacks of the Germans had been redoubled, and it was +estimated that more than 1,000,000 Huns had been thrown into the +struggle against the British forces on which the attack was +concentrated.</p> + +<p>The most notable feature of the attack from the spectacular viewpoint +was the bombardment of Paris by monster German cannon, located in the +forest of St. Gobain, west of Laon, and approximately 76 miles away from +Paris.</p> + + +<h4>BIG GUN ONE HUNDRED FEET LONG.</h4> + +<p>Though no official description of the big gun was ever given, it was +stated by military authorities that it was approximately 100 feet in +length, and that several were in use, and more being built by the +Germans. At first the statement that a gun could shoot such a distance +was doubted, but when 75 persons were killed in Paris and one of the +shells hit a church doubt no longer existed. It also developed that the +gun was originally an American invention, and that similar weapons were +being built by the United States.</p> + +<p>The use of the big gun was in the nature of a "side-issue" to bring +terror to the French, and in line with the policy of frightfulness +instituted by the German militarists. Its use was continued daily. +Meantime the German hordes swept on marching in close formation into the +very mouths of the rapid-fire guns and against the strongly fixed +British lines.</p> + +<p>For ten days the hostilities continued, without cessation, with fighting +along a whole front such as had never been known before.</p> + +<p>The Germans continued to hurl great forces of infantry into the +conflict, depending largely on weight of numbers to overcome the +increasing opposition offered by the heroically resisting British.</p> + +<p>The battle on the historic ground about Longueval was perhaps the most +spectacular of any along the front. It was a battle of machine gunners +and infantry. The Germans were pursuing their tactics of working forward +in massed formation, and the British rapid-firers' squads and riflemen +reaped a horrid harvest from their positions on the high ground. +Notwithstanding their terrible losses, the Germans kept coming on, +filling in the places of those who had fallen and pressing their attack. +The British artillery in the meantime poured in a perfect rain of shells +on the enemy, carrying havoc into their ranks. In this section the +Germans operated without the full support of their guns, because of +their rapid advance.</p> + + +<h4>ENEMY LOSES HEAVILY.</h4> + +<p>A fierce engagement was also waged about Le Verguier, which the Germans +captured, but not until the British infantry holding the place had +fought to the last man and inflicted extremely heavy losses on the +enemy. The British again fell back, this time to a line through +Hervilly, just east of Roisel and Vermand.</p> + +<p>The work of the British airmen during the battle was one of the +brightest pages. Bitter battles in the air were fought by scores of +aviators and the service proved fully its ability to smother the German +airmen at a crucial time.</p> + +<p>Within a few days it was stated that at least 130 German airplanes were +brought down. This compilation of losses has reference to only one +section of the battle front, comprising perhaps two-thirds of the line +affected.</p> + +<p>An official statement regarding British aerial operations said their +airplanes were employed in bombing the enemy's troops and transport +massed in the areas behind the battlefront, and in attacking them with +machine-gun fire from low heights. Twenty-two tons of bombs were dropped +in this work, and more than 100,000 rounds were fired from the machine +guns.</p> + +<p>By March 28 the German losses were estimated at 400,000. The forces of +the Germans were almost overwhelming, the Kaiser sacrificing the +manpower of his nation in a last desperate attack.</p> + +<p>In consequence no greater stories of heroism have ever been told than +are related of the English, French and American troops. The Germans were +set for a drive against the English and French channel points with +Amiens as an objective, with the idea of breaking through the British +lines where they join the French.</p> + + +<h4>AMERICAN FORCES OFFERED TO FRANCE.</h4> + +<p>The earnestness of the Americans in the situation was proclaimed to the +world by the English and French, and General Pershing placed his name +and that of his country and men high on the wall of fame by unselfishly +offering to France at the most critical period the use of his entire +force, to be disposed of and assigned wherever General Foch and his +staff decided to use them. Within a few days thereafter the American +troops which had been in training were marched in to relieve the +stressed English and French.</p> + +<p>Everywhere the raging battle was marked by spectacular features not the +least of which were provided by a corps of thirty tanks, which waded +into the German hordes near Ephey and other points, recovering positions +which had been lost by the British.</p> + +<p>Canadian armored motorcars also played an important part in checking the +Huns, the cars armed with rapid-fire guns being rushed up to support +weakening troops.</p> + +<p>The progress of the Germans was halted on April 3, and in the following +days the British regained several lost positions and the French made +gains. But after a pause, during which several hundred thousand new +troops were brought in, the Huns renewed the offensive, delivering an +attack against the French near Montdidier on a front about 15 miles +long. An attack along a front of similar length was made against the +British on the Somme.</p> + +<p>The first battalion of American troops answering to the call of the +French for support reached the British front-line in France, on April +10, on the very anniversary of the entrance of the United States into +the war, and within a few days the Americans began to bear the brunt of +battle, holding the Germans like veterans.</p> + +<p>The first big attack of the Germans launched directly against an +American line occurred on April 30, in the vicinity of Villers-Bretonneaux, +below the Somme, where the Huns were repulsed with heavy losses. The +German preliminary bombardment lasted two hours and then the infantry +rushed forward, only to be driven back, leaving large numbers of dead on +the ground in front of the American lines.</p> + + +<h4>AMERICANS BOMBARDED.</h4> + +<p>The German bombardment opened at 5 o'clock in the afternoon and was +directed especially against the Americans, who were supported on the +north and south by the French. The fire was intense and at the end of +two hours the German commander sent forward three battalions of +infantry. There was hand-to-hand fighting all along the line, as a +result of which the enemy was thrust back, his dead and wounded lying on +the ground in all directions. Five prisoners remained in American hands.</p> + +<p>"Tell them back home that we are just beginning," said an American lad +who was in the thick of the fight and severely wounded with shrapnel. +"It was fine to see our men go at the Huns. All of us, who thought +baseball was the great American game, have changed our minds. There is +only one game to keep the American flag flying—that is, kill the Huns. +I got several before they got me."</p> + +<p>Details of the engagement show the Americans stuck to their guns while +the Germans were placing liquid fire, gas and almost every other +conceivable device of frightfulness on them. One of them, who lay +wounded in an American hospital, had kept his machine gun going after +the chief gunners had been killed two feet away and he himself had been +wounded, thus protecting a turn in the road known as Dead Man's curve, +over which some of the American couriers passed in the face of a +concentrated enemy fire.</p> + +<p>As indicating the violence of the offensive, French ambulance men who +went through the famous battle of Verdun declared today that, +comparatively speaking, the German artillery fire against the Americans +was heavier than in any single engagement on the Verdun front at any +time.</p> + +<p>The German barrage began just before sunrise. In an attempt to put the +American batteries out of action the Germans used an unusually large +number of gas shells, but the American artillery replied vigorously, +hurling hundreds of shells across the Teuton lines. Though successful in +resisting the German attack, the Americans lost 183 men captured by the +Huns, according to the British report.</p> + +<p>Nothing in the history of naval warfare is more picturesque than the +story of the raid made by English ships on the German submarine bases at +Ostend and Zeebrugge, on the Belgian coast, on April 22. Obsolete +cruisers filled with concrete were run aground and blown up in the +harbors. An old submarine filled with explosives was used to blow up the +piling beside the Mole at Zeebrugge.</p> + +<p>One German destroyer was torpedoed, and the British lost a destroyer, +two coastal motorboats and two launches.</p> + +<p>A fortnight later the old cruiser Vindictive was taken into the +submarine base at Ostend and sent to the bottom, blocking the channel, +making the attack thoroughly effective.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h3> + +<h4>AMERICANS TURN WAR'S TIDE</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brilliant American Fighting Stops Hun Advance—French and British +Inspired—Famous Marines Lead in Picturesque Attack—Halt Germans at +Chateau-Thierry—Used Open Style Fighting—Thousands of Germans +Slain—United States Troops in Siberia—New Conscription Bill +Passed—Allied Successes on All Fronts</span>.</p> + + +<p>All history contains no greater story of bravery and heroism than that +which echoed around the world concerning the exploits of the American +soldiery in France as the war entered its fifth year.</p> + +<p>Casting aside all precedent, ignoring the practices which had been +developed by the English, French and German commands during four years +of stubborn fighting, a little force of Americans—barely a handful, led +by the picturesque Marines—brought the Huns to a standstill in their +drive upon Paris and turned the tide of war.</p> + +<p>Once again history repeated itself, for the Germans were turned back at +the beautiful river Marne, where the brave Americans and heroic French +smashed their lines. The spectacular event in which the Americans +participated was a mere incident of the great conflict raging across +France, but the story must ever be one of the outstanding features of +the war because of the effect it produced upon the whole situation.</p> + +<p>In the struggle against the Huns the Belgian army had been reduced to +its lowest ebb; the manpower of France and England had been sapped by +constant call for reserves, and the Allied forces, while resisting and +fighting heroically, were without reserves to draw upon to effect a +decisive blow when the opportunity presented.</p> + +<p>The German hordes had swept forward with hammer-like blows toward Paris +in what was a continuation of the giant offensive started in March. The +second movement was launched under the personal command of the German +Crown Prince on May 27, and was directed against four divisions of the +British troops and the Sixth French Army. Concentration was on a front +stretching from Soissons to Rheims, a distance of about 30 miles.</p> + +<p>The Huns were driving on the entire front, but the Crown Prince with +crack troops was to have the honor for which he had long been +striving—that of crossing the famous Marne and taking Paris. His troops +had reached the river between Dormans and Chateau-Thierry at the very +spot where the Third German Army had swept across the stream on August +25, 1914. Paris was less than 50 miles away.</p> + +<p>Here and there at other points the Germans had been held by the French +and English, but as part of the strategy of the French command the enemy +had been permitted to advance at this point through lines which would +cost him a terrible toll of lives. The French meantime were +concentrating on the enemy's flank with the hope of breaking through and +pocketing part of the Crown Prince's advancing forces.</p> + +<p>Whatever the intent, the Germans were resisting the efforts to stop +them. The question was, where would the advance end? The answer was +furnished by America.</p> + +<p>The enemy had attempted to broaden his Marne salient and had stretched +as far south as Chateau-Thierry. It is supposed his purpose was to +compel General Foch to meet shock with shock by throwing in his reserve +forces, since the German advance had then almost reached shelling +distance of Paris.</p> + +<p>But the German command had not taken the Americans into their +calculations, for here the Prussians met Uncle Sam's fighting men and +their French supports and were smashed and thrown back.</p> + +<p>Fighting in their own way, in the open, against superior forces, the +Marines and troops of the National American Army fought their way to +victory, routing the enemy and wresting from them positions absolutely +necessary to their further advance.</p> + +<p>Immense forces of Germans had been thrown into the fray when the +American division, to which the Marines were attached, was ordered into +the breach. The bulk of the forces, called to help halt the Huns, were +hours away from the fighting front and were being brought up for the +purpose of holding a secondary position where they would take up the +fighting when the French fell back.</p> + +<p>They had captured Cantigny after elaborate preparations under the +direction of the French, but here there were no preparations. The +American commanders wanted to attack the advancing enemy. The Allied +leaders doubted the ability of the Americans to stop the Boche in open +combat.</p> + +<p>The American commanders pleaded to make war in their own way. Doubting, +yet hopeful, the Allied commanders gave consent. The Americans were +moved into position. There was no time for rest and they came forward +under forced draft, so to speak. Infantry, machine gun companies and +artillery swung into position and faced the enemy which aimed a blow at +the line where it was supported by the French on the left.</p> + +<p>The Boche hordes swarmed across fields. The American gunners raked them +with hell's fire. The reputation of the Americans as sharpshooters and +marksmen was sustained. Under the most stressful circumstances and while +the French observers stood amazed, the Americans took careful aim and +shot as though at rifle practice. Every possible shot was made to tell.</p> + +<p>The Germans wavered, then halted under the withering fire of machine +guns and rifle. On again they came, only to again be repulsed. The +ground was strewn with their dead and wounded. Then they began to break +and to crawl back to safer positions.</p> + +<p>The enemy had been stopped but not driven. They had fallen back to +strong positions, the names of which must go down in history as scenes +of terrific fighting—Bouresches and Bois de Belleau—the latter a +wooded, rocky parcel of land on which German machine guns were +hidden—hundreds of them—while more than a thousand of the enemy's best +men were concealed in the thicket and underbrush and in the rocky +fissures.</p> + +<p>The Americans drove into the wood and charged the stronghold. Sacrifice! +Yes, hundreds of brave young Americans died fighting, but not in vain. +American artillery swept the woods; little companies of men charged the +enemy machine-gun nests, silencing the guns and killing the operators or +taking them prisoners. There was no going forward in mass formation +under barrage or protecting curtain of fire, but out in the open the +Marines and infantrymen rushed on facing terrific fire.</p> + +<p>Bois de Belleau was cleared of the Boche. Bouresches fell to the +Americans. The capture of the town was a repetition of the taking of the +first position. Machine guns protected the town everywhere. In cellar +windows, doorways and on roofs the Germans had set up their weapons. But +it was the old story—no hail of shot could stop the Americans. Almost +without sleep, unable to bring up supplies, the Americans had fought +four days with only canned foodstuffs to sustain them.</p> + +<p>Stories of the fights are reminiscent of those in which American troops +engaged the Indians on the plains in the frontier days. Indeed American +Indians—children of the famous old Sioux and Chippewa tribes of Red +Men—acted as scouts for Uncle Sam in many of his troops' activities in +France, and the methods of the old Indian fighters proved too much for +the Germans.</p> + +<p>It is estimated that 7000 were killed or wounded by the Americans in +this action, and that their prisoners numbered more than 1000. How +privates took command of squads and continued to outbattle the enemy +when officers were killed; how lone Americans or small groups of them +captured squads of Huns or annihilated them, are common stories of +heroism written into the official war records of the American +Expeditionary Forces in France, and sealed by medals of honor presented +to young Americans or confirmed by official words of commendation.</p> + +<p>Let the words of General Pershing in an official order to his troops on +August 27, stand as part of the record:</p> + +<p>"It fills me with pride to record in General Orders a tribute to the +service achievements of the First and Third Corps, comprising the First, +Second, Third, Fourth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-second and +Forty-second Divisions of the American Expeditionary Forces.</p> + +<p>"You came to the battlefield at a crucial hour for the Allied cause. For +almost four years the most formidable army the world has yet seen had +pressed its invasion of France and stood threatening its capital. At no +time has that army been more powerful and menacing than when, on July +15, it struck again to destroy in one great battle the brave men opposed +to it and to enforce its brutal will upon the world and civilization.</p> + +<p>"Three days later, in conjunction with our Allies, you counter-attacked. +The Allied armies gained a brilliant victory that marks the turning +point of the war. You did more than to give the Allies the support to +which as a nation our faith was pledged.</p> + +<p>"You proved that our altruism, our pacific spirit and our sense of +justice have not blunted our virility or our courage.</p> + +<p>"You have shown that American initiative and energy are as fit for the +tasks of war as for the pursuits of peace. You have justly won unstinted +praise from our Allies and the eternal gratitude of our countrymen.</p> + +<p>"We have paid for successes with the lives of many of our brave +comrades. We shall cherish their memory always and claim for our +history and literature their bravery, achievement and sacrifice.</p> + +<p>"This order will be read to all organizations at the first assembly +formations following its receipt."</p> + +<p>Aside from being largely responsible for stopping the Huns once again at +the Marne, the exploits of the Americans filled the French and English +with confidence, aroused their spirits and gave them renewed hope. +Incidentally their efforts and methods made apparent the value of +surprise attacks and quick blows in dealing with the stolid Huns.</p> + +<p>The Allied commanders, quick to take advantage of the situation, gave +the enemy no chance to consolidate their positions. The unified forces +of Allies attacked with renewed energy all along the line, and the Huns +were forced back with a sweep that astonished the world.</p> + +<p>By September 1, the Germans had lost practically all that they had +gained in their drive from March 21, and in many places they had been +driven back across the famous Hindenburg line, the furthest point of +retreat of the Germans in 1914, when they were forced back by General +Joffre from the Marne, and dug themselves into pit and trench. Dozens of +towns were taken and more than 120,000 prisoners were bagged.</p> + +<p>Almost as spectacular in its effect on the minds of the French and +English, as was the demonstration of American fighting, was the work +accomplished in France in providing for the transportation and care of +the incoming troops. Here great docks, storage plants, training camps, +aviation schools, motor assembling plants, base hospitals and +reclamation establishments and railroads, built in less than a year and +still growing, represented an investment of $35,000,000 on the part of +the United States Government in August, 1918.</p> + +<p>Early in May the number of Americans in France was about 500,000. That +this number should have been sent across the ocean within the space of +one year after America entered the war was regarded as a distinct +achievement, but by September it was officially announced that the +number had increased to 1,500,000.</p> + +<p>Some of these were sent to the Italian front to help in the drive +against the Austrians, and about 15,000 troops from the Philippines were +sent by the United States into Siberia to give moral support to the +Czecho-Slovaks.</p> + +<p>The decision to send troops to Siberia was by agreement with the +Japanese, and followed a statement issued by the United States on August +4, in which it was stated that "military action was admissable in Russia +only to render such protection and help as possible to the +Czecho-Slovaks against armed Austrian and German prisoners who were +attacking them, and to steady any efforts at self-government or +self-defense in which the Russians themselves may be willing to accept +assistance." It was stated that the troops were for guard duty, and +under the agreement with Japan, the only other country in a position to +act in Siberia, each nation sent a small force to Vladivostok.</p> + +<p>The British, French and United States Governments gave recognition to +the Czecho-Slovaks as an Allied nation—a geographical, political and +military entity—with three armies, one in Siberia, one in Italy and one +in France, where they had been fighting with the Allies to crush the +Huns. The territory which the Czecho-Slovaks claim as their own to +govern independently comprises Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Slavonika, +which lie between and are part of Austria-Hungary and Germany.</p> + +<p>With the facilities for handling the troops abroad thoroughly organized +and the obvious necessity for furnishing greater manpower to bring about +an early defeat of Germany, the United States decided to increase the +scope of its conscription and to raise an army of 3,000,000 for +immediate service and adopted a new manpower bill which was passed by +Congress the last week in August and signed by President Wilson on +August 30.</p> + +<p>The measure provided for the registration and drafting of all male +citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 years, allowing for deferred +classification of those engaged in essential work or having obligations +which made it impossible for them to render active military service.</p> + +<p>Not only the Allied successes on the western front, but also those on +the Italian front and in the Balkans, where the French, Italians and +Greeks in Albania, with a million troops, advanced against the Germans, +Austrians and Turks, made apparent the necessity for further +concentration of manpower.</p> + +<p>While losing ground on the western front and rapidly being forced to the +wall, Germany gave another spectacular twist to her military program by +carrying the war to America's doors. With her submarines she sank nearly +two score of ships, schooners, barges, tugs, and even a lightship, +within a few miles of New York, Boston, Norfolk, Charleston and the +Delaware Capes.</p> + +<p>But while the U-boats were harassing, no effective assaults were made +against the ships which carried American troops abroad. In this +connection it should never be forgotten in the glamour of war that while +America performed wonders in getting her soldiers overseas, England +provided most of the ships, and that it was England's Navy which kept +the German Navy in check while America's war vessels and destroyers +convoyed the troopships and protected them from the submarines.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h3> + +<h4>VICTORY—PEACE.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">The German Empire Collapses—Foch's Strategy Wins—American +Inspiration a Big Factor—Bulgaria, Turkey and Austria Quit +War—Monarchs Fall—- Kaiser Abdicates and Flees Germany—Armistice +Signed—November 11, Peace</span>.</p> + + +<p>Then came the fall of autocracy—</p> + +<p>Victory! Peace!</p> + +<p>With a crash that echoed around the world the autocratic governmental +structure builded by the Kaiser and his forebears gave way and came +tumbling to the earth in ruins on Monday, November 11, 1918.</p> + +<p>The most momentous event in ages had come to pass and victory was +perched upon the banner of democracy.</p> + +<p>Out of the sacrifice of millions of lives, the desolation of homes and +countries, the expenditure of untold energy and incomprehensible +billions of dollars in money, there came everlasting, glorious peace.</p> + +<p>The great German Empire lay a wreck, given into the hands of the people +for remaking, and the arrogant Emperor William Hohenzollern had fled +into Holland, and his example was imitated by the Crown Prince.</p> + + +<h4>THE COMING OF THE END.</h4> + +<p>The end came swiftly and with dramatic action. Beaten back by the Allied +forces, which gathered strength and inspiration from the irresistible +American troops, the German army weakened all along the line from +Holland to the Swiss border. The press of power exerted against the +German strongholds on every side was felt within the domains and +produced internal strife and dissension which undermined and weakened +the military organization. Taking full advantage of this situation, the +Allied forces on every side quickened and intensified their blows.</p> + +<p>The brilliant strategy of Marshal Foch, generalissimo of the Allied +armies, brought defeat to the Germans in less than four months. After +bringing to an end the German advance of March 21 to July 18 with the +second battle of the Marne, he compelled a hurried retirement to the +Hindenburg line with the evacuation of practically all the territory +conquered by the Huns.</p> + +<p>Finally, in what may be termed the last phase of the war, he absolutely +demoralized the German forces. The thrust in this phase was started by +the Anglo-Belgian forces in Flanders and the Franco-American armies in +Lorraine on September 26.</p> + +<p>The British also made a gigantic and brilliant drive between Cambrai and +St. Quentin. The whole colossal defense system of the Germans was +shattered and in less than three months more than 100,000 German +prisoners and 5,000 guns were taken and 8,000 square miles of French and +Belgian territory liberated.</p> + + +<h4>VICTORIES ON OTHER FRONTS.</h4> + +<p>Not only was there great victory on the west, but in Syria the British +army broke the power of Turkey and liberated Syria, Mesopotamia and +Arabia. In Macedonia, too, an army made up of soldiers of many nations +under a French command compelled the surrender of Bulgaria and her +withdrawal, and swept the last vestige of German control from the +Balkans.</p> + +<p>On the Austrian front likewise the Italian army, strengthened and +heartened by the presence of American and Allied forces, swept the +Austrians before them in one of the most picturesque offensives of the +war, capturing more than 300,000 prisoners and great quantities of guns +and supplies.</p> + +<p>This in brief is the way the German command was driven to a point of +seeking peace to prevent the invasion of their territory.</p> + +<p>The brilliant assaults of the various units and commands of the Allies +at points along the entire 200 miles of western front will go down in +history a wonderful military achievement.</p> + + +<h4>AMERICAN VICTORIES ON THE EAST FRONT.</h4> + +<p>One of the wonderful attacks was that of the American First Army under +General Pershing, when St. Mihiel salient was annihilated. This salient +for four years resisted all efforts to penetrate it and stood a guardian +to great iron fields running through the Basin de Briey to the +Belgian-Luxemburg frontier. It formed a strong outpost to the fortified +city of Metz, with its twenty-eight forts, and made impossible the +invasion of German Lorraine from the west.</p> + +<p>The offensive of General Pershing was one of the most carefully planned +of the war. More than 1,000 tanks were operated to open the way for the +infantry and cavalry. A greater force of airplanes than were ever +concentrated in a single attack menaced the Germans overhead and in a +week the Americans encompassed a territory of 200 square miles and +threatened the mining center and the forts of Metz, capturing 20,000 +prisoners and hundreds of guns and great quantities of ammunition. +Moreover, the Verdun-Nancy railway was released.</p> + +<p>Support was brought to the Germans and they stubbornly resisted, but +many points were gained and held by the Americans.</p> + + +<h4>AMERICAN VICTORIES ALONG THE MEUSE-AISNE RIVERS.</h4> + +<p>Another corps of the First American Army, in command of General Hunter +Liggett, also made a brilliant attack between the Meuse and Aisne +rivers east of Rheims on a front twenty miles long, where the crack +Prussian Guards were routed. Here in one of the most bitterly contested +battles of the closing days the Americans made an important advance, +capturing half a dozen villages.</p> + +<p>As at Chateau-Thierry, the Americans in the face of withering fire and +against all the instruments of modern warfare handled by the best +soldiers in Germany, fought their way through with a bravery that won +for them the praises of the highest commands in the French and British +armies, as well as from General Pershing.</p> + +<p>At the very close of the struggle the Americans arose to the heights of +sublime heroism in crossing the river Meuse, capturing the town of Dun +and later the town of Sedan, famous as one of the scenes of bitter +fighting in the Franco-Prussian War.</p> + + +<h4>GREAT VICTORY AT SEDAN.</h4> + +<p>The Americans forced their way across a 160-foot river, a stretch of mud +flats and a 60-foot canal in the face of terrible fire. Men who could +swim breasted the stream carrying ropes, which were stretched from bank +to bank and along which those who could not swim made their way over the +river. Some crossed in collapsible boats, others on rafts and finally on +pontoon and foot bridges, which were constructed under the enemy fire.</p> + +<p>This difficult feat accomplished, the men waded through mud to the +canal, fighting as they went, and again plunged into the water, swimming +the canal, at the far side of which they were compelled to use grappling +hooks and scaling irons to mount the perpendicular banks of the canal, +along which were the resisting Germans. And finally, when the German +Empire fell, famed Sedan was in the hands of the Americans. With the +last forward movement they took possession of Stenay when hostilities +ceased.</p> + +<p>The part the American soldiers played in winning the war, merely as a +matter of increased man power, is indicated by the fact that when the +end came there were 2,900,000 men in the forces abroad.</p> + + +<h4>COLLAPSE OF THE TEUTONIC ALLIES.</h4> + +<p>The failure of the German submarine warfare and the ability of the +British, French and American naval forces to protect troop ships and +permit the landing of as high as 200,000 soldiers in France in a single +month, had much to do with discouraging the German command.</p> + +<p>The withdrawal of Bulgaria on September 27 and her unconditional +surrender to the Allies was a distinct blow to Germany. The abdication +of King Ferdinand in favor of Crown Prince Boris was shortly followed by +the surrender and withdrawal of Turkey, which further weakened Germany's +position, and peace offers were made by both Austria and by Germany.</p> + +<p>Austria sought a separate peace, but Germany, seeing the handwriting on +the wall, asked for an armistice through Prince Maximilian of Baden, who +had succeeded Count Von Hertling as Chancellor. But while agreeing to +accept as a basis of peace the points established by President Wilson as +necessary to an agreement, Germany's military forces continued their +ruthless and barbaric warfare.</p> + +<p>President Wilson submitted a set of questions to the German Government +to ascertain the sincerity and purpose of the request and finally +brought the matter to an issue by declaring that nothing short of a +complete surrender would suffice and that further negotiations must be +taken up with the Allied command.</p> + +<p>Meantime King Boris of Bulgaria abdicated and the Government was taken +over by the people. This was followed by the surrender of Austria on +November 8 and the abdication of the Emperor Charles.</p> + + +<h4>THE END.</h4> + +<p>Austria in her surrender agreed to the immediate suspension of +hostilities, the demobilization of the army of Austro-Hungary and the +withdrawal of all forces from the North Sea to Switzerland, the +evacuation of all territories invaded, the evacuation of all German +troops from Austro-Hungarian territory and the Italian and Balkan +fronts, as well as the surrender of fifteen submarines and all German +submarines in Austro-Hungarian territorial waters, together with +thirty-four warships, and also the repatriation of all prisoners of war.</p> + +<p>With her forces demoralized and Bulgaria, Turkey and Austria out of the +war and her power broken in Russia, Germany was driven to the necessity +of accepting terms submitted by the Allies as the basis of peace as +outlined by President Wilson.</p> + + +<h4>SUMMARY.</h4> + +<p>Thus came peace after fifty-two continuous months of fighting, in which +it is estimated that nearly 10,000,000 were killed and that there were +about 27,000,000 casualties, while $200,000,000 were expended by the +combined nations.</p> + +<p>America's casualties were 236,117, divided as follows: Killed and died +of wounds, 36,154; died of disease, 14,811; died from unassigned causes, +2,204; wounded, 179,625; missing, 1,160, and prisoners, 2,163.</p> + +<p>England by contrast had 658,665 killed, 2,032,122 wounded and 359,145 +missing and prisoners during the four years, while Italy had about +1,600,000 casualties; France, 3,500,000; Belgium, 400,000; Rumania, +200,000, and Russia, 6,000,000. All told, twenty-eight nations, with a +total population of approximately 1,600,000,000, or nearly +eleven-twelfths of the human race, were involved in the world struggle +at the close.</p> + + +<h4>TERMS OF THE ARMISTICE ACCEPTED BY GERMANY.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><h4>I. <span class="smcap">Military Clauses on Western Front</span>:</h4> + +<p>One—Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after +the signature of the armistice.</p> + +<p>Two—Immediate evacuation of invaded countries: Belgium, France, +Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed within +fourteen days from the signature of the armistice. German troops +which have not left the above-mentioned territories within the +period fixed will become prisoners of war. Occupation by the Allied +and United States forces jointly will keep pace with evacuation in +these areas. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be +regulated in accordance with a note annexed to the stated terms.</p> + +<p>Three—Repatriation beginning at once and to be completed within +fourteen days of all inhabitants of the countries above mentioned, +including hostages and persons under trial or convicted.</p> + +<p>Four—Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the +following equipment: Five thousand guns (two thousand five hundred +heavy, two thousand five hundred field) thirty thousand machine +guns. Three thousand minenwerfers. Two thousand airplanes +(fighters, bombers—firstly D. Seventy-three's and night bombing +machines). The above to be delivered in situ to the allies and the +United States troops in accordance with the detailed conditions +laid down in the annexed note.</p> + +<p>Five—Evacuation by the German armies of the countries on the left +bank of the Rhine. These countries on the left bank of the Rhine +shall be administered by the local authorities under the control of +the Allied and United States armies of occupation. The occupation +of these territories will be determined by Allied and United States +garrisons holding the principal crossings of the Rhine, Mayence, +Coblenz, Cologne, together with bridgeheads at these points in +thirty kilometre radius on the right bank and by garrisons +similarly holding the strategic points of the regions.</p> + +<p>A neutral zone shall be reserved on the right of the Rhine between +the stream and a line drawn parallel to it forty kilometres +(twenty-six miles) to the east from the frontier of Holland to the +parallel of Gernsheim and as far as practicable a distance of +thirty kilometres (twenty miles) from the east of stream from this +parallel upon Swiss frontier. Evacuation by the enemy of the Rhine +lands shall be so ordered as to be completed within a further +period of eleven days, in all nineteen days after the signature of +the armistice. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be +regulated according to the note annexed.</p> + +<p>Six—In all territory evacuated by the enemy there shall be no +evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm shall be done to the +persons or property of the inhabitants. No destruction of any kind +to be committed. Military establishments of all kinds shall be +delivered intact as well as military stores of food, munitions, +equipment not removed during the periods fixed for evacuation. +Stores of food of all kinds for the civil population, cattle, etc., +shall be left in situ. Industrial establishments shall not be +impaired in any way and their personnel shall not be moved. Roads +and means of communication of every kind, railroad, waterways, main +roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones, shall be in no manner +impaired.</p> + +<p>Seven—All civil and military personnel at present employed on them +shall remain. Five thousand locomotives, fifty thousand wagons and +ten thousand motor lorries in good working order with all necessary +spare parts and fittings shall be delivered to the associated +powers within the period fixed for the evacuation of Belgium and +Luxemburg. The railways of Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed over +within the same period, together with all pre-war personnel and +material. Further material necessary for the working of railways in +the country on the left bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ. +All stores of coal and material for the upkeep of permanent ways, +signals and repair shops left entire in situ and kept in an +efficient state by Germany during the whole period of armistice. +All barges taken from the Allies shall be restored to them. A note +appended regulates the details of these measures.</p> + +<p>Eight—The German command shall be responsible for revealing all +mines or other acting fuses disposed on territory evacuated by the +German troops and shall assist in their discovery and destruction. +The German command shall also reveal all destructive measures that +may have been taken (such as poisoning or polluting of springs, +wells, etc.) under penalty of reprisals.</p> + +<p>Nine—The right of requisition shall be exercised by the Allied and +the United States armies in all occupied territory. The upkeep of +the troops of occupation in the Rhine land (excluding +Alsace-Lorraine), shall be charged to the German Government.</p> + +<p>Ten—An immediate repatriation without reciprocity according to +detailed conditions which shall be fixed, of all Allied and United +States prisoners of war. The Allied powers and the United States +shall be able to dispose of these prisoners as they wish.</p> + +<p>Eleven—Sick and wounded, who can not be removed from evacuated +territory will be cared for by German personnel who will be left on +the spot with the medical material required.</p> + + +<h4>II. <span class="smcap">Disposition Relative to the Eastern Frontiers of +Germany</span>:</h4> + +<p>Twelve—All German troops at present in any territory which before +the war belonged to Russia, Rumania or Turkey shall withdraw within +the frontiers of Germany as they existed on August 1, 1914.</p> + +<p>Thirteen—Evacuation by German troops to begin at once and all +German instructors, prisoners and civilian as well as military +agents, now on the territory of Russia (as defined before 1914) to +be recalled.</p> + +<p>Fourteen—German troops to cease at once all requisitions and +seizures and any other undertaking with a view to obtaining +supplies intended for Germany in Rumania and Russia (as defined on +August 1, 1914).</p> + +<p>Fifteen—Abandonment of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk +and of the supplementary treaties.</p> + +<p>Sixteen—The Allies shall have free access to the territories +evacuated by the Germans on their eastern frontier either through +Danzig or by the Vistula in order to convey supplies to the +population of those territories or for any other purpose.</p> + + +<h4>III. <span class="smcap">Clause Concerning East Africa</span>:</h4> + +<p>Seventeen—Unconditional capitulation of all German forces +operating in East Africa within one month.</p> + + +<h4>IV. <span class="smcap">General Clauses</span>:</h4> + +<p>Eighteen—Repatriation, without reciprocity, within maximum period +of one month, in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter to +be fixed, of all civilians interned or deported who may be citizens +of other Allied or associated states than those mentioned in clause +three, paragraph nineteen, with the reservation that any future +claims and demands of the Allies and the United States of America +remain unaffected.</p> + +<p>Nineteen—The following financial conditions are required: +Reparation for damage done. While such armistice lasts no public +securities shall be removed by the enemy which can serve as a +pledge to the Allies for the recovery or repatriation for war +losses. Immediate restitution of the cash deposit, in the National +Bank of Belgium, and in general immediate return of all documents, +specie, stocks, shares, paper money, together with plant for the +issue thereof, touching public or private interests in the invaded +countries. Restitution of the Russian and Rumanian gold yielded to +Germany or taken by that power. This gold to be delivered in trust +to the Allies until the signature of peace.</p> + + +<h4>V. <span class="smcap">Naval Conditions</span>:</h4> + +<p>Twenty—Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite +information to be given as to the location and movements of all +German ships. Notification to be given to neutrals that freedom of +navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and +mercantile marines of the allied and associated powers, all +questions of neutrality being waived.</p> + +<p>Twenty-one—All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of war of the +Allied and associated powers in German hands to be returned without +reciprocity.</p> + +<p>Twenty-two—Surrender to the Allies and the United States of +America of one hundred and sixty German submarines (including all +submarine cruisers and mine laying submarines) with their complete +armament and equipment in ports which will be specified by the +Allies and the United States of America. All other submarines to be +paid off and completely disarmed and placed under the supervision +of the Allied Powers and the United States of America.</p> + +<p>Twenty-three—The following German surface warships which shall be +designated by the Allies and the United States of America shall +forthwith be disarmed and thereafter interned in neutral ports to +be designated by the Allies and the United States of America and +placed under the surveillance of the Allies and the United States +of America, only caretakers being left on board, namely:</p> + +<p>Six battle cruisers, ten battleships, eight light cruisers, +including two mine layers, fifty destroyers of the most modern +type. All other surface warships (including river craft) are to be +concentrated in naval bases to be designated by the Allies and the +United States of America, and are to be paid off and completely +disarmed and placed under the supervision of the Allies and the +United States of America. All vessels of auxiliary fleet (trawlers, +motor vessels, etc.), are to be disarmed.</p> + +<p>Twenty-four—The Allies and the United States of America shall have +the right to sweep all mine fields and obstructions laid by Germany +outside German territorial waters, and the positions of these are +to be indicated.</p> + +<p>Twenty-five—Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to be given +to the naval and mercantile marine of the Allied and associated +powers. To secure this the Allies and the United States of America +shall be empowered to occupy all German forts, fortifications, +batteries and defense works of all kinds in all the entrances from +the Cattegat into the Baltic, and to sweep up all mines and +obstructions within and without German territorial waters without +any question of neutrality being raised, and the positions of all +such mines and obstructions are to be indicated.</p> + +<p>Twenty-six—The existing blockade conditions set up by the Allies +and associated powers are to remain unchanged, and all German +merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture.</p> + +<p>Twenty-seven—All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and +immobilized in German bases to be specified by the Allies and the +United States of America.</p> + +<p>Twenty-eight—In evacuating the Belgian coasts and ports, Germany +shall abandon all merchant ships, tugs, lighters, cranes and all +other harbor materials, all materials for inland navigation, all +aircraft and all materials and stores, all arms and armaments, and +all stores and apparatus of all kinds.</p> + +<p>Twenty-nine—All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Germany, +all Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany in +the Black Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United +States of America; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be +released; all warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in +those parts are to be returned and German materials as specified in +clause twenty-eight are to be abandoned.</p> + +<p>Thirty—All merchant vessels in German hands belonging to the +Allied and associated powers are to be restored in ports to be +specified by the Allies and the United States of America without +reciprocity.</p> + +<p>Thirty-one—No destruction of ships or of materials to be permitted +before evacuation, surrender or restoration.</p> + +<p>Thirty-two—The German Government will notify neutral Governments +of the world, and particularly the Governments of Norway, Sweden, +Denmark, and Holland, that all restrictions placed on the trading +of their vessels with the Allied and associated countries, whether +by the German Government or by private German interests, and +whether in return for specific concessions such as the export of +shipbuilding materials or not, are immediately cancelled.</p> + +<p>Thirty-three—No transfers of German merchant shipping of any +description to any neutral flag are to take place after signature +of the armistice.</p> + + +<h4>VI. <span class="smcap">Duration of Armistice</span>:</h4> + +<p>Thirty-four—The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days, +with option to extend. During this period, on failure of execution +of any of the above clauses, the armistice may be denounced by one +of the contracting parties on forty-eight hours' previous notice.</p> + + +<h4>VII. <span class="smcap">Time Limit for Reply</span>:</h4> + +<p>Thirty-five—This armistice to be accepted or refused by Germany +within seventy-two hours of notification.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="THE_NEGRO_IN_THE_WORLD_WAR" id="THE_NEGRO_IN_THE_WORLD_WAR"></a>THE NEGRO IN THE WORLD WAR.</h3> + +<h4>BEFORE THE WAR.</h4> + + +<p>Civilization evolves destructive forces of change. War is change in +explosive form. World notions, points of view, and general ideas of 1914 +have spun the cycle of years with accelerated speed. At that time the +public mind gained its concept of the Negro from encyclopaedic +information. He was regarded as a "sub-species of mankind, dark of skin, +wooly of hair, long of head, with dilated nostrils, thick lips, thicker +cranium, flat foot, prehensile great toe and larkheel."</p> + +<p>He was described as a creature with "mental constitution very similar to +that of the child, on a lower evolutionary plane than the white man, and +more closely related to the highest anthropoids." His brain weight, we +were told, was 35 ounces as compared with the gorilla's 20 ounces and +the Caucasian's 45.</p> + +<p>In America, conception of the Negro has ever fluctuated in direct ratio +to the rise and fall of military domination of the affairs of the +republic. Whenever the military agencies of the government have been +exalted, the Negro has been benefited by reaction of the public mind. +From 1865 to 1870 exaltation of the military element of American life +brought along not only emancipation of the black man, but that +conception of him which resulted in the conferring of manhood rights and +privileges. In this short space of five years, so highly had the Negro +come into public estimation that, with the protection of the military +arm of the government, there were actively engaged in his interest an +Emancipation League, a Freedmen's Pension Society, a Freedmen and +Soldiers' Relief, a Freedmen's Aid Society of the M.E. Church, a Society +of Friends of Great Britain and Ireland for the Relief of Emancipated +Slaves of America, an American Missionary Association, a Freedmen's +Bureau, a Freedmen's Bank, a British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, +an American Negro Aid Commission, and other organizations, too numerous +for mention. So important, however, was military organization and +predominance to the success of any one of these organizations, that Carl +Schurz, reporting to Congress the condition of the South, declared: "If +the national government firmly and unequivocally announces its policy +not to give up the control of free labor reform until it is firmly +accomplished, the progress of the reform will be far more rapid and far +less difficult than it will be if the attitude of the government is such +as to permit contrary hopes to be indulged in."</p> + +<p>In 1870, as the military power of the United States weakened its control +over the nation, forces of opposition arose to pull down to the depths +the black man, who had been exalted by the agencies of military +government. The Ku Klux Klan, headed by the Grand Wizard of the +Invisible Empire, and the Grand Dragon of the Realm, with malignant +fanaticism worshipped the lost cause. Hatred of white man for Negro, +accentuated and embittered by hatred for the Yankee carpet-bagger and +the southern scalawag, resulted in the rise of a powerful southern +partisanship, stunned only so long as military power held sway. Peonage +took place of colored free labor. Disproportionate appropriation of +taxes between blacks and whites lowered the Negro measurably year by +year. With the complete removal of military supremacy, the Ku Klux +courted publicity which it had hitherto shunned. A leader, the statesman +of the new era, in the person of the late Benjamin R. Tillman, of South +Carolina, appeared. He split the loose organization of southern +aristocracy with the blacks with lily white wedge, and trampled into +dust every agency which favored the black man. He deprived the black of +all weapons of offence or defence, disfranchised him, shunted him off +into the ghetto, and called the world to mock him in his lowly position. +This southern statesman lived to see the Solid South come into national +power in 1912. From that time, until the beginning of the world war in +1914, the American negro reached the lowest point of his political and +social status.</p> + +<p>Compared with Anglo-Saxon, Frenchman, Italian, Austrian, German or +Russian, he was of an order and degree reputed farthest down. No +celebrity attached to his menial state. No distinction might be his as +an award from the courts of nations. Dignity, grandeur and majesty +applied to Guelphs, Hapsburgs and Hohenzollerns. Theirs was all +arrogation of supereminence. And to them all, the Negro, throughout the +world, was, if a man at all, pre-eminently the mere Man Friday.</p> + +<p>From such a status of debasement, existing in an intolerable atmosphere +of derogation and disrepute, the humble and humiliated American Negro +sought the exaltation of international honor. Denied and disavowed at +home, through vicissitude of international war, he hoped for affirmation +of a new world dictum in acknowledgment of his human qualities and +worth. He did not, like Toussaint, long for the high honors of the +continental emperor. He sought democratic equality, and he would as lief +think of bringing the Kaiser to his level as exalting himself to the +plane of that immortal celebrity.</p> + +<p>He wanted to make good in public. He wanted to demonstrate both +efficiency and initiative. He desired that popular belief conceive him +as a man, not a monkey. He wished the Caucasian world to take into its +head that he might function as a valuable and serviceable element of +twentieth century civilization. He yearned to reveal his powers in +every field of endeavor. And he expected that when the Caucasian had +arrived at a fair judgment in his behalf, he would issue to him the +warrant certifying that he was four-square with the dominant opinion of +mankind, and, therefore, entitled to the honors of superior status.</p> + +<p>He aimed to compensate the world by presenting a concept of beauty in +place of a general notion of repellent ugliness. Instead of being +regarded as a "Hottentot with clicking palate, whom the meanest of the +rest look down upon for all his glimmering language and spirituality," +he wished the world to find in him fitness for survival, conformity with +civilization's ideal, example of the world philosophy of forbearance, +human relationships, symmetry and poise in adaptation to the world's +tasks, and moderation in respect of the higher laws, whose harmonies +order and rectify all creation.</p> + +<p>He sought to neutralize the misteachings of Adam Smith, of Darwin and +Defoe. Smith's "Wealth of Nations" presumed the material debasement of +darker peoples of colonial populations, or, in lieu thereof, such +debasement of Slav, Serf or Serbian as would compensate the vanity of +the superior people. Indirectly, Darwin taught, that the Negro closely +approached the missing link between the savage beast and the human. +Defoe delighted the world with a picture of the ideal economic status +for the maintenance of white superiority over black man. These ideas the +Negro wished to topple over.</p> + +<p>He felt it necessary to repudiate the indoctrination of racial hatred +proclaimed throughout the world by "The Birth of a Nation." He set over +against it the reception by all civilization of the Booker T. Washington +life story. He wished to substitute recognition of worth in place of the +things that debase and make ashamed.</p> + +<p>His great puzzle was the Anglo-Saxon, cold, austere and uncomplaisant. +This Caucasian, fair of skin, with smooth and wavy hair, small +cheekbones and elevated forehead, appeared a worshipful master whose +station, under God, was of preordained and predestined eminence. +Occupying Eurasia from the Channel to the Ganges, together with the most +favored portions of Africa and America, he was the author and agency for +law and order for the world. St. Augustine, first archbishop and +lawgiver of Canterbury, himself of African descent, the son of Monica +and Patricius of Carthage, had left the Anglo-Saxon from semi-barbarism +to his position of world renown. Would this Anglo-Saxon ever degrade the +sons of women of Africa?</p> + +<p>The Negro's next puzzle was the French, urbane, amenable and suave. +Negro emotions and French sensibilities mingled even without recourse to +the vehicle of language. Imbued with all the finer Latin qualities and +characteristics, the French ever invited the black man to a social world +which the Anglo-Saxon denied him. E.W. Lightner, writing as a war +correspondent, says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Long previous to the war thousands of blacks from various States +of Africa were in France, most especially Paris, at the +universities, in business and in the better ranges of service. +Everywhere and by all sorts and conditions of whites, they were +treated as equals. During several visits to the French capital I, +an American, knowing full well the prejudices of whites of this +country against the race, was amazed to see the cordial mingling of +all phases of the cosmopolitan population of the French capital. +Refined white men promenaded the streets with refined black women, +and the two races mingled cordially in studies, industries and +athletic sports. White and black artists had ateliers in common in +the Latin quarter...."</p></div> + +<p>Thus, at hob and nob with the civilities and honors and embraces of this +social life, the Negro felt an unaccustomed giddiness seize him. This +giddiness was not caused by lack of social poise, nor incited by the +French, but it arose from the dilemma, or rather peril, in which the +French intercourse placed him with relation to the adjustment of darker +races to Anglo-Saxon civilization.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless in 1914, the approach to this court of honour and equality +must be made by the Negro—and made under restraint sufficient to assure +Anglo-Saxon approval. This was, indeed, a complex problem. Traducers +proclaimed his undeveloped capacities; he answered with a claim of long +repressed aptitudes. They spoke of intolerable coalescence; he claimed +that the times demanded imperative coexistence. They said he had no +soul; he claimed the over-soul. They asserted his lecherous character; +he referred to statistics. But when they claimed he was pro-German, he +stripped for action. World war, and France, prostrate amid its terrors, +offered the Negro the great opportunity of the centuries to refute the +broadcast propaganda of his enemies.</p> + +<p>Beyond the French appeared the German, ungainly, acrimonious and +obdurate. Part Saxon, part Hun, part Vandal and Visigoth, a creature of +blood and iron, he utilized every force of nature to exterminate his +enemies. The Negro knew how to exploit none of nature's elemental +energies. But he did know that he could learn how by seizing and +mastering the weapons of the enemy.</p> + +<p>Of the energies of earth he lacked both scientific mastery and the +weapons which give them offensive power and direction. Of the air he +lacked all control. Fire he utilized only for purposes of cooking food, +but not for the development of machinery of warfare. He has no vessel +upon all the seven seas. To seize and master and utilize these energies +appeared a thankless job, albeit a necessary one. He voted a grim +"Aye."</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus095.jpg" alt="wreath" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> This is the wreath presented by the Ford-Darney Orchestra +in memory of Lieutenant Jimmy Europe, leader of the famous Jazz band +which won its laurels with the 369th Infantry in France. His funeral +took place from St. Mark's Church in West 53rd St.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus096.jpg" alt="body" /> +</p> +<p class="center">The body of Lieutenant Jimmy Europe who died suddenly +this week is here seen being carried from St. Mark's Church. Europe was +the leader of the famous Jazz band which won its laurels with the 369th +Infantry in France.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus097.jpg" alt="nurses" /> +</p> +<p class="center">NEGRO NURSES MARCH IN GREAT RED CROSS PARADE ON FIFTH +AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus098.jpg" alt="arrest" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> THE ARREST OF THE ASSASSIN.<br /> + +Scene immediately after the murder of the Archduke and Archduchess of +Austria in the streets of Sarajevo, Bosnia. The arrest of Gavrio +Princip, the murderer.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus099.jpg" alt="guardsman" /> +</p> +<p class="center">NATIONAL GUARDSMAN WEARING COMPLETE EQUIPMENT, READY FOR +WAR.<br /> + +A soldier's equipment consists of a great number of articles, skillfully +packed so that they make a small bundle, considering the number of +articles. The kit includes a blanket, rifle, bayonet, kit bag, cartridge +belt, canteen, pan, plate, knife, fork, spoon, tent spikes, rubber +blanket and other miscellaneous articles. The photo shows three +views—side, front and back, with equipment attached.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus100.jpg" alt="conference" /> +</p> +<p class="center">THE PEACE CONFERENCE AT PARIS<br /> + +This remarkable photograph taken during the Peace Conference at Paris +shows President Wilson and President Poincare in the center background +(directly underneath the clock). Seated next to Mr. Wilson is Secretary +of State Lansing. Next to President Poincare at the right are seated +Lloyd George, Balfour and Bonar Law. At the long table to the left of +the photo we see seated Clemenceau, Pichon and Marshal Foch.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus101.jpg" alt="london" /> +</p> +<p class="center">CARRYING OLD GLORY THROUGH LONDON.<br /> + +United States soldiers, carrying the Stars and Stripes and Regimental +Standard, passed cheering crowds at the head of a National army command +that marched through London on May 11th, 1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus102.jpg" alt="joffre" /> +</p> +<p class="center">MARSHAL J. JOFFRE AND PARTY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.<br /> + +This photograph was taken at the State, War and Navy Building, just +after they had called on Secretary of War Baker. Joffre stands on the +lower step in the centre of the picture.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus103.jpg" alt="haig" /> +</p> +<p class="center">SIR DOUGLAS HAIG.<br /> + +This is a late photograph of the commander of the British armies in +France.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus104.jpg" alt="soldiers" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> SOLDIERS OF THE DIFFERENT NATIONS ENGAGED IN THE WORLD +WAR.<br /> + +This picture shows the portraits and headdress of representative fighters +now engaged in the European war.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus105.jpg" alt="bapaume" /> +</p> +<p class="center">CAPTURE OF BAPAUME BY BRITISH.<br /> + +Scene on the day British troops entered Bapaume, a French city evacuated +by the Germans in their retreat to the Hindenburg line. Cheerful British +soldiers are seen in a street.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus106.jpg" alt="noyon" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> FRENCH PASSING THROUGH RECAPTURED NOYON.<br /> + +They are on the heels of the Germans. The photograph shows how the town +was wrecked by the Germans before they evacuated.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus107.jpg" alt="gas" /> +</p> +<p class="center">HORSE AND MAN ALIKE PROTECTED FROM GAS ATTACK.<br /> + +French army horses wearing gas masks, which look at first sight like oat +bags. They are used when the animals have to cross a gas zone in drawing +the shell wagons to the batteries.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus108.jpg" alt="wounded" /> +</p> +<p class="center">ONE OF THE METHODS OF TRANSPORTING WOUNDED.<br /> + +This man is being taken over mountainous regions, and the method of +transportation has been devised in order to minimize the shock.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus109.jpg" alt="victory" /> +</p> +<p class="center">"V-I-C-T-O-R-Y."<br /> +Sailors spelling the word "VICTORY" with flags.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus110.jpg" alt="telescope" /> +</p> +<p class="center">Sighting through the 40 power telescope on the U.S.S. +Pennsylvania. Objects at great distances are clearly distinguished +through this telescope.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus111.jpg" alt="new york" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> BRITISH SAILORS IN NEW YORK.<br /> + +They are from the H.M.S. Roxburgh, and took part in welcoming the +arrival of Gen. Joffre in New York City</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus112.jpg" alt="habit" /> +</p> +<p class="center">THE GREAT AMERICAN HABIT.<br /> + +French Jackies, for the first time in the United States, learn all the +delights of the great American drink, the Ice Cream Soda.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus113.jpg" alt="baylor" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> BENJAMIN BAYLOR.<br /> + +Wardroom Steward, U.S.N. Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was torpedoed +and sunk September 30, 1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus114.jpg" alt="marshall" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> WILLIAM GARFIELD MARSHALL.<br /> + +Wardroom Officer's Steward, U.S.N. Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was +torpedoed and sunk September 30, 1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus115.jpg" alt="Williams" /> +</p> +<p class="center">SURVIAN AUSTIN WILLIAMS.<br /> + +Mess Attendant U.S.N. Lost on U.S.S. CYCLOPS, June 14, 1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus116.jpg" alt="Loundeo" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> T.A. LOUNDEO.<br /> + +Water Tender, U.S.N. 909 N. 5th St., Richmond, Va.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus117.jpg" alt="Beckley" /> +</p> +<p class="center">WM. M.T. BECKLEY.<br /> + +Mess Attendant, 1c, U.S.N. Fell overboard and drowned, U.S.S. OZARK, +July 25, 1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus118.jpg" alt="Fowler" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> GEORGE FOWLER.<br /> + +Cabin Steward U.S.N. Lost when Liberty Boat capsized, U.S.S. LANSDALE. +December 6, 1918.</p> + +<p>In doing so, he accepted the challenge of no mere enigma. Of his own +volition, he entered upon the path that led through untrod and dangerous +ground. It was his problem to cut the Gordian knot of Anglo-Saxon icy +reserve that in the end fair England might assume as a policy of world +administration the award of citizenship rights to the darker races in +the sphere of influence of the league of civilized nations. It was a +part of this problem to enter the equation with such deliberate caution +as to upset no part of the nicely calculated adjustments of white to +darker peoples. And it was also a part of his problem that he should not +relinquish his grasp upon the factors that led to honor, recognition and +equality.</p> + +<p>Germany was indignant as the Negro sought entry to the war. The South +was sensitive. The North was quizzical. The whole world was hesitant. +The too ardent favor which the Negro found in France gave offence to +both America and England. Indeed, for the Negro to lift himself too +rapidly by his own bootstraps would have offended England, whose law +prohibited emigration of foreign Negroes to South Africa. And it would +also offend America, strangely jealous of any sign of unwanted +assertiveness the Negro might display. The Negro accepted the challenge +to penetrate this maze and labyrinth, with no surety, save God's good +grace, of the fate that lay beyond.</p> + +<p>To attain the goal of Recognition, it was necessary for him to demand of +the people of England, France and Italy, that he be made subject to +every test calculated to reveal his worth or inferiority as an +individual, business, political or social equal of the allied peoples. +The goal of Honor, he had attained in every war waged by America. He was +with Jackson at New Orleans, a pioneer in the Mexican struggle, 200,000 +strong in the great civil crisis, the acme of terror to Geronimo in the +later Indian wars, the hero of San Juan in the Spanish-American combat, +and at Carrizal in the latest Mexican imbroglio. By 1914, however, he +had lost all rewards of honor which he had previously won. As for +Equality, since the Civil War, he had been guaranteed this goal by +three amendments to the Constitution of the United States. These +forgotten amendments read in part:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment +for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall +exist within the United States, or any place subject to their +jurisdiction....</p> + +<p>"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject +to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and +of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce +any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of +citizens of the United States; nor shall deprive any person of +life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to +any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the +laws....</p> + +<p>"Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States +according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of +persons in each State....</p> + +<p>"The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not +be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account +of race, color or previous condition of servitude."</p></div> + +<p>America of 1914 was prone to look upon this part of the Constitution as +a mere scrap of paper. From what point of vantage might the Negro hope +for Honor, Recognition and Equality at the hands of the allied +governments?</p> + +<p>Land of the free and home of the brave, America is assumed to be so +openhearted, munificent and princely, so liberal and so generous that +could she but behold a man, of whatever hue, trampled in the mire, or +hear his piteous cry, she would hasten to his aid and deliver him. So +much does she admire genuine human worth that a man of heart and spirit +and fortitude cannot perish while she is nigh at hand. Such, at least, +is the assumption.</p> + +<p>From the debasement of industrial serfdom, the black workman wished the +American people of 1914 to stop the trend of their strenuous existence +and behold him ... and test him ... and proclaim him. He not only wished +to be given a free field and a fair chance to work at the same job, for +the same wage, during the same hours, and under the same conditions as +the white workman, but he was ready to contend for all of the industrial +privileges.</p> + +<p>The black man of business not only wished to enter into business +competition with members of the Caucasian race under the same conditions +as customarily pertain to such arrangements, but he was eagerly hoping +to insure adjustment of this situation. The black social outcast wished +"jim-crow" railway accommodations and signs proclaiming inequality of +race to disappear. He wished sufficient education to enable him to +develop his own society. He, too, was willing for a world war, for he +had come to the point where he desired immediate and explosive change. +Looked down upon because of his despised blood, the black American +wished to elevate the status of his womankind, too long disproved and +betrayed, to the level of free and brave womanhood of all the civilized +world. Concerning this situation he was grim. It required but a spark +applied here to explode with terrific outburst the sinister silence of +the volcano.</p> + +<p>But in India, in South Africa, in Nigeria, and in all countries where +English rule held sway, England was committed to the policy of the white +overseer or foreman for the black exponent of industry. Nor could she, +save through war, adopt a policy of employing either Indians or Africans +at the same job and for the same wage as that received by members of the +British Labor Party. On the other hand, France, whose political life was +convulsed from 1894 to 1899 by principles of racial prejudice exhibited +in the Dreyfus case, offered every form of equality to the darker races +under her dominion. However, such equality offered by France was not +equal in the sum total of advantage to the partial equality which the +Negro received in America. The French workman gave more hours of toil +for less monetary reward. The Negro wanted to bring the French principle +of equality to apply in American industry. But the British in 1914 could +not agree to industrial equality for black men. Such agreement would +upset the nicely calculated economic adjustments of the English system. +America would take no step until forced to do so.</p> + +<p>It was the problem of the Negro, alone and single-handed, to grasp the +opportunity afforded by world war to bring America to this point of +recognition and democratic equality. The Negro, hitherto regarded as the +monkey-man, the baby race, the black brute, trained by such ruthless +propaganda to disrespect himself, hesitated.</p> + +<p>There was no leadership. No ringleader arrayed the mob. No chief +appeared. No captain called the hosts. No generalissimo marshalled the +black phalanx. No statesman sought entanglement in the meshes of the +negro labyrinth. But the Negro proposition for a test of Negro fitness, +like Topsy, "just growed." The young Negro possessed the clear eye to +see the situation. College trained, his vision was not blinded by +proximity to issues of the Civil War, nor by financial dependence, nor +by excessive spirituality. The elder Negro possessed the oratorical and +linguistic powers to state the case. Also college trained, of long +experience, possessing a widespread oratorical clientele, he spoke with +a voice that stirred and played upon the heartstrings of all America. +Never was such a proposition advanced where men, old and young, despised +and rejected, penniless and without credit, without acclaimed leadership +or champion, sought position of honor and recognition and equality +beside the best fighting forces of the world to help defeat the greatest +military machine that hell had ever invented.</p> + +<p>Capital and labor, in previous years, had found the Negro wanting. State +governments had utilized him for the purpose of increasing taxes and +court fees. The national government always handled him in accordance +with political expediency, despite his unswerving loyalty. Capital, +labor, State government and national government had brought the Negro so +low that he was ready in 1914 for any form of relief.</p> + +<p>The Negro was ready for change, for one reason, because he had lost the +honor of ministership to Haiti, Henry W. Furniss being succeeded by a +white man. He was ready for change because, as the continental war +proceeded, it became evident that though America might participate, her +black colonel, Charles Denton Young, a graduate of West Point, and a +distinguished soldier, might receive recognition as the leader of black +forces on foreign soil. He was ready for change because it appeared that +there had been agreement that no American Negro should participate in a +test of world equality upon the field of world honor and renown.</p> + +<p>In the American Navy Department, in 1914, time had destroyed the wake of +Negro tradition, and the log had been deleted. The Negro has rendered +honorable service in the navy. He was with Perry on Lake Erie. During +the Civil War, Robert Smalls, a Negro, single-handed, stole the Union +cruiser "Planter" from Charleston harbor and brought her into a Union +port. Half the men who accompanied Hobson into Santiago harbor were +Negroes. Matt Henson was the only man with Peary at the Pole. John +Jordan fired the first shot from Dewey's flagship "Olympia," opening the +battle of Manila. The Negro wanted change because in 1914 the naval +administration reluctantly offered Negroes positions as messmen and +cooks. No seamen, no members of the merchant marine, no petty officers, +no lieutenants, might apply.</p> + +<p>In the American Treasury Department, an ex-Senator of the United States, +a colored man, Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi, was honored by having +created for him the office of register of the treasury. Subsequently the +honor was conferred as a political favor upon Judson W. Lyons, of +Georgia; William T. Vernon, of Kansas, and J.C. Napier, of Tennessee. +The democratic executive was good enough to offer this position, created +as a direct result of the Negro's activities during and after the Civil +War, to Adam E. Patterson, of Oklahoma. But so great was the pressure +from opposing political forces that the name was withdrawn and another +position of honor lost to the race. Ralph W. Tyler, auditor of the navy, +resigned his position in 1912. A white man was appointed in his place. +Screens were erected in this department, shutting the Negro from the +view of his erstwhile fellow-clerk. He was sent down in the cellar to +emphasize his degradation as he attended to his physical wants. The +Negro cried aloud for change, and in his heart he cared not how soon +this change should come, nor what form it should take.</p> + +<p>The American Post-office Department, by 1914, had taken over the bulk of +the express service of the United States. The Negro was found available +as a clerk, but seldom, if ever, as a foreman. The appointment of large +numbers of Negroes to mere clerical positions did not mean to the Negro +recognition of merit. The Negro postmaster had disappeared.</p> + +<p>The American Department of the Interior is engaged with domestic affairs +of the nation. The Negro constitutes one-tenth of the population and +requires one-tenth of the necessities of American life. In 1914, a +definite attempt was made in a bureau of this department to give the +Negro recognition, honor and near-equality by the policy of segregating +him into a Negro bureau. This policy had previously been worked out in +Negro school systems and in the army. But the Negro clerks of the +Interior Department, by unanimous vote, rejected the proposition for +this sort of change. The kind of recognition, the kind of honor and the +kind of equality which they desired had taken definite shape in their +minds.</p> + +<p>The American Agricultural Department, it would appear, should be made up +of a large percentage of Negroes. The Negro was essentially an +agriculturist before he came to America. He was brought to Virginia for +the specific purpose of engaging in agriculture. His development of +agricultural conferences in the South in recent years has been a great +source of production. The Negro wanted change because this department +employed messengers and clerks, but demonstrators seldom, if ever, of +his color. Agricultural strategy in 1914 might well have been exonerated +if it had employed Negro chief demonstrators and engaged them in +interstate contest for quantity production. In one Southern State the +Negro operates the greater agricultural area. In another he will operate +the greater portion of such districts at an early date. In still another +many of the communities of large Negro population have hardly had a +white foot set upon them in two decades. The Negroes of these three +states could have furnished surplus food for any nation of the allies, +but a Negro might receive honor if put in charge of their development at +the proper salary and with full authority to act. In 1914, this honor +must not be.</p> + +<p>In the American Department of Commerce the masters of barter and +exchange are exhibited. America seeks to develop the man who can strike +a bargain and outbid his competitors. The Negro wanted change because, +since the invention of salesmanship he has been declared out of the +scope of this department. His social status prevents him from making the +proper sales approach. The Negro of 1914 came to this department only as +a depositor of funds, or as a beggar for charity. He was not seriously +regarded.</p> + +<p>Lastly, in the American Department of Labor, the Negro wanted change +because he was regarded in 1914 as the man requiring a boss of another +color. He was not regarded as a master mechanic, manufacturer, artist or +journeyman, unless the labor union, to which he was ineligible, so +regarded him.</p> + +<p>In these many ways, by capital and labor, by state and national +government, in every department, had the Negro of 1914 been reduced to +the state of man without honor in his own country. If war be change, +however explosive in form, in 1914 the Negro wanted the world war to +come to America from whatever angle that promised him the greatest +advantage.</p> + +<p>Equality in citizenship, for which the Negro yearned, meant parity of +adjustment to conditions of life. Equality may be considered under three +forms, industrial, business and political. As the terms are understood +in America, the Negro was unanimous in 1914 in desiring industrial, +business and political equality. He eagerly watched the fuse of war if +perchance he might foresee from the consequent explosion the termination +of Anglo-Saxon prejudice. It is but fair to say that he was not the only +victim of discrimination at that time. The sub-dominant nations, +including the Jugo-Slavs, the Czecho-Slavs, the Serbs and the Serfs of +Russia, were subject to discrimination and deprived of the higher places +of honor in the world's society.</p> + +<p>But the Negro was not immediately concerned with any one's status save +his own. He was not concerned that Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese, +Filipinos, Porto Ricans or South Africans did not enjoy the advantage of +living on American soil. He was only concerned with the fact that, +living in America, performing the full duties of American citizenship, +he was denied the advantages and privileges of its possession, while +Slavs and Serbs of Europe, with white skins, were accorded the fullest +measure of democratic opportunity whenever and wherever they set foot on +American soil. The Negro wanted the world war to prove that he, too, +was a coalescent element in the civilization of the world.</p> + +<p>To summarize the burden of the Negro in 1914 we may include Caucasian +arrogance, hatred and prejudice of race, injustice of attitude and +treatment, personal fear for life and property, improperly requited +toil, unrewarded ambition, unmerited disfavor and debased self-respect. +What profound pathos in the love which he bore Old Glory!</p> + + +<h4>THE WAR FOR DEMOCRATIZATION.</h4> + +<p>Germany of 1914 aimed to throw off the yoke which she claimed England +wished to fasten on her world relationships. She aimed to dominate the +world with German efficiency. She aimed to demonstrate German +superiority and expose what she called Anglo-Saxon hypocrisy and cant. +Already possessing the world's supply of potash, she struck directly at +the coal and iron region of Belgium and Northern France. And she took +them on the initial advance. With potash, coal and iron, this was a +Teutonic coup for industrial and commercial supremacy indeed. Now well +might she dictate who should boycott English goods. Now well might she +point to the political and military dishonor of the easy defeat of +Belgium and France. Now well might she proceed to the disintegration of +these countries by the weapons of poverty, disease, hunger and bitter +cold. Little did Germany dream what moral advantage she gave these +overrun lands in the hearts of the millions of Negroes of the world. +Germany felt assured that Negroes from all Africa would gloat over the +assassination of Belgium. She was positive that American Negroes would +rejoice. She expected the blacks of the world would rise up and hail her +as the champion of a new day.</p> + +<p>In the twinkling of an eye she reduced Belgium to industrial serfdom. +She made the Belgian merchant a business pariah. She reduced the +Belgian citizen to a political Helot, and imprisoned the burgomaster of +Brussels, who refused to yield his citizenship honors. She made of +Belgium a desert. The Belgian woman she whistled at and made a bye-word +and reproach. And she called her treaty of Belgian neutrality a mere +scrap of paper. Namur fell, and Charleroi and lovely Louvain. Liege +succumbed in those hot August days, and Malines and Tournai and Antwerp. +Poor Belgian refugees, starved and naked, fled westward. In remembrance +of barbarities in the Congo under the international commission which +placed Belgium in control, the American Negro quoted the poet: "The sins +we borrow two by two we pay for one by one." But there was no +disposition to gloat. The American Negro, be it said, came to the +Belgian relief with money and goods and prayers and tears, and forgot +the sins of the fathers of the suffering little kingdom. The secret of +this reaction is revealed in the sympathy which the Negro bore toward +another people reduced to his American status, without honor, +recognition or equality.</p> + +<p>On, on, precipitate, headlong came Germany with diabolic efficiency, +thrusting viciously at the heart of France. Running amuck through St. +Quentin and Arras, Soissons fell and Laon. Rheims surrounded, astride +the Marne, France awaited her invader. Joffre at the gate! Foch in +charge of the defence! On came the Germans! They crushed his left! They +pulverized his right! He dispatched his courier to headquarters with the +famous message: "I shall attack with my centre. Send up the Moroccans!" +These black troops, thrown in at the first Marne, with the British to +their left, pushed the German right over the stream. Continuing their +action, the colonials won on the Ourcq, and the Germans evacuated Upper +Alsace. Before their terrific attack, with the British steadily pressing +beside them, General Von Stein admitted his defeat by the white and +black allies. Paris was saved and Foch discovered to the allied world. +How the hearts of black Americans thrilled as slowly the news filtered +through to them of what the black colonials had done to hold the field +for France! It was then that they took it into their hearts that if the +United States were ever called upon to participate in this struggle, +they would not be denied a place of glory equal to that which their +African brethren had achieved.</p> + +<p>But there was no time for resolve. The cataclysm involved in the +threatened overthrow of English law and orderly procedure throughout the +world caused the American Negro to tremble. Always conservative, if +there be anything to conserve, the Negro appreciated that English law, +when properly interpreted, meant freedom and life and hope eternal to +him. He was unwilling to take any chances with a German substitute. The +overthrow of English law he looked upon as the impending crack of doom. +On came the Germans toward Calais and the Straits of Dover! On to +Zeebrugge! On to Ostend! To Ypres! In her supreme desperation, England +looked about the world for a force to stay the invader until she could +prepare to meet the full force of the attack. She cared not whether aid +be white or black, or brown or yellow. She called for help, or else +Ypres should fall. Black men of Africa, brown men of India, white and +red men of Canada, and yellow men of the Far East heard her call. And +while America lifted not a finger, the American Negro lifted up his +heart to God and prayed that Anglo-Saxon justice, rigid and cold, so +often denied him, should not perish in triumph of the Hun, who knew no +law save his own lust and super-arrogation.</p> + +<p>Aboard the "Lusitania" there were no known men of color. But there were +Caucasian women and children aboard. At what moral disadvantage did +Germany put herself with the black millions of America when she +riotously celebrated the horrible death her submarines had meted out to +these weak and helpless mortals. The "Belgian Prince," first of the +vessels torpedoed without warning after President Wilson's manifesto on +the subject, had one lone black survivor to tell the tale of horror. He +told it to his black brethren and they chafed under the diplomatic +restraint, which relieved itself by polite letter writing.</p> + +<p>Germany threatened the Panama Canal by disruption in Mexico and Haiti. +The Mole St. Nicholas gave command of the canal to anyone of the great +powers who might seize it. German influence was at work in Port au +Prince. There occurred a riot involving both French and German +Legations. The President of Haiti was assassinated. The United States +marines stepped in and took over the situation. The American Negro heart +went out to little Haiti. Hoping for the best, he feared the worst.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this situation, Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New +Mexico. Overnight Negro regiments of regular army and of national guard +received word to go to the border. Black troopers of the 10th Cavalry +were reported near Casas Grandes on March 17. The 24th Infantry, +colored, set out for Mexico, and another Negro command was sent to +Columbus on March 22. Through storm and dust and desert of alkali and +cacti, the Negro troopers, led by Colonel Brown, came to Aguascalientes. +They had passed through a terrible experience that must have daunted all +save those who refuse to accept defeat. Hunger and thirst and mirage and +exposure must all be overcome. Because of hardships many cavalrymen +deserted on May 1, after three months' service in action. But every +Negro trooper with Colonel Brown held on and defeated the Villistas in +every skirmish.</p> + +<p>On a day in June, 1916, a troop from the 10th Cavalry approached the +Mexican town of Carrizal. They were forbidden to enter the town for +purposes of refreshment. Captain Boyd resolved to make the entry +regardless of any regulations the Mexicans might seek to enforce. He +was called upon by General Gomez to advance for a parley. As he advanced +with his troopers, Mexicans spread out in a wide circle around them. +Gomez, himself, trained the machine gun which opened fire. The parley +was a mere sham and decoy. Captain Boyd with Lieutenant Adair and eleven +soldiers were killed. The rest of the troopers fell on the Mexicans, +seized their gun, turned it upon them, and brought to death scores of +their number, including Gomez himself. Seventeen black Americans were +interned in Chihuahua, but were released eight days after upon demand by +the American government. Captain Morey reported that his men faced death +with a song on their lips. The lesson which the Mexicans learned by +turning a machine gun on Negro troopers was of such force that no +trouble has arisen since in this section of the southern republic. The +Negro fell face forward in the scorching sand for his honor's sake, and +for the honor of all America. He knew that his real enemy was not the +Mexican, but the German who had furnished Mexico the means and the will +to create disturbance on this side of the Atlantic.</p> + +<p>It was not until April, 1917, that President Wilson proclaimed in +Congress a state of war existing between the United States of America +and the Imperial German Government. At the call for volunteers, Negro +regiments of guard, who had served in Mexico, were found at war strength +and ready to double themselves overnight. These guard regiments +represented the cosmopolitan Negro populations of New York, Chicago, +Washington, Baltimore and the State of Ohio. Everywhere the Negro +dropped the mattock, left the ploughshare, poised himself at erect +stature, passionately saluted Old Glory, answered "Here am I!"—counted +fours, and away! Pro-German cried: "White man's war!" Propagandist +yelled: "Cannon fodder!" Reactionary declared: "It must not be." The +Negro burst the gate and entered the arena of combat in spite of all +opposition to his service in honorable capacity under the United States +government.</p> + +<p>The honesty of his purpose was discredited. The Anglo-Saxon mind could +not conceive any more than could the German why a man downtrodden as the +Negro should rush to arms, save as a baser means of eking out a +livelihood better than his civilian state. The Anglo-Saxon little +dreamed that the Negro approached the war not only to uphold his +cherished tradition, but also with definite ideas of honor, recognition +and equality as its outcome. Or rather the Anglo-Saxon was too busy with +his own affairs to ascertain the reason why.</p> + +<p>His loyalty impugned by those who did not wish to see him uniformed, his +fidelity the subject of bitter sarcasm, his trustworthiness disputed, +the Negro for once kept his own counsel. German agents were in his +midst. They came to his table. They mingled with him in all social +intercourse. They brought forward business propositions to seek to make +the interests of Negro and German one. Southerners, noting this +unaccustomed intimacy of black and white, announced that the Negro had +gone over to the enemy. But the Negro kept his own counsel. He called +upon the nation to investigate him. And when his loyalty was found +untarnished, he called upon the nation to investigate itself. It was +through the influence of Robert R. Moton, of Tuskegee, that, after +careful investigation, President Wilson put the stain of pro-Germanism +where it properly belonged. Said the President:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">My Fellow-Countrymen</span>:</p> + +<p>I take the liberty of addressing you upon a subject which so +vitally affects the honour of the nation and the very character and +integrity of our institutions that I trust you will think me +justified in speaking very plainly about it.</p> + +<p>I allude to the mob spirit which has recently here and there very +frequently shown its head amongst us, not in any single region, but +in many and widely separated parts of the country. There have been +many lynchings, and every one of them has been a blow at the heart +of ordered law and humane justice. No man who loves America, no man +who really cares for her fame and honour and character, or who is +truly loyal to her institutions, can justify mob actions while the +courts of justice are open and the governments of the states and +the nation are ready and able to do their duty. We are at this very +moment fighting lawless passion. Germany has outlawed herself among +the nations because she has disregarded the sacred obligations of +law and has made lynchers of her armies. Lynchers emulate her +disgraceful example. I, for my part, am anxious to see every +community in America rise above that level, with pride and fixed +resolution which no man or act of men can afford to despise.</p> + +<p>We proudly claim to be the champions of democracy. If we really +are, in deed and in truth, let us see to it that we do not +discredit our own. I say plainly that every American who takes part +in the action of a mob or gives it any sort of countenance is no +true son of this great democracy, but its betrayer, and does more +to discredit her by that single disloyalty to her standards of law +and of right than the words of her statesmen or the sacrifices of +her heroic boys in the trenches can do to make suffering peoples +believe her to be their saviour. How shall we commend democracy to +the acceptance of other peoples, if we disgrace our own by proving +that it is, after all, no protection to the weak? Every mob +contributes to German lies about the United States what her most +gifted liars cannot improve upon by way of calumny. They can at +least say that such things cannot happen in Germany, except in +times of revolution, when law is swept away.</p> + +<p>I, therefore, very earnestly and solemnly beg that the Governors of +all the States, the law officers of every community, and, above +all, the men and women of every community in the United States, all +who revere America and wish to keep her name without stain or +reproach, will co-operate—not passively merely, but actively and +watchfully,—to make an end of this disgraceful evil. It cannot +live where the community does not countenance it.</p> + +<p>I have called upon the nation to put its great energy into this +war, and it has responded—responded with a spirit and a genius for +action that has thrilled the world. I now call upon it, upon its +men and women everywhere, to see that its laws are kept inviolate, +its fame untarnished. Let us show our utter contempt for the things +that have made this war hideous among the wars of history by +showing how those who love liberty and right and justice and are +willing to lay down their lives for them upon foreign fields, stand +ready also to illustrate to all mankind their loyalty to the things +at home which they wish to see established everywhere as a blessing +and protection to the peoples who have never known the privileges +of liberty and self-government. I can never accept any man as a +champion of liberty, either for ourselves or for the world, who +does not reverence and obey the laws of our own beloved land, whose +laws we ourselves have made. He has adopted the standard of the +enemies of his country, whom he affects to despise.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Woodrow Wilson</span>.</p></div> + +<p>The Negro braced himself, dismissed the German coldly from his household +and forbade the pro-German enter. From afar off the enemy propagandist +could resort but to derision and ridicule. What an attempt at laughter +he made when Haiti entered the side of the Allies! How he pretended to +be choking with the ridiculousness of the thing when Liberia offered her +services! He flouted the idea of Negro expertness in handling weapons of +modern warfare. He ridiculed the idea of Negro discretion in ideas of +likely foreign origin. He questioned the potency of the Negro's native +talent to meet the European situation. It was the black man's patriotic +fervor, ardent in response to the call of Old Glory, zealous with +passionate love of fireside and homeland, poignant with the throbbing +and thrilling reaction of public-spirited emotion toward France—which +overcame all.</p> + +<p>The South asked three questions:</p> + +<p>First—Shall Negroes and whites of the South both remain in America +while the North conducts the war? Second—Shall Negroes of the South +remain at home while the flower of southern chivalry, drafted for +service, is far away across the sea, annihilated in battle? Third—Shall +white men of the South be left at home while southern Negroes are +drafted and go abroad to do distinguished service? These questions were +resolved into the conclusion that southern Negroes and southern whites +both must be drafted and sent against the German foe. There was no +alternative.</p> + +<p>It was altogether becoming and proper that a man whose race has suffered +as the American Negro suffers today, should point the way to this goal +of recognition, honor and equality which the Negro knew but as a +tradition of those days following the Civil War when Grant administered +the affairs of the triumphant party of freedom.</p> + +<p>One of those New Yorkers of Hebraic origin, whose Semitic qualities are +of the highest ethical type, made the play for partial equality, for +partial recognition, for partial honor for the Negro. Joel Spingarn +suggested and propagated the idea of a military training camp for +Negroes, where they might receive instruction in all branches of +military service, be commissioned up to the grade of captain and receive +the recognition, honor and equality due to such military rank as they +might qualify for. In addressing Negro America, he said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It is of highest importance that the educated colored men of this +country should be given opportunities for leadership. You must +cease to remain in the background in every field of national +activity, and must come forward to assume your right places as +leaders of American life. All of you cannot be leaders, but those +who have the capacity for leadership must be given the opportunity +to test and display it."</p></div> + +<p>Mr. Spingarn never realized what forces he would set in motion by mere +presentation of this proposition. He merely pointed out the gate. The +young Negro brushed aside the opponents among his own race of this +policy of segregation. He disregarded the moral principle which had +actuated the older Negroes of the Interior Department in refusing to +accept segregation, and seized the opportunity to produce some sort of +change and readjustment. He must go up. He could go no lower than the +policies of previous generations had brought him.</p> + +<p>Directly to the President of all the United States he went. "Give us a +lift!" he cried, "We want to fight!" To the Secretary of War he shouted +most unceremoniously: "Give us place!" "But," was the indirect reply, +"we have not the facilities at present. For instance, we have no bedding +for the men whom you might muster." It was a young Negro Harvard +graduate, Thomas Montgomery Gregory, of New Jersey, who advanced before +Secretary Baker. "No bedding, Mr. Secretary? We will sleep on the +floor—on the ground—anywhere—give us a lift!"</p> + +<p>The Anglo-Saxon mind is subject to orderly reactions. The Secretary of +War was taken aback. He realized that the young Negroes had not +approached him to sell their labor. He gleaned that it was not for the +purpose of barter and exchange they had come forward. Nor had they come +with dreams of political advantage and social eclat, nor with vague +glimmerings of spirituality. He was not ready to answer. He dismissed +the audience with a little more than the usual ceremony. One of the +older Negroes of the group, whose uncanny insight had often appeared +beyond the orbit of average intelligence, ventured this suggestion: "He +will put it up to Pershing."</p> + +<p>And so the word got abroad that it would be left to Pershing as to how +the Negro should be disposed of. It would be left to John J. Pershing, +who in his earlier days had been instructor in a Negro college under +the American Missionary Association. It would be left to the man who in +1892 had been a First Lieutenant in the 10th Cavalry in connection with +the Sioux campaign in the Dakotas; who had been with the 10th Cavalry in +the Santiago campaign in 1898; who had led Negro troops in the +Philippines in 1899 till 1903, commanding operations in Mindanao against +the Moros; and who had been in command of the Negro troops sent into +Mexico in pursuit of Villa in March, 1916. It would be left to the man +whose whole life had been spent in close contact with darker races.</p> + +<p>To this day the Negro does not know who was directly responsible for the +organization of the camp such as Spingarn proposed. It is probable that +the honor belongs as much to Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts as to any +one else. These black soldiers of Colonel Hayward's 15th New York +Regiment, already in France with other regiments of Negro troopers of +the national guard, were thrown across No Man's Land on a cold and foggy +night as a lookout, far in advance of the sleeping command of thousands +of white and colored American troops. The Hun planned their capture for +the purpose of psycho-analytic research. It was Roberts who detected +their stealthy approach. He called to Johnson. In the twinkling of an +eye, the two were surrounded by German troopers. The Negroes faced +certain death, but they had lost all claim to honor, recognition or +equality, if they did not take with them to eternity at least one German +each. Surrounded they resolved to fight it out with shot and gun. Too, +too slow! Around them the Germans swarmed like bees. Bayonets then! Too, +too close! Aye, butts! Wounded and winded, with knives, skulls, feet, +teeth and nails, prehensile toe and larkheel, Henry Johnson and Needham +Roberts defeated ten times their number of Germans and held the field of +honor. This was a great self-revelation to the Negro of his powers of +more than rudimentary culture, and a mighty incentive from the guard to +the soldiery of the 92nd Division.</p> + +<p>It settled forever, in the mind of the Negro, what Pershing would say as +to the advisability of training Negroes to deliver their best service +for their country. That general's report electrified the entire nation. +Said Pershing:</p> + +<p>"Reports in hand show a notable instance of bravery and devotion shown +by two soldiers of an American colored regiment operating in a French +sector. Before daylight on May 15, Private Henry Johnson and Private +Roberts, while on sentry duty at some distance from one another, were +attacked by a German raiding party, estimated at twenty men, who +advanced in two groups, attacking at once flank and rear.</p> + +<p>"Both men fought bravely hand-to-hand encounters, one resorting to the +use of a bolo knife after his rifle jammed and further fighting with +bayonet and butt became impossible. There is evidence that at least one, +and probably a second, German was severely cut. A third is known to have +been shot.</p> + +<p>"Attention is drawn to the fact that the colored sentries were first +attacked and continued fighting after receiving wounds, and despite the +use of grenades by a superior force. They should be given credit for +preventing, by their bravery, the capture of any of our men."</p> + +<p>Whether this citation arrived May 19, 1917, by design or by accident, it +served the purpose of dissolving completely all opposition to the idea +of training Negroes to halt the Hun. Immediately thereafter the War +Department created a training camp for educated Negroes at Fort Des +Moines, Iowa.</p> + + +<h4>THE CRISIS OF THE WORLD.</h4> + +<p>Des Moines Camp was organized in June, 1917, to train Negroes to the +military point where other military men must recognize them, honor them +and receive them on the plane of equality due their rank. The camp was +designed to develop Negroid snap and vigor to the maximum of military +efficiency. For this purpose, as at all other camps, there was created +the background of the mother's urge, and the sister's urge, and the +sweetheart's urge, the Y.M.C.A. spirit, the college fraternity spirit, +and, in addition, the spirit of the elevation of a Negroid order.</p> + +<p>The change which came over the men was indicated by their music. Their +first group singing of a Sunday consisted of Negro spirituals in +spondaic and trochaic verse, and phrased in many minors. The vigor of +blood produced by methodical training soon permitted of vocalization +only in iambics. "Over There," "The Long, Long Trail," "Sons of +America," were songs they sung of hope and not of sorrow. They connoted +the Negro's reaction to the cosmic urge.</p> + +<p>Over 1200 men took advantage of the experience of the trip to Fort Des +Moines for training. Theirs was the 17th Provisional R.O.T.C., but the +first of national proportions. Its quota was drawn from every section of +the United States. The immediate destiny of the men selected for +commission from this camp would be the training of colored draftees of +African descent.</p> + +<p>Mr. Baker, the Secretary of War, in late summer, referring to the Des +Moines Camp, said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The work at Des Moines is progressing remarkably well, and the +reports I have from it are very good. The spirit of the men is +fine, and apparently this camp is going to do a great deal of good, +both to the country and to the men involved."</p></div> + +<p>Colonel C.C. Ballou, of the War College, in charge of the work at Des +Moines, said on August 19, in a Sunday interview:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The colored race constitutes more than ten per cent. of our +population, and has, since the Civil War, furnished more than its +quota of fighting men of the regular army. At home or on foreign +soil the ranks of colored regiments are always full, while the +white regiments have with difficulty been maintained at peace +strength. To question the valor of the colored soldier is to betray +ignorance of history. This is the first opportunity in his history +to prove on an adequate scale his fitness or unfitness for command +and leadership. At Fort Des Moines, Iowa, on June 16, 1917, there +assembled the largest body of educated Negroes ever brought +together for a single purpose. The candidates who survive are men +of marked intelligence and ability. Let any man who doubts the +colored men's patriotism go to Fort Des Moines and see men who have +given up professions, business and homes in order to learn to +defend their country and merit a more considerate judgment of their +race. Let any man who doubts the colored man's fidelity and loyalty +come to Fort Des Moines and revise his opinions on what he will +there learn of the spirit that has stood unswervingly behind the +commanding officer in every decision that he has been called upon +to make, even though that decision involved sore disappointment and +shattering of hopes. These men have been started out on correct +lines and will have no false ideas to unlearn."</p></div> + +<p>Hardly any one in America, black or white, believed that 700 Negroes +would be commissioned in the army of the United States to receive +positions of honor not only beside her other troops, but on the field of +battle with the flower of French and English between veteran soldiery. +Everything possible to prevent, somehow or other, seemed to arise. The +men were put through the bitterest drill in the hottest sun, under the +most scorching orders the English language might devise. They +represented every section of the United States. Not once did they +break. The acid test came, when, already pricked by the numerous +situations which arose to flout them, East St. Louis broke forth in the +most savage pogrom Anglo-Saxon culture has ever revealed.</p> + +<p>While 1200 Negroes, training for leadership, were undergoing the +terrific process of forced attrition, their nerves turned raw by army +usage, East St. Louis burst forth. Tidings reached Des Moines that the +Illinois militia, called in to break up a race riot at East St. Louis, +had joined the rioters and slaughtered the Negro population of the +community. White women had joined in these attacks, dragging out of +their houses colored women, girls and children, stoning and clubbing +them to death. Aged Negro mammies, afraid to come out of their homes, +had been burned to death by the mob which set fire to them. Black men +had been thrown into Cahokia Creek and stormed with bricks each time +they rose to the surface until drowned. A crowd of whites had torn a +colored woman's baby from her arms, thrown it into the fire of a blazing +dwelling, held the mother from its rescue until she, herself, was shot +nigh unto death, and then allowed her to plunge into the fire to rescue +her little one. Nor was this all.</p> + +<p>But out there in camp, isolated from the usual social life, July 2 and 3 +and 4, Independence Day, was indeed a test of nerve, already tried and +sore and raw, for the young Negroes in training. Why should men train to +fight for a country that permitted such barbarous atrocities against +their race with impunity. In savage Memphis charred remains of Negroes +burned at the stake before a gala mob of 15,000, were thrown from an +automobile in the Negro quarter of that city! And the Negroes at Des +Moines held on. It has not been recorded in history that there was here +proposed any hostile demonstration, or that vengeance and ruthless +retaliation was planned. Wise counsel prevailed, and the Negroes at Des +Moines held on.</p> + +<p>For three months they held on without audible murmur. Negroes from +civilian life, from the national guard, from the regular army, destined +for every branch of the military service, defied any propaganda, by +whomever invented, to break their morale. For three months they held on. +And then word came they would not be graduated. A number, in disgust, +left the camp. But the great bulk of them, although at the last moment +learning that they could be assigned to no military branch save +infantry, remained in camp for another month and were finally +commissioned as officers in the national army. It was the eleventh hour +of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1917 that they received +their commissions forwarded from the President of the United States. The +hour and day and month a year later became famous not only in their +history, but in the history of the civilized world.</p> + +<p>They were given a grade neither high nor low. The rank of captain was +granted to men who were to serve in France and England. The former +country proudly made the Negro a general when he merited promotion; the +latter was committed to the policy of white officers for colonial +troops. In assigning rank as high as the grade of captain, America took +the middle ground. In view of the international situation, she could +hardly be expected to do more. She had granted partial recognition, +partial honor, partial equality. It was for the Negro to gain the rest.</p> + +<p>Seven hundred American Negroes commissioned! A baker's dozen of +captains, six hundred odd lieutenants, and five hundred who dropped by +the way. German propaganda had taken contrary suggestion and forced the +Negro to this point of moral advantage. Plunder, arson, lynching and +burning at the stake were employed against him to break his morale or +incite him against America. But he held on. Seven hundred of the +"sub-species, dark of skin, wooly of hair, long of head, with dilated +nostrils, thick lips, thicker cranium, flat feet, prehensile great toe +and larkheel" had passed every physical, mental, moral and social test +and were commissioned in the American army. Doubt existed in the minds +of every American citizen, including the Negro officers themselves, that +they would ever see service overseas.</p> + +<p>Assigned to various camps, the problem of recognition by white soldiers +of colored officers immediately was raised, and promptly settled. In +only a few cases did open clashes occur. In far more cases was the Negro +received with full merited honors of his status, and in some sections on +the basis of complete equality. The Negro of a northern locality, +accustomed to all immunities and privileges of his home, experienced +great difficulty when first assigned to camps near Baltimore, +Washington, Houston or Norfolk. He would have passed through this state +of his development well enough, settling his difficulties himself as +they arose, had not some evil genius prompted the commanding officer of +the division in which he was finally to be assembled to issue Bulletin +35, which follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It should be well known to all colored officers and men that no +useful purpose is served by such acts as will cause the 'color +question' to be raised. It is not a question of legal rights, but a +question of policy, and any policy that tends to bring about a +conflict of the races, with its resulting animosities, is +prejudicial to the military interest of the colored race.</p> + +<p>"To avoid such conflicts the Division Commander has repeatedly +urged that all colored members of his command and especially the +officers and non-commissioned officers, should refrain from going +where their presence will be resented. In spite of this injunction, +one of the Sergeants of the Medical Department has recently +precipitated the precise trouble that should be avoided, and then +called on the Division Commander to take sides in a row that should +never have occurred had the Sergeant placed the general good above +his personal pleasure and convenience. The Sergeant entered a +theater, as he undoubtedly has a legal right to do, and +precipitated trouble by making it possible to allege race +discrimination in the seat which he was given. He is strictly +within his legal rights in this matter, and the theater manager is +legally wrong. Nevertheless, the Sergeant is guilty of the greater +wrong in doing ANYTHING, no matter how legally correct, that will +provoke race animosity.</p> + +<p>"The Division Commander repeats that the success of the Division, +with all that success implies, is dependent upon the good will of +the public. That public is nine-tenths white. White men made the +Division, and they can break it just as easily if it becomes a +trouble maker.</p> + +<p>"All concerned are again enjoined to place the general interest of +the Division above personal pride and gratification. Avoid every +situation that can give rise to racial ill-will. Attend quietly and +faithfully to your duties, and don't go where your presence is not +desired.</p> + +<p>"This will be read to all organizations of the 92nd Division.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 10em;" >"By command of Major-General Ballou:</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 15em;"> +"<span class="smcap">Allen J. Greer</span>,<br /> +"Lieutenant-Colonel, General Staff,<br /> +"Chief of Staff.</p> +<p> +"Official:<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Edw. J. Turgeon</span>,<br /> +"Captain, Assistant Adjutant,<br /> +"Acting Adjutant. +</p></div> + +<p>It was an altogether modern type of Negro that informed the commanding +general quietly, but firmly, that he had seriously impaired his +usefulness by the tone of his bulletin; that he had proposed a principle +which did not bode good for the future of white people of the world when +seven-tenths of the world's population was of darker hue. It is to +General Ballou's credit that he admitted the question to debate, +listened to reason, and capitulated.</p> + +<p>But a certain type of southern statesmanship was not amenable to reason. +Despite the wishes of the President of the United States, there were +published in the "Congressional Record" articles describing the peril +involved in arming and training any black peoples for modern warfare. +What measure of offense these articles gave to Morocco, to India, to +Latin America, to Japan, to China, to Africa, loyally supporting all the +cause of France and England, can only be judged by the rebuke which +President Wilson gave when his chance came.</p> + +<p>It was in the Spring of 1918 when Germany struck through the British +forces in Picardy. Then came the allies' "Hurry up!" call. The enemy +opened a tremendous drive against the British front, bombarding, +storming and attacking along fifty miles from Croiselles to La Fere. On +the first day, 16,000 British prisoners were taken. The shelling might +be heard across the Channel in Dover. The German penetrated to the third +British line, taking 25,000 more prisoners. William Hohenzollern, +himself, directed the drive from his headquarters at Spa. Peronne, Ham +and Chauny fell. Vast stores and war material was lost, including tanks. +At the Lotos club dinner, Lord Reading gave voice to a message from +Lloyd George urging the United States to rush men to fill the gap. +Albert fell. The real need of England and France became a question of +reserves. John J. Pershing, drawing no color line, offered the whole +American army.</p> + +<p>Germany separated France from her ally. Apprized of America's +preparations, she sought to destroy both France and England before the +new enemy might hold place. Acceleration of all fighting forces to +overseas service became the imperative duty. Not a moment was to be +lost. The American Expeditionary Force must be expeditious. Casting +about to find those ready to answer the call, America could not deny the +preparedness of her 92nd Division of colored troopers.</p> + +<p>On Germany came! On to Montdidier! To Amiens! To Hazebrouck! To Paris! +Montdidier gone! "Hurry! Hurry!" cried Clemenceau. "Hurry! Hurry!" +pleaded the aged Premier. He could no longer study the possible effects +of any action of his office upon the future. His concern was the very +present need. He wanted men, regardless of what adjustments their +presence might upset in future world relationships.</p> + +<p>So came a day when the Negro troopers could no longer be gainsaid. "Give +me these men!" cried Joffre. "I am ready for the 92nd," announced +Pershing. "We submit that they are men without honor, and of inferior +American status," warned some Americans. "We shall test them," was +Foch's laconic reply. "But they are black men with but 35 ounces of +brain—a sub-species of mankind," America warned again.</p> + +<p>And all France cried: "Send us men—men without fear of mortal +danger—men of intrepid heart—men of audacity—men of fortitude—men of +resolution—men of unquestioning, unreasoning, undying courage—men of +elan—men of morale! Send Jew or Gentile—white men, yellow men, brown +men, black men—it matters not! Send us men who can halt the Hun!"</p> + +<p>So early in May of 1918 went up to sea, partly under their own officers, +90,000 and more American Negroes, registered as of African descent, and +drafted to do battle in France. It was sub-species against super-man, +broad head against long head, flat nose against sharp nose, thick +cranium against Hun helmet. It was this unprecedented synthetic group of +black men sailing the sea of darkness on a mission concerning the vital +interests of Englishmen and Americans who had misused them for +centuries, and concerning beloved France, which laid the real claim for +honor and recognition and equality for the American Negro.</p> + +<p>The American Negro, as he bade his black comrades "Good-bye! Good luck! +God bless you! Take keer o' yo' self!" felt in his heart that all +America ought to forget her prejudices. He felt that if she did not do +so, she was indeed only fit to be characterized as narrow-minded, +mean-spirited, illiberal and warped—entirely unfit for the position of +leadership in democratization of the world.</p> + +<p>So taken up with this idea was the entire Negro race that an editorial +appearing in the "Crisis," the leading Negro magazine, from the pen of +the Negro scholar, W.E.B. Dubois, came as a dash of cold water from an +upper window. This article set the whole race agog. There was nothing in +it about America's forgetting her prejudices, the idea which filled the +Negro heart and soul and mind. It was entitled "Close Ranks!" and read +as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"This is the crisis of the world. For all the long years to come +men will point to the year 1918 as the great Day of Decision, the +day when the world decided whether it would submit to military +despotism and an endless armed peace—if peace it could be +called—or whether they would put down the menace of German +militarism and inaugurate the United States of the World.</p> + +<p>"We of the colored race have no ordinary interest in the outcome. +That which the German power represents today spells death to the +aspirations of Negroes and all darker races for equality, freedom +and democracy. Let us not hesitate. Let us, while this war lasts, +forget our special grievances and close our ranks shoulder to +shoulder with our own white fellow-citizens and the allied nations +that are fighting for democracy. We make no ordinary sacrifice, but +we make it gladly and willingly with our eyes lifted to the hills." +While many questioned his motive, all accepted his advice.</p></div> + +<p>While the grievance was not forgotten, it was not allowed to jeopardize +the success of the issue to weaken the black man's allegiance. Every +mother's son and father's daughter remained loyal under stress and +strain which would have caused the white man to curse and die.</p> + + +<h4>THE FIELD OF ACTION.</h4> + +<p>Regiments of Negro stevedores, earlier in the year, had been drafted and +sent overseas. These men were drawn from a specific locality, and did +not represent the entire nation. They were in command of white officers. +They had been destined for the Service of Supply, a service which +America performed so marvelously well that it is difficult to tell, if +not here, where her chief glory lies.</p> + +<p>Black stevedores from Alabama, and Louisiana, and Mississippi, Virginia +and the Carolinas, numbering far more than the entire black forces of +the 92nd Division, packed and unpacked the American Expeditionary Force +in a manner never attempted since Noah loaded the Ark. Rear Admiral +Wilson and General McClure cited several regiments for exceptionally +efficient work. The "Leviathan," formerly the German steamship +"Vaterland," was unloaded and coaled, in competition with other white +and black stevedore regiments, by Company A, 301st Stevedores, young +American Negroes, in fifty-six hours, a world record.</p> + +<p>What a cheer went up from the black stevedores of the far South when +there landed in their midst a mighty band of black infantry, nearly +100,000 strong who, in a few short months had learned the use of powder +and shot, of sword and broadsword, of bayonet and bludgeon, of trench +knife and battle-ax. Cold steel or blackjack, smooth bore or sawed-off, +machine gun or automatic, were all the same to them. It was a great +experience for stevedore and infantryman. And the stevedore's heart +leaped to his throat as he saw the black officers of the 92nd Division +maneuver and march away the men under their command.</p> + +<p>The black stevedore wondered why America had brought him so far under +white officers to behold such a sight. He beheld black quartermasters, +ranking and outranking captains, furnishing their men with provision +and supply. The handling of purveyance and cutlery on a huge scale by +black commissioned officers was a revelation to the black stevedore of +the far South who had never seen such a sight in all his days.</p> + +<p>The stevedore beheld arrive Negro signal men, monitors of their troops +and of a million whites behind them, death watch to the German enemy, +destined to be sentinels and patrolmen of No Man's Land. He saw pass by +black American scouts and spies and lookouts and pioneers headed for the +frontiers of France to gain an immortal halo of glory.</p> + +<p>The stevedore found in his midst elegantly groomed, but speechless +Negroes whom, his friends whispered to him, belonged to the United +States Intelligence Department. They had come, so the wide-mouthed +stevedore was told, to pit their 35 ounces of brain against the German's +45 ounces, and to prove that the Hun back brain is surplus overweight +and should be reduced to Negro proportions. They had come to furnish +General Pershing information, news, tidings and dispatch, embassy and +bulletin, report and rumor. And the stevedore wondered if General +Pershing would expect these Negro men to report to him information with +precision and correctitude.</p> + +<p>It was the Negro band, fresh from America, which gave the stevedore his +greatest delight. Preceding the black troops everywhere, it produced a +potpourri of full and semi-scores, melodies and plantation arias, that +came as a refreshing novelty to weary English hearts and to the souls of +jaded France.</p> + +<p>But there were no Negro "big gun" men. The stevedore wondered if the +black boys of the 92nd Division would have to get into the fight with +Germany, depending upon the kind of barrage which some of the men whom +he knew in America might lay down for him. True, the Negro artilleryman +had been left behind in America. At Camp Taylor he was spurned and +rejected. But he refused to accept rebuff. He won his way into the +heart of commanding officer and subaltern, gained his training, made a +superior record, witnessed the outpouring of the entire white soldiery +of the camp to present arms and salute him as he went away to service, +and arrived in France in breathless haste in time to lay down a perfect +barrage for his black comrades as they advanced through the terrific +fighting in the Argonne and the Marbache. Long will stevedore tradition +recite the story of how these black "big gun men" came by.</p> + +<p>The black stevedore represented a section of the United States. That +section was thoroughly well represented. There was work done better than +it ever had been done before. But, on the other hand, the 92nd Division +had been drawn from every possible corner of the United States where a +quota might be raised. It was the 92nd Division especially, however +great might be the deeds of local regiments of guard, that would decide +the great ultimate question. Regiments of Negro guard troops from New +York, Chicago, Washington, Baltimore, and the State of Ohio, and Negro +pioneers from the mountain regions of the Carolinas, might cover their +respective localities with the surpassing glory of their achievements. +And every regiment of them did. But the real issue was wrapped up in the +great 92nd Division, the Negro national army commanded in large measure +by Negro officers, which stepped into the international arena on that +fateful day in June, 1918.</p> + +<p>They landed when the German had spent his third offensive and was at the +gates of Paris. Almost the first news which they received after they had +settled on foreign soil was that Paris, the magic city which they had +come so far to see, was destined to fall into the hands of the German. +Albeit Chateau Thierry, the turning point of the decisive struggle of +1918, was only achieved when, for the war, a total of more than a +million black men of four continents had been annihilated, the 92nd +Division was eager for the fray—was anxious to tread the field of +action for the sake of honor, and recognition and equality. It was at +Chateau Thierry, on a day soon after the arrival of the 92nd Division in +France, that Foch, the eminent generalissimo, but then an almost unknown +quantity, again gave voice to laconicism: "The offensive shall begin and +shall continue. Bring up the colonials!" America was thrown into battle +holding honored position beside Gouraud's invincible Africanders. The +Hun was halted in his tracks, thrown back across the second Marne, and +hunted like a wolf over the Hindenburg line and into his native lair.</p> + +<p>Soissons, Rheims, Verdun, St. Dizier and Chemin des Dames, all saw Negro +troops of the United States in violent action. In the Marbache, at Belie +Farm, and in the Bois de Tege d'Or, the Negro guard regiments and the +Negro 92nd Division went over and at the Hun.</p> + +<p>At Voivrette Farm and in the Bois de Frehaut, other troops of this same +division smote German super-man hip and thigh. In Voivrette Woods and in +the Bois de Cheminot, at Moulon Brook and Seilie Bridge and Epley the +92nd Division again victoriously contested the field of honor, against +the best soldiers Prussia might afford. From July until November, their +brothers of the Negro guard regiments, of Negro pioneers and Negro +casuals were within earshot of the murderous rumble of contending +artillery. By November 8 every command in the Negro American division, +including the units of guard, had more than once or twice been at the +front or over the top and at them.</p> + +<p>Ralph W. Tyler, of Ohio, a Negro on the staff of General Pershing, +representing the Bureau of Public Information, says of Hill 304:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I have learned that Hill 304, which the French so valiantly held, +and which suffered such a fierce bombardment from the Germans that +there is not a single foot of it but what is plowed up by shells, +and whose sides, even today, are literally covered with the corpses +of French soldiers who still lie where they fell, was later as +valiantly held by the colored soldiers from the United States, who +fought with all the heroism and endurance the best tradition of the +army had chronicled. The colored soldiers who held that bloody and +ever historical Hill 304 had the odds against them, but like +Tennyson's immortal 'Six Hundred,' they fought bravely and well, +firm in the belief 'it was not theirs to reason why—it was theirs +to do and die.' And like the patriots they were, they did +<span class="smcap">do</span>, and this war's history will so record."</p></div> + +<p>The Prussian, at last, sought safety in flight. Britisher, Frenchman, +Italian, Portuguese, Canadian, black and white American were at his +heels. Italy created a debacle in Austria. And then, wonderful news came +through of what was happening in the Near East.</p> + +<p>It had been impossible for the Negroes of America to come to France and +preserve the nicely calculated adjustments which England had set up +through the years. The East Indian, the Arabian, the Egyptian could not +but observe, and observing, fail to understand why American Negroes +could be entrusted in command of troops, if they were not given the same +recognition and honor and equality. Quietly England prepared them all. +Under General Allenby and dark-skinned officers of the East, the black +Caucasians and the brown Caucasians and the yellow Caucasians fell upon +the Turk, until, regardless of his German master, he cried aloud for +terms. The horde of dark-skinned captors of Turkey, under the British +supreme command, threatened and attacked Bulgaria, who quickly +succumbed. So came the Turkish armistice, and the Bulgarian armistice +and the Austrian armistice.</p> + +<p>The Prussian fled from the field of battle. He was not swift enough. +Brought to bay, he cried for mercy. All of the Negro American force was +to be hurled at him in the greatest stronghold of the world, Metz. He +pleaded with the American President for armistice, and was referred to +Marshal Foch. It was the great war hero, with the Hohenzollern house of +cards tumbled about him, who decided that for three days, until November +11, fighting must continue, and that in those last hours the Germans +must feel at the hands of all the allies the severest punishment that +could be meted within a limited time. Britishers, Frenchmen, men of all +allied nations sought the honor. The American Negro could not be denied. +Although regiments of Negro guard and of the 92nd Division had but +recently been in action for a period of from three to five weeks, they +craved the honor of being out in front at the stern and bitter end. It +was practically the entire Negro fighting force of America which, under +its own officers, went over the top at daybreak on the final morning of +the great four years' struggle, side by side with white men of various +nationalities, who, like them, were ready and most fit for sacrifice or +service. In the last hours, when life seemed sweeter than all creation, +there thousands of black men of all regiments overseas fell in search of +the coveted honor of being nearest Berlin as the thunderous crash and +din ceased, to roll no more. Hours before the order came for the supreme +and final sacrifice, Negro signal men had caught from the air the +message which indicated what was to be their special honor. There was +not a man to desert or seek asylum elsewhere. All went over the top +together!</p> + +<p>At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, +the order came to cease firing. The 92nd Division of Negro troops stood +at Thann and before Metz, in advance of the progress of troops of all +America. The ground which they trod had not been occupied by other than +German troops in 40 years. It was the field of honor, and recognition +and equality, and must be theirs of necessity. Nature had ruthlessly +perfected this type of black native-born American for the high duties +of a soldier. The war was over. Allies and Americans said to him:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"As brothers we moved together—as brothers—to the dawn that +advanced—to the stars that fled—rendering thanks to God in the +highest, that He, having hid His face through one long night behind +thick clouds of war, once again will ascend above us in the vision +of perpetual peace."</p></div> + +<p>The Negro felt that, as the ancient Romans were too faithful to the +ideal of grandeur in themselves not to relent, after a generation or +two, before the grandeur of Hannibal, so he will not ever be the mere +son of a peri.</p> + +<p>The Negro knew that he could do one thing as well as the best of men—a +greater thing than Milton or Marlowe or Charlemagne ever did—he could +die grandly the death. Face forward on the flats of Flanders, in Picardy +and Lorraine he died grandly, to make the world safe for democracy. For +we of America must remember, in all our getting on and up in the world, +that, as a psychological weapon, the bristling bayonet was incomplete +until a stalwart, desperate black Negro American citizen got behind it +to fight, not for his gain, but for the uplift of the masses of +humanity.</p> + +<p>The war was over. It was still a small voice within that told the Negro +hosts: "As this hath been no white man's war, neither shall it be a +white man's peace."</p> + + +<h4>THE AFTERMATH.</h4> + +<p>But yesterday the nation tried to think of the Negro as a southern +problem, the solution of which belonged to statesmanship of the South. +Often we have endeavored to think of him as a national problem, and have +tried to persuade the national government to take in hand matters of +widespread national interest wherein he was involved. But now we must of +necessity think of the Negro as an international problem, ramifications +of which are bound up in the roots of aspiration and kindred feeling and +powerful potentiality of Frenchman and Britisher, of Asiatic and Slav, +and of the great bodies of darker peoples of all the world.</p> + +<p>As the Negro becomes an international problem, no single section of a +country can be entrusted with the administration of matters pertaining +to him. Such administration may be assigned by international conclave to +a particular country as its national problem, but the proper channels of +administration of international policy will be up from sectional caucus, +through national agency to the international parliament, and down from +such parliament or league, through national agencies to the section +involved. And, furthermore, sectional caucus, unless it would fail in +policies of its advocacy, and suffer modification by the Congress or +parliament of its central governmental administration, must henceforth +regard the Negro not as an aggregate all in a mass, but as a synthesis, +composed of gradations from lowest to superior. This is the new concept +which the war of 1918 has forced upon America, in spite of the bias of +1914.</p> + +<p>Civilization left the parting of the ways when Woodrow Wilson's rallying +cry for world democratization led America into the war. It decided to +seek the path of Peace not along the lines of permitted autocracy, but +of firmly and thoroughly well administered democracy. In administering +democratic government, Negro regiments, graded from private to superior +officer, came first as an academic proposition, and, finally, as an +actuality. They came four hundred thousand strong. No group of that +number can longer be considered as a mere accumulation of black men. One +hundred thousand Negroes of the 92nd Division and regiments of guard +have been commanded on the field of action by black headmen, with white +headlight. They have taken their objectives with speed and control and +the management of both of these elements of transfused morale has been +in the hands of colored college men or their military equals.</p> + +<p>The hour of decision to make the world safe for democracy was the crisis +of civilization. Victory on the fields of France has been the +satisfactory denouement. The question naturally arises: Shall there be a +happy ending of the great drama for the white American and a tragic +ending for the Negro? Or, rather, as the American brotherhood gathers +about the charmed circle and smokes the pipe of peace, shall the Negro +report: "I see and am satisfied?"</p> + +<p>In other words, shall the 92nd Division of Negro fighters and the +greater hosts of black war workers overseas, return to America with +honor in theory, but not pursued in fact to its logical finality? Shall +these black bulwarks of the business of world war find the door of the +business world of peace slammed in their faces? Shall these black +survivors of terrific struggle for world democracy return home only to +be declared unfit to vote an American ballot? Shall the black soldier +hero be allowed to take his croix de guerre into a jim-crow car? Shall +the black Red Cross nurse, rushing to the aid of benighted humanity +regardless of color, be refused accommodation at places of public +proprietorship whither she may seek rest or refreshment? Tragedy begets +tragedy. Seventeen seventy-six begot 1861, and 1861 begot 1914.</p> + +<p>The times demand decisive action. Sociological error, committed today, +will cause malformation of an important member of the American body +politic. It will cause the ship of state to ride an uneven keel. This +ship of state must be brought to her ancient moorings, the Declaration +of Independence, the Gettysburg Address of Lincoln, and the Farewell of +Old John Brown on the scaffold.</p> + +<p>The tumult has died. Revelry and shouting fill every program. Is the +Negro to return unheralded to homeland, and with his eyes to the hills, +undergo patting and pitying and be given a place in the corner? Or are +the colored boys in khaki to announce their return by a vigorous +knocking at the gate? Shall they have cause to cry to America: "A house +divided against itself cannot stand!" And shall they knock and knock and +knock until America sets herself to wonder what has this army Negro to +do that he becomes so unceremonious? Or shall they find the gate wide +open and triumphal arches erected in every section of the country in +their honor to signify that defeat of German autocracy means +democratization of every section of the entire world? An international +conscience demands for the Negro hero a happy ending of it all.</p> + +<p>The Negro looks to the military agencies of America to produce a genuine +peace wherein he may live happy ever after. Regarded in America as the +most alien of aliens before the war, he demands recognition today as the +most loyal of loyalists. But yesterday Anglo-Saxon prejudice persisted +in viewing him as a physical alien, a mental alien, a moral alien and a +social alien. The Negro is willing to discuss no further this +prejudicial conception of himself forced home by libelous propaganda and +by governmental administration for hundreds of years, if the agencies of +reconstruction will perfect and put in operation a vigorous +Americanization policy in his behalf.</p> + +<p>Military life has taught the Negro the advantage derived from the use of +pure food and balanced ration. It has taken him from the ghetto into the +pure air of the open country, and filled his lungs with deep draughts of +the free breezes of France. It has removed him from the temptation to +imbibe the beverage that destroys human faculties and has accustomed him +in a measure to the beneficial use of purified water. It has undertaken +through carefully selected work, exercise and recreation to perfect the +habits of digestion, assimilation and elimination. The result has been +indeed marvelous. No America Negro who went to fight for humanity will +return to America as the same physical being. No American will dare +stand before the returned Negro trooper and say: "Behold a sub-species +of mankind, wooly of hair, long of head, with dilated nostrils, thick +lips, thicker cranium, flat foot, prehensile great toe and larkheel. +Yea, behold him, dark of skin, whose mentality is like unto a child, and +closely related to the anthropoid ape; whose weight of brain is only +comparable to that of the gorilla." Where is the American who will dare +stand before any Negro trooper returned from France and thus mock and +deride him? Military agency has completely destroyed the physical +concept which the white world had of the Negro in 1914, by placing him +in the focus of Caucasian binocular vision, wherein his better +attributes become visible in their synthetic relation.</p> + +<p>In addition, military life has sharpened the mental powers of the Negro +in command to meet the highest exactions of modern warfare. Colonel +Charles Denton Young, Negro graduate of West Point, if we may trust the +record, is capable of the same high character of mental processes as +John J. Pershing. Military test has proven before the world that the +Negro is no mental alien, but heir to all the ages of Anglo-Saxon, +Roman, Greek and Egyptian culture.</p> + +<p>In France the American Negro has produced no notorious offenders against +civil or military usage. He has arisen to the moral concept of high +responsibility for the future of his race in the estimation of all +mankind. There is no story of moral degeneracy which has yet come from +abroad concerning him. Pitfall, temptation and opportunity for vice and +crime have all been shunned in light of preparation for the higher +service. The Negro has proven his power of moral restraint while guided +by leadership of his own color. As a social being he has sacrificed his +life for the highest form of social existence, democracy. Who, then, is +there to call him alien? Today he is no longer Negro, nor Afro-American, +nor colored American, nor American of African descent, but he is +American—simply this, and nothing more.</p> + +<p>He has been raised to erect stature and made a man by the military +branch of the United States Government, because of signal service to the +American peoples. His prayer is that this military government long may +live as such to train the great mass which he calls kin into a synthetic +whole.</p> + +<p>As he evolved from a student in a military training camp to military +leadership, so he desires the great military organization of America to +continue to exist, that through its agency he may attend the training +camps which lead to industrial, business, political and social success. +Universal military education for me and mine and all other Americans is +his slogan, and his aim is to recreate the America of the early +Seventies, which became hardened and callous through the years by reason +of resistance to the German menace of autocracy, but now removed.</p> + +<p>This American has made good in public. He has demonstrated both +efficiency and initiative. He has compelled popular belief to conceive +him as a man. The Caucasian world he has caused to perceive that he +might function as a valuable and serviceable element of twentieth +century civilization. Will the Anglo-Saxon issue to him the warrant of +immunities and privileges certifying that he is four-square with the +dominant opinion of mankind, and, therefore, entitled to superior +status?</p> + +<p>To this dark-skinned American are attributed all elements of beauty and +racial grandeur. Forever in survival of the world's most fit, he goes +on, blending readily with civilization's high ideal, philosophically +tolerating abuse offered by the less refined, effecting a racial +consciousness of purity in inter-social relationships, adapting himself +with symmetry and poise to the tasks of the world, and bowing in humble +respect before the higher laws whose harmonies order and rectify all +creation.</p> + +<p>What will the black Rip Van Winkle behold as he walks through the +corridors of the American Department of State twenty years hence? Will +he behold a great black mass still at the veriest bottom of our +governmental organization, or will he be caused to marvel at the +synthetic gradations of black American from lowest to superior? As he +views progress in all departments of the government, will he see this +real American organized synthetically in all branches of the service, or +will he behold him still employed as the boy or the mere high private? +Time and the great heart of America will tell.</p> + +<p>The center of gravity of world interest of 1914 has shifted and come to +rest at a spot most significant for darker peoples. Victory to all +participants in its glorious achievement must be less disastrous than +defeat. In order to satisfy the liberal opinion of the world, some form +of autonomy must be devised for the newly organized man in America. +Durable peace requires that American prejudice be utterly and forever +stamped out; first by the reconstructed organization of the American +Expeditionary Force, which beheld its organizations of every race and +creed under fire and in action; second, by the American people of every +locality, who have had forced upon them by world war the new concept of +a branch of the species once considered inferior; and, third, by the +powers of the world, who must prevent the upgrowths in America from +offering malignant germs of unrest to their own systems of national +government.</p> + +<p>After the Negro has proved his value and worth in all of these trying +ways, when after this he asks for a full measure of equal rights, what +American will have the heart or the hardihood to say him nay?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>THE NEGRO IN THE NAVY.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Achievements of the Negro in the American Navy—Guarding the +Trans-Atlantic Route to France—Battling the Submarine Peril—The Best +Sailors in Any Navy in the World—Making a Navy in Three Months from +Negro Stevedores and Laborers—Wonderful Accomplishments of Our Negro +Yeomen and Yeowomen</span>.</p> + + +<p>Stranger than fiction, the story of the organization, development and +expansion of the United States navy from a mere atom, as it were, to the +present time, when her electrically propelled men-of-war, equipped with +the most luxurious compartments and modern mechanism for despatch and +communication as well as her great merchant marine, floating the emblem +of freedom and democracy in every civilized port of the world, is one of +the most fascinating pages in the history of human achievement.</p> + +<p>And, as it were, the very culmination of wonder and admiration, the +chain of events reciting the deeds of valor and unselfish devotion to +duty upon the part of her black sons, constitutes an illustrious record +easily marking its participants as conspicuous representatives of a +people, who have won their tardily conceded recognition in every phase +of American public life.</p> + +<p>The services of the Negro in the American navy very properly begin with +the stirring and thrilling events of the American Revolution, which +terminated in the independence of the colonies and the establishment of +the United States.</p> + + +<h4>THE NEGRO IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.</h4> + +<p>The Negro in the navy was then and has been ever since no less devoted +to duty and as fearless of death as Crispus Attucks, when he fell on +Boston Commons, the first martyr of American independence.</p> + +<p>In speaking of colored seamen, who showed great heroism, Nathaniel +Shaler, commander of the private armed schooner <i>General Thompson</i>, said +of an engagement between his vessel and a British frigate: "The name of +one of my poor fellows, who was killed, ought to be registered in the +book of fame, and remembered with reverence as long as bravery is +considered a virtue. He was a black man by the name of John Johnson. A +twenty-four pound shot struck him in his hip, and took away all the +lower part of his body. In this state, the poor brave fellow lay on the +deck, and several times exclaimed to his shipmates, 'Fire away, my boy! +No haul color down!' Another black by the name of John Davis was wounded +in much the same way. He fell near me, and several times requested to be +thrown overboard, saying he was only in the way of others. When America +can boast of such tars she has little fear from the tyrants of the +ocean."</p> + +<p>British gold and promises of personal freedom served as futile +incentives among the Negroes of the American navy; for them, the proud +consciousness of duty well done served as a constant monitor and nerved +their strong black arms when thundering shot and shell menaced the +future of the country; and, although African slavery was still a +recognized legal institution and constituted the basic fabric of the +great food productive industry of the nation, it was the Negro's trusted +devotion to duty which ever guided him in the nation's darkest hours of +peril and menace.</p> + + +<h4>NEGROES IN THE WAR OF 1812.</h4> + +<p>In the second period, the War of 1812, a second fight with Great +Britain, again made it necessary to call upon the Negro for his +assistance. Whether with Perry on Lake Erie, Commodore MacDonough, +Lawrence or Chauncey, the black man played his heroic and sacrificing +role, struggling and dying that American arms and valor, the security of +American lives and property, would suffer no destruction at the hands of +the enemy. The fine words of Commodore Chauncey, commending their +dauntless intrepidity and unswerving obedience and loyalty to the +rigorous demands of duty, should be read and carefully studied by all +men friendly to human excellence and courage.</p> + + +<h4>COMMODORE CHAUNCEY'S TRIBUTE.</h4> + +<p>The following is a statement of Commodore Perry, expressing +dissatisfaction at the troops sent him on Lake Erie: "I have this moment +received by express the enclosed letter of General Harrison. If I had +officers and men,—and I have no doubt that you will send them,—I could +fight the enemy and proceed up the lake; but, having no one to command +the <i>Majestic</i> and only one commissioned officer and two acting +lieutenants, whatever my wishes may be, getting out is out of the +question. The men that came by Mr. Champlin are a motley set,—blacks, +soldiers, and boys. I can not think that you saw them after they were +selected. I am, however, pleased to see anything in shape of a man."</p> + +<p>The following is the reply from Commodore Chauncey to Commodore Perry in +answer to the above letter: "Sir, I have been duly honored with your +letters of the 23d and 26th ultimo and notice your anxiety for men and +officers. I am equally anxious to furnish you; and no time shall be lost +in sending officers and men to you as soon as the public service will +allow me to send them from this lake. I regret that you are not pleased +with the men sent you by Messrs. Champlin and Forest; for, to my +knowledge, a part of them are not surpassed by any seamen we have in the +fleet; and I have yet to learn that the color of skin, or the cut and +trimmings of the coat, can affect a man's qualifications and usefulness.</p> + +<p>"I have nearly fifty blacks on board this ship, and many of them are +among my best men, and I presume that you will find them as good and +useful as any on board your vessel; at least if you can judge by +comparison; for those which we have on board this ship are attentive and +obedient, and, as far as I can judge, are excellent seamen. At any rate, +the men sent to Lake Erie have been selected with the view of sending a +proportion of petty officers and seamen and I presume upon examination, +it will be found that they are equal to those upon this lake."</p> + + +<h4>THE COLORED MAN IN THE MEXICAN WAR.</h4> + +<p>In the Mexican War (1845-1848) we find him, in his humble positions of +service and usefulness, a positive factor in the final success and +triumph of American ideals. No insidious treacheries, no dark plots of +poison, arson and unfaithfulness characterized his conduct, and, in the +final and complete blockade of the Mexican ports, his contribution of +faithful and loyal service made effective the terms by which Generals +Scott and Taylor taught the ever-observed lesson of American dominance +upon the Western Hemisphere and thereby preserved the Monroe Doctrine.</p> + + +<h4>IN THE DAYS OF THE CIVIL WAR.</h4> + +<p>In the Civil War—when the violence of domestic strife menaced the +continuance of the National Union; when the preservation of slavery +constituted the subject of angry and stormy debate in every section of +the country, it was in the navy, no less than in the army, that the +Negro evinced that dauntless fidelity to duty which aided in stabilizing +the discipline of the field forces, thereby effectively contributing to +the success not alone of forcing the Mississippi, and intersecting the +Confederacy, but also in hermetically sealing all Southern ports and +reducing to imperceptible insignificance the possibility of foreign +trade with the South,—a factor which made it doubly sure that Northern +arms would ultimately triumph and the Union be saved. It was a colored +man, Robert Small, who single handed, stole the Union cruiser <i>Panther</i> +from Charleston harbor, foiled the Confederate fleet, and navigated her +safely to a Union port. In all the annals of courage and dazzling +gallantry, this incident has been recited; and it constitutes a +commendable example, with many others, however, of devotion to duty and +undying love for freedom. Mr. Small became a successful business man, +and was one of the few Negroes who served in the Congress of the United +States.</p> + + +<h4>THE NEGRO IN THE SPANISH WAR.</h4> + +<p>The Spanish-American War (1898-1900) also has its roll of honorable dead +and surviving heroes—it was a Negro who fired the first shot at Manila +Bay, from the cruiser <i>Olympia</i>, flag ship of the late Admiral Dewey, +commanding the American forces on the Asiatic station. He was John +Christopher Jordan, chief gunner's mate (retired) U.S.N. His career is a +fair example of the Negro's ability. He was first enlisted in the United +States navy on June 17, 1877, as an apprentice of the third class, the +very lowest rating in which he could have entered. He advanced, despite +opposition, through the different grades in direct competition with his +white shipmates to the grade of chief gunner's mate, the highest rating +that could be reached in the enlisted status.</p> + +<p>It was not because of his lack of desire for further advancement that he +did not go higher, nor was it due to his not being qualified, for it was +conceded by all officers under whom he served that he was thoroughly +competent and highly qualified for advancement. He was finally +recommended by his superior officer for the position of warrant gunner, +and the papers passed up for final approval by the commander-in-chief of +the fleet, before being sent to the secretary of the navy. There he +encountered the Negro's most formidable foe—prejudice. That official +very unceremoniously forwarded the papers to the navy department with +the following endorsement: "Respectfully forwarded to the secretary of +the navy—disapproved. The explanation of disapproval will be found in +the applicant's descriptive list."</p> + +<p>However, this slur did not deter Jordan in his determination to go +higher, for at the battle of Manila he was a gunner's mate of the first +class, and his record was so conspicuous that it could not go unnoticed +by the officials in Washington.</p> + + +<h4>FINAL RECOGNITION.</h4> + +<p>The following letter was then addressed to Jordan's commanding officer +by the bureau of navigation: "The Bureau notes that John C. Jordan, +gunner's mate first class, has served as such with a creditable service +since August 6, 1899. The chief of bureau directs me to request an +expression of opinion from the commanding officer as to whether Jordan +possesses that superior intelligence, force of character and ability to +command, necessary for a chief petty officer and particularly as to +whether he is in all respects qualified for the position of chief +gunner's mate of a first-class modern battleship."</p> + +<p>The reply to this letter was to the effect that Jordan was in all +respects qualified, and by order of the secretary of the navy, he was +advanced to the grade of chief petty officer, filling this position with +efficiency to the service and with credit to his race, until December 1, +1916, at which time he was retired, after serving thirty years in the +navy of the United States. The following letter was addressed to him by +the secretary of the navy upon this occasion:</p> + +<p>"The department desires to congratulate you upon the completion of +thirty years' service in the navy. The fact that you started as an +apprentice and now retire as a chief petty officer, your several +honorable discharges and good conduct medals, show that you were a +valuable man in the upbuilding of the navy, and while the department is +glad to know that you will now enjoy the benefits of the retirement law, +yet it regrets very much to see you retire from active life in the navy. +The department hopes that you will always take a lively interest in +naval affairs, and wishes you many years of good health and usefulness."</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus119.jpg" alt="Yeowomen" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> COLORED YEOWOMEN.<br /> + +Employees of Navy Department, Washington, D.C.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus120.jpg" alt="McCray" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> ROBERT McCRAY.<br /> + +Seaman. Lost on the U.S.S. ALCEDO, November 5, 1917.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus121.jpg" alt="Hardwick" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> LEWIS H. HARDWICK.<br /> + +Mess Attendant, 3c, U.S.N. Lost on U.S.S. CYCLOPS, June 14, 1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus122.jpg" alt="Martin" /> +</p> +<p class="center">ERCELL WILLIAM MARTIN.<br /> + +Mess Attendant, 3c, U.S.N. Killed when shell exploded on board U.S. Von +STEUBEN, March 5, 1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus123.jpg" alt="Johnson" /> +</p> +<p class="center">PRINCE A. JOHNSON.<br /> + +Mess Attendant, 2c, U.S.N.R.F. Died from exposure after Lake Moor was +sunk, April 11, 1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus124.jpg" alt="Johnson" /> +</p> +<p class="center">HUBERT ALFRED JOHNSON.<br /> + +Mess Attendant, 2c, U.S.N. + +Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was torpedoed and sunk, September 30, +1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus125.jpg" alt="Cochrane" /> +</p> +<p class="center">LYNN COCHRANE.<br /> + +Ship's Cook, 1c, U.S.N.R.F. Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was +torpedoed and sunk September 30, 1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus126.jpg" alt="Harrison" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> E. HARRISON.<br /> + +Mess Attendant. Lost on the U.S.S. ALCEDO, November 5, 1917.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus127.jpg" alt="Stallings" /> +</p> +<p class="center">HERMAN STALLINGS.<br /> + +Ship's Cook, 2c, U.S.N.R.F. Accidentally drowned while in swimming, May +19, 1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus128.jpg" alt="Sampson" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> WILSON C. SAMPSON.<br /> + +Fireman 1st Class, U.S.N. Commended for seamanlike conduct and services +rendered when boiler was disabled. S.S. MacDONOUGH, Oct. 27, 1916.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus129.jpg" alt="Askin" /> +</p> +<p class="center">ANDREW THEODORE ASKIN.<br /> + +Mess Attendant 3c, U.S.N. Lost on U.S.S. CYCLOPS, June 14, 1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus130.jpg" alt="Whitesell" /> +</p> + +<p class="center">EARLE B. WHITESELL.<br /> + +Fireman, 3c, U.S.N. Lost on U.S.S. CYCLOPS, June 14, 1918.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus131.jpg" alt="McCorkle" /> +</p> + +<p class="center"> HENRY McCORKLE.<br /> + +Mess Attendant, 3c, U.S.N. Killed on U.S.S. Von STEUBEN, April 10, +1918.</p> +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus132.jpg" alt="Simpson" /> +</p> +<p class="center">WALLACE SIMPSON.<br /> + +Employee U.S. Navy.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus133.jpg" alt="Patriotic" /> +</p> +<p class="center"> HE WAS PATRIOTIC, TOO.</p> + + +<h4>OTHER INSTANCES.</h4> + +<p>Another very interesting character of the navy during this period was +Mr. C.D. Tippett of Washington D.C., who enlisted in the navy in 1875, +and who served honorably and faithfully, until recently, when he was +retired for honorable service. Mr. Tippett enjoys the distinction of +having crossed the equator on two different occasions, and holds a +certificate from Neptune, a relic highly treasured by all naval men +fortunate enough to hold one.</p> + +<p>It has been the object of the preceding paragraphs to briefly recite +some few instances of the Negro's activity in the American navy from its +beginning up to the present struggle. Space and time will not permit a +more detailed and accurate exposition of the many other cases equally as +interesting, instructive, and illustrative of the superb discipline and +devotion to duty of this race whenever and wherever called upon to +serve.</p> + + +<h4>THE NEGRO SEAMAN IN THE WORLD WAR.</h4> + +<p>The extent of the Negro's work in the army and the record of its +brilliant achievements may in some degree obscure the service rendered +our country and its Allies by the Negro in the navy, but the Negro was +represented in this branch of the military service almost in the same +proportion, and, just as with Perry on Lake Erie, Farragut on the +Mississippi, Dewey at Manila Bay, Hobson at Santiago, and Peary at the +North Pole, he rendered efficient heroic and honorable service during +the World War. It must be remembered that our ships were a part of the +great war forces which kept open the highways of the deep and made +possible the final triumph of the Allied armies, for, had the command of +the ocean slipped from our hands those armies would have languished and +been beaten back for lack of support in men and material. Had the +sceptre of the seas passed to our foes, our own black boys would never +have inscribed on their banner the imperishable name of Chateau-Thierry, +The Argonne, and Hill 304. The one essential and indisputable element of +victory was the supremacy of the Allied fleet.</p> + + +<h4>NEGROES IN THE GRAND FLEET.</h4> + +<p>The Negro's part in the organization of the Grand Fleet is far from +being inconsiderable, his services were utilized in the complement of +every vessel and shore station and at this time as in the past, black +blood was among the very first to be gloriously shed in the American +navy, that free government should live imperishably among the sons of +men.</p> + +<p>On November 4, 1917, the <i>U.S.S. Alcedo</i> proceeded to sea from Quiberon +Bay on escort duty to take convoy through the war zone; she had as +members of her crew two young Negroes, just in the prime of life and +patriotic to the core. It was the crew of this vessel that was first +called upon to make the supreme sacrifice. Robert McCray and Earnest +Harrison were their names, and the following report fully indicates the +manner in which they gave their lives in order that democracy might not +perish from the earth: "At or about 1:45 A.M., November 5th, while +sleeping in emergency cabin, immediately under upper bridge, I was +awakened by a commotion and immediately received a report from some man +unknown, 'Submarine, Captain.'</p> + +<p>"I jumped out of bed and went to the upper bridge, and the officer of +the deck, Lieutenant Paul, stated he had sounded 'General quarters,' had +seen submarine on surface about three hundred yards on port bow, and +submarine had fired a torpedo, which was approaching. I took station on +port wing of upper bridge and saw torpedo approaching about two hundred +yards distant. Lieutenant Paul had put the rudder full right before I +arrived on bridge, hoping to avoid the torpedo. The ship answered slowly +to her helm however, and before any other action could be taken the +torpedo I saw struck the ship's side immediately under the port forward +chain plates, the detonation occurring instantly.</p> + +<p>"I was thrown down and for a few seconds dazed by falling debris and +water. Upon regaining my feet I sounded the submarine alarm on the +siren, to call all hands if they had not heard the general alarm gong, +and to direct their attention of the convoy and other escorting vessels. +Called to the forward gun's crew to see if at stations, but by this time +realized that the forecastle was practically awash. The foremast had +fallen, carrying away radio aerial. I called out to abandon ship.</p> + + +<h4>THE SINKING SHIP.</h4> + +<p>"I then left the upper bridge and went into the chart house to obtain +ship's position from the chart, but, as there was no light, could not +see. I then went out of the chart house and met the navigator, +Lieutenant Leonard, and asked him if he had sent any radio; he replied +'No.' I then directed him and accompanied him to the main deck and told +him to take charge of cutting away forward dories and life rafts. I then +proceeded along starboard gangway and found a man lying face down in +gangway. I stooped and rolled him over and spoke to him, but received no +reply and was unable to learn his identity, owing to the darkness. It is +my opinion that this man was dead. I then continued to the after end of +ship, took station on after gun platform.</p> + +<p>"I then realized that the ship was filling rapidly and her bulwarks +amidships were level with the water. I directed the after dories and +life rafts to be cut away and thrown overboard and ordered the men in +the immediate vicinity to jump over the side, intending to follow them. +Before I could jump, however, the ship listed heavily to port, plunging +by the head and sunk, carrying me down with the suction.</p> + + +<h4>STRUGGLE IN THE WATER.</h4> + +<p>"I experienced no difficulty, however, in getting clear and when I came +to the surface I swam a few yards to a life raft, to which were clinging +three men. We climbed on board this raft and upon looking around +observed Doyle, chief boatswain's mate, and one other man in the whale +boat. We paddled to the whale boat and embarked from the life raft. The +whale boat was about half full of water and we immediately started +bailing and then to rescue men from the wreckage, and quickly filled the +whale boat to more than its maximum capacity, so that no others could +be taken aboard. We then picked up two overturned dories which were +nested together, separated them and righted them, only to find that +their sterns had been broken.</p> + +<p>"We then located another nest of dories, which were found to be +seaworthy. Transferred some men from the whale boat into these dories +and proceeded to pick up other men from wreckage. During this time cries +were heard from two men in the water some distance away who were holding +on to wreckage and calling for assistance. It is believed that these men +were Earnest M. Harrison and John Winne, Jr. As soon as the dories were +available, we proceeded to where they were last seen but could find no +trace of them.</p> + +<p>"About this time, which was probably an hour after the ship sank, a +German submarine approached the scene of torpedoing and lay to, near +some of the dories and life rafts. She was in the light condition, and +from my observation of her I am of the opinion that she was of the +U-27-31 type. This has been confirmed by having a number of men and +officers check the silhouette book. The submarine was probably one +hundred yards distant from my whale boat, and I heard no remarks from +anyone on the submarine, although I observed three persons standing on +top of conning tower. After laying on surface about half an hour the +submarine steered off and submerged. I then proceeded with the whale +boat and two dories searching through the wreckage to make sure that no +survivors were left in the water. No other people being seen, at 4:30 +A.M. we steered away from the scene of disaster. The <i>Alcedo</i> was sunk, +near as I can estimate, seventy-five miles west true of north end of +Belle Ile. The torpedo struck ship at 1:46 by the officer of the deck's +watch and the same watch stopped at 1:54 A.M. November 5th, this +showing that the ship remained afloat eight minutes. The flare of +Penmark Light was visible, and I headed for it and ascertained the +course by Polaris to be approximately northeast We rowed until 1:15, +when Penmark Lighthouse was sighted. Continued rowing until 5:15 P.M., +when Penmark Lighthouse was distant about two and one-half miles. We +were then picked up by French torpedo boat number 257, and upon going on +board I requested the commanding officer to radio immediately to Brest +reporting the fact of torpedoing and that three officers and forty men +were proceeding to Brest. The French gave all assistance possible for +the comfort of the survivors. We arrived at Brest about 11 P.M. Those +requiring medical attention were sent to the hospital and the others +were sent off to the <i>Panther</i> to be quartered. Upon arrival at Brest I +was informed that two other dories containing Lieut. H.R. Leonard, +Lieut. H.A. Peterson, P.A. Aurgeon, Paul O.M. Andreae, and twenty-five +men had landed at Pen March Point. This is my first intimation that +these officers and men had been saved, as they had not been seen by any +of my party at the scene of torpedoing."</p> + + +<h4>DISAPPEARANCE OF THE CYCLOPS.</h4> + +<p>The next contribution of life on the part of the Negro in the American +navy was made when the U.S.S. war vessel <i>Cyclops</i> so mysteriously +disappeared. Loaded with a cargo of manganese, with fifty-seven +passengers, twenty officers, and a crew of two hundred and thirteen +enlisted men (twenty-three of whom were Negroes). The vessel was due in +port March 13, 1918. On March 4, the <i>Cyclops</i> reported at Barbadoes, +British West Indies, where she put in for bunker coal. Since her +departure from that port there has not been the slightest trace of the +vessel, and long continued and vigilant search of the entire region +proved utterly futile, as not a vestige of wreckage has been discovered. +No responsible explanation of the strange and mysterious disappearance +of this vessel has ever been given by the officials of the Navy +Department. It was known that one of her two engines was damaged, and +that she was proceeding at reduced speed; but, even if the other engine +had become disabled, it would not have had any effect on her ability to +communicate by radio.</p> + +<p>Many theories have been advanced, but none seems to account +satisfactorily for the ship's complete vanishment. After months of +search and waiting, the <i>Cyclops</i> was finally given up as lost and her +crew officially declared dead. This vessel was under the command of a +German-born officer, who, prior to his connection with the Navy +Department, was an officer of the merchant marine. Many accusations were +made reflecting upon his loyalty. Some even going as far as suggesting +that he had intimidated the crew and delivered the vessel into the hands +of the enemy; but, it is strange to note that none of these insinuations +was directed to the loyal and ever true Negroes who formed a part of its +crew and presumably went to their watery graves in order that German +militarism might be crushed.</p> + +<p>What a strange episode if, indeed, these are the facts in this most +unfortunate incident. In intelligent circles, it should and will mark +the beginning of a period of racial justice and equity. When one's deeds +and character will invariably constitute the exponent of one's +appreciation.</p> + + +<h4>THE NEGRO TRUE AND LOYAL.</h4> + +<p>Caucasian treachery in some of our national perils presented no charms +for the Negro whose proven fidelity everywhere and on every occasion +marks him the great American advocate in fact as well as in profession.</p> + +<p>If these accusations should in the end prove true, which is highly +possible, would it not have been wiser on the part of the directors of +our naval policy, when the urgent pressure for manpower to officer the +expanding navy of the United States asserted itself, to have recognized +the ability and merit of scores of black men, whose years of faithful +and efficient service in the navy of the United States and unquestioned +fidelity to duty justly entitle them to the command of a vessel of this +character, instead of utilizing the services of men of questioned +loyalty and doubtful allegiance to command our naval vessels? For such +an act of base and unpardonable treachery is unthinkable to a Negro. +Rather would he most willingly have seen his last drop of rich loyal +blood flow in torrents of effusion than to leave to his progeny such a +record of shame and infamy.</p> + + +<h4>THE JACOB JONES.</h4> + +<p>Another incident in which the Negro displayed his constant willingness +to die for the cause of America and its ideals was when the United +States torpedo boat destroyer <i>Jacob Jones</i> was destroyed by a torpedo +fired from a German submarine. This ship was one of six of an escorting +group which was returning independently from Brest, France, to +Queensland, Ireland. The following extract from the report of its +commanding officer gives in brief detail the manner in which the +majority of its crew met their death in an effort to uphold the +principles of democracy. On this vessel, as well as all others that were +lost, the Negro served, bled, and died, side by side with white men in a +desperate struggle to subdue the German U-boat.</p> + +<p>"I was in the chart house and heard some one cry out, 'Torpedo.' I +jumped at once to the bridge and on the way up saw the torpedo about +eight hundred yards from the ship approaching from about one point abaft +the starboard beam headed for a point about amidships, making a +perfectly straight surface run (alternately broaching and submerging to +approximately four or five feet), at an estimated speed of at least +forty knots. No periscope was sighted. When I reached the bridge, I +found that the officer of the deck had already put the rudder hard left +and rung up the emergency speed on the engine room telegraph. The ship +had already begun to swing to the left. I personally rang up the +emergency speed again and then turned to watch the torpedo. The +executive officer left the chart house just ahead of me, saw the torpedo +immediately on getting outside the door, and estimates that the torpedo +when he sighted it was one thousand yards away, approaching from one +point, or slightly less, abaft the beam and making exceedingly high +speed.</p> + +<p>"After seeing the torpedo and realizing the straight run, line of +approach, and high speed it was making, I was convinced that it was +impossible to maneuver to avoid it. The officer of the deck took prompt +measures in maneuvering to avoid the torpedo. The torpedo broached and +jumped clear of the water at a short distance from the ship, submerged +about fifty or sixty feet from the ship and struck approximately three +feet below the water-line in the fuel oil tank between the auxiliary +room and the after crew space.</p> + + +<h4>THE SLOWLY SINKING SHIP.</h4> + +<p>"The ship settled aft immediately after being torpedoed to a point at +which the deck just forward of the after deck house was awash, and then, +more gradually, until the deck abreast the engine room hatch was awash. +A man on watch in the engine room attempted to close the water-tight +door between the auxiliary room and the engine room, but was unable to +do so against the pressure of water from the auxiliary room. The deck +over the forward part of the after crew space and over the fuel oil +tanks just forward of it was blown clear for a space athwartships of +about twenty feet from starboard to port, and the auxiliary room was +wrecked. The starboard after torpedo tube was blown into the air. No +fuel oil ignited and apparently no ammunition exploded.</p> + +<p>"The depth charges in the chutes aft were set on ready and exploded +after the stern sank. It was impossible to get to them to set on safe as +they were under the water.</p> + +<p>"As soon as the torpedo struck, it was attempted to send out an S.O.S. +message by radio, but the mainmast was carried away and antennae falling +and all electric power had failed. I then tried to have the gun sight +lighting batteries connected up in an effort to send out a low power +message with them, but it was at once evident that this would not be +practicable before the ship sank. There was no other vessel in sight, +and it was therefore impossible to get through a distress signal of any +kind. Immediately after the ship was torpedoed every effort was made to +get rafts and boats launched. Also, the circular life belts from the +bridge and several splinter mats from the outside of the bridge were cut +adrift and afterwards proved very useful in holding men up until they +could be got to the raft.</p> + + +<h4>STRUGGLING MEN IN THE WATER.</h4> + +<p>"The ship sank about 4:29 P.M. (about eight minutes after being +torpedoed). As I saw her settling rapidly, I ran along the deck and +ordered everybody I saw to jump overboard. At this time, most of those +not killed by the explosion had got clear of the ship and were on rafts +or wreckage. Some, however, were swimming and a few appeared to be about +a ship's length astern of the ship, at some distance from the rafts, +probably having jumped overboard very soon after the ship was torpedoed.</p> + +<p>"Before the ship sank, two shots were fired from No. 4 gun with the hope +of attracting the attention of some nearby ship. As the ship began +sinking I jumped overboard. The ship sank stern first and twisted slowly +through nearly one hundred and eighty degrees as she swung upright. From +this nearly vertical position, bow in the air, to about the forward +point, she went straight down. Before the ship reached the vertical +position the depth charges exploded, and I believe them to have caused +the death of a number of men. They also partially paralyzed, stunned, or +dazed a number of others, some of whom are still disabled.</p> + + +<h4>SAFEGUARDING THE SURVIVORS.</h4> + +<p>"Immediate efforts were made to get all survivors on the rafts and then +get the rafts and boats together. Three rafts were launched before the +ship sank and one floated off when she sank. The motor dory, hull +undamaged but engine out of commission, also floated off and the punt +and wherry also floated clear. The punt was wrecked beyond usefulness +and the wherry was damaged and leaking badly, but was of considerable +use in getting men to the rafts. The whale boat was launched but +capsized soon afterwards, having been damaged by the explosion of the +depth charges. The motor sailor did not float clear, but went down with +the ship.</p> + +<p>"About fifteen or twenty minutes after the ship sank, the submarine +appeared on the surface about two or three miles to the westward of the +raft, and gradually approached until about eight hundred or one thousand +yards from the ship, where it stopped and was seen to pick up one +unidentified man from the water. The submarine then submerged and was +not seen again.</p> + + +<h4>BY MOTOR DORY TO THE SCILLY ISLANDS.</h4> + +<p>"I was picked up by the motor dory and at once began to make +arrangements to reach the Scillys in that boat in order to get +assistance to those on the rafts. All the survivors then in sight were +collected and I gave orders to one of the officers to keep them +together. The navigating officer had fixed the position a few minutes +before the explosion and both he and I knew accurately the course to be +steered. I kept one of the officers with me and four men who were in +good condition to man the oars, the engine being out of commission. With +the exception of some emergency rations and a half bucket of water, all +provisions, including medical kit, were taken from the dory and left on +the rafts. There was no apparatus of any kind which could be used for +night signalling.</p> + +<p>"After a very trying trip, during which it was necessary to steer by +stars and by direction of the wind, the dory was picked up about 1 P.M. +by a small patrol vessel about six miles south of St. Mary's. The +commander informing me that the rest of the survivors had been picked +up. I deeply regret to state that out of a total of several officers and +one hundred and six enlisted men on board at the time of the torpedoing, +two officers and sixty-four enlisted men were killed in the performance +of duty. The behavior of the men under the most exceptional and trying +conditions is worthy of praise, and the following cases are a sample of +the spirit of the men under these conditions.</p> + + +<h4>INSTANCE OF RARE SELF-DENIAL.</h4> + +<p>"One man removed parts of his clothing (when all realized that their +lives depended upon keeping warm), to try to keep alive men who were +more thinly clad than himself. Another man at the risk of almost certain +death, remained in the motor sailor and endeavored to get it clear for +floating from the ship. While he did not succeed in accomplishing this +act (which would have undoubtedly saved twenty or thirty lives) he stuck +to his duty until the very last. He was drawn under the water with the +boat, but later came to the surface and was rescued."</p> + +<p>Wallace Simpson, a young Negro, was a petty officer aboard this vessel. +Young Simpson was a graduate of the high school, Denver, Colorado, and +at the call of his country, when but in the prime of his life, made the +supreme sacrifice in order that the world might be made safe for +democracy.</p> + + +<h4>NEGRO FIREMEN AND COAL PASSERS.</h4> + +<p>It seems that fate always throws the Negro in a line of service wherein +he can by some method, peculiarly his own, have an opportunity to +display his ability, loyalty and usefulness, in spite of prejudice and +opposition. I particularly refer here to the positions of firemen and +coal passers, because of the physical strength required for work of that +kind. The Negro can serve better in the American navy in this capacity +than in any other, with the possible exception of the messman branch of +service; but, nevertheless, in the former positions he has a decidedly +better opportunity to bring into play originality and foresight, for the +fire-room is the life of the ship and especially so when attacked.</p> + +<p>When one of the vessels of our navy had been hit with one torpedo from +an enemy submarine and was about to be hit with a second, the commanding +officer had the following statement to make: "I realized that the +immediate problem was to escape a second torpedo. To do so, two things +were necessary, to attack the enemy, and to make more speed than he +could submerged. The depth charge crew jumped to their stations and +immediately started dropping depth bombs. A barrage of depth charges +was dropped, exploding at regular intervals far below the surface of the +water. This work was beautifully done. The explosions must have shaken +the enemy up, at any rate he never came to the surface again to get a +look at us.</p> + +<p>"The other factor in the problem was to make as much speed as possible, +not only in order to escape an immediate attack, but also to prevent the +submarine from tracking us and attacking us after nightfall.</p> + +<p>"The men in the fire rooms knew that the safety of the ship and our +lives depended on their bravery and steadfastness to duty. It is +difficult to conceive a more trying ordeal to one's courage than was +presented to every man in the fire room that escaped destruction. The +profound shock of the explosion, followed by instant darkness, falling +soot and particles, the knowledge that they were far below the water +level, practically enclosed in a trap, the imminent danger of the ship +sinking, the added threat of exploding boilers—all these dangers and +more must have been apparent to every man below, and yet not one man +wavered in standing by his post of duty.</p> + + +<h4>WONDERFUL DEVOTION TO DUTY.</h4> + +<p>"No better example can possibly be given of the wonderful fact that with +a brave and disciplined body of American men, white or black, all things +are possible. However strong may be their momentary impulses for +self-preservation in extreme danger, their controlling impulses are to +stand by their stations and duty at all hazards.</p> + +<p>"In at least two instances in this crisis below, men who were actually +in the face of death did actually forget or ignored their impulse of +self-preservation and endeavored to do what appeared to them to be their +duty. One man was in one of the flooded fire rooms. He was thrown to +the floor and instantly enveloped in flames from the burning gases +driven from the furnaces, but instead of rushing to escape, he turned +and endeavored to shut a water-tight door leading into a large bunker +abaft the fire room. But the hydraulic lever that operated the door had +been injured by the shock and failed to function. Three men at work at +this bunker were drowned. If this man had succeeded in shutting the +door, the lives of these men would have been saved as well as +considerable buoyancy saved to the ship. The fact that he, though +profoundly stunned by the shock and almost fatally burned by the furnace +gases, should have had presence of mind and the courage to endeavor to +shut the door is a great example of heroic devotion to duty as is +possible for one to imagine. Immediately after attempting to close the +door he was caught in the swirl of inrushing water and thrust up a +ventilator leading to the upper deck.</p> + + +<h4>STRANGE EFFECT OF THE EXPLOSIONS.</h4> + +<p>"The torpedo exploded on a bulkhead separating two fire rooms, the +explosive effect being apparently equal in both fire rooms, yet, in one +fire room not a man was saved, while in the other fire room two of the +men escaped. The explosion blasted through the outer and inner skin of +the ship and through an intervening coal bunker and bulkhead, hurling +overboard seven hundred and fifty tons of coal. The two men saved were +working the fires within thirty feet of the explosion and just below the +level where the torpedo struck.</p> + +<p>"It is difficult to see how it was possible for these men to have +escaped the shower of debris, coal and water that must instantly have +followed the explosion. However, the two men were not only saved but +seemed to have retained full possession of their faculties. Both of them +were knocked down and blown across the fire room. Their sensations were +at first a shower of flying coal, followed by an overwhelming inrush of +water that swirled them round and round and finally thrust them up +against the gratings of the top of the fire rooms."</p> + + +<h4>THE ATTACK UPON THE TORPEDO BOAT CASSIN.</h4> + +<p>Another instance of self-sacrifice and unparalleled heroism is contained +in the account of the attack upon the torpedo boat <i>Cassin</i> by a German +submarine, while on patrol duty off the coast of Ireland. The following +is the story briefly related in the official report of her commanding +officer:</p> + +<p>"When about twenty miles south of Minehead, at 1:30 P.M., a German +submarine was sighted by the lookout aloft four or five miles away, +about two points on the port bow. The submarine at this time was awash +and was made out by officers of the watch and the quartermaster of the +watch, but three minutes later submerged. The <i>Cassin</i> which was making +fifteen knots continued on its course until near the position where the +submarine had disappeared. When last seen the submarine was heading in a +southeasterly direction, and when the destroyer reached the point of +disappearance the course was changed, as it was thought the vessel would +make a decided change of course after submerging. At this time the +commanding officer, the executive officer, engineer officer, officer of +the watch, and the junior watch officers were all on the bridge +searching for the submarine.</p> + + +<h4>THE ATTACK.</h4> + +<p>"About 1:57 P.M., the commanding officer sighted a torpedo apparently +shortly after it had been fired, running near the surface and in a +direction that was estimated would make a hit either in the engine or +fire room. When first seen the torpedo was between three or four hundred +yards from the ship, and the wake could be followed on the other side +for about four hundred yards. The torpedo was running at high speed, at +least thirty-five knots. The <i>Cassin</i> was maneuvering to dodge the +torpedo, double emergency full speed ahead having been signalled from +the engine room and the rudder put hard left as soon as the torpedo was +sighted. It looked for the moment as though the torpedo would pass +astern. When about fifteen or twenty feet away the torpedo porpoised, +completely leaving the water and sheering to the left. Before again +taking the water the torpedo hit the ship well aft on the port side +about frame one hundred sixty-three and above the water line. Almost +immediately after the explosion of the torpedo the depth charges, +located on the stern and ready for firing, exploded. There were two +distinct explosions in quick succession after the torpedo hit.</p> + +<p>"But one life was lost. Osman K. Ingram, gunner's mate, first class, was +cleaning the muzzle of number 4 gun, target practice being just over +when the attack occurred. With rare presence of mind, realizing that the +torpedo was about to strike the part of the ship where the depth charges +were stored and that the setting off of these explosions might sink the +ship, Ingram, immediately seeing the danger, ran aft to strip these +charges and throw them overboard. He was blown to pieces when the +torpedo struck. Thus, Ingram sacrificed his life in the performance of a +duty which he believed would save his ship and the lives of the officers +and men on board."</p> + + +<h4>TORPEDOING THE PRESIDENT LINCOLN.</h4> + +<p>One of the most spectacular and thrilling incidents of our naval warfare +in which more than a score of colored men bravely and heroically +participated, was the attack and sinking of the <i>U.S.S. President +Lincoln</i>, the commanding officer of which reports as follows:</p> + +<p>"On May 31, 1918, the <i>President Lincoln</i> was returning to America from +a voyage to France, and was in line formation with the <i>U.S.S. +Susquehanna</i>, <i>Antigone</i>, and <i>Ryndam</i>, the latter being on the left +flank of the formation and about eight hundred yards from the <i>President +Lincoln</i>. The ships were about five hundred miles from the coast of +France and had passed through what was considered to be the most +dangerous part of the war zone. At about 9 A.M. a terrific explosion +occurred on the port side of the ship about one hundred and twenty feet +from the bow and immediately afterwards another explosion occurred on +the port side of the ship about one hundred and twenty feet from the +stern, these explosions being immediately identified as coming from +torpedoes fired by a German submarine.</p> + +<p>"It was found that the ship had been struck by three torpedoes, which +were fired as one salvo from the submarine, two of the torpedoes +striking practically together near the bow of the ship and the third +striking near the stern. The wake of the torpedo had been sighted by the +officers and lookouts on watch, but the torpedoes were so close to the +ship as to make it impossible to avoid them; and it was also found that +the submarine at the time of firing was only about eight hundred yards +from the <i>President Lincoln</i>. There were at the time seven hundred and +fifteen persons on board, some of these were sick and two men were +totally paralyzed.</p> + + +<h4>COOLNESS AND DISCIPLINE.</h4> + +<p>"The alarm was immediately sounded and everyone went to his proper +station which had been designated at previous drills. There was not the +slightest confusion and the crew and passengers waited for and acted on +orders from the commanding officer with a coolness which was truly +inspiring. Inspections were made below decks and it was found that the +ship was rapidly filling with water, both forward and aft, and that +there was little likelihood that she would remain afloat. The boats were +lowered and the life rafts were placed in the water and about fifteen +minutes after the ship was struck all hands except guns' crews were +ordered to abandon the ship.</p> + +<p>"It had been previously planned that in order to avoid the losses which +have occurred in such instances by filling the boats at the davits +before lowering them, that only one officer and five men would get into +the boats before lowering and that everyone else would get into the +water and get on the life rafts and then be picked up by the boats, this +being entirely feasible, as everyone was provided with an efficient +life-saving jacket. One exception was made to the plan, however, in that +one boat was filled with the sick before being lowered and it was in +this boat that the paralyzed men were saved without difficulty.</p> + + +<h4>THE SHIP ABANDONED.</h4> + +<p>"The guns' crews were held at their stations hoping for an opportunity +to fire on the submarine should it appear before the ship sank, and +orders were given to the guns' crews to begin firing, hoping that this +might prevent further attack. All the ship's company except the guns' +crews and the necessary officers were at that time in the boats and on +the rafts near the ship, and when the guns' crews began firing, the +people in the boats set up a cheer to show that they were not +downhearted. The guns' crews only left their guns when ordered by the +commanding officer just before the ship sank. The guns in the bow kept +up firing until after the water was entirely over the main deck of the +after half of the ship.</p> + +<p>"The state of discipline which existed and the coolness of the men is +well illustrated by what occurred when the boats were being lowered and +were about half way from their davits to the water. At this particular +time, there appeared some possibility of the ship not sinking +immediately, and the commanding officer gave the order to stop lowering +the boats. This order could not be understood, however, owing to the +noise caused by escaping steam from the safety valves of the boilers +which had been lifted to prevent explosion, but by motion of the hand +from the commanding officer the crews stopped lowering the boats and +held them in mid air for a few minutes until at a further motion of the +hand the boats were dropped into the water.</p> + + +<h4>INSPECTED BY THE SUBMARINE.</h4> + +<p>"Immediately after the ship sank the boats pulled among the rafts and +were loaded with men to their full capacity and the work of collecting +the rafts and tying them together to prevent drifting apart and being +lost was begun. While this work was under way and about half an hour +after the ship sank, a large German submarine emerged and came among the +boats and rafts, searching for the commanding officer and some of the +senior officers whom they desired to take prisoners. The submarine +commander was able to identify only one officer, Lieut. E.V.M. Isaacs, +whom he took on board. The submarine remained in the vicinity of the +boats for about two hours and returned again in the afternoon, hoping +apparently for an opportunity of attacking some of the other ships which +had been in company with the <i>President Lincoln</i>, but which had, in +accordance with standard instructions, steamed as rapidly as possible +from the scene of attack.</p> + +<p>"By dark the boats and rafts had been collected and secured together, +there being about five hundred men in the boats and about two hundred on +the rafts. Lighted lanterns were hoisted in the boats and flare-up +lights and signal lights were burned every few minutes, the necessary +detail of men being made to carry out this work during the night. The +boats had been provided with water and food, but none was used during +the day, as the quantity was necessarily limited, and it might be a +period of several days before a rescue could be effected.</p> + + +<h4>THE RESCUE.</h4> + +<p>"The ship's wireless plant had been put out of commission by the force +of the explosion, and although the ship's operator had sent the radio +distress signal, yet it was known that the nearest destroyers were two +hundred and fifty miles away, protecting another convoy, and it was +possible that military necessity might prevent their being detached to +come to our rescue. At about 11 P.M. a white light flashing in the +blackness of the night,—it was very dark—was sighted, and very shortly +it was found that the destroyer <i>Warrington</i> had arrived to our rescue +and about an hour afterwards the destroyer <i>Smith</i> also arrived. The +transfer of the men from the boats and rafts to the destroyers was +effected as quickly as possible and the destroyers remained in the +vicinity until after daylight the following morning, when a further +search was made for survivors who might have drifted in a boat or on a +raft, but none were found, and at about 6 A.M., the return trip to +France was begun.</p> + +<p>"Of the seven hundred and fifteen men present all told on board, it was +found after the muster that three officers and twenty-three men were +lost with the ship, and that one officer had been taken prisoner.</p> + + +<h4>CONDUCT OF THE SUBMARINE COMMANDER.</h4> + +<p>"Although the German submarine commander made no offers of assistance of +any kind, yet otherwise his conduct for the ship's company in the boat +was all that could be expected. We naturally had some apprehension as to +whether or not he would open fire on the boats and rafts. I thought he +might probably do this, as an attempt to make me and other officers +disclose their identity. This possibility was evidently in the minds of +the men of the crew also, because at one time I noticed some one on the +submarine walk to the muzzle of one of the guns, apparently with the +intention of preparing it for action. This was evidently observed by +some of the men in my boat, and I heard the remark, 'Good night, here +comes the fireworks.' The spirit which actuated remarks of this kind, +under such circumstances, could be none other than that of cool courage +and bravery."</p> + + +<h4>CAPTURED BY SUBMARINE, NAVAL OFFICER ESCAPES.</h4> + +<p>(Condensed from report by Lieutenant Edouard Victor M. Isaacs on his +capture and escape from a German prison camp.)</p> + +<p>"The <i>President Lincoln</i> went down about 9:30 in the morning, thirty +minutes after being struck by three torpedoes. In obedience to orders I +abandoned ship after seeing all hands aft safely off the vessel. The +boats had pulled away, but I stepped on a raft floating alongside, the +quarter deck being then awash. A few minutes later one of the boats +picked me up. The submarine U-90 returned and the commanding officer, +while searching for Captain Foote of the <i>President Lincoln</i>, took me +out of the boat. I told him my captain had gone down with the ship, +whereupon he steamed away, taking me prisoner to Germany. We passed to +the north of the Shetlands into the North Sea, the Skaggerak, the +Cattegat, and the Sound into the Baltic. Proceeding to Kiel, we passed +down the canal through Heligoland Bight to Wilhelmshaven.</p> + +<p>"On the way to the Shetlands, we fell in with two American destroyers, +the <i>Smith</i> and the <i>Warrington</i>, who dropped twenty-two depth bombs on +us. We were submerged to a depth of sixty meters and weathered the +storm, although five bombs were very close and shook us up considerably. +The information I had been able to collect was, I considered, of enough +importance to warrant my trying to escape. Accordingly in Danish waters +I attempted to jump from the deck of the submarine but was caught and +ordered below.</p> + + +<h4>MADE A PRISONER OF WAR.</h4> + +<p>"The German navy authorities took me from Wilhelmshaven to Karlsruhe, +where I was turned over to the army. Here I met officers of all the +Allied armies, and with them I attempted several escapes, all of which +were unsuccessful. After three weeks at Karlsruhe I was sent to the +American and Russian officers' camp at Villinen. On the way I attempted +to escape from the train by jumping out of the window. With the train +making about forty miles an hour, I landed on the opposite railroad +track and was so severely wounded by the fall that I could not get away +from my guard. They followed me, firing continuously. When they +recaptured me they struck me on the head and body with their guns until +one broke his rifle. It snapped in two at the small of the stock as he +struck me with the butt on the back of the head.</p> + + +<h4>PLACED IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT.</h4> + +<p>"I was given two weeks' solitary confinement for this attempt to escape, +but continued trying, for I was determined to get my information back to +the navy. Finally, on the night of October 6th, assisted by several army +officers, I was able to effect an escape by short-circuiting all +lighting circuits in the prison camps and cutting through barbed wire +fences surrounding the camp. This had to be done in the face of a heavy +rifle fire from the guards. But it was difficult for them to see in the +darkness, so I escaped unscathed. In company with an American officer in +the French army, I made my way for seven days and nights over mountains +to the Rhine, which to the south of Baden forms the boundary between +Germany and Switzerland. After a four-hour crawl on hands and knees I +was able to elude the sentries along the Rhine. Plunging in, I made for +the Swiss shore. After being carried several miles down the stream, +being frequently submerged by the rapid currents, I finally reached the +opposite shore and gave myself up to the Swiss gendarmes, who turned me +over to the American legation at Berne. From there I made my way to +Paris and then London and finally Washington, where I arrived four weeks +after my escape from Germany."</p> + +<p>The accounts and incidents heretofore mentioned are but a few of the +exceptionally meritorious cases, of the many, in which the devotion to +duty and the unquestioned heroism characterized the conduct of the Negro +under the galling fire of danger and death.</p> + + +<h4>CAN NOT SPECIFY THE WORK OF THE NEGRO SEAMEN.</h4> + +<p>Primarily due to the difference in organization between the army and +navy of the United States, it is well nigh impossible to point out and +record with any degree of accuracy the signal and patriotic sacrifices +of any great body of Negroes as a unit in the naval service. While in +the army, where segregation and discrimination of the rankest type force +the Negro into distinct Negro units; the navy, on the other hand, has +its quota of black men on every vessel carrying the starry emblem of +freedom on the high seas and in every shore station. The operations of +the navy of the United States during the World War has covered the +widest scope in its history without a doubt. It carried the Negro in +European waters from the Mediterranean to the White Sea. At Corfu, +Gibraltar, along the French Bay of Biscay, in the English Channel, on +the Irish coast, in the North Sea, at Murmansk and Archangel, he was +ever present to experience whatever of hardships were necessary and to +make whatever sacrifices demanded, that the proud and glorious record of +the navy of the United States should remain untarnished.</p> + + +<h4>WORK OF COLORED SEAMEN.</h4> + +<p>He formed a part of the crew of nearly two thousand vessels that plied +the briny deep, on submarines that feared not the under sea peril, and +wherever a naval engagement was undertaken or the performance of a duty +by a naval vessel, the Negro, as a part of the crew of that vessel, +necessarily contributed to the successful prosecution of that duty; and, +whatever credit or glory is achieved for American valor, it was made +possible by the faithful execution of his duty, regardless of his +character. For, on a battleship where the strictest system of +co-ordination and co-operation among all who compose the crew is +absolutely necessary, each man is assigned a particular and a special +duty independent of the other men, and should he fail in its faithful +discharge the loss of the vessel and its enterprise might possibly +result.</p> + + +<h4>TRAINING FOR SERVICE.</h4> + +<p>Far be it from the intention of this article to condone the existing +policy of the navy of the United States as regards the Negro, where +unwritten law prescribes and precludes him from service above a +designated status. It is well known that no Negro has ever graduated +from the United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Maryland, which is +primarily essential to receive a commission as a line officer of the +navy. It is true that some three or four Negroes have attempted to +complete the course of instruction at this academy, but, their +treatment, as a result of race prejudice, made their efforts futile, as +well as their stay there more miserable than a decade of confinement in +a Hun penitentiary. Intimidation, humiliation, and actual physical +violence, notwithstanding their determination, finally resulted in the +conclusion to abandon the coveted goal of becoming officers in the great +navy of the United States.</p> + +<p>It is also known that notwithstanding the urgent pressure for +experienced men to officer the expanding navy as a result of the World +War, it became necessary to commission hundreds of men, who as a result +of their experience as enlisted men, are temporary officers. But none of +these commissions was given to a Negro, despite the fact that scores of +them had rendered honorable service of from ten to twenty years and were +exceptionally qualified as stated by their commanding officers for these +commissions. During the war there were approximately eleven thousand men +commissioned as officers. A great majority of this number were +commissioned as pay clerks, paymasters, medical officers, and other +ranks, wherein no technical naval knowledge or experience is required. +And it is strange to note that not a single Negro received one of these +commissions.</p> + + +<h4>INSUFFICIENT NUMBER OF OFFICERS.</h4> + +<p>In his annual report to the Congress of the United States, the secretary +of the navy department made the following statement: "The regular navy +personnel as it existed at the beginning of the war has been repeatedly +combed for warrant officers and enlisted men competent for advancement +to commissioned rank, and this source furnished experienced and capable +officers. But more were needed and they came from new recruits. It early +became evident that as the new men came into the service they should be +tried out for officer qualifications and that those having talent should +receive special instruction to prepare them for officer duty. Officer +material schools were hastily improvised in the various naval districts +at the outbreak of war to train the new men coming in, etc."</p> + +<p>In the face of the above admission of the serious shortage of qualified +men, it can not be understood why the awarding of commissions was made +to inexperienced white boys with no prior naval experience or +demonstrated ability in preference to the Negro, who has demonstrated +his fitness and ability by years of faithful service in every phase of +naval activity to which he has been given access.</p> + + +<h4>GERMAN PROPAGANDA EFFORT.</h4> + +<p>But, in spite of these outward and open acts of prejudice and +oppression, the Negro never wavered in the loyal performance of any +duty, however humble or arduous with which he was charged. And it might +be mentioned that these acts of oppression were brought to his attention +and emphasized by subtle German propagandists, who hoped to alienate his +affections and devotion from his native country. As an example of this +diabolical scheme, the following letter, which was dropped from German +balloons over a sector held by Negro troops, in September, 1918, is +quoted:</p> + +<p>"To the Colored Soldiers and Sailors of the United States: Hello, boys! +What are you doing over here? Fighting the Germans? Why? Have they ever +done you any harm? Of course, some white folks and the lying +English-American papers told you that the Germans ought to be wiped out +for the sake of humanity and democracy. What is democracy? Personal +freedom, all citizens enjoying the same rights socially and before the +law. Do you enjoy the same rights as the white people do in America, the +land of freedom and democracy? Or, are you not rather treated over there +as second-class citizens? Can you go into a restaurant where white +people dine? Can you get a seat in the theatre where white people sit? +Can you get a berth or a seat in the railroad car, or can you even ride +in the South in the same street car with white people? And how about the +law? Is lynching and the most horrible crimes connected therewith, a +lawful proceeding in a democratic country?</p> + +<p>"Now, all this is entirely different in Germany, where they do like +colored people, where they treat them as gentlemen and as white men, and +quite a number of colored people have fine positions in business in +Berlin and other German cities. Why, then, fight the Germans only for +the benefit of Wall Street robbers and to protect the millions they have +loaned to the English, French and Italians? You have been made the tool +of the egotistical and rapacious rich in England and America and there +is nothing in the whole game for you but broken bones, horrible wounds, +spoiled health, or death. No satisfaction whatever will you get out of +this unjust war. You have never seen Germany. So you are fools if you +allow people to make you hate us. Come over and see for yourself. Let +those do the fighting who make the profits out of the war. Don't allow +them to use you as cannon fodder. To carry a gun in this service is not +an honor, but a shame. Throw it away and come over to the German lines. +You will find friends who will help you along."</p> + + +<h4>THE PROPAGANDA FAILS.</h4> + +<p>Such a piece of infamous treachery scarcely deserves comment; for, if +the Negro had been the least inclined to be a traitor, he could not +forget the atrocious treatment accorded the black man in the African +colonies controlled by Germany. For the Negro well remembers the +treachery of von Trotha, who invited the Herero chiefs to come in and +make peace and promptly shot them in cold blood. And the words of his +cruel and inhuman "Extermination Order" directing that every Herero man, +woman, child or babe was to be killed and no prisoners taken. All of +which had the sanction of Berlin.</p> + +<p>But, aside from his intimate knowledge of German treachery and +duplicity, a still higher principle inspired the Negro; for to forget +the loyalty to his own native country in this hour of trial and darkness +would be scandalous and shameful and would blacken the Negro in the eyes +of the whole world. Of this class of treachery, the Negro is absolutely +incapable. They have endured some of the greatest sacrifices and +humiliations that could be demanded of a people, but, they always have +kept before them ideals, founded on loyalty and devotion to duty, and +never, in their darkest days, have they sought to gain their ends by +treasonable means. For the path of treason is still an unknown path to +the Negro. Their duty and their conscience alike bade them be faithful +and true to their government and their flag in this hour of darkness and +trouble.</p> + + +<h4>NUMBER OF NEGROES ENGAGED.</h4> + +<p>During the World War, there were approximately ten thousand Negroes who +voluntarily enlisted in the navy of the United States. They were +distributed throughout the various ratings of the enlisted status. Many +of them were chief petty officers who had rendered years of faithful +service and were regarded as experts in their profession, and, +consequently, played an important part in the organization and function +of the battle units. In the transport service, his powerful physical +endurance and strength made him a determining factor in the Herculean +efforts to supply men, munitions, and provisions for the battlefields of +France. In order to appreciate the magnitude of his service, let us +briefly note the following facts:</p> + +<p>Two million American fighting men were safely landed in France. To do +this the transport force of the Atlantic fleet of the United States had +to be utilized. At the outbreak of the war the transport force was +small, but it now comprises twenty-four cruisers, forty-two troop +transports, and scores of other vessels, manned by three thousand +officers and forty-one thousand enlisted men, two thousand of whom are +Negroes.</p> + + +<h4>PERIL AND DANGER.</h4> + +<p>To think of the peril and dangers of this service at best, even in peace +times, seamanship is a comfortless and cheerless calling. But in war, to +the ordinary perils of the sea are added unusual hardships which reach +their maximum in the dangers and perils of the war zone—the attack +without warning of the invisible foe whose presence is too frequently +known only by a terrific explosion, which casts the hapless crew adrift +on surging seas, leagues from a friendly shore. Think of the terrific +strain under which these men perform their perilous tasks. Gun crews on +continuous duty, ever ready with the shot that might save the ship; the +black men below in the fire room, expecting every moment to receive the +fatal blast which would entrap them in a hideous death; the watch, +ceaseless in its vigil by day and by night, peering through the darkness +and the mist, conscious that upon their alertness depended the lives of +all. Yet under these conditions of unprecedented hardships every black +man performed his duty with the highest degree of courage and +self-sacrifice.</p> + +<p>We will mention one of the many instance of the matchless intrepidity of +the men engaged in this hazardous service. In September, 1918, a +transport with several hundred sick and wounded soldiers on board, was +torpedoed when a short distance out from Brest. Thirty-six men of the +fire room met their death in the fire and steam and boiling water of the +stokehold. With two compartments flooded, their comrades dead and dying, +with a seeming certainty that the attack would continue, which would +mean that every man in the compartment where the torpedo struck would be +drowned or burned to death. Yet despite all, when volunteers were called +for to man the still undamaged furnaces to keep up steam for the run +back to port, every man in the force stepped forward and said he was +ready to go below.</p> + + +<h4>HARD AND GRINDING WORK.</h4> + +<p>There was nothing spectacular about this grinding duty. Winter and +summer, by day and by night, in the fog and in the rain and in the ice, +it demanded constant vigilance, unceasing toil, and extreme endurance. +The work of this dangerous service was endless and its hardships and +hazards are barely realized. During the winter storms of the north +Atlantic the maddened seas all but engulfed these tiny but staunch +transports, when for days they breasted the fury of the gale and defied +the very elements in their struggle for mastery. No sleep then for the +tired crew; no hot food; no dry clothes. Yet despite it all, with each +hour perhaps the last, with death stalking through the staggering hulls, +not a man—black or white—to the everlasting glory of the American +navy, not a man but felt himself especially favored in being assigned +that duty.</p> + + +<h4>CEASELESS VIGILANCE.</h4> + +<p>Since this country entered the war practically all the enemy's naval +forces, except the submarines, have been blockaded in his ports by the +naval forces of the Allies, and there has been no opportunity for naval +engagements of a major character. The enemy's submarines, however, +formed a continual menace to the safety of all our transports and +shipping, necessitating the use of every effective means and the utmost +vigilance for the protection of our vessels. Concentrated attacks were +made by enemy U-boats on the ships that carried the very first +contingent to Europe, and all that have gone since have faced this +liability to attack. Our destroyers and patrol vessels, upon all of +which Negroes served in addition to convoy duty, have waged an unceasing +offensive warfare against the submarine. In spite of all this, our naval +losses have been gratifyingly small. Not one American troop ship, as +previously stated, has been torpedoed on the way to France, and but +three, the <i>Antilles</i>, <i>President Lincoln</i>, and the <i>Covington</i>, were +sunk on the return voyage.</p> + + +<h4>GRATIFYING RESULTS OF NAVAL ACTIVITY.</h4> + +<p>Only three fighting ships were lost as a result of enemy action—the +patrol ship <i>Alcedo</i>, a converted yacht sunk off the coast of France, +November 5, 1917; the torpedo boat destroyer <i>Jacob Jones</i>, sunk off the +British coast, December 6, 1917, and the cruiser <i>San Diego</i>, sunk off +Fire Island, off the New York coast, July 18, 1918, striking a mine +supposedly set adrift by a German submarine. The transport <i>Finland</i> and +the destroyer <i>Cassin</i>, which were torpedoed, reached port and were soon +repaired and placed back in service. The transport <i>Mount Vernon</i> struck +by a torpedo on September 5th, proceeded to port under its own steam +and was repaired.</p> + +<p>The most serious loss of life due to enemy activity was the loss of the +coast guard cutter <i>Tampa</i>, with all on board, in Bristol Channel, +England, on the night of September 26, 1918. The <i>Tampa</i>, which was +doing escort duty, had gone ahead of the convoy. Vessels following heard +the explosion, but when they reached the vicinity there were only bits +of floating wreckage to show where the ship had gone down. Not one of +the one hundred and eleven officers and enlisted men of her crew were +rescued; and though it is believed she was sunk by a torpedo from an +enemy submarine, the exact manner in which the vessel met its fate may +never be known. Among the number of men lost on this vessel were at +least a score of black men. Taking into consideration all the dangers +and difficulties attending this service of the transport force, the +comparatively light casualty list is eloquent testimony of an efficient +personnel organized and trained under a wise administrative command.</p> + + +<h4>THE NEGRO IN THE MERCHANT MARINE.</h4> + +<p>Now let us briefly consider the contribution of the Negro to the +construction and development of the merchant marine, a force vitally +essential to the successful prosecution of the war. When America entered +the war, it is a well-known fact that her merchant marine was +insignificant; and, to respond to the urgent appeal of France and her +allies to hurry men, provisions and munitions, a gigantic task of +constructing the necessary ships stared her in the face. For the Germans +at this time were making a desperate effort to starve England, France +and the other Allies by destroying their commerce with America and the +world, by a resort, as was brazenly announced to the world, to a +heartless campaign of ruthless submarine warfare. Therefore, the very +first efforts of the United States were to use every power of the navy +to destroy and neutralize the effect of the lurking submarine and enter +upon a policy of ship construction, which in its gigantic magnitude and +comprehensiveness was unprecedented.</p> + +<p>The manner in which the Negro generously contributed to the +effectiveness of this policy is well known to all the world. For the +very first record breaking riveting feat was won by a Negro crew at +Sparrows Point, Maryland. His ability in this field of endeavor was ably +demonstrated in all of the great industrial plants in which his services +were so generously utilized. Heretofore, he had been debarred from +identification in the capacity as a laborer in these plants; but, now, +that war in all of its desperation was threatening the very existence of +the country, the barriers of prejudice gave way and he again proved the +falsity of the statement that the Negro could not handle machinery. The +managers of great shipbuilding plants along the Atlantic seaboard +testified before the Federal Shipbuilding Labor Adjustment Board that +Negroes had worked on machines, gauged to as fine a degree as one +one-thousandth of an inch with perfect satisfaction.</p> + + +<h4>WONDERFUL ACHIEVEMENTS.</h4> + +<p>To the achievements of the navy, in erecting great training camps, +destroyer and aviation bases, hospitals, in training thousands of men +for oversea duty, the army of merchant ships, the building of a vast +fleet of smaller vessels, the construction of great warehouses at home +and abroad, the manufacture of heavy guns and their mounts, the +production of powder and technical ordnance must be added the most +spectacular achievement of all—the repair of interned German ships, in +all of which the Negro participated with zeal and enthusiasm and in +many instances won the admiration and commendation of his superior +officers.</p> + +<p>When these vessels, many of them of the largest type of trans-Atlantic +liners, were taken over by our government, it was found that the +machinery of several had been seriously damaged by the maliciously +planned and carefully executed sabotage of the crews. The principal +injury was to the cylinders and other parts of the engines, and, as the +passenger ships were potent factors in the transportation of troops, +their immediate repair was of vital necessity. Nothing daunted by the +magnitude of the task, our navy undertook the repair of these broken +cylinders by employing the system of electric welding, and so successful +was this work, in which scores of black men were utilized, that during +all the months of service in which these vessels have been engaged, not +a single defect has developed.</p> + + +<h4>HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE.</h4> + +<p>All honor to the officers who risked their professional reputations and +carried forward to complete success and accomplishment, which expert +engine manufacturers considered impossible; and all honor to the +patience, zeal, industry and intelligence of the noble band of laborers +whose persistence and ceaseless endeavor made possible the +accomplishment of these world-renowned examples of constructive and +inventive American genius.</p> + +<p>Let us not forget the mighty and tireless work of those in the +department whose efforts were as assiduous as their success was +complete. From the humblest yeowoman upward to the secretary of the +navy, through the bureaus and their chiefs, all were animated by the +same spirit of energy, of foresight, and determination to place the +fleet on the highest basis of efficiency and strength. In this generous +and sacrificing spirit, black men and black women, working side by side, +shared in proportion and never wavered or faltered in the task of +measuring up to the expectations of those whose confidence and regard +are so highly esteemed.</p> + + +<h4>GENEROUS RECOGNITION OF SERVICE.</h4> + +<p>Another just and appreciated evidence of the generous recognition with +which the consistency and faithfulness of his service was awarded, may +be noted in the organization and development of the muster roll section +of the bureau of navigation of the navy department. Owing to a +widespread demand upon the part of the citizens of the country shortly +after we entered the war, for accurate and specific information +concerning the whereabouts of their kinsmen in the naval service, a +demand which it was practically impossible to comply with in view of the +ancient methods in vogue at the time in the file section of the bureau +of navigation, and in further view of the fact of the unprecedented +expansion of the enlisted personnel of the navy, the secretary of the +navy found it absolutely necessary to convene a conference of all the +officials who had any positive and direct knowledge as to the details +and operation of the file section.</p> + +<p>This was done in order to evolve out of the multiplicity of seasoned +counsel a competent and successful solution of the very important and +grave problem which so heavily weighed upon the mind of the civil +population of the country, when they were offering freely upon its altar +their most treasured blood, as a precious sacrifice. Indeed, so +important and so urgent became the necessity for an immediate and +satisfactory solution of this problem that there was no evasion in a +high browed manner of any creditable source of needed information. +Accordingly, the bureau of navigation, in obedience to the inevitable +expansion necessitated in all the bureaus of the navy by the exigencies +of war, determined to organize and operate a muster roll section, +charged primarily with the duty of apprehending the present whereabouts +of every man of the enlisted personnel in a systematic and scientific +manner.</p> + + +<h4>ORGANIZATION OF THE MUSTER ROLL SECTION.</h4> + +<p>The execution of the very essential duty of chief of the muster roll +section was entrusted to John T. Risher, a colored man, to whom was +given plenary power to engage and select his corps of assistants. Of +course, Mr. Risher determined immediately in the face of all opposing +precedents, to fully utilize the services, abilities and talents of the +colored youth of the country, upon whose educational development +millions of dollars had been spent in the past. In consequence, more +than a dozen young colored women have been engaged in the capacity of +yeowomen in this muster roll section. This is quite a novel experiment, +as it is the first time in the history of the navy of the United States +that colored women have been employed in any clerical capacity. And it +may be noted that while many young colored men have enlisted in the mess +branch of the service, it was reserved to young colored women to invade +successfully the yeoman branch, thereby establishing a precedent. They +are all cool, clear-headed and well-poised, evincing at all times, in +the language of a white chief yeowoman: "A tidiness and appropriate +demeanor both on and off duty which the girls of the white race might do +well to emulate." The work of this section has proven highly efficient +and satisfactory, as the plans in vogue there under its modern +management are both scientific and accurate. Many of the superior +officials have scrutinized the experiment very closely and are a unit in +the sincerity of their admiration of its success and effectiveness.</p> + + +<h4>PERSONNEL OF THE MUSTER ROLL SECTION.</h4> + +<p>The personnel of the muster roll section is divided in three classes, to +wit:</p> + +<p>(a) Civil service employes, who are Messrs. Albert D. Smith of Texas; +David C. Johnson of Texas; George W. Beasley of Massachusetts, and W.T. +Howard of Louisiana. All of the above have had years of valuable +experience and are considered expert in all matters pertaining to the +enlisted personnel of the navy of the United States.</p> + +<p>(b) Yeowomen, who are as follows: Misses Armelda H. Greene of +Mississippi; Pocahontas A. Jackson of Mississippi; Catherine E. Finch of +Mississippi; Fannie A. Foote of Texas; Ruth A. Wellborn of Washington, +D.C.; Olga F. Jones, Washington, D.C.; Sarah Davis of Maryland; Sarah E. +Howard of Mississippi; Marie E. Mitchell, Washington, D.C.; Anna G. +Smallwood, Washington, D.C.; Maud C. Williams of Texas; Carroll E. +Washington of Mississippi; Joseph B. Washington of Mississippi; Inez B. +McIntosh of Mississippi.</p> + +<p>(c) Young men of the naval reserve force, who are: Messrs. William R. +Minor of Virginia; L.D. Boyd, Brown Boyd of Virginia; Minter G. Edwards +of Mississippi; Fred Jolie of Louisiana; M.T. Malvan, Washington, D.C.; +U.S. Brooks; Thomas C. Bowler; Albert L. Gaskins, Washington, D.C.; +Daniel Vickers of Alabama, and Mr. Fuller.</p> + + +<h4>SIGNING OF THE ARMISTICE.</h4> + +<p>On November 11, 1918, there came that long expected and welcome message +announcing to an anxious and war-weary world that an armistice had been +concluded, by the terms of which actual hostilities were to cease.</p> + +<p>On November 21, 1918, five American dreadnaughts were in that far-flung +double line of Allied ships, through which passed in surrender the +dreadnaughts, cruisers and destroyers of the second most powerful navy +in the world. When Admiral Beatty sent his famous signal, "The German +flag is to be hauled down at 3:57 and is not to be hoisted again without +permission," the work of our navy as a battle unit in the war zone was +over. And the following tribute from Gen. John J. Pershing, +Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, was +sent to the commander of the United States naval forces: "Permit me to +send to the force commander, the officers, and men of the American navy, +in European waters, the most cordial greetings of the American +Expeditionary Force. The bond which joins together all men of American +blood has been mightily strengthened and deepened by the rough hand of +war.</p> + +<p>"Those of us who are privileged to serve in the army and navy are to one +another as brothers. Spaces of land and sea are nothing where a common +purpose binds. We are so dependent one upon another that the honor, the +fame, the exploits of the one are the honor, the fame, the exploits of +the other. If the enemy should dare to leave his safe harbor and set his +ships in battle array no cheers would be more ringing, as you and our +Allied fleets move to meet him, than those of the American Expeditionary +Forces in France. We have unshaken confidence in you and are assured +that when we stand on the threshold of peace your record will be one +worthy of your traditions."</p> + +<p>Eloquent and memorable, indeed, are these beautiful sentiments expressed +in behalf of every man, black and white who had the rare good fortune to +be a participant in the conflicts of these illustrious and ever +memorable times. They should be indelibly carved upon the heart and soul +of every loyal citizen, whose anxiety to serve his day and generation +easily outvies all other sentiments of which he is capable.</p> + + +<h4>RETURN OF THE VICTORIOUS FLEET.</h4> + +<p>Out of the mist and the snow of the morning of December 26, a great +battle fleet entered the harbor of New York and in the majesty of its +power steamed past the Statue of Liberty. It came as a messenger of a +conflict won, a silent victory, but a triumph as complete and +overwhelming as any ever won by the American navy.</p> + +<p>Too high a tribute can not be paid the black men of the American navy, +who faced the dangers of war and the perils of the sea with exalted +courage and unfaltering determination. Their loyalty and patriotism have +never been questioned, their valor and heroism never doubted. By their +deeds they have added new lustre to the glorious annals of the American +navy and have fully demonstrated that the color of the skin is but a +feeble indication of the depth of love and affection with which the +heart and soul of every loyal black man of America beats in sympathy +with the loftiness of her ideals.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h3> + +<h4>THE OLD ILLINOIS 8th REGIMENT</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Training Camp—The Black Devils—They Died That Our Republic May +Live—The Last Soldiers To Cease Fighting—Taking The Bit Between Their +Teeth—The Hindenburg Line Could Not Stop Them—They Cross the Ailette +Canal—Desperate Deeds of Daring—One Man Routs a Machine Gun Crew—The +Band Played On—Summary of Deeds of The Illinois Eighth</span>.</p> + + +<p>At the beautiful city of Rockford, Illinois, was located Camp Grant +where thousands of Negro recruits gathered from cities and factories, +farms and plantations of our country, were given the needed intensive +training to fit them to sustain the glorious traditions of the American +soldiers. We take pride in all our soldiers—never once did they retreat +but carried Old Glory ever onward until the armistice of November 11, +1918.</p> + + +<h4>"THE BLACK DEVILS"</h4> + +<p>The old Illinois 8th Regiment was one of these colored units which +henceforth will be referred to whenever the heroic deeds of this war are +mentioned. The Prussian guards gave them a name which tells us of the +respect and fear they inspired. They were "The Black Devils." The guards +were seasoned veterans who had participated in the fiercest fighting of +the war, yet these Negro heroes of the West did not falter before them. +They were brigaded with the choicest troops of France and fought by +their side through the final stages of the war. By them they were given +a name indicative of the respect and confidence, their soldierly bearing +and actions inspired. To the French they were the "Partridges," the +proudest game bird of Europe, and when the decimated ranks of the +regiment paraded before cheering thousands on their return, there +marched in their ranks, twenty-two men wearing the American +Distinguished Service Cross while sixty-eight others were decorated with +the French "Croix de Guerre."</p> + + +<h4>THEY DIED THAT OUR REPUBLIC MIGHT LIVE</h4> + +<p>The regiment went to France with approximately 2,500 men from Chicago +and Illinois; they came back with 1,260. Those figures convey an +eloquent story of suffering and death. Nearly a hundred were killed in +battle. They were sleeping on the shell scarred fields of France. Many +others are enrolled in the great army of maimed heroes, who however, are +facing the future with calm courage, though many of them are deprived of +arms or limbs, or possess bodies cruelly disfigured by shot and shell, +with physical health wrecked as a result of hardship in trenches, or +deadly gas inhaled.</p> + + +<h4>THE LAST SOLDIERS TO CEASE FIGHTING</h4> + +<p>The old 8th probably made the last capture of the war. The morning of +November 11, they were with their French comrades in Belgium. The +objective given them to attain that day was not arduous and so, having +achieved the same, the boys simply kept on going. The French division +commander sent a messenger to the Colonel in command to cease firing at +11 A.M., but by the time the messenger caught up with the rushing troops +it was ten minutes after the Huns had ceased firing on the Western +front, and those colored boys were just putting the finishing touches on +one of the neatest captures of the war—a German army train of fifty +wagons.</p> + + +<h4>TAKING THE BIT BETWEEN THEIR TEETH</h4> + +<p>Their commander had one criticism to make which, however, will not be a +mark against the old 8th: "My greatest difficulty was in keeping my boys +from going on after they had obtained their objective," he complains. +The boys had formed the habit of "getting there" so strongly that +inertia kept them going. Discipline in this respect seems to have been +lacking among the American soldiers generally. We heard this same +complaint at Chateau Thierry, at St. Mihiel and in the Argonne. These +doughboys, like all genuine Americans, evidently believed it good policy +while getting, to get enough.</p> + + +<h4>FIRST AS WELL AS LAST</h4> + +<p>It will be noticed the 8th was among the last to quit doing things, but +they were among the first to start things going. Laon is an important +city of France about eighty miles northeast of Paris. For four long +years it remained in German hands. Allied troops recaptured the town +October 13, 1918. At the head of the column of troops entering the city +was a colored sergeant of this regiment carrying a French flag while, +not to be outdone in courtesy a French Sergeant walked beside him +carrying the Stars and Stripes. The French people of Laon knelt by the +roadside and kissed the hand of this colored sergeant of the 8th +regiment. The torture of four years was over and they saw in this proud +young soldier a representative of the Great Republic of the West +rescuing France from the rapacious soldiers of Germany.</p> + + +<h4>THE HINDENBURG LINE COULD NOT STOP THEM</h4> + +<p>The Hindenburg Line was the most celebrated battle line of history. It +passed through Laon, LaFere, St. Quentin, Cambrai and Lille, a total +distance of about ninety miles. Every foot of that distance was +fortified with such massive trenches, supporting lines of trenches, and +elaborate lines of wire entanglements that it was supposed to be +impregnable. Nothing known to warfare ever equalled such strong +defenses. Every avenue of approach was defended by machine guns and +heavy artillery, and in the trenches and at easy supporting distances to +the rear were massed the best soldiers of Germany, yet that line was +crossed by the Allies September 29 and 30 and the Illinois Negro +regiment was among those that accomplished that feat.</p> + + +<h4>THEY CROSS THE AILETTE CANAL</h4> + +<p>To accomplish this they traversed an open ground through a German +barrage fire. A barrage fire is such a focusing of shot and shell that +it forms a veritable descending curtain of projectiles. Then when they +crossed the open they came to the Ailette Canal, in which wire +entanglements had been placed. Pontoon bridges were thrown across and so +the Hindenburg Line was reached and crossed. The regiment had two +hundred casualties as a result of that frightful but victorious advance. +The smashing at that line was final notice to Germany that the end was +at hand. Colored soldiers of this great republic with but a few months +of training had forced their way up to and through the most strongly +fortified military line in all history, against the desperate defense of +veterans with years of experience, the supposed unconquerable soldiers +of Germany.</p> + + +<h4>DESPERATE DEEDS OF DARING</h4> + +<p>Where all with calm courage faced death it is almost out of place to +mention individual cases, but some deeds of daring better illustrate the +desperate chances taken when duty called. One regimental surgeon went +out in No Man's Land amid a hail of machine gun bullets—it seemed sure +death to face guns sending a spray of bullets searching the entire +area—and calmly attended wounded men where they lay knowing that +probably every minute would be his last. One D.S.C. was bestowed on a +private whose life had been sacrificed in the vain attempt to get a +message through the inferno of fire. He was off duty at the time, but +that did not matter. That message ought to go through. He was blown to +pieces in the attempt. But when he failed another volunteer stepped +forward. He was a Negro lad only eighteen years old. You would not have +noticed him among the workers of Chicago, but in his veins flowed the +blood of heroes. He got the message through but was killed trying to +return.</p> + + +<h4>ONE MAN ROUTS A MACHINE GUN CREW</h4> + +<p>The entire regiment was being held up because a machine gun was so +favorably located for defense that it could incapacitate all who +attempted to cross its line of fire. Then one lone lieutenant concluded +that gun had done enough mischief, anyway what would one more life +amount to? So he charged it single handed, and kindly fate as if in +admiration of his daring decreed his safety. The gun was put out of +action, the advance continued. Victory came. But let it be understood +these instances simply illustrate the spirit that enthused all. The +officers were in the very thick of the fight, leading—not +following—the men. In that battle twenty-seven officers were wounded +the first two hours.</p> + + +<h4>THE BAND PLAYED ON</h4> + +<p>The band of the "Black Devils" was justly celebrated. After the regiment +returned to the state—after their part in the great victory was +history—that band toured the United States, and delighted citizens bore +testimony to the inspiring nature of its music. But the music amid the +stern realities of war was no less helpful. The Colonel testified: "That +band was everywhere. In the final pursuit when we had the Germans +running back at the rate of thirty-five kilometers a day, that band with +all its pack and instruments would keep right up with the troops." But +if other duties seemed more pressing, the musicians were ready to do +what they could. "Time and time again," continued the Colonel, "I asked +its members to serve as stretcher bearers and every time they went right +out where the fighting was the hottest and brought the wounded in." +After all the true criterion of service is to do what ever seems +necessary and right to do, at the moment, not counting self. It is not +so much great occasions that prove men but faithfulness in duty.</p> + + +<h4>BORROWING HIS ORDERLY'S EYES</h4> + +<p>One captain found that while trenches were real life saving inventions, +it required a good deal of time to traverse their windings when it was +necessary to inspect his command. So he got a bicycle and raced up and +down in front of his trenches taking short cuts across No Man's Land. Of +course, the Germans in the opposite line all went gunning for this +daring rider. Ordinarily it was death to expose oneself on No Man's +Land, but fate made another exception in his case and they "never +touched him," though they did ruin his fine bicycle by shooting out the +spokes of its wheels. However, a mustard gas shell "got him" one day. He +was temporarily blinded in addition to suffering excruciating pains. Did +he temporarily retire? No, on the contrary, he borrowed his orderly's +eyes, in other words had him lead him around, report on what he saw +while the disabled captain issued necessary orders. No wonder this +regiment acquired appreciative names from friend and foe.</p> + + +<h4>WHERE THE FATE OF CIVILIZATION WAS DECIDED</h4> + +<p>That part of France where the great battles of the World War were fought +has been the scene of battles in the past that profoundly influenced +civilization. In the valley of the Somme nearly fifteen centuries ago, +Clovis laid the foundation of French history by defeating the Romans in +a world deciding battle at Soissons, and ten years later near the same +place the German forces were utterly defeated by the same king. More +than five centuries ago the great Battle of Crecy, between the English +and French was fought, ending in a great victory for the Black Prince. +But none of the ancient battles equalled in importance the series of +great victories won by the Allied force over those of Germany in 1918. +Modern civilization and medieval conceptions of government then met in +conflict. The point we wish all to notice is, that Negro soldiers from +America had a part in these great battles and so are entitled to +recognition as among those that saved the modern world when threatened +with an eclipse akin to the Dark Ages that supervened on the culture of +early centuries.</p> + + +<h4>FIELDS OF GLORY</h4> + +<p>It is well to bear in mind some of the crucial fields of glory where our +Negro soldiers upheld the best traditions of our armies, such as Chateau +Thierry, Belleau Woods, St. Mihiel and the Argonne. The Illinois 8th was +conspicuous in many of these battles. In the Argonne against superior +forces, amid a baptism of shell fire from hidden machine gunners, they +advanced to victory. They can tell us of scenes where their comrades +fell, torn by shrapnel, cruelly wounded, dying, yet with their last +breath singing a snatch of the "Hymn of Freedom." They can tell of +instances in which these dying heroes urged the survivors on. "Go, get +them" was their parting words.</p> + + +<h4>RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES</h4> + +<p>Following the armistice the regiment went to Brest, France, whence it +sailed for the United States, February 2, 1919. Most of our cities had +become accustomed to the enthusiastic greetings of returned soldiers. +None were given a more enthusiastic welcome than the old 8th Illinois. +Even New York, where most of returning soldiers land, grown so +accustomed to marching soldiers just from Europe, stopped to pay signal +respect to these Negro lads. On their arms were service stripes and in +the passing ranks were many whom France had delighted to honor. In +Chicago the entire city paused in its business to shout words of welcome +to those who had earlier served them in many forms—but had dropped all +and faced death that Chicago, New York and our galaxy of states might be +among the great democracies which "made the world safe for democracy."</p> + + +<h4>THIS REGIMENT A REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL</h4> + +<p>We have mentioned the 8th Illinois especially because this regiment was +gathered principally from Chicago and the West. Let it be understood, +however, that it is simply a representative regiment of Negro soldiers. +They deserve well of our country. They too crossed the seas and faced +death with a smile. Why? Because their country called them. In the +peaceful days of progress ahead we are sure they will ever remember the +experiences of war and by acts and words continue to labor for the good +of our country.</p> + + +<h4>SUMMARY OF DEEDS OF THE ILLINOIS 8th</h4> + +<p>Let us sum up in an easily remembered form the work of this regiment in +France:</p> + +<p>Suffered 50 per cent casualties; lost ninety-five men and one officer +killed outright.</p> + +<p>Lost only one prisoner to the Germans in all the months they fought.</p> + +<p>Captured many German cannon and many German machine guns.</p> + +<p>Participated in the final drive against the Germans on the French +sector, advancing in the final stages of the war as far as thirty-five +kilometers in one day.</p> + +<p>Were the first Allied troops to enter the French fortress of Laon when +it was wrested from the Germans after four years of war.</p> + +<p>Won twenty-two American Distinguished Service Crosses and sixty-eight +French War Crosses.</p> + +<p>Fought the last battle of the war, capturing a German wagon train of +fifty wagons and crews, a half hour after the armistice went into +effect.</p> + +<p>Refused to fraternize with the Germans even after the armistice was +signed.</p> + + +<h4>THE TERMS IMPOSED ON GERMANY</h4> + +<p>With the signing of the armistice terms, November 11, 1918, the actual +fighting in the world war came to an end but the statesmen of the allied +nations were faced by a task of extraordinary difficulty. We must +remember that not until after the armistice was signed was any of German +soil exposed to invasion. Her cities and villages were intact, her land +had not been churned by exploding shells. Not only were her factories in +good working condition, but they were packed with costly machinery +stolen from French and Belgian factories. Her very churches were adorned +with masterpieces of art from plundered cathedrals of Western Europe and +innumerable private homes possessed articles of furniture and +bric-a-brac stolen from wrecked homes in France and Belgium, before they +were totally destroyed. War on the part of Germany in the invaded +territories of the allies had degenerated into brigandage.</p> + +<p>The task before the allied statesmen was to frame conditions of peace +that would make it impossible for Germany to devote her energies to +preparations for another war of conquest. That in itself was a most +difficult thing to arrange. In addition, among the allied nations were +many cross currents of national interests that had to be taken into +consideration and compromises effected. Probably no gathering of +statesmen ever had more momentous questions to consider. The allied +nations sent their premiers and most influential statesmen to the +congress in Paris. The president of the United States broke the customs +that had prevailed from the time of Washington to the present and was +one of the delegates from this country to the most important peace +council that the world had ever seen.</p> + + +<h4>THE PEACE CONGRESS</h4> + +<p>The peace congress began its formal sessions January 12, 1919. Mr. +Clemenceau, premier of France, was elected chairman. The difficulties in +the way of an agreement among themselves as to the terms to be imposed +on Germany were so great that it was almost exactly four months before +the terms of peace were laid before the delegates from Germany. A +singular coincidence is to be noticed. It was almost four years to a day +from the sinking of the Lusitania. That act of piracy was one of the +acts that roused America and led to our intervention. The sinking of the +ship was made the occasion for a school holiday in Germany. The fourth +anniversary of the sinking was a day of gloom and despair for the +fallen nation. That country stood arraigned before the highest tribunal +in the world as the aggressor in the mightiest war of history and read +the stern decrees of the allies that stripped her of lands and powers. +History knows of no more startling changes in wealth and power than that +experienced by Germany as a result of the worlds war.</p> + +<p>The treaty is the most voluminous one ever drawn. It contains about +90,000 words, or sufficient to make a volume half as large as this one. +That gives us an idea of the immense number of points that had to be +considered. For our purpose it is only necessary to present an analysis +of its principal provisions. No one except delegates of the nations +expressly concerned care for the entire text, but all desire a general +understanding of what the treaty sets forth. It re-draws the map of +Central Europe, and contains stipulations that will profoundly affect +the future of the nations composing the Teutonic Alliance.</p> + + +<h4>WHY TERMS ARE SO SEVERE</h4> + +<p>Before considering the terms themselves, let us make a general +observation. The terms are undoubtedly severe, perhaps the most drastic +ever imposed on a conquered people. We do well to reflect that many +wrongs in the past committed by Germany had to be righted. Not to +mention her colonial empire Germany loses nearly one-third of her +territory in Europe. The part restored to France is simply a return of +territory wrongly taken from France in 1871. The larger part of her lost +territory goes to Poland from whom it was taken two hundred years ago in +the utterly unjust partition in the days of Frederick the Great. But +what the treaty seeks to safeguard is the safety of the world. Germany's +record since the days of Bismark is that of one continuous grasping +after territory at the expense of surrounding nations. It was absolutely +necessary to impose such terms as would render her powerless in this +matter. It will be noticed that the terms imposed spell the end of +German militarism. That menace to the peace and safety of the world is +removed.</p> + + +<h4>THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS</h4> + +<p>An attempt is made in this treaty to constitute a League of Nations that +will hence forth put an end to war. The curious student is reminded of +these difficulties that confronted the Constitutional Convention of 1787 +when it met to form our National Constitution. In that case, however, +the separate nations that united to form the United States were one in +blood and history and had been drawn together by common dangers. Those +who would form a League of Nations seek to draw into one compact, of +course with very loose restraining bonds, nations utterly adverse in +blood and history. The mere effort to form such a league is a wonderful +step in advance. It remains for the future to determine the success of +the movement.</p> + + +<h4>THE COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE</h4> + +<p>The covenant of the League of Nations constitutes Section 1 of the peace +treaty, which places upon the league many specific, in addition to its +general duties. It may question Germany at any time for a violation of +the neutralized zone east of the Rhine as a threat against the world's +peace. It will appoint three of the five members of the Saar commission, +oversee its regime, and carry out the plebiscite. It will appoint the +high commissioner of Danzig, guarantee the independence of the free +city, and arrange for treaties between Danzig and Germany and Poland. It +will work out the mandatory system to be applied to the former German +colonies, and act as a final court in part of the plebiscites of the +Belgian-German frontier, and in dispute as to the Kiel Canal, and decide +certain of the economic and financial problems. An international +conference on labor is to be held in October under its direction, and +another on the international control of ports, waterways, and railways +is foreshadowed.</p> + + +<h4>MEMBERSHIP OF THE LEAGUE</h4> + +<p>The membership of the league will be the signatories of the covenant and +other natures invited to accede, who must lodge a declaration of +accession without reservation within two months. A new state, dominion, +or colony may be admitted, provided its admission is agreed by +two-thirds of the assembly. A nation may withdraw upon giving two years' +notice, if it has fulfilled all its international obligations.</p> + + +<h4>HOW THE LEAGUE WILL ADMINISTER ITS TRUST</h4> + +<p>A permanent secretariat will be established at the seat of the league +which will be at Geneva. The assembly will consist of representatives of +the members of the league and will meet at stated intervals. Voting will +be by states. Each member will have one vote and not more than three +representatives. This assembly may be considered as the House of +Representatives of the league. The council may be considered as the +senate. It will consist of representatives of the five great allied +powers, together with representatives of four members selected by the +assembly from time to time; it may co-operate with additional states and +will meet at least once a year. Members not represented will be invited +to send a representative when questions affecting their interests are +discussed. Voting will be by nation. Each nation will have one vote and +not more than one representative. Decision taken by the assembly and +council must be unanimous except in regard to procedure, and in certain +cases specified in the covenant and in the treaty, where decisions will +be by a majority.</p> + + +<h4>REDUCTION OF ARMAMENT</h4> + +<p>The council will formulate plans for a reduction of armaments for +consideration and adoption. These plans will be revised every 10 years. +Once they are adopted, no member must exceed the armament's text without +the concurrence of the council. All members will exchange full +information as to armaments and programs, and a permanent commission +will advise the council on military and naval questions.</p> + + +<h4>STEPS TAKEN TO PREVENT WAR</h4> + +<p>Upon any war, or threat of war, the council will meet to consider what +common action shall be taken. Members are pledged to submit matters of +dispute to arbitration or inquiry and not to resort to war until three +months after the award. Members agree to carry out an arbitral award, +and not go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with it; +if a member fails to carry out the award the council will propose the +necessary measures. The council will formulate plans for the +establishment of a permanent court of international justice to determine +international disputes or to give advisory opinions. Members who do not +submit their case to arbitration must accept the jurisdiction of the +assembly. If the council, less the parties to the dispute, is +unanimously agreed upon the rights of it, the members agree that they +will not go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with its +recommendations.</p> + + +<h4>INTERNATIONAL PROVISIONS FOR LABOR</h4> + +<p>Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of international +convention existing or hereafter to be agreed upon, the members of the +league will in general endeavor through the international organization +established by the labor convention to secure and maintain fair +conditions of labor for men, women, and children in their own countries +and other countries, and undertake to secure just treatment of the +native inhabitants of territories under their control; they will intrust +the league with the general supervision over the execution of agreements +for the suppression of traffic in women and children, etcetera, and in +the control of the trade in arms and ammunition with countries in which +control is necessary.</p> + + +<h4>LABOR CONFERENCE</h4> + +<p>In order to accomplish these ends, "Members of the league of nations +agree to establish a permanent organization to promote international +adjustment of labor conditions, to consist of an annual international +labor conference and an international labor office."</p> + +<p>"The former is composed of four representatives of each state, two from +the government and one each from the employers and the employed; each of +them may vote individually. It will be a deliberative, legislative body, +its measures taking the form of draft conventions or recommendations for +legislation, which, if passed by two-thirds vote, must be submitted to +the lawmaking authority in every state participating."</p> + + +<h4>THE FIRST MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE</h4> + +<p>The first meeting of the conference will take place in October, 1919, at +Washington, to discuss the eight-hour day or 48-hour week; prevention of +unemployment; extension and application of the international conventions +adopted at Berne in 1906, prohibiting night work for women and use of +white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches; employment of women and +children at night or in unhealthy work, employment of women before and +after child birth; maternity benefits and employment of children as +regards to minimum age.</p> + + +<h4>PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE THE CONFERENCE</h4> + +<p>Nine principles of labor conditions are recognized on the ground that +"the well-being, physical and moral of the industrial wage-earners is of +supreme international importance." Exceptions are necessitated by +differences of climate, habits, and economic development. They include +the guiding principle that labor should not be regarded merely as a +commodity or article of commerce; right of association of employers and +employees; a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life; +the eight-hour day or 48-hour week; a weekly rest of at least 24 hours, +which should include Sunday wherever practicable; abolition of child +labor, and assurance of the continuation of the education and proper +physical development of children; equal pay for equal work as between +men and women; equal treatment of all workers lawfully resident therein, +including foreigners; and a system of inspection in which women should +take part.</p> + + +<h4>NO MORE SECRET TREATIES</h4> + +<p>All treaties of international engagements concluded after the +institution of the league will be registered with the secretariat and +published. The assembly may from time to time advise members to +reconsider treaties which have become inapplicable or involve danger of +peace. The covenant abrogates all obligations between members +inconsistent with its terms, but nothing in it shall affect the validity +of international engagement such as treaties of arbitration or regional +understandings like the Monroe Doctrine for securing the maintenance of +peace. This last clause is of special interest to the United States.</p> + + +<h4>NEW BOUNDARIES OF GERMANY</h4> + +<p>After thus providing for the League of Nations, the treaty takes up the +provisions of special importance to the various belligerent nations. It +is well to notice the new boundaries of Germany. That nation cedes to +France, Alsace-Lorraine, 5600 square miles, and to Belgium two small +districts between Luxembourg and Holland and totaling 382 square miles. +She also cedes to Poland the southeastern tip of Silesia beyond and +including Oppeln, most of Posen and West Prussia, 27,680 square miles. +She loses sovereignty over the northeasternmost tip of East Prussia, 40 +square miles north of the River Memel, and the internationalized areas +about Danzig, 729 square miles, and the basin of the Saar, 738 square +miles, between the western border of the Rhenish Palatinate of Bavaria +and the southeast corner of Luxembourg.</p> + +<p>The southeastern third of East Prussia and the area between East Prussia +and the Vistula north of latitude 53 degrees 3 minutes is to have its +nationality determined by popular vote, 5,785 square miles, as is to be +the case in part of Schleswig, 2,787 square miles.</p> + + +<h4>BETWEEN BELGIUM AND GERMANY</h4> + +<p>Germany is to consent to the abrogation of the treaties of 1839, by +which Belgium was established as a neutral state, and to agree in +advance to any convention with which the allied and associated powers +may determine to replace them.</p> + +<p>Germany is to recognize the full sovereignty of Belgium over the +contested territory of Morenet and over part of Prussian Morenet, and to +renounce in favor of Belgium all rights of the circles of Eupen and +Malmedy, the inhabitants of which are to be entitled, within six months, +to protest against this change of sovereignty, either in whole or in +part, the final decision to be reserved to the league of nations.</p> + +<p>A commission is to settle the details of the frontier, and various +regulations for change of nationality are laid down.</p> + + +<h4>LUXEMBOURG SET FREE</h4> + +<p>Germany renounces her various treaties and conventions with the Grand +Duchy of Luxembourg, recognizes that it ceased to be a part of the +German zollverein from Jan. 1, last, renounces all right of exploitation +of the railroads, adheres to the abrogation of its neutrality, and +accepts in advance any international agreement as to it, reached by the +allied and associated powers.</p> + + +<h4>THE EAST BANK OF THE RHINE</h4> + +<p>Germany will not maintain any fortifications or armed forces less than +50 kilometers to the east of the Rhine, hold any maneuvers, nor maintain +any works to facilitate mobilization. In case of violation, "she shall +be regarded as committing a hostile act against the powers who sign the +present treaty and as intending to disturb the peace of the world." "By +virtue of the present treaty Germany shall be bound to respond to any +request for an explanation which the council of the League of Nations +may think it is necessary to address to her."</p> + + +<h4>ALSACE-LORRAINE</h4> + +<p>After recognition of the moral obligation to repair the wrong done in +1871 by Germany to France and the people of Alsace-Lorraine, the +territories ceded to Germany by the treaty of Frankfort are restored to +France with their frontiers as before 1871 to date from the signing of +the armistice, and to be free of all public debts.</p> + +<p>Citizenship is regulated by detailed provisions distinguishing those who +are immediately resorted to full French citizenship, those who have to +make formal applications therefor, and those for whom naturalization is +open after three years. The last named class includes German residents +in Alsace-Lorraine, as distinguished from those who acquire the position +of Alsace-Lorrainers as defined in the treaty. All public property and +all private property of German ex-sovereigns passes to the French +without payment or credit. France is substituted for Germany as regards +ownership of the railroads and rights over concessions of tramways; the +Rhine bridges pass to France with the obligation for their upkeep.</p> + +<p>Several clauses now follow providing for trade between Alsace-Lorraine +and Germany; the sanctity of existing contracts etc. French law replaces +German law. A convention to be made between France and Germany is to +settle many details.</p> + + +<h4>THE VALLEY OF THE SAAR</h4> + +<p>In compensation for the destruction of coal mines in northern France and +as payment on account of reparation, Germany cedes to France full +ownership of the coal mines of the Saar Basin with their subsidiaries, +accessories, and facilities. Their value will be estimated by the +reparation commission and credited against that account. The French +rights will be governed by German law in force at the armistice +excepting war legislation, France replacing the present owners whom +Germany undertakes to indemnify. France will continue to furnish the +present proportion of coal for local needs and contribute in just +proportion to local taxes. The basin extends from the frontier of +Lorraine as reannexed to France north as far as St. Wendel, including on +the west the valley of the Saar as far as Saarholzbach and on the east +the town of Homburg.</p> + + +<h4>A MIXED GOVERNMENT PROVIDED</h4> + +<p>In order to secure the rights and welfare of the population and +guarantee to France entire freedom in working the mines, the territory +will be governed by a commission appointed by the League of Nations and +consisting of five members, one French, one a native inhabitant of the +Saar, and three representing three different countries other than France +and Germany. The league will appoint a member of the commission as +chairman to act as executive of the commission. The commission will +have all powers of government formerly belonging to the German Empire, +Prussia, and Bavaria, will administer the railroads and other public +services and have full power to interpret the treaty clauses. The local +courts will continue, but subject to the commission. Existing German +legislation will remain the basis of the law, but the commission may +make modification after consulting a local representative assembly which +it will organize.</p> + + +<h4>THE PEOPLE'S RIGHTS SECURED</h4> + +<p>The people will preserve their local assemblies, religious liberties, +schools, and languages, but may vote only for local assemblies. They +will keep their present nationality except so far as individuals may +change it. Those wishing to leave will have every facility with respect +to their property. The territory will form part of the French customs +system with no export tax on coal and metallurgical products going to +Germany nor on German products entering the basin, and for five years no +import duties on products of the basin going to Germany or German +products coming into the basin for local consumption. French money may +circulate without restriction.</p> + + +<h4>POSSIBLE RETURN TO GERMANY</h4> + +<p>After 15 years a plebiscite will be held by communes to ascertain the +desires of the population as to the continuance of the existing regime +under the League of Nations, union with France or union with Germany. +The right to vote will belong to all inhabitants over 20 resident +therein at the signature of the treaty. Taking into account the opinions +thus expressed, the league will decide the ultimate sovereignty in any +portion restored to Germany. The German Government must buy out the +French mines at an appraised valuation, if the price is not paid within +six months thereafter this portion passes finally to France. If Germany +buys back the mines the league will determine how much of the coal shall +be annually sold to France.</p> + + +<h4>GERMAN RELATIONS WITH FORMER AUSTRIAN STATES</h4> + +<p>"Germany recognizes the total independence of German Austria in the +boundaries traced." Germany recognizes the entire independence of the +Czecho-Slovak State including the autonomous territory of the Ruthenians +south of the Carpathians, and accepts the frontiers of this State as to +be determined, which in the case of the German frontier shall follow the +frontier of Bohemia in 1914. The usual stipulations as to acquisition +and change of nationality follow.</p> + + +<h4>GERMAN RELATIONS WITH NEW POLAND</h4> + +<p>Germany cedes to Poland the greater part of upper Silesia, Posen, and +the Province of West Prussia on the left bank of the Vistula. A field +boundary commission of seven, five representing the allied and +associated powers, and one each representing Poland and Germany, shall +be constituted within 15 days of the signing of peace to delimit this +boundary. Such special provisions as are necessary to protect racial, +linguistic, or religious minorities, and to protect freedom of transit +and equitable treatment of commerce of other nations shall be laid down +in a subsequent treaty between the five allied and associated powers and +Poland.</p> + + +<h4>EAST PRUSSIA</h4> + +<p>East Prussia presents a peculiar problem since it is cut off from +Germany proper. The boundaries between East Prussia and Poland are to be +determined by a plebiscites or a referendum vote of the people, +specifying what sections are affected, the treaty sets forth that in +each case German troops and authorities will move out within 15 days of +the peace and the territories will be placed under an international +commission of five members appointed by the five allied and associated +powers, with the particular duty of arranging for a free, fair and +secret vote. The commission will report the results of the plebiscites +to the five powers with a recommendation for the boundary and will +terminate its work as soon as the boundary has been laid down and the +new authorities set up.</p> + + +<h4>THE RIGHTS OF EAST PRUSSIA GUARDED</h4> + +<p>The five allied and associated powers will draw up regulations assuring +East Prussia full and equitable access to and use of the Vistula. A +subsequent convention, of which the terms will be fixed by the five +allied and associated powers will be entered into between Poland, +Germany and Danzig to assure suitable railroad communication across +German territory on the right bank of the Vistula between Poland and +Danzig, while Poland shall grant free passage from East Prussia to +Germany.</p> + +<p>The northeastern corner of East Prussia about Memel is to be ceded by +Germany to the associated powers, the former agreeing to accept the +settlement made, especially as regards the nationality of the +inhabitants.</p> + + +<h4>DANZIG MADE A FREE CITY</h4> + +<p>Danzig and the district immediately about it are to be constituted into +the "free City of Danzig" under the guarantee of the League of Nations. +A high commissioner appointed by the league and resident at Danzig shall +draw up a constitution in agreement with the duly appointed +representatives of the city and shall deal in the first instance with +all differences arising between the city and Poland. The actual +boundaries of the city shall be delimited by a commission appointed +within six months from the signing of peace, and to include three +representatives chosen by the allied and associated powers, and one each +by Germany and Poland.</p> + + +<h4>RELATIONS BETWEEN DANZIG AND POLAND</h4> + +<p>A convention, the terms of which shall be fixed by the five allied and +associated powers, shall be concluded between Poland and Danzig, which +shall include Danzig within the Polish customs frontiers though a free +area in the port; insure to Poland the free use of all the city's +waterways, docks, and other port facilities, the control and +administration of the Vistula and the whole through railway system +within the city, and postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communication +between Poland and Danzig; provide against discrimination against Poles +within the city and place its foreign relations and the diplomatic +protection of its citizens abroad in charge of Poland.</p> + + +<h4>GERMAN RELATIONS WITH DENMARK</h4> + +<p>The war with Denmark in the days of Bismark resulted in the loss of +Schleswig and Holstein to Germany. This treaty provides for a +conditional return to these provinces to Denmark, the country is divided +into zones in each of which the people are to vote on the question of +being returned to Denmark. The international commission will then draw a +new frontier on the basis of these plebiscites and with due regard of +geographical economic conditions. Germany will renounce all sovereignty +over territories north of this line in favor of the associated +governments, who will hand them over to Denmark.</p> + + +<h4>HELIGOLAND TO BE DISMANTLED</h4> + +<p>Heligoland was a very strongly fortified island guarding the approaches +to the Kiel Canal. The treaty sets forth that the fortifications, +military establishment and harbors of the islands of Heligoland and Dune +are to be destroyed under the supervision of the Allies by German labor +and at Germany's expense. They may not be reconstructed for any similar +fortifications built in the future.</p> + + +<h4>STRIPPED OF HER COLONIAL EMPIRE</h4> + +<p>Germany's vast colonial empire—totaling more than 1,000,000 square +miles in area—is now a thing of the past. Outside of Europe Germany +renounces all rights, titles, and privileges as to her own or her +allies' territories to all the allied and associated powers, and +undertakes to accept whatever measures are taken by the five allied +powers in relation thereto. In addition Germany surrenders all +concessions she had wrung from other countries,—as China, Siam, +Liberia, Morocco and Egypt.</p> + + +<h4>GERMANY LOSES HER ARMY</h4> + +<p>The demobilization of the German Army must take place within two months +of the peace. Its strength may not exceed 100,000, including 4,000 +officers, with not over seven divisions of infantry and three of +cavalry, and it is to be devoted exclusively to maintenance of internal +order and control of frontiers. Divisions may not be grouped under more +than two army corps headquarters staffs. The great German General Staff +is abolished. The army administrative service, consisting of civilian +personnel not included in the number of effectives, is reduced to +one-tenth the total in the 1913 budget. Employees of the German states +such as customs officers, first guards may not exceed the number in +1913. Gendarmes and local police may be increased only in accordance +with the growth of population. None of these may be assembled for +military training.</p> + + +<h4>STRIPPED OF HER NAVY</h4> + +<p>The German Navy must be demobilized within a period of two months after +the peace. She will be allowed six small battleships, six light +cruisers, 12 destroyers, 12 torpedo boats, and no submarines, either +military or commercial, with a personnel of 15,000 men, including +officers, and no reserve force of any character. Conscription is +abolished, only volunteer service being permitted, with a minimum +period of 25 years' service for officers and 12 for men. No member of +the German mercantile marine will be permitted any naval training.</p> + +<p>Germany must surrender 42 modern destroyers, 50 modern torpedo boats, +and all submarines with their salvage vessels. All war vessels under +construction, including submarines, must be broken up. War vessels not +otherwise provided for are to be placed in reserve or used for +commercial purposes. Replacement of ships, except those lost, can take +place only at the end of 20 years for battleships and 15 years for +destroyers. The largest armored ship Germany will be permitted will be +10,000 tons.</p> + + +<h4>CANNOT HAVE FIGHTING AIR CRAFT</h4> + +<p>For temporary purposes Germany may retain a small force of airplanes and +a small force to operate them, but otherwise the entire air force is to +be demobilized within two months. No aviation grounds or dirigible sheds +are to be allowed within 150 kilometers of the Rhine or the eastern or +southern frontiers, existing installations within these limits to be +destroyed. The manufacture of aircraft and parts of aircraft is +forbidden for six months. All military and naval aeronautical material +under a most exhaustive definition must be surrendered within three +months except for the 100 seaplanes already specified.</p> + + +<h4>COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE ABANDONED</h4> + +<p>Conscription is abolished in Germany. The enlisted personnel must be +maintained by voluntary enlistments for terms of 12 consecutive years, +the number of discharges before the expiration of that term not in any +year to exceed 5 per cent of the total effectives. Officers remaining in +the service must agree to serve to the age of 45 years, and newly +appointed officers must agree to serve actively for 25 years.</p> + +<p>No military schools except those absolutely indispensable for the units +allowed shall exist in Germany two months after the peace. No +associations such as societies of discharged soldiers, shooting or +touring clubs, educational establishments, or universities may occupy +themselves with military matters. All measures of mobilization are +forbidden.</p> + + +<h4>MANUFACTURE OF GUNS AND AMMUNITION FORBIDDEN</h4> + +<p>All establishments for the manufacturing, preparation, storage, or +design of arms and munitions of war, except those specifically +excepted, must be closed within three months of the peace and their +personnel dismissed. The exact amount of armament and munitions allowed +Germany is laid down in detail by tables, all in excess to be +surrendered or rendered useless. The manufacture or importation of +asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and all analogous liquids is +forbidden, as well as the importation of arms, munitions and war +material. Germany may not manufacture such material for foreign +governments.</p> + + +<h4>WILLIAM II INDICTED AND HIS TRIAL SOUGHT</h4> + +<p>"The allied and associated powers publicly arraign William II of +Hohenzollern, formerly German Emperor, not for an offense against +criminal law, but for a supreme offense against international morality +and the sanctity of treaties."</p> + +<p>The former Emperor's surrender is to be requested of Holland, and a +special tribunal set up, composed of one judge from each of the five +great powers, with full guarantees of the right of defense. It is to be +guided "by the highest motives of international policy with a view of +vindicating the solemn obligations of international undertakings and the +validity of international morality," and will fix the punishment it +feels should be imposed.</p> + + +<h4>OFFICERS RESPONSIBLE FOR CRUELTIES TO BE TRIED</h4> + +<p>Persons accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws and +customs of war are to be tried and punished by military tribunals of +only one state. They will be tried before a tribunal of that state; if +they affect nationals of several states they will be tried before joint +tribunals of the states concerned. Germany shall hand over to the +associated governments either jointly or severally all persons so +accused, and all documents and information necessary to insure full +knowledge of the incriminating acts, the discovery of the offenders and +the just appreciation of the responsibility. The accused will be +entitled to name his own counsel.</p> + + +<h4>GERMANY MUST PAY ALL THE DAMAGES SHE CAN</h4> + +<p>While the allied and associated governments recognize that the +resources of Germany are not adequate after taking into account +permanent diminutions of such resources which will result from other +treaty claims, to make complete reparation for all such loss and damage, +they require her to make compensation for all damages caused to +civilians under seven main categories:</p> + +<p>These are now defined and the total obligation Germany is to pay is to +be determined and notified to her after a fair hearing and not later +than May 1, 1921, by an inter-allied reparation commission. At the same +time a schedule of payments to discharge the obligation within 30 years +shall be presented. These payments are subject to postponement in +certain contingencies. Germany irrevocably recognizes the full authority +of this commission, agrees to supply it with all the necessary +information, and to pass legislation to effectuate its findings. She +further agrees to restore to the Allies cash and certain articles which +can be identified.</p> + + +<h4>A PRESENT PAYMENT DEMANDED</h4> + +<p>As an immediate step forward restoration, Germany shall pay within two +years 20,000,000,000 marks in either gold, goods, ships, or other +specific forms of payment, with the understanding that certain expenses +such as those of the armies of occupation and payments for food and raw +materials may be deducted at the discretion of the Allies.</p> + +<p>It is now provided that a commission shall have charge of future +payments and the amounts of such payment is left to be decided by the +commission.</p> + + +<h4>MUST REPLACE SHIPS SUNK BY SUBMARINES</h4> + +<p>The German Government recognizes the right of the Allies to the +replacement, ton for ton and class for class, of all merchant ships and +fishing boats lost or damaged owing to the war, and agrees to cede to +the Allies all German merchant ships of 1,600 tons gross and upward, +one-half of her ships between 1,600 and 1,000 tons gross, and +one-quarter of her steam trawlers and other fishing boats. These ships +are to be delivered within two months to the reparation committee, +together with documents of title evidencing the transfer of the ships +free from incumbrance.</p> + +<p>"As an additional part of reparation," the German Government further +agrees to build merchant ships for the account of the Allies to the +amount of not exceeding 200,000 tons gross annually during the next five +years.</p> + + +<h4>MUST RESTORE DEVASTATED AREAS</h4> + +<p>"Germany undertakes to devote her economic resources directly to the +physical restoration of the invaded areas. The reparation commission is +authorized to require Germany to replace the destroyed articles and to +manufacture materials required for reconstruction purposes, all with due +consideration for Germany's essential domestic requirements.</p> + +<p>"The German Government is also to restore to the French Government +certain papers taken by the German authorities in 1870 belonging then to +M. Reuther, and to restore the French flags taken during the war of 1870 +and 1871. As reparation for the destruction of the library of Louvain, +Germany is to hand over manuscripts, early printed books, prints, etc., +to be equivalent to those destroyed.</p> + +<p>"In addition to the above Germany is to hand over to Belgium wings now +at Berlin belonging to the altar piece of the 'Adoration of the Lamb,' +by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, the center of which is now in the church of +St. Bavo at Ghent, and the wings now at Berlin and Munich, of the altar +piece of 'Last Supper,' by Dirk Bouts, the center of which belongs to +the church of St. Peter at Louvain.</p> + + +<h4>MUST PAY COST OF ARMY OF OCCUPATION</h4> + +<p>"Germany is required to pay the total cost of the armies of occupation +from the date of the armistice as long as they are maintained in German +territory, this cost to be a first charge after making such provisions +for payments for imports as the Allies may deem necessary. Germany is to +deliver to the allied and associated powers all sums deposited in +Germany by Turkey and Austria-Hungary in connection with the financial +support extended by her to them during the war, and to transfer to the +Allies all claims against Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, or Turkey in +connection with agreements made during the war. Germany confirms the +renunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk.</p> + + +<h4>TRADE AND COMMERCE REGULATED</h4> + +<p>"Customs—For a period of six months Germany shall impose no tariff +duties higher than the lowest in force in 1914, and for certain +agricultural products, wines, vegetables, oils, artificial silk, and +washed or scoured wool this restriction obtains for two and a half +years, or for five years unless further extended by the league of +nations.</p> + +<p>"Germany must give most favored nation treatment to the allied and +associated powers. She shall impose no customs tariff for five years on +goods originating in Alsace-Loraine and for three years on goods +originating in former German territory ceded to Poland with the right of +observation of a similar exception for Luxemburg.</p> + +<p>"Ships of the allied and associated powers shall for five years, and +thereafter under condition of reciprocity, unless the league of nations +otherwise decides, enjoy the same rights in German ports as German +vessels and have most favored nation treatment in fishing, coasting +trade, and towage, even in territorial waters. Ships of a country having +no sea coast may be registered at some one place within its territory.</p> + + +<h4>FREEDOM OF TRANSIT</h4> + +<p>"Germany must grant freedom of transit through her territories by mail or +water to persons, goods, ships, carriages and mails from or to any of +the allied or associated powers without customs or transit duties, undue +delays, restrictions or discriminations based on nationality, means of +transport or place of entry or departure. Goods in transit shall be +assured all possible speed of journey, especially perishable goods. +Germany may not divert traffic from its normal course in favor of her +own transport routes or maintain "control stations" in connection with +transmigration traffic. She may not establish any tax discrimination +against the ports of allied or associated powers, must grant the +latter's seaports all factors and reduced tariffs granted her own or +other nationals, and afford the allied and associated powers equal +rights with those of her own nationals in her ports and waterways, save +that she is free to open or close her maritime coasting trade.</p> + + +<h4>GERMAN RIVERS INTERNATIONALIZED</h4> + +<p>"The Elbe from the junction of the Vltava, the Vitava from Prague, the +Oder from Oppa, the Niemen from Grodno, and the Danube from Ulm are +declared international, together with their connections. The riparian +states must ensure good conditions of navigation within their +territories unless a special organization exists therefor. Otherwise +appeal may be had to a special tribunal of the league of nations, which +also may arrange for a general international waterways convention.</p> + +<p>"The Elbe and the Oder are to be placed under international commissions +to meet within three months, that for the Elbe composed of four +representatives of Germany, two from Czecho-Slovakia, and one each from +Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium, and that for the Oder +composed of one each from Poland, Russia, Czecho-Slovakia, Great +Britain, France, Denmark, and Sweden.</p> + +<p>"If any riparian state on the Niemen should so request of the league of +nations a similar commission shall be established there. These +commissions shall, upon request of any riparian state, meet within three +months to revise existing international agreement.</p> + + +<h4>CONTROL OF THE DANUBE</h4> + +<p>"The European Danube commission reassumes its pre-war powers, for the +time being, with representatives of only Great Britain, Italy, and +Roumania. The upper Danube is to be administered by a new international +commission until a definitive state be drawn up at a conference of the +powers nominated by the allied and associated governments within one +year after the peace.</p> + +<p>"The enemy governments shall make full reparations for all war damages +caused to the European commission; shall cede their river facilities in +surrendered territory, and give Czecho-Slovakia, Serbia, and Roumania +any rights necessary on their shores for carrying out improvements in +navigation.</p> + + +<h4>FRANCE, BELGIUM AND THE RHINE</h4> + +<p>"The Rhine is placed under the central commission to meet at Strasbourg +within six months after the peace and to be composed of four +representatives of France, which shall in addition select the president; +four of Germany, and two each of Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, +Switzerland, and the Netherlands.</p> + +<p>"Belgium is to be permitted to build a deep draft Rhine-Meuse canal if +she so desires within twenty-five years, in which case Germany must +construct the part within her territory on plans drawn by Belgium; +similarly, the interested allied governments may construct a Rhine-Meuse +canal, both, if constructed, to come under the competent international +commission.</p> + +<p>"Germany must give France on the course of the Rhine included between +the two extreme points of her frontiers all rights to take water to feed +canals, while herself agreeing not to make canals on the right bank +opposite France. She must also hand over to France all her drafts and +designs for this part of the river.</p> + + +<h4>THE KIEL CANAL INTERNATIONALIZED</h4> + +<p>"The Kiel canal is to remain free and open to war and merchant ships of +all nations at peace with Germany. Goods and ships of all states are to +be treated on terms of absolute equality, and no taxes to be imposed +beyond those necessary for upkeep and improvement for which Germany is +responsible.</p> + +<p>"In case of violation of or disagreement as to these provisions, any +state may appeal to the league of nations, and may demand the +appointment of an international commission. For preliminary hearing of +complaints Germany shall establish a local authority at Kiel.</p> + + +<h4>THE TERMS NOT TO BE MODIFIED</h4> + +<p>"Germany agrees to recognize the full validity of the treaties of peace +and additional conventions to be concluded by the allied and associated +powers with the powers allied with Germany; to agree to the decisions to +be taken as to the territories of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, +and to recognize the new states in the frontiers to be fixed for them.</p> + +<p>"Germany agrees not to put forward any pecuniary claims against any +allied or associated power signing the present treaty based on events +previous to the coming into force of the treaty.</p> + +<p>"Germany accepts all decrees as to German ships and goods made by any +allied or associated prize court. The allies reserve the right to +examine all decisions of German prize courts. The present treaty, of +which the French and British texts are both authentic, shall be ratified +and the depositions of ratifications made in Paris as soon as possible. +The treaty is to become effective in all respects for each power on the +date of deposition of its ratification.</p> + + +<h4>THE ALLIES TAKE NO RISKS</h4> + +<p>"As a guarantee for the execution of the treaty German territory to the +west of the Rhine, together with the bridgeheads, will be occupied by +allied and associated troops for 15 years. If the conditions are +faithfully carried out by Germany, certain districts, including the +bridgehead of Cologne, will be evacuated at the expiration of five +years. Certain other districts, including the bridgehead of Coblenz and +the territories nearest the Belgian frontier will be evacuated after ten +years, and the remainder, including the bridgehead of Mainz, will be +evacuated after 15 years. In case the inter-allied reparation commission +finds that Germany has failed to observe the whole or part of her +obligations, either during the occupation or after the 15 years have +expired, the whole or part of the areas specified will be reoccupied +immediately. If before the expiration of the 15 years Germany complies +with all the treaty understandings, the occupying forces will be +withdrawn immediately."</p> + +<p>These are the essential features of the voluminous peace treaty +presented to the German delegates at Versailles May 7, 1919. There was +of course a storm of protest from all classes of German citizens at what +they considered the excessive severity of the terms. Had the fortunes of +war been different we would have seen far more stringent terms imposed +on Great Britain and France and our own country would sooner or later +have met equally hard terms. President Wilson justly summed up the +treaty as "Severe but just."</p> + +<p>After weeks of delay, the exchange of notes between the Allied statesmen +and the German delegates, in a vain endeavor on the part of Germany to +secure modification of the terms—efforts resulting in only trifling +changes—the treaty was signed by delegates from all the Allied powers +(except China) and Germany, June 28, 1919, five years to a day after the +assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand at Serajevo. The five +years that had intervened constitute the most memorable period of time +in history. Probably no equal term of years had been attended with such +an appalling loss of life, had been more heavily freighted with woe, had +witnessed such a tremendous outpouring of blood and treasure as the five +years ended with the signing of the treaty.</p> + +<p>The treaty was signed in the celebrated Hall of Mirrors in the wonderful +palace of Versailles, France. This hall is intimately connected with +great events in the history of France, of Germany, and now of the world. +Here was signed the treaty putting an end to the Franco-German war, here +the German empire was inaugurated and William I crowned emperor, here by +this treaty was the work of Bismarck completely undone and the +constitution of a proposed League of Nations set forth, one of the +greatest events in the history of the world.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>CONDENSED CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR</h3> + + +<h4>1914.</h4> + +<p>June 28—Murder at Serajevo of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand.</p> + +<p>July 23—Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia.</p> + +<p>July 28—Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.</p> + +<p>July 31—General mobilization in Russia. "State of war" declared in +Germany.</p> + +<p>Aug. 1—Germany declared war on Russia and invaded Luxemburg.</p> + +<p>Aug. 2—German ultimatum to Belgium, demanding free passage across +Belgium.</p> + +<p>Aug. 3—Germany declares war on France.</p> + +<p>Aug. 4—War declared by Great Britain on Germany.</p> + +<p>Aug. 4—President Wilson proclaimed neutrality of United States.</p> + +<p>Aug. 4-26—Belgium overrun: Liege occupied (Aug. 9); Brussels (Aug. 20); +Namur (Aug. 24).</p> + +<p>Aug. 6—Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia.</p> + +<p>Aug. 10—France declares war on Austria-Hungary.</p> + +<p>Aug. 12—Great Britain declares war on Austria-Hungary.</p> + +<p>Aug. 16—British expeditionary force landed in France.</p> + +<p>Aug. 18—Russia completes mobilization and invades East Prussia.</p> + +<p>Aug. 21-23—Battle of Mons-Charleroi. Dogged retreat of French and +British in the face of the German invasion.</p> + +<p>Aug. 23—Tsingtau bombarded by Japanese.</p> + +<p>Aug. 25-Dec. 15—Russians overrun Galicia. Lemberg taken (Sept. 2); +Przemysl first attacked (Sept. 16); siege broken (Oct. 12-Nov. 12). Fall +of Przemysl (Mar. 17, 1915). Dec. 4, Russians 3-1/2 miles from Cracow.</p> + +<p>Aug. 26—Germans destroy Louvain.</p> + +<p>Aug. 26—Allies conquer Togoland, in Africa.</p> + +<p>Aug. 26—Russians severely defeated at Battle of Tannenberg in East +Prussia.</p> + +<p>Aug. 28—British naval victory in Helgoland Bight.</p> + +<p>Aug. 31—Allies' line along the Seine, Marne and Meuse rivers.</p> + +<p>Aug. 31—Name St. Petersburg changed to Petrograd by Russian decree.</p> + +<p>Sept. 3—French Government removed (temporarily) from Paris to Bordeaux.</p> + +<p>Sept. 5—Great Britain, France and Russia sign a treaty not to make +peace separately.</p> + +<p>Sept. 6-10—First Battle of the Marne. Germans reach the extreme point +of their advance; driven back by the French from the Marne to the River +Aisne.</p> + +<p>Sept. 7—Germans take Maubeuge.</p> + +<p>Sept. 11—An Australian expedition captures New Guinea and the Bismark +Archipelago Protectorate.</p> + +<p>Sept. 16—Russians under Gen. Rennenkampf driven from East Prussia.</p> + +<p>Sept. 22—Three British armored cruisers sunk by a submarine.</p> + +<p>Sept. 27—Successful invasion of German Southwest Africa by Gen. Botha.</p> + +<p>Oct. 9—Germans occupy Antwerp.</p> + +<p>Oct. 13—Belgian Government withdraws to Le Havre, in France. Germans +occupy Ghent.</p> + +<p>Oct. 16-28—Battle of the Yser, in Flanders. Belgians and French halt +German advance.</p> + +<p>Oct. 17-Nov. 17—French, Belgians and British repulse German drive in +first battle of Ypres, saving Channel ports (decisive day of battle, +Oct. 31).</p> + +<p>Oct. 21-28—German armies driven back in Poland.</p> + +<p>Oct. 28—De Wet's Rebellion in South Africa.</p> + +<p>Nov. 1—German naval victory in the Pacific off the coast of Chile.</p> + +<p>Nov. 3—German naval raid into English waters.</p> + +<p>Nov. 5—Great Britain declared war on Turkey; Cyprus annexed.</p> + +<p>Nov. 7—Fall of Tsingtau to the Japanese.</p> + +<p>Nov. 10-Dec. 14—Austrian invasion of Serbia (Belgrade taken Dec. 2, +recaptured by Serbians Dec. 14).</p> + +<p>Nov. 10—German cruiser "Emden" caught and destroyed at Cocos Island.</p> + +<p>Nov. 21—Basra, on Persian Gulf, occupied by British.</p> + +<p>Dec. 8—British naval victory off the Falkland Islands.</p> + +<p>Dec. 8—South African rebellion collapses.</p> + +<p>Dec. 9—French Government returned to Paris.</p> + +<p>Dec. 16—German warships bombarded West Hartlepool, Scarborough and +Whitby.</p> + +<p>Dec. 17—Egypt proclaimed a British Protectorate, and a new ruler +appointed with title of sultan.</p> + +<p>Dec. 24—First German air raid on England.</p> + + +<h4>1915.</h4> + +<p>Jan. 1-Feb. 15—Russians attempt to cross the Carpathians.</p> + +<p>Jan. 24—British naval victory in North Sea off Dogger Bank.</p> + +<p>Jan. 25—Second Russian invasion of East Prussia.</p> + +<p>Jan. 28—American merchantman "William P. Frye" sunk by German cruiser +"Prinz Eitel Friedrich."</p> + +<p>Feb. 4—Germany's proclamation of "war zone" around the British Isles +after February 18.</p> + +<p>Feb. 10—United States note holding German Government to a "strict +accountability" if any merchant vessel of the United States is destroyed +or any American citizens lose their lives.</p> + +<p>Feb. 16—Germany's reply stating "war zone" act is an act of +self-defense against illegal methods employed by Great Britain in +preventing commerce between Germany and neutral countries.</p> + +<p>Feb. 18—German official "blockade" of Great Britain commenced. German +submarines begin campaign of "piracy and pillage."</p> + +<p>Feb. 19—Anglo-French squadron bombards Dardanelles.</p> + +<p>Feb. 20—United States sends identic note to Great Britain and Germany +suggesting an agreement between these two powers respecting the conduct +of naval warfare.</p> + +<p>Feb. 28—Germany's reply to identic note.</p> + +<p>Mar. 1—Announcement of British "blockade": "Orders in Council" issued +to prevent commodities of any kind from reaching or leaving Germany.</p> + +<p>Mar. 10—British capture Neuve Chapelle.</p> + +<p>Mar. 17—Russians captured Przemysl and strengthened their hold on the +greater part of Galicia.</p> + +<p>Mar. 28—British steamship "Falaba" attacked by submarine and sunk (111 +lives lost; 1 American).</p> + +<p>Apr. 2—Russians fighting in the Carpathians.</p> + +<p>Apr. 8—Steamer "Harpalyce," in service of American commission for aid +of Belgium, torpedoed; 15 lives lost.</p> + +<p>Apr. 17-May 17—Second Battle of Ypres. British captured Hill 60 (April +19); (April 23); Germans advanced toward Yser Canal. Asphyxiating gas +employed by the Germans. Failure of Germany to break through the British +lines.</p> + +<p>Apr. 22—German embassy sends out a warning against embarkation on +vessels belonging to Great Britain.</p> + +<p>Apr. 26—Allied troops land on the Gallipoli Peninsula.</p> + +<p>Apr. 28—American vessel "Cushing" attacked by German aeroplane.</p> + +<p>Apr. 30—Germans invade the Baltic Provinces of Russia.</p> + +<p>May 1—American steamship "Gulflight" sunk by German submarine; two +Americans lost. Warning of German embassy published in daily papers.</p> + +<p>May 2—Russians forced by the combined Germans and Austrians to retire +from their positions in the Carpathians (Battle of the Dunajec).</p> + +<p>May 7—Cunard line steamship "Lusitania" sunk by German submarine (1,154 +lives lost, 114 being Americans).</p> + +<p>May 8—Germans occupy Libau, Russian port on the Baltic.</p> + +<p>May 9-June—Battle of Artois, or Festubert (near La Bassee).</p> + +<p>May 10—Message of sympathy from Germany on loss of American lives by +sinking of "Lusitania."</p> + +<p>May 12—South African troops under Gen. Botha occupy capital of German +Southwest Africa.</p> + +<p>May 13—American note protests against submarine policy culminating in +the sinking of the "Lusitania."</p> + +<p>May 23—Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary.</p> + +<p>May 25—Coalition cabinet formed in Great Britain; Asquith continues to +be Prime Minister.</p> + +<p>May 25—American steamship "Nebraskan" attacked by submarine.</p> + +<p>May 28—Germany's answer to American note of May 13.</p> + +<p>June 1—Supplementary note from Germany in regard to the "Gulflight" and +"Cushing."</p> + +<p>June 3—Przemysl retaken by Germans and Austrians.</p> + +<p>June 8—Resignation of William J. Bryan, Secretary of State.</p> + +<p>June 9—Monfalcone occupied by Italians, severing one of two railway +lines to Trieste.</p> + +<p>June 9—United States sends second note on "Lusitania" case.</p> + +<p>June 22—The Austro-Germans recapture Lemberg.</p> + +<p>July 2—Naval action between Russian and German warships in the Baltic.</p> + +<p>July 8—Germany sends reply to note of June 9 and pledges safety to +United States vessels in war zone under specified conditions.</p> + +<p>July 15—Germany sends memorandum acknowledging submarine attack on +"Nebraskan" and expresses regret.</p> + +<p>July 15—Conquest of German Southwest Africa completed.</p> + +<p>July 21—Third American note on "Lusitania" case declares Germany's +communication of July 8 "very unsatisfactory."</p> + +<p>July 12-Sept. 18—German conquest of Russian Poland. Germans capture +Lublin (July 31), Warsaw (Aug. 4), Ivangorod (Aug. 5), Kovno (Aug. 17), +Novo-georgievsk (Aug. 19), Brest-Litovsk (Aug. 25), Vilna (Sept. 18).</p> + +<p>July 25—American steamship "Leelanaw" sunk by submarines; carrying +contraband; no lives lost.</p> + +<p>Aug. 4—Capture of Warsaw by Germans.</p> + +<p>Aug. 19—White Star liner "Arabic" sunk by submarine; 16 victims, 2 +Americans.</p> + +<p>Aug. 20—Italy declared war on Turkey.</p> + +<p>Aug. 24—German ambassador sends note in regard to "Arabic." Loss of +American lives contrary to intention of the German Government and is +deeply regretted.</p> + +<p>Sept. 1—Letter from Ambassador von Bernstorff to Secretary Lansing +giving assurance that German submarines will sink no more liners without +warning. Endorsed by the German Foreign Office (Sept. 14).</p> + +<p>Sept. 4—Allan liner "Hesperian" sunk by German submarine; 26 lives +lost, 1 American.</p> + +<p>Sept. 7—German Government sends report on the sinking of the "Arabic."</p> + +<p>Sept. 8—United States demands recall of Austro-Hungarian ambassador, +Dr. Dumba.</p> + +<p>Sept. 14—United States sends summary of evidence in regard to "Arabic."</p> + +<p>Sept. 18—Fall of Vilna; end of Russian retreat.</p> + +<p>Sept. 25-Oct.—French offensive in Champagne fails to break through +German lines.</p> + +<p>Sept. 27—British progress in the neighborhood of Loos.</p> + +<p>Oct. 4—Russian ultimatum to Bulgaria.</p> + +<p>Oct. 5—Allied forces land at Saloniki, at the invitation of the Greek +Government.</p> + +<p>Oct. 5—German Government regrets and disavows sinking of "Arabic" and +is prepared to pay indemnities.</p> + +<p>Oct. 6-Dec. 2—Austro-German-Bulgarian conquest of Serbia. Fall of Nish +(Nov. 5), of Prizrend (Nov. 30), of Monastir (Dec. 2).</p> + +<p>Oct. 14—Great Britain declared war against Bulgaria.</p> + +<p>Nov. 10—Russian forces advance on Teheran as a result of pro-German +activities in Persia.</p> + +<p>Dec. 1—British under Gen. Townshend forced to retreat from Ctesiphon to +Kut-el-Amara.</p> + +<p>Dec. 4—United States Government demands recall of Capt. Karl Boy-Ed, +German naval attache, and Capt. Franz von Papen, military attache.</p> + +<p>Dec. 6—Germans captured Ipek (Montenegro).</p> + +<p>Dec. 13—British defeat Arabs on western frontier of Egypt.</p> + +<p>Dec. 15—Sir John French retired from command of the army in France and +Flanders, and is succeeded by Sir Douglas Haig.</p> + +<p>Dec. 17—Russians occupied Hamadan (Persia).</p> + +<p>Dec. 19—The British forces withdrawn from Anzac and Sulva Bay +(Gallipoli Peninsula).</p> + +<p>Dec. 26—Russian forces in Persia occupied Kashan.</p> + +<p>Dec. 30—British passenger steamer "Persia" sunk in Mediterranean, +presumably by submarine.</p> + + +<h4>1916.</h4> + +<p>Jan. 8—Complete evacuation of Gallipoli.</p> + +<p>Jan. 13—Fall of Cettinje, capital of Montenegro.</p> + +<p>Jan. 18—United States Government sets forth a declaration of principles +regarding submarine attacks and asks whether the governments of the +Allies would subscribe to such an agreement.</p> + +<p>Jan. 28—Austrians occupy San Giovanni de Medici (Albania).</p> + +<p>Feb. 10—Germany sends memorandum to neutral powers that armed merchant +ships will be treated as warships and will be sunk without warning.</p> + +<p>Feb. 15—Secretary Lansing makes statement that by international law +commercial vessels have right to carry arms in self-defense.</p> + +<p>Feb. 16—Germany sends note acknowledging her liability in the +"Lusitania" affair.</p> + +<p>Feb. 16—Kamerun (Africa) conquered.</p> + +<p>Feb. 21-July—Battle of Verdun. Germans take Ft. Douaumont (Feb. 25). +Great losses of Germans with little results. Practically all the ground +lost was slowly regained by the French in the autumn.</p> + +<p>Feb. 24—President Wilson in letter to Senator Stone refuses to advise +American citizens not to travel on armed merchant ships.</p> + +<p>Feb. 27—Russians captured Kerman-shah (Persia).</p> + +<p>Mar. 8—German ambassador communicates memorandum regarding U-boat +question, stating it is a new weapon not yet regulated by international +law.</p> + +<p>Mar. 8—Germany declares war on Portugal.</p> + +<p>Mar. 19—Russians entered Ispahan (Persia).</p> + +<p>Mar. 24—French steamer "Sussex" is torpedoed without warning; about 80 +passengers, including American citizens, are killed or wounded.</p> + +<p>Mar. 25—Department of State issues memorandum in regard to armed +merchant vessels in neutral ports and on the high seas.</p> + +<p>Mar. 27-29—United States Government instructs American ambassador in +Berlin to inquire into sinking of "Sussex" and other vessels.</p> + +<p>Apr. 10—German Government replies to United States notes of March 27, +28, 29, on the sinking of "Sussex" and other vessels.</p> + +<p>Apr. 17—Russians capture Trebizond.</p> + +<p>Apr. 18—United States delivers what is considered an ultimatum that +unless Germany abandons present methods of submarine warfare United +States will sever diplomatic relations.</p> + +<p>Apr. 19—President addressed Congress on relations with Germany.</p> + +<p>Apr. 24-May 1—Insurrection in Ireland.</p> + +<p>Apr. 29—Gen. Townshend surrendered to the Turks before Kut-el-Amara.</p> + +<p>May 4—Reply of Germany acknowledges sinking of the "Sussex" and in the +main meets demands of the United States.</p> + +<p>May 8—United States Government accepts German position as outlined in +note of May 4, but makes it clear that the fulfillment of these +conditions can not depend upon the negotiations between the United +States and any other belligerent Government.</p> + +<p>May 16—June 3—Great Austrian attack on the Italians through the +Trentino.</p> + +<p>May 19—Russians join British on the Tigris.</p> + +<p>May 27—President in address before League to Enforce Peace says United +States is ready to join any practical league for preserving peace and +guaranteeing political and territorial integrity of nations.</p> + +<p>May 31—Naval battle off Jutland.</p> + +<p>June 4-30—Russian offensive in Volhynia and Bukovina. Czernovitz taken +(June 17); all Bukovina overrun.</p> + +<p>June 5—Lord Kitchener drowned.</p> + +<p>June 21—United States demands apology and reparation from +Austria-Hungary for sinking by Austrian submarine of "Petrolite," an +American vessel.</p> + +<p>July 1-Nov.—Battle of the Somme. Combles taken (Sept. 26). Failure of +the Allies to break the German lines.</p> + +<p>Aug. 6-Sept.—New Italian offensive drives out Austrians and wins +Gorizia (Aug. 9).</p> + +<p>Aug. 27—Italy declares war on Germany.</p> + +<p>Aug. 27-Jan. 15, 1917—Roumania enters war on the side of the Allies and +is crushed. (Fall of Bucharest, Dec. 6; Dobrudja conquered, Jan. 2; +Focsani captured, Jan. 8).</p> + +<p>Oct. 8—German submarine appears off American coast and sinks British +passenger steamer "Stephano."</p> + +<p>Oct. 28—British steamer "Marina" sunk without warning (6 Americans +lost).</p> + +<p>Nov. 6—British liner "Arabia" torpedoed and sunk without warning in +Mediterranean.</p> + +<p>Nov. 29—United States protests against Belgian deportations.</p> + +<p>Dec. 12—German peace offer. Refused (Dec. 30) by Allies as "empty and +insincere."</p> + +<p>Dec. 14—British horse-transport ship "Russian" sunk in Mediterranean by +submarine (17 Americans lost).</p> + +<p>Dec. 20—President Wilson's peace note (dated Dec. 18). Germany replies +(Dec. 26). Entente Allies' reply (Jan. 10) demands "restorations, +reparation, indemnities."</p> + + +<h4>1917.</h4> + +<p>Jan. 10—The Allied Governments state their terms of peace; a separate +note from Belgium included.</p> + +<p>Jan. 11—Supplemental German note on views as to settlement of war.</p> + +<p>Jan. 13—Great Britain amplifies reply to President's note of Dec. 18. +Favors co-operation to preserve peace.</p> + +<p>Jan. 22—President Wilson addresses the Senate, giving his ideas of +steps necessary for world peace.</p> + +<p>Jan. 31—Germany announced unrestricted submarine warfare in specified +zones.</p> + +<p>Feb. 3—United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany; +Bernstorff dismissed.</p> + +<p>Feb. 12—United States replies to Swiss Minister that it will not +negotiate with Germany until submarine order is withdrawn.</p> + +<p>Feb. 18—Italians and French join in Albania, cutting off Greece from +the Central Powers.</p> + +<p>Feb. 24—Kut-el-Amara taken by British under Gen. Maude (campaign begun +Dec. 13).</p> + +<p>Feb. 26—President Wilson asks authority to arm merchant ships.</p> + +<p>Feb. 28—"Zimmerman note" revealed.</p> + +<p>Mar. 4—Announced that the British had taken over from the French the +entire Somme front; British held on west front 100 miles, French 175 +miles, Belgians 25 miles.</p> + +<p>Mar. 11—Bagdad captured by British under Gen. Maude.</p> + +<p>Mar. 11-15—Revolution in Russia, leading to abdication of Czar Nicholas +II (Mar. 15). Provisional Government formed by Constitutional Democrats +under Prince Lvov and M. Milyukov.</p> + +<p>Mar. 12—United States announced that an armed guard would be placed on +all American merchant vessels sailing through the war zone.</p> + +<p>Mar. 17-19—Retirement of Germans to "Hindenburg line." Evacuation of +1,300 square miles of French territory, on front of 100 miles, from +Arras to Soissons.</p> + +<p>Mar. 22—United States formally recognized the new government of Russia +set up as a result of the revolution.</p> + +<p>Mar. 26—The United States refused the proposal of Germany to interpret +and supplement the Prussian Treaty of 1799.</p> + +<p>Mar. 27—Minister Brand Whitlock and American Relief Commission +withdrawn from Belgium.</p> + +<p>Apr. 2—President Wilson asks Congress to declare the existence of a +state of war with Germany.</p> + +<p>Apr. 6—United States declares war on Germany.</p> + +<p>Apr. 8—Austria-Hungary severs diplomatic relations with the United +States.</p> + +<p>Apr. 9-May 14—British successes in Battle of Arras; (Vimy Ridge taken +Apr. 9).</p> + +<p>Apr. 16-May 6—French successes in Battle of the Aisne between Soissons +and Rheims.</p> + +<p>Apr. 20—Turkey severs relations with United States.</p> + +<p>May 4—American destroyers begin co-operation with British navy in war +zone.</p> + +<p>May 15-Sept. 15—Great Italian offensive on Isonzo front (Carso +Plateau). Capture of Gorizia, Aug. 9. Monte Santo taken Aug. 24. Monte +San Gabrielle, Sept. 14.</p> + +<p>May 15—Gen. Petain succeeds Gen. Nivelle as commander in chief of the +French armies.</p> + +<p>May 17—Russian Provisional Government reconstructed. Kerensky (formerly +minister of justice) becomes minister of war.</p> + +<p>May 18—President Wilson signs selective service act.</p> + +<p>June 3—American mission to Russia lands at Vladivostok ("Root +Mission"). Returns to America Aug. 3.</p> + +<p>June 7—British blow up Messines Ridge, south of Ypres, and capture +7,500 German prisoners.</p> + +<p>June 10—Italian offensive on Trentino.</p> + +<p>June 12—King Constantino of Greece forced to abdicate.</p> + +<p>June 15—Subscriptions close for first Liberty Loan ($2,000,000,000 +offered; $3,035,226,850 subscribed).</p> + +<p>June 26—First American troops reach France.</p> + +<p>June 29—Greece enters war with Germany and her allies.</p> + +<p>July 1—Russian army led in person by Kerensky begins a short-line +offensive in Galicia, ending in disastrous retreat (July 19-Aug. 3).</p> + +<p>July 4—Resignation of Bethmann Hollweg as German chancellor. Dr. George +Michaelis, chancellor (July 14).</p> + +<p>July 20—Drawing at Washington of names for first army under selective +service.</p> + +<p>July 20—Kerensky becomes premier on resignation of Prince Lvov.</p> + +<p>July 30—Mutiny in German fleet at Wilhelmshaven and Kiel. Second mutiny +Sept. 2.</p> + +<p>July 31-Nov.—Battle of Flanders (Passchendaele Ridge); British +successes.</p> + +<p>Aug. 10—Food and fuel control bill passed.</p> + +<p>Aug. 15—Peace proposals of Pope Benedict revealed (dated Aug. 1). +United States replies Aug. 27; Germany and Austria, Sept. 21; +supplementary German reply, Sept. 26.</p> + +<p>Aug. 15—Canadians capture Hill 70, dominating Lens.</p> + +<p>Aug. 19—New Italian drive on the Isonz front (Carso Plateau). Monte +Santo captured (Aug. 24).</p> + +<p>Aug. 20-24—French attacks at Verdun recapture high ground lost in 1916.</p> + +<p>Sept. 3—Riga captured by Germans.</p> + +<p>Sept. 8—Luxburg dispatches ("Spurlos versenkt") revealed by United +States.</p> + +<p>Sept. 10-13—Attempted coup d'etat of Gen. Kornilov.</p> + +<p>Sept. 15—Russia proclaimed a republic.</p> + +<p>Oct. 12—Germans occupy Oesel and Dago Islands (Gulf of Riga).</p> + +<p>Oct. 17—Russians defeated in a naval engagement in the Gulf of Riga.</p> + +<p>Oct. 24-Dec.—Great German-Austrian counterdrive into Italy. Italian +line shifted to Piave River, Asiago Plateau and Brenta River.</p> + +<p>Oct. 23-26—French drive north of the Aisne wins important positions +including Malmaison Fort.</p> + +<p>Oct. 26—Brazil declares war on Germany.</p> + +<p>Oct. 27—Second Liberty loan closed ($3,000,000,000 offered; +$4,617,532,300 subscribed).</p> + +<p>Oct. 30—Count von Hertling succeeds Michaelis as German chancellor.</p> + +<p>Nov. 2—Germans retreat from the Chemin des Dames, north of the Aisne.</p> + +<p>Nov. 3—First clash of American with German soldiers.</p> + +<p>Nov. 7—Overthrow of Kerensky and Provisional Government of Russia by +the Bolsheviki.</p> + +<p>Nov. 13—Clemenceau succeeds Ribot as French premier.</p> + +<p>Nov. 18—British forces in Palestine take Jaffa.</p> + +<p>Nov. 22-Dec. 13—Battle of Cambrai. Successful surprise attack near +Cambrai by British under Gen. Byng on Nov. 22 (employs "tanks" to break +down wire entanglements in place of the usual artillery preparations). +Bourlon Wood, dominating Cambrai, taken Nov. 26. Surprise counter-attack +by Germans, Dec. 2, compels British to give up fourth of ground gained. +German attacks on Dec. 13 partly successful.</p> + +<p>Nov. 29—First plenary session of the Inter-allied Conference in Paris. +Sixteen nations represented. Col. E.M. House, chairman of American +delegation.</p> + +<p>Dec. 5—President Wilson, in message to Congress, advises war on +Austria.</p> + +<p>Dec. 6—United States destroyer "Jacob Jones" sunk by submarine, with +loss of over 40 American men.</p> + +<p>Dec. 6—Explosion of munitions vessel wrecks Halifax.</p> + +<p>Dec. 6-9—Armed revolt overthrows pro-Ally administration in Portugal.</p> + +<p>Dec. 7—United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.</p> + +<p>Dec. 9—Jerusalem captured by British force advancing from Egypt.</p> + +<p>Dec. 10—Gens. Kaledines and Kornilov declared by the Bolsheviki +Government to be leading a Cossack revolt.</p> + +<p>Dec. 15—Armistice signed between Germany and the Bolsheviki Government +at Brest-Litovsk.</p> + +<p>Dec. 23—Peace negotiations opened at Brest-Litovsk between Bolsheviki +Government and Central Powers, under Presidency of the German foreign +minister.</p> + +<p>Dec. 26—President Wilson issues proclamation taking over railroads and +appointing W.G. McAdoo, director-general. Proclamation takes effect at +noon, December 28.</p> + +<p>Dec. 29—British national labor conference approves continuation of war +for aims similar to those defined by President Wilson.</p> + +<h4>1918.</h4> + +<p>Jan. 19—American troops take over sector northwest of Toul.</p> + +<p>Feb. 6—"Tuscania," American transport, torpedoed off coast of Ireland; +101 lost.</p> + +<p>Feb. 22—American troops in Chemin des Dames sector.</p> + +<p>Mar. 3—Peace treaty between Bolshevik Government of Russia and the +Central Powers signed at Brest-Litovsk.</p> + +<p>Mar. 4—Treaty signed between Germany and Finland.</p> + +<p>Mar. 5—Rumania signs preliminary treaty of peace with Central Powers.</p> + +<p>Mar. 20—President Wilson orders all Holland ships in American ports +taken over.</p> + +<p>Mar. 21—Germans begin great drive on 50-mile front from Arras to La +Fere. Bombardment of Paris by German long-range gun from a distance of +76 miles.</p> + +<p>Mar. 29—General Foch chosen commander-in-chief of all Allied forces.</p> + +<p>Apr. 9—Second German drive begun in Flanders.</p> + +<p>Apr. 10—First German drive halted before Amiens after maximum advance +of 35 miles.</p> + +<p>Apr. 15—Second German drive halted before Ypres, after maximum advance +of 10 miles.</p> + +<p>Apr. 23—British naval forces raid Zeebrugge in Belgium, German +submarine base, and block channel.</p> + +<p>May 27—Third German drive begins on Aisne-Marne front of 30 miles +between Soissons and Rheims.</p> + +<p>May 28—Germans sweep on beyond the Chemin des Dames and cross the Vesle +at Fismes.</p> + +<p>May 28—Cantigny taken by Americans in local attack.</p> + +<p>May 29—Soissons evacuated by French.</p> + +<p>May 31—Maine River crossed by Germans, who reach Chateau Thierry, 40 +miles from Paris.</p> + +<p>May 31—"President Lincoln," American transport, sunk.</p> + +<p>June 2—Schooner "Edward H. Cole" torpedoed by submarine off American +coast.</p> + +<p>June 3-6—American marines and regulars check advance of Germans at +Chateau Thierry and Neuilly after maximum advance of Germans of 32 +miles. Beginning of American co-operation on major scale.</p> + +<p>June 9-14—German drive on Noyon-Montdidier front. Maximum advance, 5 +miles.</p> + +<p>June 15-24—Austrian drive on Italian front ends in complete failure.</p> + +<p>July 12—Berat, Austrian base in Albania, captured by Italians.</p> + +<p>July 15—Stonewall defense of Chateau Thierry blocks new German drive on +Paris.</p> + +<p>July 16—Nicholas Romanoff, ex-Czar of Russia, executed at +Yekaterinburg.</p> + +<p>July 18—French and Americans begin counter offensive on Marne-Aisne +front.</p> + +<p>July 19—"San Diego," United States cruiser, sunk off Fire Island.</p> + +<p>July 21—German submarine sinks three barges off Cape Cod.</p> + +<p>Aug. 3—Allies sweep on between Soissons and Rheims, driving the enemy +from his base at Fismes and capturing the entire Aisne-Vesle front.</p> + +<p>Aug. 7—Franco-American troops cross the Vesle.</p> + +<p>Aug. 8—New Allied drive begun by Field-Marshal Haig in Picardy, +penetrating enemy front 14 miles.</p> + +<p>Aug. 10—Montdidier recaptured.</p> + +<p>Aug. 29—Noyon and Bapaume fall in new Allied advance.</p> + +<p>Sept. 1—Australians take Peronne.</p> + +<p>Sept. 1—Americans fight for the first time on Belgian soil and capture +Voormezeele.</p> + +<p>Sept. 11—Germans are driven back to the Hindenburg line which they held +in November, 1917.</p> + +<p>Sept. 14—St. Mihiel recaptured from Germans. General Pershing announces +entire St. Mihiel salient erased, liberating more than 150 square miles +of French territory which had been in German hands since 1914.</p> + +<p>Sept. 20—Nazareth occupied by British forces in Palestine under Gen. +Allenby.</p> + +<p>Sept. 23—Bulgarian armies flee before combined attacks of British, +Greek, Serbian, Italian and French.</p> + +<p>Sept. 26—Strumnitza, Bulgaria, occupied by Allies.</p> + +<p>Sept. 27—Franco-Americans in drive from Rheims to Verdun take 30,000 +prisoners.</p> + +<p>Sept. 28—Belgians attack enemy from Ypres to North Sea, gaining four +miles.</p> + +<p>Sept. 29—Bulgaria surrenders to Gen. d'Esperey, the Allied commander.</p> + +<p>Oct. 1—St. Quentin, cornerstone of Hindenburg line, captured.</p> + +<p>Oct. 1—Damascus occupied by British in Palestine campaign.</p> + +<p>Oct. 3—Albania cleared of Austrians by Italians.</p> + +<p>Oct. 4—Ferdinand, king of Bulgaria, abdicates; Boris succeeds.</p> + +<p>Oct. 5—Prince Maximilian, new German Chancellor, pleads with President +Wilson to ask Allies for armistice.</p> + +<p>Oct. 9—Cambrai in Allied hands.</p> + +<p>Oct. 10—"Leinster," passenger steamer, sunk in Irish Channel by +submarine; 480 lives lost; final German atrocity at sea.</p> + +<p>Oct. 11—- Americans advance through Argonne forest.</p> + +<p>Oct. 12—German foreign secretary, Solf, says plea for armistice is made +in name of German people; agrees to evacuate all foreign soil.</p> + +<p>Oct. 13—Laon and La Fere abandoned by Germans.</p> + +<p>Oct. 13—Grandpre captured by Americans after four days' battle.</p> + +<p>Oct. 14—President Wilson refers Germans to General Foch for armistice +terms.</p> + +<p>Oct. 17—Ostend, German submarine base, taken by land and sea forces.</p> + +<p>Oct. 19—Bruges and Zeebrugge taken by Belgians and British.</p> + +<p>Oct. 25—Beginning of terrific Italian drive which nets 50,000 prisoners +in five days.</p> + +<p>Oct. 31—Turkey surrenders; armistice takes effect at noon; conditions +include free passage of Dardanelles.</p> + +<p>Nov. 3—Austria surrenders, signing armistice with Italy at 3 P.M. after +500,000 prisoners had been taken.</p> + +<p>Nov. 11—Germany surrenders; armistice takes effect at 11 A.M. American +flag hoisted on Sedan front.</p> + +<p>Nov. 21—The German high seas fleet, 74 vessels in all, surrendered to +the Allied fleet to be interned at Scapa Flow.</p> + +<p>Dec. 4—President Wilson sailed from New York for Europe, to attend +conference on the larger phases of the treaty of peace.</p> + +<p>Dec. 15—The Allied force complete the occupation of the left bank of +the Rhine.</p> + + +<h4>1919.</h4> + +<p>Jan. 10—A republic is proclaimed in Luxemburg.</p> + +<p>Jan. 18—The peace congress (without delegates from the defeated powers +and Russia) met at Paris. Premier Clemenceau made permanent chairman.</p> + +<p>Jan. 21—Germany by the terms of its new constitution divided into eight +federated republics.</p> + +<p>Jan. 25—Discussion of the covenants of the League of Nations begun in +the peace congress.</p> + +<p>Feb. 11—Friedrick Ebert elected first president of the German State.</p> + +<p>Feb. 14—The draft of a constitution for a League of Nations adopted by +the peace congress.</p> + +<p>Feb. 19—Attempted assassination of Premier Clemenceau.</p> + +<p>April 23—Montenegro becomes a part of Jugo-Slavia.</p> + +<p>May 7—The treaty of peace framed by representatives of the twenty-seven +allied and associated powers, handed to the German delegates at +Versailles.</p> + +<p>June 21—The German high sea fleet interned at Scapa Flow sunk at its +anchorage by the officers and men left in charge.</p> + +<p>June 28—The treaty of peace signed in the Hall of Mirrors, palace of +Versailles, by all the representatives of the Allied powers (except +China) and the German delegates, officially closing the World War. Just +five years after the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand at +Serajevo.</p> + +<p>June 29—President Wilson left Europe for the United States.</p> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Kelly Miller's History of the World +War for Human Rights, by Kelly Miller + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KELLY MILLER'S HISTORY OF WORLD WAR *** + +***** This file should be named 19179-h.htm or 19179-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/1/7/19179/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Graeme Mackreth, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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file mode 100644 index 0000000..0481370 --- /dev/null +++ b/19179-h/images/illus133.jpg diff --git a/19179.txt b/19179.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..01ae93a --- /dev/null +++ b/19179.txt @@ -0,0 +1,23626 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Kelly Miller's History of the World War for +Human Rights, by Kelly Miller + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights + +Author: Kelly Miller + +Release Date: July 17, 2007 [EBook #19179] +[This file was first posted on September 4, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KELLY MILLER'S HISTORY OF WORLD WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Graeme Mackreth, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: KELLY MILLER, A.M., LL.D. + +Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington +D.C.] + + + + +KELLY MILLER'S HISTORY + +OF + +The World War + +FOR + +Human Rights + +An Intensely Human and Brilliant Account of the World War; Why America +Entered the Conflict; What the Allies Fought For; And a Thrilling +Account of the Important Part Taken by the Negro in the Tragic Defeat of +Germany; The Downfall of Autocracy, and Complete Victory for the Cause +of Righteousness and Freedom. + +INCLUDING + +A Wonderful Array of Striking Pictures Made from Recent Official +Photographs, Illustrating and Describing the New and Awful Devices Used +in the Horrible Methods of Modern Warfare, together with Remarkable +Pictures of the Negro in Action in Both Army and Navy. + +BY + +KELLY MILLER, A.M., LL.D. + +The Well-Known and Popular Author of "Race Adjustment," "Out of the +House of Bondage" and "The Disgrace of Democracy." + +ALSO + +Important Contribution by JOHN J. PERSHING, the Famous General, +FREDERICK DRINKER, the Noted War Correspondent, and E.A. ALLEN, Author +of "The History of Civilization." + + + Copyright, 1919 + By + A. JENKINS + + Copyright, 1919 + By + O. KELLER + + + + +THE NEGRO'S PART IN THE WAR + +BY PROFESSOR KELLY MILLER, THE WELL-KNOWN THINKER AND WRITER. + + +This treatise will set forth the black man's part in the world's war +with the logical sequence of facts and the brilliant power of statement +for which the author is famous. The mere announcement that the author of +"Race Adjustment," "Out of the House of Bondage," and "The Disgrace of +Democracy" is to present a history of the Negro in the great world +conflict, is sufficient to arouse expectancy among the wide circle of +readers who eagerly await anything that flows from his pen. + +In this treatise, Professor Miller will trace briefly, but with +consuming interest, the relation of the Negro to the great wars of the +past. He will point out the never-failing fount of loyalty and +patriotism which characterizes the black man's nature, and will show +that the Negro has never been a hireling, but has always been +characterized by that moral energy which actuates all true heroism. + +The conduct of the Negro in the present struggle will be set forth with +a brilliant and pointed pen. The idea of three hundred thousand American +Negroes crossing three thousand miles of sea to fight against autocracy +of the German crown constitutes the most interesting chapter in the +history of this modern crusade against an unholy cause. The valor and +heroism of the Afro-American contingent were second to none according to +the unanimous testimony of those who were in command of this high +enterprise. + +The story of Negro officers in command of troops of their own color will +prove the wisdom of a policy entered upon with much distrust and +misgiving. It is just here that Professor Miller reaches the high-water +mark. Here is a story never told before, because the world has never +before witnessed Negro officers in large numbers participating in the +directive side of war waged on the high level of modern science and +system. + +Professor Miller's treatise carries its own prophecy. He logically +enough forecasts the future of the race in glowing colors as the result +of his loyal and patriotic conduct in this great world epoch. + +The author wisely queries: "When, hereafter, the Negro asks for his +rights as an American citizen, where can the American be found with the +heart or the hardihood to say him, Nay?" + +The work will be profusely illustrated. + +PUBLISHERS. +March 27, 1919. + + + + +GENERAL PREFACE + + +While the underlying causes of the greatest war in all history must be +traced far back into the centuries, the one great object of the conflict +which was precipitated by the assassination of the Archduke Francis +Ferdinand of Austria, in Bosnia, at the end of June, 1914, is the +ultimate determination as to whether imperialism as exemplified in the +government of Germany shall rule the world, or whether democracy shall +reign. + +Whenever men or nations disregard those principles which society has +laid down for their conduct in modern civilized life, and obligation and +duty are forgotten in the desire for self-advancement, conflict results. + +Since the days of Athens and Sparta the world's greatest wars have in +the main been conflicts of ideals--democracy being arrayed against +oligarchy--men fighting for individual rights as against militarism and +military domination. + +In the World War, which terminated with the signing of the armistice, +November 11, 1918, which painted the green fields of France and Belgium +red with blood, and swept nations into the most significant and bitter +struggle in all history, the fight was against the Imperial Government +of Germany, by men and nations who claim that humanity the world over +has rights that must be observed. + +Germany has brought upon herself the destruction of her government by +ruthlessly trampling upon her neighbors and assuming that "might is +right." + +The Imperial Government, led by the House of Hohenzollern, was suffering +from an exaggerated ego. Her trouble was psychological. The men who +study the strange workings and twists of the human mind which land some +men in the institutions for the criminal insane, agree that when any man +becomes obsessed with an idea and "rides a hobby" to the exclusion of +all else, he loses his balance and develops an obliquity of view which +makes him a dangerous creature. + +Germany was obsessed with the spirit of militarism and almost everything +else had been sacrificed to this idol. The very first appearance of +Germans in history is as a warlike people. The earliest German +literature is of folk-tales about war heroes, and these stories tell of +the manly virtues of the heroes. + +It is true that there are many scientists, poets, and musicians among +the Germans, but their warlike side must never be forgotten. The entire +race is imbued with the military spirit, the influence reaching to every +phase of national life. All that was best in the nation was raised to +its highest efficiency through military training, but in the +accomplishment of its purposes the House of Hohenzollern, which is +responsible for the development of the national fighting arm, neglected +much and produced millions of creatures who are but human machines, +taught to obey orders without consideration as to the effect their acts +might produce, whether right or wrong. + +In their criticisms of the Prussian militarism the world democracies +defined militarism as an arrogant, or exclusive, professional military +spirit, developed by training and environment until it became despotic, +and assumed superiority over rational motives and deliberations. + +This attitude was reflected in the conduct of the Kaiser, who, as +illustrative of the point, is quoted at the dedication of the monument +to Prince Frederick Charles at Frankfurt-on-the-Oder in 1891, as having +said, "We would rather sacrifice our eighteen army corps and our +forty-two millions inhabitants on the field of battle than surrender a +single stone of what my father and Prince Charles Frederick gained." + +His speeches were filled with similar bombastic and extravagant +expressions which were the subject of international comment for many +years. Other countries besides Germany have maintained great armies, but +their maintenance has been but an incidental part of the general +business of the nation and there was no submerging of the spirit which +seeks and demands appropriate public ideals in government and action. So +that while other elements have always tended to produce friction between +neighboring countries, it was adamant, stubborn, military Prussianism +which asserted itself in the middle of 1914 and set the world afire. + +Enough is known at this writing to show that the cost in lives, money, +morals and weakening of humanity as a whole, is staggering, and yet the +whole truth can not be realized for years to come. In our own great +struggle, which had for its object the liberation of the Negro, the +scars which our country received have not yet been entirely eliminated. +Portions of the country devastated by the soldiers still bear the marks +of the invasion, but what was lost in money and material things was made +up by the welding together of the two sections of the country. The Union +was made a concrete, humanitarian body of citizens. The battle was for +the right and liberty triumphed. And by the defeat of Germany liberty +again triumphs and the world is made a safe place in which to live. + +And just as America fought for liberty in the stirring days of 1776, and +her peoples fought one another in the trying days of 1861-65, so America +was drawn into the World's War that the principles of liberty, for which +she has ever stood, might be perpetuated throughout the world, and that +an international peace might be established, which has for its purposes +the ending of such convulsions as have shaken the world since August, +1914, since the first shots were fired in fair Belgium by German +invaders. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + +CIVILIZATION AT ISSUE--THE GERMAN EMPIRE--CHARACTER OF WILLIAM II--THE +GREAT CONSPIRACY--THE WAR BY YEARS--UNITED STATES IN THE WAR--TWO +HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES OF BATTLE--THE DOWNFALL OF TURKEY--THE +DEMOCRATIC CLOSE OF THE WAR 17 + + +CHAPTER II + +GEN. PERSHING'S OWN STORY + +ORGANIZATION OF HIS GENERAL STAFF--TRAINING IN FRANCE--IN THE AISNE +OFFENSIVE--AT CHATEAU THIERRY--THE ST MIHEIL SALIENT--MEUSE-ARGONNE, +FIRST PHASE--THE BATTLE IN THE FOREST--SUMMARY 49 + + +CHAPTER III + +PRESIDENT WILSON'S REVIEW OF THE WAR + +TROOP MOVEMENT DURING THE YEAR--TRIBUTE TO AMERICAN SOLDIERS--SPLENDID +SPIRIT OF THE NATION--RESUME THE WORK OF PEACE--OUTLINE OF WORK IN +PARIS--SUPPORT OF NATION URGED 79 + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE FLASH THAT SET THE WORLD AFLAME + +TEUTON FIND IN A MURDER THE EXCUSE FOR WAR--GERMANY INSPIRED BY +AMBITIONS FOR WORLD CONTROL--THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL SUPREMACY A +FACTOR--THE UNDERLYING MOTIVES 89 + + +CHAPTER V + +WHY AMERICA ENTERED THE WAR + +THE IRON HAND OF PRUSSIANISM--THE ARROGANT HOHENZOLLERN +ATTITUDE--SECRETARY LANE TELLS WHY WE FIGHT--BROKEN PLEDGES--LAWS +VIOLATED--PRUSSIANISM THE CHILD OF BARBARITY--GERMANY'S PLANS FOR A +WORLD EMPIRE 97 + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE THINGS THAT MADE MEN MAD + +GERMANY'S BARBARITY--THE DEVASTATION OF BELGIUM--HUMAN FIENDS--FIREBRAND +AND TORCH--RAPE AND PILLAGE--THE SACKING OF LOUVAIN--WANTON +DESTRUCTION--OFFICIAL PROOF 113 + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SLINKING SUBMARINE + +A VORACIOUS SEA MONSTER--THE RUTHLESS DESTRUCTIVE POLICY OF +GERMANY--STARVATION OF NATIONS THE GOAL--HOW THE SUBMARINES +OPERATE--SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES 135 + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THWARTING THE U-BOAT + +NETS TO ENTANGLE THE SEA SHARKS OF WAR--"CHASERS" OR "SKIMMING DISH" +BOATS--"BLIMPS" AND SEAPLANES--HUNTING THE SUBMARINE WITH "LANCE" BOMB +AND GUN--A SAILOR'S DESCRIPTION 154 + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE EYES OF BATTLE + +AEROPLANES AND AIRSHIPS--THEY SPY THE MOVEMENTS OF FORCESON LAND OR +SEA--LEAD DISASTROUS BOMB ATTACKS--VALUABLE IN "SPOTTING" +SUBMARINES--THE BOMBARDMENT AT MESSINES RIDGE 170 + + +CHAPTER X + +WAR'S STRANGE DEVICES + +CHEMISTRY A DEMON OF DESTRUCTION--POISON GAS BOMBS--GAS MASKS--HAND +GRENADES--MORTARS--"TANKS"--FEUDAL "BATTERING RAMS"--STEEL +HELMETS--STRANGE BULLETS--MOTOR PLOWS--REAL DOGS OF WAR 185 + + +CHAPTER XI + +WONDERFUL WAR WEAPONS + +THE TERRIBLE RAPID-FIRE GUN--ARMORED AUTOMOBILES AND AUTOMOBILE +ARTILLERY--HOWITZERS--MOUNTED FORTS--ARMORED TRAINS--OBSERVATION +TOWERS--WIRELESS APPARATUS--THE ARMY PANTRY 205 + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WORLD'S ARMIES + +THE EFFICIENT GERMAN ORGANIZATION--THE LANDWEHR AND LANDSTURM--GENERAL +FORMS OF MILITARY ORGANIZATION--THE BRAVE FRENCH TROOPS--THE PICTURESQUE +ITALIAN SOLDIERY--THE PEACE AND WAR STRENGTH--AVAILABLE FIGHTING +MEN--FORTIFICATIONS 224 + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE WORLD'S NAVIES + +GERMANY'S SEA STRENGTH--GREAT BRITAIN'S IMMENSE WAR FLEET--IMMENSE +FIGHTING CRAFT--THE UNITED STATES' NEW BATTLE CRUISERS--THE FASTEST AND +BIGGEST OCEAN FIGHTING SHIPS--THE PICTURESQUE MARINES: THE SOLDIERS OF +THE SEA 243 + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE NATIONS AT WAR + +UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENTS--HOW THE WAR FLAMES SPREAD--A SCORE OF +COUNTRIES INVOLVED--THE POINTS OF CONTACT--PICTURESQUE AND RUGGED +BULGARIA, ROUMANIA, SERVIA, GREECE, ITALY AND HISTORIC SOUTHEAST EUROPE + 259 + + +CHAPTER XV + +MODERN WAR METHODS + +INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE AS AGAINST MASS MOVEMENTS--TRENCH WARFARE A GAME +OF HIDE AND SEEK--RATS AND DISEASE--SURGERY'S TRIUMPHS--CHANGED +TACTICS--ITALIAN MOUNTAIN FIGHTING 281 + + +CHAPTER XVI + +WOMAN AND THE WAR + +SHE HAS WON "HER PLACE IN THE SUN"--RICH AND POOR IN THE MUNITIONS +FACTORIES--NURSE AND AMBULANCE DRIVER--KHAKI AND TROUSERS--ORGANIZER AND +FARMER--HEROES IN THE STRESS OF CIRCUMSTANCES--DYING MEN'S WORK FOR +MEN--EVEN A "BOBBIE" 298 + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE TERRIBLE PRICE + +A NATION OF MEN DESTROYED--MILLIONS IN SHIPPING AND COMMERCE +DESTROYED--WORLD'S MAPS CHANGED--BILLIONS IN MONEY--IMMENSE +DEBTS--NATION'S WEALTH--THE UNITED STATES A GREAT PROVIDER 316 + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE WORLD RULERS AT WAR + +WOODROW WILSON, THE CHAMPION OF DEMOCRACY--THE EGOTISTICAL KAISER--THE +GERMAN CROWN PRINCE--BRITAIN'S MONARCH--CONSTANTINE WHO QUIT RATHER THAN +FIGHT GERMANY--PRESIDENT POINCARE--AND OTHER NATIONAL HEADS 328 + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE WAR'S WHO'S WHO + +STRIKING FIGURES IN THE CONFLICT--JOFFRE, THE HERO OF MARNE--NIVELLE, +THE FRENCH COMMANDER--SIR DOUGLAS HAIG--THE KAISER'S +CHANCELLOR--VENIZELOS--"BLACK JACK" PERSHING 344 + + +CHAPTER XX + +CHEMISTRY IN THE WAR + +SUBSTITUTES FOR COTTON--NITRATES PRODUCED FROM AIR--YEAST A REAL +SUBSTITUTE FOR BEEF--SEAWEED MADE TO GIVE UP POTASH--A GANGRENE +PREVENTATIVE--SODA MADE OUT OF SALT WATER--AMERICA CHEMICALLY +INDEPENDENT 361 + + +CHAPTER XXI + +OUR NEIGHBORING ALLY + +CANADA'S RECRUITING--RAISE 33,000 TROOPS IN TWO MONTHS--FIRST +EXPEDITIONARY FORCE TO CROSS ATLANTIC--BRAVERY AT YPRES AND +LENS--MEETING DIFFICULT PROBLEMS--QUEBEC AROUSED BY CONSCRIPTION 371 + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE HEROIC ANZAC + +FORCES THAT STIRRED THE WORLD IN THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN--FAMOUS AS +SAPPERS--THE BLASTING OF MESSINES RIDGE--TWO YEARS TUNNELLING--30,000 +GERMANS BLOWN TO ATOMS--1,000,000 POUNDS OF EXPLOSIVES USED--TROOPS THAT +WERE TRANSPORTED 11,000 MILES 390 + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +AMERICA STEPS IN + +PRESIDENT WILSON'S FAMOUS MESSAGE TO CONGRESS--THE WAR RESOLUTION--APRIL +6, 1917, SEES THE UNITED STATES AT WAR--REVIEW OF THE NEGOTIATIONS +BETWEEN GERMANY AND AMERICA--THE U-BOAT RESTRICTED ZONE ANNOUNCEMENT OF +GERMANY--PREMIER LLOYD GEORGE ON AMERICA IN THE CONFLICT 399 + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +UNCLE SAM TAKES HOLD + +MAKES WORLD'S BIGGEST WAR LOAN--SEIZE GERMAN SHIPS--INTRIGUE +EXPOSED--GENERAL PERSHING AND STAFF IN EUROPE--THE NAVY ON DUTY IN NORTH +SEA--FIRST UNITED STATES TROOPS REACH FRANCE--GERMANY'S ATTEMPTS TO SINK +TROOP SHIPS THWARTED BY NAVY'S GUNS 427 + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A GERMAN CRISIS + +THE DOWNFALL OF BETHMANN-HOLLWEG--THE CROWN PRINCE IN THE LIME +LIGHT--HOLLWEG'S UNIQUE CAREER--DR. GEORG MICHAELIS APPOINTED +CHANCELLOR--THE KAISER AND HOW HE GETS HIS IMMENSE POWER 444 + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +UNCLE SAM AND THE NEUTRALS + +PRESIDENT WILSON PUTS EMBARGO ON FOOD SHIPMENTS--SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES +FURNISHING SUPPLIES TO GERMANY INSPIRES ORDER--THE DIFFICULT POSITION OF +NORWAY, DENMARK, HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 452 + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE ACTIONS OF THE WAR + +FROM BOSNIA TO FLANDERS--MARNE THE TURNING POINT OF THE CONFLICT--THE +CONQUESTS OF SERVIA AND RUMANIA--THE FALL OF BAGDAD--RUSSIA'S WOMEN +SOLDIERS--AMERICA'S CONSCRIPTS 463 + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +AMERICAN FORCES BECOME FACTOR + +UNITED STATES SOLDIERS INSPIRED ALLIED TROOPS--RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT +COLLAPSES--ITALIAN ARMY FAILS--ALLIED WAR COUNCIL FORMED--FOCH COMMANDS +ALLIED ARMIES--PERSHING OFFERS AMERICAN TROOPS--UNDER FIRE--U-BOAT BASES +RAIDED BY BRITISH 473 + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +AMERICANS TURN WAR'S TIDE + +BRILLIANT AMERICAN FIGHTING STOPS HUN ADVANCE--FRENCH AND BRITISH +INSPIRED--FAMOUS MARINES LEAD IN PICTURESQUE ATTACK--HALT GERMANS AT +CHATEAU-THIERRY--USED OPEN STYLE FIGHTING--THOUSANDS OF GERMANS +SLAIN--UNITED STATES TROOPS IN SIBERIA--NEW CONSCRIPTION BILL +PASSED--ALLIED SUCCESSES ON ALL FRONTS 489 + + +CHAPTER XXX + +VICTORY--PEACE + +THE GERMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSES--FOCH'S STRATEGY WINS--AMERICAN INSPIRATION +A BIG FACTOR--BULGARIA, TURKEY AND AUSTRIA QUIT WAR--MONARCHS +FALL--KAISER ABDICATES AND FLEES GERMANY--ARMISTICE SIGNED--NOVEMBER 11, +PEACE 497 + + +THE NEGRO IN THE WORLD WAR 507 + + +[Illustration: WOUNDED AMERICAN SOLDIERS ENTERTAINING THEMSELVES. + +During the period of convalescence the wounded were well cared for. They +earned and deserved the best possible treatment and care.] + +[Illustration: FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, CHEERS NEGRO VETERANS. + +The 369th Colored Infantry acclaimed by thousands upon their return from +France. Their record is one of the bravest of any organization in the +war.] + +[Illustration: ONE OF THE WOUNDED AND HIS MOTHER. + +A member of the famous 369th Colored Infantry, who was wounded in the +fighting, and his proud mother. He sacrificed a leg for the cause of +righteousness and World Peace.] + +[Illustration: CHEERFULLY DOING THE WORK REQUIRED. + +Transporting tan bark, to be used in connection with tanning leather. No +slackers. The colored women did willingly and efficiently their part in +helping win the war.] + +[Illustration: NEGRO SOLDIERS LOOKING FOR THE ENEMY. + +Negro troops from many parts of the world were engaged in the war. It +has been estimated that as many as 700,000 Negro soldiers were in the +French Army alone.] + +[Illustration: ENTERTAINING CONVALESCENT AMERICAN SOLDIERS AT AUTHEIL. + +Negro musicians were in great demand in France. This picture shows +Lieut. Europe's noted colored band.] + +[Illustration: THE BAND IN La BOURBOULE, FRANCE. + +The arrival of the colored musicians created great excitement. This band +heralded the coming of soldiers to rest up.] + +[Illustration: A SNIPER AT WORK. + +This papier-mache camouflage, made to imitate a dead horse, furnished +good protection for the sharpshooter.] + +[Illustration: SENEGALIANS ON THE SOMME FRONT.] + +[Illustration: FRENCH ZOUAVES TAKEN PRISONERS BY GERMANS. + +They were formerly artists in a Paris cafe-concert.] + +[Illustration: WOUNDED COLORED SOLDIERS ON THE MACEDONIAN FRONT. + +They were with the ambulance X.A., and the major surgeon is distributing +cigarettes.] + +[Illustration: Private Henry Johnson + +Private Needham Roberts + +Of the New York National Guards (now the 369th) who have been decorated +by the French for routing 24 Germans and preventing the carrying out of +a well-developed plan to assail one of the most important points of +resistance on the American front. They have been awarded the War Cross +by the French.] + +[Illustration: COLORED SOLDIERS BUILDING ROADS "OVER THERE."] + +[Illustration: COLORED SOLDIERS IN THE TRENCHES "OVER THERE." + +(Note the tin hats.)] + +[Illustration: HOTEL BOOKER T. WASHINGTON "OVER THERE." + +The Negro Soldiers are surely fighting for Democracy. It is coming to +them by leaps and bounds.] + +[Illustration: COLORED SOLDIERS LEAVING AN AMERICAN PORT FOR "OVER +THERE." + +(See them dancing on the right.)] + +The Late Major Walker, of the First Colored Battalion, District of +Columbia National Guard + +[Illustration: + +The late Major James E. Walker was born in Virginia, September 7, 1874. +He was educated in the public schools of Washington, D.C., and was +graduated from the M. Street High School in 1893, and the Miner Normal +School in 1894. For twenty-four years he was in the public school +service, and since 1899 was supervising principal. In 1896 he was made +Lieutenant in the First Separate Battalion of the National Guard of the +District of Columbia. In 1909 he was made Captain and in 1912, through +competitive examination, was commissioned Major. His command was called +out to guard the White House, and while on this duty Major Walker's +health became impaired. He was sent to the U.S. Hospital at Fort Bayard, +New Mexico, for treatment, where he died April 4, 1918.] + +[Illustration: THE FIGHTING U.S.A. MARINE BRIGADE IN BELLEAU WOOD. + +Here the Germans were not only stopped in their march toward Paris, but +"knocked out." The furious and fast fighting of the Marines proved their +superiority. The Hun was badly beaten. The soldier applying the bayonet +is an American Negro.] + +[Illustration: AFRICAN TROOPS IN FRANCE. THEY FOUGHT FOR THE ALLIES. + +A war dance, relieving the monotony and for the benefit of British and +French troops. These colored soldiers gave a good account of +themselves.] + +[Illustration: KAMERAD! KAMERAD! + +Three colored Canadians imitating the Germans, whom they captured in +this dugout near the Canal du Nord, as they put up their hands and +shouted "Kamerad"!] + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTORY. + +CIVILIZATION AT ISSUE--THE GERMAN EMPIRE--CHARACTER OF WILLIAM II--THE +GREAT CONSPIRACY--THE WAR BY YEARS--UNITED STATES IN THE WAR--TWO +HUNDRED FIFTY MILES OF BATTLE--THE DOWNFALL OF TURKEY--THE DEMOCRATIC +CLOSE OF THE WAR. + + +The World War, terminated by the signing of the armistice November 11, +1918, was attended with more far-reaching changes than any war known to +history, and is destined to so profoundly influence civilization that we +see in it the beginning of a new age. Somewhat similar wars in the past +were the campaigns of Alexander; the wars that overthrew the Roman +Empire and the Napoleonic wars of a previous century; but this one war +surpasses them all, measured by any scale that can be applied to +military operations. It was truly a World War, thus in a class by +itself. Beginning in Central Europe, twenty-eight nations--nearly all of +the important nations of the world--with a total population of about +1,600,000,000--or eleven-twelfths of the human race--became involved. It +cost 10,000,000 human lives, 17,000,000 more suffered bodily injury; the +money cost was about $200,000,000,000, but who can measure the cost in +untold suffering caused by ruined homes and wrecked lives that attended +it? Or who can measure the property loss, considering that the fairest +provinces of Europe were swept with the bezom of destruction? + +Rightly to judge the real significance of such a world struggle, we must +consider conditions that made it possible; study the issue involved +stripped of all misleading statements; review its course and weigh the +nature of the profound changes--geographical, political and +economic--that resulted. We shall find that this war was the +culmination of century-old causes; that two rival theories of +government--impossible to longer co-exist--met in deadly conflict; and +that civilization itself was the stake at issue. We shall see that +beyond the wreck of empires and troubled days of reconstruction now upon +us--through it all approaches a wonderful new age. Autocracy has +crumbled; a higher form of democracy will arise and in peaceful days to +come the nations of the world will rapidly advance in all that +constitutes national well-being. + + +THE GERMAN STATES. + +The early history of Germany is a confused panorama of a thousand years, +during which time Central Europe was a country of numerous separate +states, many of them at times coming together as a more or less closely +knit confederacy under the lead of a powerful state, only to fall apart +into a mass of confused units at a later date. It is interesting to +learn that among the Teutonic knights of that early time, none was more +noted than Count Thassilo Von Zollern who founded the house of +Hohenzollern, that played such an ambitious role in European history, +the house whose downfall was one of the dramatic results of the war. + + +THE RISE OF PRUSSIA. + +At its height the German Empire consisted of a union of twenty-five +Germanic states of various grades and the Reichland of Alsace-Lorraine +under the leadership of Prussia, by far the most important state of the +Empire. The foundation of Prussia's greatness was laid by Frederick the +Great in 1763 when he tore Silesia from Austria in an entirely +unprovoked war. He wished to enlarge the bounds of Prussia, he coveted +Silesia, so he took it. In that deed of spoliation we see manifested the +spirit that has animated official Germany since that date. Not only is +the House of Hohenzollern descended from the Robber Knights of old, but +the same is true of the military caste of Germany generally. Recent +centuries have cast only a thin veneer of modern thought over +essentially medieval conceptions of national rights and duties. + + +THE DAYS OF BISMARCK. + +For a century after the reign of Frederick, Prussia remained the most +prominent Germanic state in Europe. Then we come to the days of +Bismarck. He is regarded as a remarkable statesman. He himself delighted +to be known as the man of "Blood and Iron." Judging from his acts his +one motive in life was to advance the power and influence of Prussia. In +the decade 1860-1870 he instigated three wars,--with Denmark in 1864, +with Austria in 1866, with France in 1870,--not one of which was +justifiable. The war with France was occasioned by deliberately changing +the wording of a telegram--in itself friendly--from the King of Prussia +to Napoleon III, knowing it would result in war. All were short wars, +all resulted in victory for Prussia and consequent increase in +territory. Under the glamour of the great victory over France in 1871 +came the formation of the German Empire. + + +THE GERMAN EMPIRE. + +Thus there suddenly arose in Central Europe, in the place of the weak +confederation of earlier years, one empire of great actual strength, +generously endowed as regards territory, and at the head of that empire +was a state that alone of modern states most resembles Rome of early +centuries, that ruled the Mediterranean world, imposing on the conquered +people of that section her language, her laws and her customs. Like her +great prototype, we now know that official Prussia regarded all she had +accomplished to the formation of the empire as simply a station reached +in a career of progress which was to end in a World empire as greatly +surpassing that of Rome in her palmy days as the world of the twentieth +century surpasses the known world of Roman times. + + +DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMPIRE. + +The empire enjoyed a brief span of national life. In less than fifty +years it ceased to exist, a republic of an uncertain nature takes its +place. To outward appearances the development of the empire was a +brilliant one. A colonial empire was established--mostly in +Africa--nearly five times as great in area as the home empire; she had +large possessions in the Pacific and had gained a foothold in China. The +rich potash and iron deposits of Alsace increased her wealth and +marvelously built up her industries and she became one of the greatest +manufacturing nations of modern times. Her population doubled, her +foreign trade increased four fold, her shipping grew by leaps and +bounds. Her army became so perfected that it was acknowledged to be the +greatest military machine the world had ever seen; she was building a +navy that threatened the supremacy of England on the sea. + + +BUILT ON A FOUNDATION OF SAND. + +In spite of this brilliant development, the empire rested on a +foundation of sand. You will never understand the World War unless you +grasp this thought and its justification. The government was autocratic, +though under the form of a constitutional government. The entire +military class in Germany held to theories of government, of national +rights and wrongs that belonged to the middle ages. Theories of +state-craft which the world long since outgrew were proclaimed and +taught, and enforced by every means at command of the government, the +military class, the professors, scientists and theologians of Germany. +Education and religion were state controlled. As a consequence, every +German child from his cradle to his grave was under the influence of +state officials and never allowed to forget reverence for the kaiser, +the glorious military record of Germany, German supremacy in every +department of culture. Such a government was hopelessly behind modern +ideas. + + +WILLIAM II. + +William II was the third emperor of Germany,--also the last. His reign +began, in pomp and ceremony, June 15, 1888, it ended in the darkness and +gloom of night, shortly before the signing of the armistice, November +11, 1918. Other reigns have been longer in duration; none surpassed his +in deeds. When his reign began he said he would lead his people to +"shining days." He did so; but "shining days" ended in despairing night. + +Personally, William II was an able man, but he was not well balanced. In +the early days of his reign, Bismarck confided to a friend that it would +some day be necessary for Germany to confine William II in an insane +asylum. We must remember his lineage, his long line of ancestors dating +back to the Robber Knights of the Middle Ages, all used to the exercise +of autocratic power. Medieval conceptions were his by inheritance. He +believed he was divinely commissioned to rule Germany; he said so in his +speeches. He believed he was a man of destiny who was to advance Germany +to the zenith of earthly greatness; he himself, not someone else, +asserted this. He asserted that while Napoleon failed in his great +scheme of conquest, he, by God's help, would succeed. Every prominent +military leader in Germany applauded such beliefs. He said that when he +contemplated the paintings of his ancestors, and the military chiefs of +Germany, who advanced the insignificant Mark of Brandenburg to the rank +of the most powerful state in Europe, they seemed to reproach him for +not being active in similar work. But we now know that he was not idle. + + +ACTIVITIES IN WHICH HE WAS INTERESTED. + +One year after the accession of William II he paid a spectacular visit +to "his friend" (as he called him) Abdul Hamid, Sultan of Turkey, the +head of one of the most cruel, licentious, incompetent, blood-thirsty +governments that ever cursed the world; greeted him with a kiss, put on +a Turkish uniform (fez and all), and assured the Mohammedan world that +he was henceforth their friend. The ignorant Turks actually supposed he +had become a Mohammedan and native papers spoke of him as "His Islamic +Holiness." In the light of history, the meaning of all this is so clear +that he who runs may read, and the wayfaring man, though a fool, need +not err therein. This visit was repeated in 1898. For more than twenty +years every effort was made to extend German influence in Turkey, +because that country with its minerals, its oils, its wonderfully strong +strategical location was vital to the success of a vast scheme of +conquest official Germany with William II as leader was contemplating. + + +PAN-GERMANISM. + +Two years after his accession, there was organized the Pan-Germanic +League. This League soon attracted to its ranks the entire class of +Prussian Junkers, virtually all the military class, and a galaxy of +writers and speakers. The purpose of the league was to foster in the +minds of German people the idea that it was their privilege, right and +duty to extend the power, influence and political dominance of Germany +to all parts of the world, peacefully if possible, otherwise by the +sword. This doctrine was taught openly and boldly in Germany in books +and pamphlets and by means of lectures with such frankness and fullness +of details that the world at large laughed at it as an exuberant dream +of fanatics. Intellectual, military, and official Germany was in +earnest. Her generals wrote books illustrated with maps showing the +stages of world conquest; her professors patiently explained how +necessary all this was to Germany's future; while her theologians +pointed out it was God's will. But the world at large, except uneasy +France, slept on. + + +OUTWORKINGS OF THE PLOT. + +It was this vision that fired the imagination of William II. He was to +be the Augustus of this greater Roman Empire; over virtually all the +earth the House of Hohenzollern was to exercise despotic sway. Then +began preparation for the World's War. With characteristic German +thoroughness and patience the plans were laid. Thoroughness, since they +embraced every conceivable means that would enhance their prospect of +victory, her military leaders, scientists and statesmen were all busy. +Patience, since they realized there was much to do. Many years were +needed and Germany refused to be hurried. She carefully attended to +every means calculated to increase the commerce and industry of the +empire, but with it all--underlying it all--were activities devoted to +preparation for world conquest. Building for world empire, Germany could +afford to take time. + + +PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED. + +Time was needed to solve the military problems involved. A nation +aspiring to territory extending from Hamburg to Bagdad must firmly +control the Balkan States. That meant that Austria must become, in +effect, a German province; Serbia must be crushed; Bulgaria must become +an ally; and Turkey must be brought under control. In 1913, two of these +desired results were attained. Turkey was to a surprising degree under +the military and economic control of Germany. Austria had become such a +close ally that she might almost be styled a vassal of Germany. She +faithfully carried out the wishes of Germany in 1908 when she annexed +the Serbian states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a step she felt safe in +taking since (the Kaiser's own words) behind her was the "shining sword +of Germany." It were tedious to enlarge on this point. Let it suffice to +say that in 1914 Germany felt herself ready for the conflict. Enormous +supplies of guns, of a caliber before unthought of, and apparently +inexhaustible supplies of ammunition had been prepared; strategic +railroads had been built by which armies and supplies could be hurried +to desired points; the Kiel Canal had been completed; her navy had +assumed threatening proportions; her army, greatly enlarged, was in +perfect readiness. + + +THE REAL CAUSES OF THE WAR. + +The real cause of the war is now disclosed. It is not necessary to +discuss other possible causes. The pistol shot at Serajevo was the +occasion, not the cause of the war. The simple fact is that on one +pretext or another war would have come anyway, simply because Germany +was ready. In 1913 the speakers of the Pan-German League were going to +and fro in Germany making public speeches on all possible occasions, +warning the people to be ready, telling them "There was the smell of +blood in the air," that the wrath of God was about to be visited upon +the nations that would hem Germany in. We now know from official sources +that Germany was eager for war in the fateful days of July 1914, when +France and England were almost begging for peace. All this is made +exceedingly clear in the secret memoirs of Prince Lichnowski, German +ambassador to England, the published statements of the premier of +Bavaria, also those of the Prince of Monaco, and the records of the +Potsdam council over which the Kaiser presided, secretly convened one +week after the murder of the Prince. There were present the generals, +diplomats and bankers of Germany. + + +DECISION FOR WAR. + +The matter of possible war was carefully considered. To the earnest +question of the emperor, all present assured him that the interests they +represented were ready, with the exception of the financiers who desired +two weeks' time in which to make financial arrangements for the coming +storm. This was given them, and the council adjourned. The emperor, to +divert suspicion, hurried off on a yachting trip while the financiers +immediately commenced disposing of their foreign securities. The stock +markets of London, Paris, and New York during that interval of time bear +eloquent testimony to the truth of these assertions. Two weeks and three +days after the council adjourned, Austria sent her ultimatum to Serbia. +The truth of these statements is vouched for by Henry Morgenthau, +American ambassador to Turkey. + +Thus were unleashed the dogs of war. For four long years they rioted in +blood. To advance dynastic ambitions and national greed, millions of +Armenian Christians were tortured, outraged and murdered; hapless +Belgians were ravished and put to the sword, their cities made charnal +heaps; millions of men--the fairest sons of many lands--gave up their +lives, and anguished hearts sobbed out their grief in desolated homes, +while generations to come will feel the crushing financial burdens this +struggle has entailed with its heritage of woe. + +We must now gain a general view of the events of the war. Every +well-informed man or woman feels the necessity of such outline +knowledge. It was not only the greatest war in history, but it was our +war. Our liberties were threatened. Rivers and hamlets of France are +invested with new interest. There, our American boys are sleeping; they +died that our Republic might live. We may regard the annals of other +wars with languid interest; those of this war grip our hearts, our +breath comes quicker as we read; we experience a glow of patriotic +pride. We shall let each year of the war tell its story. Of necessity we +can only record the main events, the peaks of each year's achievements. + + +EVENTS OF 1914. + +A state of war was declared to exist in Germany, July 31, 1914. Four +days later Germany had mobilized five large armies with full supplies on +the extended line from Metz northward along the eastern boundary of +France--a distance of about 130 miles. That mobilization was a wonderful +exhibition of military efficiency. From Verdun to Paris, slightly +southwest, is also about 130 miles. + +The German plan of campaign may be crudely stated as follows: Regard +that extended line as a flail ready to fall, hinged near Verdun, moved +in a circle until the northern tip, under command of Von Kluck, should +fall with all the energy Germany could put into the blow on Paris. In +the meantime, the other armies would crush back, outflank, defeat, and +capture the small British and hastily mobilized French armies that +confronted them along the entire line. It was believed that a short +campaign would crush France, over-awe Great Britain, and end the war in +the West. It was thought that six weeks would be ample to accomplish +this result. + + +BELGIAN RESISTANCE. + +Germany expected that at the most a day or so would see Belgian +resistance broken and the dash on Paris begun. It was not safe to start +such a forward rush with Belgium unconquered. This was the first of +many, many mistakes made by Germany. It required two weeks to break down +this resistance. Thus the northern end of the flail was held and +movement along the entire line was slowed down or suspended. The +unexpected delay saved France. Let us remember this when we read the +story of Belgium's martyrdom, a story written in blood. Then began the +fulfillment of the threat of William II to the Prince of Monaco "the +world will see what it never dreamed of." And truly the world never +dreamed of the terrible scenes that attended the sack of Louvain (August +26). Not until after the situation in Belgium had been given a bloody +setting did the first dash on Paris begin (August 23). + + +RETREAT TO THE MARNE. + +We are now approaching the "Miracle of the Marne." The line of German +armies along the eastern frontier of France were confronted by the +forces of France, hastily mobilized during the delay occasioned by the +heroic but pathetically futile resistance of Belgium. The first English +army had also assumed a position before the menacing rush of the German +forces. The only thing the Allies could do was to retreat. This +movement, directed by General Joffre, was a remarkably able one. His +plan was to give ground before the advance without risking a decisive +battle until he could rearrange his forces and gain a favorable +position. Only with difficulty was the retreat saved from becoming a +great disaster when the British army was defeated at Mons-Charleroi +(August 21-3). Apparently, the German forces were carrying everything +before them as the retreat continued. The flail, swinging from Metz to +Belgium, was falling with crushing effect along the entire front, the +movement being very rapid at the western but slow at the eastern end. It +was centered at Verdun because it was not safe to leave that fortress +unconquered in the rear. + + +THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE. + +The Marne is a small river in France, gently coursing from the +water-shed south of Verdun to the Seine near Paris, its general course +convex to the north. It will hereafter rank as one of the storied rivers +of history, the scene of mighty battles, where the red tide of German +success ebbed in its flow. The night of September 4, the German armies +were in position along this river in an irregularly curved line slightly +convex to the south from a point only twenty-five miles east of Paris to +Verdun, one hundred and twenty-five miles, slightly to the northeast. +The evening of that day, General Joffre issued orders for a general +attack all along the line. His message to the French Senate was couched +in words of deep meaning,--he had made, he said, the best disposition +possible. France could only await in hope the outcome. The battle that +began the next day continued for one week and ended with a victory for +the Allies as the German armies were forced back everywhere, a varying +distance, to a line of defense prepared back of the Aisne River, to the +north and east. This was a marvelous result. Just as the world was +waiting with bated breath to hear of the fall of Paris, it heard +instead, that the German army was in retreat. It was truly a miracle. +Why not see in it proof that a Power infinitely greater than that of man +was directing events? + + +THE MAGNITUDE OF THE BATTLE. + +The battle front covered a distance of about 125 miles. The forces +engaged numbered about 1,500,000 men. Thus this battle far exceeds in +magnitude the battle of Mukden, previously considered the greatest +battle of modern times; while the great battle of Waterloo was an +insignificant skirmish in comparison. It is of further interest to learn +that Allied success was largely the result of the use of flying machines +for scouting purposes, which enabled General Joffre to take instant +advantage of tactical mistakes of General Von Kluck. The results were +commensurate with the immensity of the struggle. Paris was saved; the +first period of the war in the west was ended; Germany was rudely +awakened from her dream of easy conquest. + + +THE BATTLE OF TANNENBERG. + +The success of the Allies in the west was in a measure offset by +Teutonic victories in the east. When the invasion of Belgium began, +Russia made immediate efforts to counteract by invasion of East Prussia. +She was successful to the extent of drawing to that section a number of +army corps that would otherwise have taken part in the Marne campaign. +These movements culminated in the battle of Tannenberg, commencing +August 26, 1914. Tannenberg is nearly one hundred miles southeast of +Konigsburg. This was the battle that gave General Von Hindenburg his +fame. He was a native of East Prussia, and acquainted with the country, +but had lived in retirement for some years. Appointed to command, he +made such a skillful disposition of his troops that the Russian army was +virtually annihilated, less than one corps escaped by headlong flight. +According to German authority, 70,000 Russians were captured. General +Von Hindenburg was acclaimed the greatest soldier of the day, and was +immediately appointed field marshal in command of all the German forces +in the east. + + +EVENTS OF 1915. + +The year 1915 was one of meager results, the advantages remaining on the +side of the Central Powers, with this understanding, however: The Allies +were growing stronger because Great Britain was making rapid progress in +marshaling her resources for war. On the west front, the long, irregular +line of trenches, from Switzerland on the south to Ostend on the North +Sea, marking the German retreat after the battle of the Marne, remained +without substantial change. Do not understand there were no battles +along that extended line. Almost daily there were conflicts that in +former wars would have been given a place among the world's great +battles. They are scarcely worth mentioning in the annals of this war. +Back and forth across that narrow line surged the red tide without +decisive changes in position. There were attacks and counter-attacks of +the most sanguinary nature near Calais. The first instance of the use of +gas in war occurred in these battles, at the second battle of Ypres, +April 23, 1915. + + +ON THE EAST FRONT. + +In spite of the great reverse at Tannenberg, Russia was not defeated. +Her armies in Galicia (Northeastern Hungary) were winning important +battles. A determined effort was made in 1915 by Germany to crush Russia +and thus retire her from the war. For days at a time, on the railroads +of East Germany, double headed trains were passing every fifteen +minutes, loaded with troops and munitions withdrawn from the western +front which accounts for the comparative quiet in that section, which in +turn gave Great Britain time to prepare in earnest. And so it was that +during a large part of 1915 Russia had to withstand the shock of war. +Russian soldiers were brave; her generals able, but the whole official +life was more or less corrupt. + +The poison of German propaganda was at work. Her ammunition was totally +insufficient. Immense supplies made in France according to +specifications furnished by high officials in Russia did not fit the +guns they were intended to serve. There were already signs of the +approaching utter collapse of Russia as a world power, then more than a +year distant in time. In spite of these drawbacks we read of brilliant +but futile efforts of her poorly equipped army to stem the tide of +Teutonic success that soon began. + +Before the close of the year Poland was entirely overrun by German +forces. It seemed for a time as if Petrograd itself must fall. In short, +it was thought that Russia was crushed. Then it was that the Kaiser +wrote to his sister, the Queen of Greece, "having crushed Russia, the +rest of Europe will soon tremble before me." But when 1915 ended a line +of trenches from Riga on the north to Czernowitz on the south still +guarded the frontiers of Russia. + + +THE DARDANELLES CAMPAIGN. + +This campaign began in December, 1914, and continued during 1915. It was +an effort on the part of the Allies to force the Dardanelles, capture +Constantinople, and inflict a crushing blow on Turkey. This effort was a +dismal failure for the Allies, but had all the effect of a decisive +victory for Turkey and her allies. The fact that the attack was failing +had considerable to do with inducing Bulgaria to enter the war on the +side of Germany. The immediate result of this step on the part of +Bulgaria was the complete crushing of Serbia (October 6-December 2), +and this in turn made possible full and free railroad transportation +between Germany on the north and Turkey on the south. The net result was +to greatly strengthen the Teutonic allies. The conduct of Turkey in the +war was marked by most atrocious treatment of the Armenians. Belgium on +the north, Armenia on the south, are blood-stained chapters in the +annals of war. + + +EVENTS OF 1916. + +Apparently believing that Russia was so badly crippled that she could +not again peril Austria-Hungary or wrest Poland from the grasp of +Germany, the latter country gathered her available resources for a +decisive, crushing blow in France. We have several times mentioned +Verdun. It is well to study its location on the map, about 130 miles +slightly north of east of Paris. It is a city of great historic +interest, beautifully located in the Meuse valley with its approach +defended by low-lying ranges of hills through which lead numerous +defiles. At this city, more than a thousand years ago, was concluded the +celebrated treaty of Verdun that settled the disputes between the +grandsons of Charlemagne, and this constitutes a landmark in the early +history of France. + +It was Verdun that held back the southern end of the flail wherewith +France was to be crushed in 1914; in the battle of the Marne it held the +eastern or left wing of the long German line, which could not advance +and leave Verdun unsubdued in the rear. The German Crown Prince was in +command near Verdun. His ideal was Napoleon. His private library +contained nearly everything ever written about that great general. He +was exceedingly anxious to pose as the conqueror of France. To +strengthen his dynasty, the Kaiser was also anxious that his son should +take a prominent part. Accordingly it was planned to gather an enormous +army under his command, overwhelm Verdun and smash through to Paris. +Thus Prince Wilhelm would be enrolled among the great commanders of +history. Von Hindenburg was opposed to this plan, he wanted to finish up +his work so happily begun in Russia. But the Crown Prince had his way; +and immense supplies of guns, ammunition, and men were withdrawn from +the eastern front and massed at Verdun. + + +THE GREAT BATTLE OF VERDUN. + +The annals of history record no battle approaching in duration, +artillery fire, and awful sacrifice than the battle that enveloped +Verdun for six months, beginning February 21, 1916. Other battles have +been fought along more extended fronts and thus engaged larger numbers +of troops; but none ever presented in a more acute form the issue of +national life or death. The stand of the heroic Greeks at Thermopylae +denying passage to the hosts of Persia was not more vital to the cause +of civilization than this storied defense of Verdun. The reflective +writer can but notice that in every campaign of the war, when further +success of the German armies meant victory, it was as if an unseen Power +decreed "thus far and no further." It was so at Verdun. The French +soldier, calmly going to death, chanting "They shall not pass," did not +die in vain. + + +THE BATTLE ITSELF. + +The French were taken somewhat by surprise as they had not expected such +an early attack or that its fury would break at Verdun. Of course it was +known that a great force was being assembled, but no one dreamed of the +enormous concentration of guns of all kinds that were made. They +literally cumbered the ground and the shells assembled were in keeping. +The German generals were so confident of success that foreign +correspondents were invited to be present to witness the resistless +onslaught. The evening before the attack began there was a banquet at +the German headquarters, the Kaiser and all his notable generals (but +not Von Hindenburg) were present. The toast was "After four days, +Verdun; then Paris." They estimated that it would take possibly three +weeks to accomplish their ends. Evidently among the uninvited and unseen +guests were Defeat and Death. + +The attack that commenced the next day lasted with but slight +interruptions until October. It is interesting to remark that more shot +and shell were used in this battle than the total used during the four +years of the Civil War in America on both sides. Verdun itself was +reduced to ruins. Considerable portions of the fortified area to the +north of Verdun were captured, including the important forts Douamont +and Vaux, but the entire attack failed. The minor successes achieved +were won with an appalling loss of life and were easily retaken by the +French later in the fall. Verdun was renamed by the German soldiers as +"The Grave," and such it truly was to the hopes of victory and peace +that inspired the toast at the Verdun banquet. + + +CONQUEST OF ROUMANIA. + +Roumania is one of the Balkan States. Her entry into the second Balkan +war in 1913 was one of the decisive factors against Bulgaria. After the +entry of Bulgaria into the World War in 1915 the pressure became very +strong on Roumania by Russia to come into the war on the side of the +Allies. The summer of 1916 Russia had reorganized her forces, and the +war in the west was going against Germany at Verdun and along the Somme. +This was deemed an opportune time for Roumania to enter the war and so, +with no principles at stake, Roumania declared war on Austria, August +27, 1916. The response of Germany and Bulgaria to this new menace was +prompt and decisive. Before the end of the year Roumania was crushed, +the capital city, Bucharest, was taken. Roumania was not at all prepared +to wage war on the scale this war had assumed, but the immediate cause +of her easy conquest was the failure of Russia to keep her promises of +assistance. Russia, undermined by German intrigue, with traitors at +court, was already tottering to her fall. + + +EVENTS OF 1917. + +The year 1917 witnessed startling changes in the grouping of the +belligerent powers. The three largest republics in the world--China, +Brazil, and the United States,--were drawn into the war on the side of +the Entente Allies. Other small nations, members of the Pan-American +Union, joined with the United States in this action. Other South +American nations showed their sympathy with the United States by +severing diplomatic relations with Germany. In Europe, Greece made a +formal declaration of war July 2, 1917. Thus all of the Balkan States +were finally involved. To complete the record, we must note that Siam in +Asia and Liberia in Africa also joined the Entente Allies. Never before +in history had there been such an alignment of nations for purposes of +war. It was significant of one thing,--growing resentment against what +had long been recognized as the criminal ambitions of Germany to +dominate the world. + + +THE UNITED STATES IN WAR. + +April 6, 1917, will hereafter be one of the most important dates in the +annals of this republic. Then it was that Congress in a joint resolution +declared a state of war existed between the United States and Germany, +and authorized the President to employ the naval and military power of +our country to carry on the war and pledged all our resources to that +end. We can now see that the hidden currents of national destiny were +tending in an irresistible way to war on the part of the United States. +Every consideration of national safety and every principle that we hold +dear, demanded that we should respond to the call of the President to +arms. Then commenced the wonderful preparations for war on the part of +the United States. Official Germany in conversation with Minister +Gerard, before the rupture of diplomatic relations, laughed to scorn the +thought that the United States could render any military aid worth +considering to her allies. Germany in the fall of 1917 was not laughing. + + +THE COLLAPSE OF RUSSIA. + +The collapse of Russia was the second great event of 1917. It was the +result of a long train of causes. Let it suffice to say that treachery +in high places backed by German propaganda, had undermined the +government. March 15, 1917, the storm broke. The utter overthrow of +autocratic rule in Russia was one of those explosive outbreaks, but few +of which have occurred in history. In a single day the old order of +government passed away never to return in Russia. It was a revolution as +thoroughgoing as its prototype, the French revolution of 1789, and it +soon developed equal scenes of horror. After some months of struggle, +the government of Russia passed under the control of the Bolsheviki and +anarchy followed, outdoing the scenes of the French commune. The +immediate effect on the war was to retire Russia from the conflict, thus +releasing a large army and its supplies for service elsewhere. + + +THE ITALIAN REVERSE. + +Having achieved such signal successes in the east, Russia and Roumania +being both disposed of, the German leaders planned a campaign designed +to crush Italy. In the summer of 1917 the Italian front was along the +Isonza River in Austrian territory. The test of Italian endurance was at +hand. A great force of Austrians and Germans was assembled along the +river. As was usual in all Teutonic drives, endeavors were made by +propaganda work to break down the morale of the Italian troops. This +effort consisted in spreading fearsome accounts of the crushing nature +of the blow about to fall, the folly of further resistance, and the +advantages to be gained by accepting the generous terms of peace their +true friends--their former allies--were ready to grant. This effort had +an effect, but Italy was not Russia. + +The drive began October 24th. It was a very pronounced Teutonic success, +though the great object of the drive was not achieved. In three weeks' +time the Italians were forced back from the Isonza to the Piava River +line; nearly 200,000 soldiers had been captured, together with immense +supplies of all kinds. But yet Italy was not crushed, the German forces +were firmly held along the Piava. We should reflect that in the World +War millions were engaged and the loss of one or even two hundred +thousand men did not mean the end of the war. + + +EVENTS OF 1918. + +The Allies could only hope to defend their position on the west front +against the impending offensive on the part of Germany, for which +preparations on a vast scale were being made, until reinforcements from +the United States could reach them sufficient to enable them to take the +offensive in their turn. Germany hastened its preparations through the +winter months of 1917-18, for they knew they must win a decisive victory +to crush the armies of France and England before the United States could +give efficient assistance. It was a race between America and Germany, +and America won. With the assistance of the British and French merchant +marine and such shipping as could be procured at home the American +forces were landed in France in the most astonishing numbers ever +recorded. The fears of Germany, the hopes of the Allies were alike +exceeded by the forces sent across the ocean. The first of July, 1918, +there were one million American soldiers in France. They came just in +time to avert disaster. + + +GERMAN OFFENSIVE IN 1918. + +The initiative was with Germany, and the German command selected the +British army in position along the Scarpe River, north of Cambria, to +the Oise River--a distance of sixty miles--as the object of the first +drive. The assault began the morning of March 21, 1918. Along the entire +front the artillery fire that opened the drive was on the scale never +before approached in war. More than one million men, the choicest troops +of Germany, were ready to assault the British lines and they came on, +wave after wave, and Germany came perilously near success in her efforts +to break through the British lines. The British were driven back beyond +the lines of the battle of the Somme in 1916, important towns were +captured, but their lines still held. The first phase of the great +battle--known in history as the battle of Picardy--was a defeat to +German hopes. + + +WHEN THE AMERICANS CAME. + +From the opening of the great offense of March 21, 1918, to the signing +of the armistice, November 11, 1918, there were few days when there were +not battles raging at several places along the west front extending +from near Metz in a prolonged sweep, west to Rheims, thence in an +irregular curved line convex toward Paris curving to the North Sea near +Dixmude approximately 250 miles in length. There were days and weeks +when battles of great intensity raged at certain sections, then died +away in that vicinity to break in fury elsewhere. Organized efforts on a +large scale in certain directions were called drives. Until July the +initiative was with Germany, that is to say the Allies were on the +defensive. They were waiting for reinforcements from America. Germany +was making desperate efforts to win a decisive victory and force peace +on their terms before effective aid could arrive. + + +TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES OF BATTLE. + +At this point try to realize what these statements imply. We do not +grasp their meaning. A battle front of two hundred and fifty miles! And +along that line at least ten million men were facing each other with +other millions in reserve. Trench lines were strung along most of the +front. Not simply one line of trenches, but several, with connecting +trenches, the opposing lines being at places only a few hundred yards +apart. As the struggle continued, however, it became more and more a war +in the open. + +This series of struggles are undoubtedly the greatest exertion of +military power in the history of the world. Never before had such masses +of munitions been used; never before had scientific knowledge been so +drawn on in the service of war. Thousands of airplanes were patrolling +the air, sometimes scouting, sometimes dropping bombs on hostile troops +or on hostile stores, sometimes flying low, firing their machine guns +into the faces of marching troops. Thousands upon thousands of great +guns were sending enormous projectiles, which made great pits wherever +they fell. Swarms of machine guns were pouring their bullets like water +from a hose upon charging soldiers. It was an inferno such as Dante +never dreamed of. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of history of which we +have heard--all put together,--were exceeded day after day in the summer +of 1918 when Germany was making her last desperate effort. Thus for +weeks the red tide of war ebbed and flowed, while civilization trembled +in the balance. + + +UNIFIED COMMAND. + +It was clearly seen by the Allied leaders that appointing a +generalissimo to command all their forces was a necessity. This command +was given to General Ferdinand Foch, who had won fame in the battle of +the Marne and who was recognized as one of the greatest strategists of +the day. Events soon demonstrated the wisdom of this step. No general +ever commanded such armies as he. Napoleon, Von Moltke, Grant and Lee +were great generals, but everything connected with this war was on a +scale never before approached, and we can say that the qualities of +leadership displayed by Marshal Foch were necessarily on a higher plane +of action--and we can say this without in the least detracting from the +just fame of other Allied commanders--as Pershing, Haig, Allenby, Diaz +and others. When the war opened, Germany had much to say about her +unconquerable army; her generals were supposed to be superior in a +military way to any others. The war showed that other soldiers were just +as brave, other generals just as able. The fetish of German military +invincibility was early overthrown. + + +AMERICAN ASSISTANCE. + +No American can read the story of the part America took in the war +without experiencing a glow of patriotic feeling. Every Allied nation +can say the same thing. We came late into the struggle, but no nation in +history ever made such wonderful preparation for war as did our country +in the eighteen months that elapsed from the declaration of war to the +signing of the armistice. Our preparations in France, representing only +a part of our total effort, were on such an enormous scale, that neutral +nations--as Sweden and Spain--sent trusted officials to investigate if +it were possibly true that America was making such colossal +preparations; could it be that men by the hundreds of thousands were +disembarking on European soil every week? Were such forces drilled? Were +supplies sent them? It was almost unbelievable. Surely, it must be +American brag. They came, they saw, they departed convinced but in +bewildered wonderment. It was the slowly growing realization of what +this preparation meant that spurred Germany on during the early summer +of 1918. But it was too late. Already the handwriting of defeat was +outlining in letters of fire on the wall. + + +AGAIN THE MARNE. + +May 27, 1918, the Germans opened a drive towards Paris. It resulted in a +deep bulge in the line from Rheims west to Soissons, once more the +German line in that section had reached the Marne. It was a time of +great anxiety in the Allied world. The German tide was rolling on about +seven miles a day toward Paris about fifty miles distant to the +southwest. The German commanders felt sure of success and were talking +about the "strong German peace" they would enforce. The war minister +assured the Reichstag that they must exact at least $50,000,000,000 as +indemnity, while their economic writers devised an elaborate plan +whereby all the trade of the world was to pay tribute to Germany. It +was another case of "Thus far and no farther." + + +CHATEAU THIERRY. + +Chateau Thierry was a thriving city, about 6,000 in population, on the +Marne River, approximately 50 miles northeast of Paris. It is in a +fertile valley. There amid fields of ripening wheat the advancing troops +of Germany were suddenly confronted by American marines, hurried to the +scene of action in motor driven vehicles of all descriptions from Paris. +The forces that faced them, bent on forcing a passage to Paris were +composed of the best Prussian guards and shock troops. They felt +perfectly confident they could drive the Americans back. But the +amateurs went into the battle (the afternoon of June 2) as calmly as if +going to drill on the parade ground. Instead of being driven from the +field they repulsed the seasoned veterans of Germany. It was at a cruel +loss to themselves, 1,600 dead, 2,500 wounded out of 8,000 that came +from Paris on that journey of victory and death; but they never +faltered. This was not a battle of great dimensions but it is among the +most important battles of the war. It saved Paris; but that is not all. +When the news of that battle was flashed up and down the west front, not +an Allied force but was thrilled, enthused, given new courage; the +message that the Americans had stopped the Germans at Chateau Thierry, +electrified Paris. Strong men wept as they realized that the forces of +the Great Republic, able and brave, stood between France and the +ravening wolf of Germany. + + +OTHER VICTORIES. + +In the limited space at our command we can only give a general +description of the remaining weeks of warfare in which American forces +participated. Before advancing at Chateau Thierry the Germans had +fortified their position in Belleau Woods which they had previously +occupied. In the black recesses of this woods they established nest +after nest of machine guns and in the jungle of matted underbrush, of +vines, of heavy foliage they had placed themselves in a position they +believed impregnable. The battle of Chateau Thierry was not rendered +secure until the Germans were driven from Belleau Woods. And so for the +next three weeks the battle of Belleau Woods raged. Fighting day after +day without relief, without sleep, often without water, and for days +without hot rations, the marines met and defeated the best divisions +Germany could throw into the line. According to official decree in +France the name of that woods is now "Woods of the American Brigade." In +September, came the wonderful work of reducing the St. Mihiel salient to +the south and to the east of Verdun, a German wedge that had withstood +every effort to drive it back for four years. We can only mention the +series of battles that took place in the Forest of the Argonne. When the +armistice was declared American forces had fought their way to Sedan. +That was the place that witnessed the deep humiliation of France in the +war of 1870 with which the German Empire began. Germany was only saved +from a deeper humiliation near Sedan in this war that ended that empire, +by the prompt signing of the armistice. + + +THE DOWNFALL OF TURKEY. + +We must notice even in a hurried review of the war the downfall of +Turkey, the release of ancient Mesopotamia, Palestine, and large parts +of Asia Minor, and freeing the ancient Christian nation of Armenia from +the dreadful despotism of Turkish misrule. It is impossible to go into +the details of the successive movements leading to this happy result. +The forces of Great Britain, under command of General Maud, later +General Allenby, must be given the credit. We must not forget that +Mesopotamia was the cradle land of early civilization. There are the +plains of Shinar, there are the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh. Now, that +Turkish rule has been overthrown, we may look to see that entire country +once more a scene of smiling fertility. + +And consider the case of Palestine, the land of Biblical history, the +home of Abraham, and the scene of Old Testament activities; finally +there is the land forever hallowed by the ministrations of Jesus of +Nazareth. It was the goal of the religious wars of the Crusades. For +more than six centuries it groaned under Turkish misrule. The tide of +British success began in 1917. In December of that year (9th) Jerusalem +was taken by the British forces under command of General Allenby. During +1918 all Palestine was freed. September 20, 1918, Nazareth, the boyhood +home of Jesus, was taken. The future of Palestine with its wealth of +Biblical history is a wonderful theme for contemplation. Given the +blessings of a twentieth century government there is no reason why +Palestine should not once more become a land "flowing with milk and +honey." + + +THE APPROACHING END. + +The ending of the war was almost as dramatically sudden as its +beginning. As late as July 15, 1918, according to statements of German +leaders, they still believed they were to be successful; less than four +months later at Senlis, France, their representatives signed an +armistice, the terms of which were the most drastic and humiliating ever +inflicted on a prominent nation; while the Kaiser and Crown Prince had +fled for safety to Holland, a nation they had asserted existed only by +the long sufferance of Germany. Before the fatal day (November 11, +1918) of the armistice--like the falling of a house of cards--had +occurred a succession of abject surrenders, as one by one of the nations +composing the Teutonic Alliance had fallen before the crushing blows of +the Entente forces. + +The middle of July the great German offensive was held. It was expected +by the German leaders that, as in the past, there would now ensue a +period of comparative quiet along the west front during which Germany +could rearrange her forces, perhaps to open an attack elsewhere. Marshal +Foch--ably seconded by General Pershing and General Haig--thought +differently. There were one million American soldiers on the fighting +line, other millions were coming, Great Britain had thrown into France +her reserve army held in England to meet unforeseen emergencies. Then +was the time to begin a counter-attack. Accordingly, just as a German +official was explaining to the Reichstag that General Foch had no +reserves to withstand a fresh onslaught that Germany would soon +begin,--the blow fell. A great counter-attack was initiated by the +French and Americans along the Marne-Aisne front July 18, 1918. + + +THE ALLIES TAKE THE INITIATIVE. + +From that day to the signing of the armistice the initiative remained +with General Foch. Up and down the long line, now here, now there; the +British and Belgians on the north, the French and Americans on the +south, first one, then the other, then together, the Allies drove +forward with hammer blows on the yielding German armies. That subtle +force, so hard to define, the morale of the invaders, was broken down. +Their confidence was gone. They knew they were defeated. The one hope of +their leaders was to get safely back to Germany, and soon a general +retreat was in progress. But to remove armies aggregating several +million men, with guns and supplies, from a contracted area, in the face +of a victorious and aggressive enemy, without the retreat degenerating +into a rout is almost impossible; it requires generalship of highest +order. Day by day the remorseless jaws of the Allied military machine, +hinged to the north of the Aisne,--British and Belgian forces on the +north, French in the center, Americans on the south and east,--were +closing, and when the American forces fought their way through the +Argonne to Sedan (forty miles northeast of Rheims) the case was +hopeless. Only the armistice saved Germany from the humiliation of a +surrender, on a scale vastly greater than the surrender of the French +armies near that same point in 1870. + + +THE COLLAPSE OF THE TEUTONIC ALLIES. + +With Germany herself falling, it is not strange that the nations leagued +with her also went down to defeat. They had been almost forced into the +war by Germany; not one of them could carry on a war when deprived of +counsel and help from Germany. Only the threat of force kept Austria in +the war. As the counter-attack in France gained in force, as the retreat +continued, it was recognized on all hands that the end was approaching. +The will to war--the morale--was completely broken down; and so on every +side the Allied forces gained great victories with surprising ease. + +Bulgaria was the first nation to surrender. This was the conclusion of a +succession of great victories beginning September 16, 1918, ending by +the surrender ten days later. The case with Turkey was hopeless after +Bulgaria fell. No reinforcements or supplies could reach them from +Germany. The English forces under General Allenby were carrying +everything before them. Turkey surrendered October 31, 1918. +Austria-Hungary was the third power to surrender. This came as the +culmination of one of the greatest drives of the war. + + +GREAT ITALIAN VICTORY. + +In 1917--as we have seen,--Italy suffered a great reverse, losing +200,000 soldiers and immense supplies. In August, 1918, Austria renewed +the attack. In his proclamation to his soldiers, the Austrian commander +bade them remember "the white bread, the fat cattle, the wine" and +supplies they had won the year before. Surely as great rewards awaited +them this time, and learned professors assured them and the entire +nation that they belonged to a "conquering superior race" and so could +be confident of further victory. The drive was a "hunger offensive" on +the part of hard-pressed Austria. It was a dismal failure. It is +interesting to know that American airplanes, piloted by Americans, +rendered great assistance in repulsing this attack. Then came the +counter-attack. In this drive American forces assisted. The drive began +October 27th; it was attended by a series of most astonishing victories. +The drive culminated in the abject surrender of Austria, November 3, +1918. The victories can only be explained by the fact that the morale of +the Austrian troops had completely broken down, more than 500,000 +prisoners being taken, together with enormous supplies. + + +THE GERMAN ARMISTICE. + +With their armies perilously near rout on the western front, with a +great military disaster confronting them, with everyone of her allies +forced to surrender, with revolution threatening at home, there was +nothing left for Germany to do but to make the best terms possible. +Their commissioners met General Foch at Senlis and the drastic +armistice terms were signed at 5 o'clock, Paris time, the morning of +November 11, 1918, and the last shots in the war were fired at 11 +o'clock, that forenoon, Paris time. The war had lasted (from the date of +the declaration of war on Serbia) four years, three months and thirteen +days. On subsequent pages we shall consider more in detail this +skeletonized story, study the enormous political, geographic and +economic changes it has necessitated, and mentally view the new age in +history at hand. + +[Illustration: PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON. + +President Wilson's latest photograph.] + +[Illustration: GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING. + +This is the latest and best photograph of General Pershing.] + +[Illustration: MARSHAL FERDINAND FOCH. + +This is the latest photograph of Marshal Ferdinand Foch, Supreme +Commander of the Allied Armies, as he appears since the termination of +the war. A comparison of this photograph with earlier ones shows the +effect of the war on the famous general.] + +[Illustration: Showing the actual drafting by the Allied +Plenipotentiaries of the armistice terms which ended the great world +war. Left side of table from left to right: second man, General di +Robilant; Italian Foreign Minister Sonnino; Italian Premier Orlando; +Colonel Edward H. House; General Tasker H. Bliss; next man unknown; +Greek Premier Venizelos, and Serbian Minister Vesnitch. Right side of +the table from left to right: Admiral Wemyss (with back turned); General +Sir Henry Wilson; Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig; General Sackville +West; Andrew Bonar Law; British Premier Lloyd George; French Premier +Georges Clemenceau, and French Foreign Minister, Stephen Pichon.] + +[Illustration: SENLIS, FRANCE, WHERE THE ARMISTICE WAS SIGNED. + +Amid the ruins wrought by the Huns the envoys of Germany signed the +truce terms that victoriously ended the struggle for democracy.] + +[Illustration: FAMOUS FIGHTERS--"THE BLACK WATCH." + +Some of the best fighters in the British Army, resting by the roadside +after having driven the Germans back in the "Fight of the Woods," near +Rheims.] + +[Illustration: CLERKS IN NAVY DEPARTMENT. + +Washington, D.C.] + +[Illustration: FIRST COLORED BATTALION, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, NATIONAL +GUARD. + +On Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., Parading the National Capital +before going to France.] + +[Illustration: SERGT. HENRY JOHNSON, OF ALBANY, N.Y., THE OUTSTANDING +HERO. + +Single-handed he routed 36 Huns, killing 4 of them and wounding the +remainder. When his ammunition ran out he used a bolo knife. Sergt. +Johnson, of the 369th Colored Infantry (old 15th of N.Y.), was the first +man in his regiment to win the French War Cross.] + +[Illustration: GROUP OF 369TH COLORED INFANTRY WITH THEIR WAR CROSSES. + +One hundred and sixty-nine men of this regiment (old 15th N.Y.) won +valor medals. They were nicknamed "Hell Fighters." Top--Fred Rogers. +Lower row--George Chapman, Lawrence McVey, Isaac Freeman. Upper row--Wm. +Bunn, Herbert Mills, Hugh Hamilton, Clarence Johnson.] + +[Illustration: COL. HAYWARD AND GROUP OF REAL FIGHTERS. + +All winners of the Croix de Guerre. When a French general gave orders to +retire, Col. Hayward replied: "My men never retire: they go forward or +die, and we are going through here or hell. We don't go back."] + +[Illustration: LIEUTENANT ROBERT S. CAMPBELL, U.S. ARMY. + +The first man in the 92nd American Division (Negroes) to receive the +distinguished service cross for bravery in the fighting in the Argonne. +He was a member of Co. I, 368th Infantry.] + +[Illustration: GUARDING THE FLAG. + +The flag of the old 15th (decorated by the French) and Old Glory.] + +[Illustration: AT THE Y.M.C.A. ON FRENCH FRONT. + +This group of soldiers is being served at a "Y" tent.] + +[Illustration: NEGRO SOLDIERS ON THE MARCH IN FRANCE. + +Along this beautiful stream it was tramp, tramp, tramp the soldiers were +marching on to do their duty and help bring the victory which meant +"World Peace."] + +[Illustration: HOME AGAIN. OH, HOW JOYFUL! + +Back from France, and what a grand reception awaited them! Conquering +heroes on the battlefield and the warmth and enthusiasm over their +homecoming are beyond words to describe.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +GENERAL PERSHING'S OWN STORY OF THE VICTORIOUS AMERICAN ARMY + +ORGANIZATION OF HIS GENERAL STAFF--TRAINING IN FRANCE--IN THE AISNE +OFFENSIVE--AT CHATEAU THIERRY--THE ST. MIHIEL SALIENT--MEUSE-ARGONNE, +FIRST PHASE--THE BATTLE IN THE FOREST--SUMMARY. + + +This is a brief summary of the organization and operations of the +American Expeditionary Force from May 26, 1917, until the signing of the +armistice, November 11, 1918. Immediately upon receiving my orders I +selected a small staff and proceeded to Europe in order to become +familiar with conditions at the earliest possible moment. + +The warmth of our reception in England and France was only equaled by +the readiness of the commanders in chief of the veteran armies of the +Allies and their staffs to place their experience at our disposal. In +consultation with them the most effective means of co-operation of +effort was considered. With French and British armies at their maximum +strength, and all efforts to dispossess the enemy from his firmly +intrenched positions in Belgium and France failed, it was necessary to +plan for an American force adequate to turn the scale in favor of the +Allies. Taking account of the strength of the Central Powers at that +time, the immensity of the problem which confronted us could hardly be +over-estimated. The first requisite being an organization that could +give intelligent direction to effort, the formation of a General Staff +occupied my early attention. + + +ORGANIZATION OF GENERAL STAFF. + +A well organized General Staff through which the commander exercises his +functions is essential to a successful modern army. However capable our +division, our battalion, and our companies as such, success would be +impossible without thoroughly co-ordinated endeavor. A General Staff +broadly organized and trained for war had not hitherto existed in our +army. Under the Commander-in-Chief, this staff must carry out the policy +and direct the details of administration, supply, preparation, and +operations of the army as a whole, with all special branches and bureaus +subject to its control. As models to aid us we had the veteran French +General Staff and the experience of the British who had similarly formed +an organization to meet the demands of a great army. By selecting from +each the features best adapted to our basic organization, and fortified +by our own early experience in the war, the development of our great +General Staff system was completed. + +The General Staff is naturally divided into five groups, each with its +chief who is an assistant to the Chief of the General Staff. G.1 is in +charge of organization and equipment of troops, replacements, tonnage, +priority of overseas shipment, the auxiliary welfare association and +cognate subjects; G.2 has censorship, enemy intelligence, gathering and +disseminating information, preparation of maps, and all similar +subjects; G.3 is charged with all strategic studies and plans, movement +of troops, and the supervision of combat operations; G.4 co-ordinates +important questions of supply, construction, transport arrangements for +combat, and of the operations of the service of supply, and of +hospitalization and the evacuation of the sick and wounded; G.5 +supervises the various schools and has general direction and +co-ordination of education and training. + +The first Chief of Staff was Colonel (now Major-General) James G. +Harbord, who was succeeded in May, 1918, by Major-General James W. +McAndrew. To these officers, to the deputy Chief of Staff, and to the +assistant Chiefs of Staff, who, as heads of sections, aided them, great +credit is due for the results obtained not only in perfecting the +General Staff organization but in applying correct principles to the +multiplicity of problems that have arisen. + + +ORGANIZATION OF THE FORCES. + +After a thorough consideration of Allied organizations it was decided +that our combat division should consist of four regiments of infantry of +3,000 men, with three battalions to a regiment and four companies of 250 +men each to a battalion, and of an artillery brigade of three regiments, +a machine gun battalion, an engineer regiment, a trench-mortar battery, +a signal battalion, wagon trains, and the headquarters staffs and +military police. These, with medical and other units, made a total of +over 28,000 men, or practically double the size of a French or German +division. Each corps would normally consist of six divisions--four +combat and one depot and one replacement division--and also two +regiments of cavalry, and each army of from three to five corps. With +four divisions fully trained, a corps could take over an American sector +with two divisions in line and two in reserve, with the depot and +replacement divisions prepared to fill the gaps in the ranks. + +Our purpose was to prepare an integral American force which should be +able to take the offensive in every respect. Accordingly, the +development of a self-reliant infantry by thorough drill in the use of +the rifle and in the tactics of open warfare was always uppermost. The +plan of training after arrival in France allowed a division one month +for acclimatization and instruction in small units from battalions down, +a second month in quiet trench sectors by battalions, and a third month +after it came out of the trenches when it should be trained as a +complete division in war of movement. + + +SCHOOLS OF INSTRUCTION. + +Very early a system of schools was outlined and started, which should +have the advantage of instruction by officers direct from the front. At +the great school center at Langres, one of the first to be organized, +was the staff school, where the principles of general staff work, as +laid down in our own organization, were taught to carefully selected +officers. Men in the ranks, who had shown qualities of leadership, were +sent to the school of candidates for commissions. A school of the line +taught younger officers the principles of leadership, tactics, and the +use of the different weapons. In the artillery school, at Saumur, young +officers were taught the fundamental principles of modern artillery; +while at Issoudun an immense plant was built for training cadets in +aviation. These and other schools, with their well-considered +curriculums for training in every branch of our organization, were +co-ordinated in a manner best to develop an efficient army out of +willing and industrious young men, many of whom had not before known +even the rudiments of military technique. Both Marshal Haig and General +Petain placed officers and men at our disposal for instructional +purposes, and we are deeply indebted for the opportunities given to +profit by their veteran experience. + + +AMERICAN ZONE. + +The eventual place the American army should take on the western front +was to a large extent influenced by the vital question of communication +and supply. The northern ports of France were crowded by the British +armies' shipping and supplies while the southern ports, though +otherwise at our service, had not adequate port facilities for our +purposes and these we should have to build. The already overtaxed +railway system behind the active front in northern France would not be +available for us as lines of supply and those leading from the southern +ports of northeastern France would be unequal to our needs without much +new construction. Practically all warehouses, supply depots and +regulating stations must be provided by fresh constructions. While +France offered us such material as she had to spare after a drain of +three years, enormous quantities of material had to be brought across +the Atlantic. + + +VAST PREPARATIONS NECESSARY. + +With such a problem any temporization or lack of definiteness in making +plans might cause failure even with victory within our grasp. Moreover, +broad plans commensurate with our national purpose and resources would +bring conviction of our power to every soldier in the front line, to the +nations associated with us in the war, and to the enemy. The tonnage for +material for necessary construction for the supply of an army of three +and perhaps four million men would require a mammoth program of +shipbuilding at home, and miles of dock construction in France, with a +corresponding large project for additional railways and for storage +depots. + +All these considerations led to the inevitable conclusion that if we +were to handle and supply the great forces deemed essential to win the +war we must utilize the southern ports of France--Bordeaux, La Pallice, +St. Nazaire, and Brest--and the comparatively unused railway systems +leading therefrom to the northeast. Generally speaking, then, this would +contemplate the use of our forces against the enemy somewhere in that +direction, but the great depots of supply must be centrally located, +preferably in the area included by Tours, Bourges, and Chateauroux, so +that our armies could be supplied with equal facility wherever they +might be serving on the western front. + + +SKILLED HELP. + +To build up such a system there were talented men in the Regular Army, +but more experts were necessary than the army could furnish. Thanks to +the patriotic spirit of our people at home, there came from civil life +men trained for every sort of work involved in building and managing the +organization necessary to handle and transport such an army and keep it +supplied. With such assistance the construction and general development +of our plans have kept pace with the growth of the forces, and the +Service of Supply is now able to discharge from ships and move 45,000 +tons daily, besides transporting troops and material in the conduct of +active operations. + + +WORK OF THE DEPARTMENTS. + +As to organization, all the administrative and supply services, except +the Adjutant General's, Inspector General's, and Judge Advocates +General's Departments which remain at general headquarters, have been +transferred to the headquarters of the services of supplies at Tours +under a commanding general responsible to the commander-in-chief for +supply of the armies. The Chief Quartermaster, Chief Surgeon, Chief +Signal Officer, Chief of Ordnance, Chief of Air Service, Chief of +Chemical Warfare, the general purchasing agent in all that pertains to +questions of procurement and supply, the Provost Marshal General in the +maintenance of order in general, the Director General of Transportation +in all that affects such matters, and the Chief Engineer in all matters +of administration and supply, are subordinate to the Commanding General +of the Service of Supply, who, assisted by a staff especially organized +for the purpose, is charged with the administrative co-ordination of all +these services. + + +TRANSPORTATION AND ENGINEER'S DEPARTMENT. + +The transportation department under the Service of Supply directs the +operation, maintenance, and construction of railways, the operation of +terminals, the unloading of ships, and transportation of material to +warehouses or to the front. Its functions make necessary the most +intimate relationship between our organization and that of the French, +with the practical result that our transportation department has been +able to improve materially the operations of railways generally. +Constantly laboring under a shortage of rolling stock, the +transportation department has nevertheless been able by efficient +management to meet every emergency. + +The Engineer Corps is charged with all construction, including light +railways and roads. It has planned and constructed the many projects +required, the most important of which are the new wharves at Bordeaux +and Nantes, and the immense storage depots at La Pallice, Montoir, and +Gievres, besides innumerable hospitals and barracks in various ports of +France. These projects have all been carried on by phases keeping pace +with our needs. The Forestry Service under the Engineer Corps has cut +the greater part of the timber and railway ties required. + + +PURCHASES IN EUROPE. + +To meet the shortage of supplies from America, due to lack of shipping, +the representatives of the different supply departments were constantly +in search of available material and supplies in Europe. In order to +co-ordinate these purchases and to prevent competition between our +departments, a general purchasing agency was created early in our +experience to co-ordinate our purchases and, if possible, induce our +Allies to apply the principle among the Allied armies. While there was +no authority for the general use of appropriations, this was met by +grouping the purchasing representatives of the different departments +under one control, charged with the duty of consolidating requisitions +and purchases. Our efforts to extend the principle have been signally +successful, and all purchases for the Allied armies are now on an +equitable and co-operative basis. Indeed, it may be said that the work +of this bureau has been thoroughly efficient and business-like. + + +ARTILLERY, AIRPLANES AND TANKS. + +Our entry into the war found us with few of the auxiliaries necessary +for its conduct in the modern sense. Among our most important +deficiencies in material were artillery, aviation, and tanks. In order +to meet our requirements as rapidly as possible, we accepted the offer +of the French Government to provide us with the necessary artillery +equipment of seventy-fives, one fifty-five millimeter howitzers, and +one-fifty-five GPF guns from their own factories for thirty divisions. +The wisdom of this course is fully demonstrated by the fact that, +although we soon began the manufacture of these classes of guns at home, +there were no guns of the calibers mentioned manufactured in America on +our front at the date the armistice was signed. The only guns of these +types produced at home thus far received in France are 109 seventy-five +millimeter guns. + +In aviation we were in the same situation, and here again the French +Government came to our aid until our own aviation program should be +under way. We obtained from the French the necessary planes for +training our personnel, and they have provided us with a total of 2,676 +pursuit, observation, and bombing planes. The first airplanes received +from home arrived in May, and altogether we have received 1,379. The +first American squadron completely equipped by American production, +including airplanes, crossed the German lines on August 7, 1918. As to +tanks, we were also compelled to rely upon the French. Here, however, we +were less fortunate, for the reason that the French production could +barely meet the requirements of their own armies. + + +OUR OBLIGATIONS TO FRANCE. + +It should be fully realized that the French Government has always taken +a most liberal attitude and has been most anxious to give us every +possible assistance in meeting our deficiencies in these as well as in +other respects. Our dependence upon France for artillery, aviation, and +tanks was, of course, due to the fact that our industries had not been +exclusively devoted to military production. All credit is due our own +manufacturers for their efforts to meet our requirements, as at the time +the armistice was signed we were able to look forward to the early +supply of practically all our necessities from our own factories. + + +CAMP WELFARE WORK. + +The welfare of the troops touches my responsibility as +Commander-in-Chief to the mothers and fathers and kindred of the men who +came to France in the impressionable period of youth. They could not +have the privilege accorded European soldiers during their periods of +leave of visiting their families and renewing their home ties. Fully +realizing that the standard of conduct that should be established for +them must have a permanent influence in their lives and on the +character of their future citizenship, the Red Cross, the Young Men's +Christian Association, Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army, and the +Jewish Welfare Board, as auxiliaries in this work, were encouraged in +every possible way. The fact that our soldiers, in a land of different +customs and language, have borne themselves in a manner in keeping with +the cause for which they fought, is due not only to the efforts in their +behalf but much more to other high ideals, their discipline, and their +innate sense of self-respect. It should be recorded, however, that the +members of these welfare societies have been untiring in their desire to +be of real service to our officers and men. The patriotic devotion of +these representative men and women has given a new significance to the +Golden Rule, and we owe to them a debt of gratitude that can never be +repaid. + + +COMBAT OPERATIONS. + +During our periods of training in the trenches some of our divisions had +engaged the enemy in local combats, the most important of which was +Seicheprey by the Twenty-sixth on April 20, in the Toul sector, but none +had participated in action as a unit. The First Division, which had +passed through the preliminary stages of training, had gone to the +trenches for its first period of instruction at the end of October and +by March 21, when the German offensive in Picardy began, we had four +divisions with experience in the trenches, all of which were equal to +any demands of battle action. The crisis which this offensive developed +was such that our occupation of an American sector must be postponed. + + +TROOPS PLACED UNDER MARSHAL FOCH. + +On March 28 I placed at the disposal of Marshal Foch who had been agreed +upon as Commander-in-Chief of the Allied armies, all of our forces to +be used as he might decide. At his request the First Division was +transferred from the Toul sector to a position in reserve at Chaumont en +Vexin. As German superiority in numbers required prompt action, an +agreement was reached at the Abbeville conference of the Allied premiers +and commanders and myself on May 2 by which British shipping was to +transport ten American divisions to the British army area, where they +were to be trained and equipped, and additional British shipping was to +be provided for as many divisions as possible for use elsewhere. + + +THE CANTIGNY OPERATIONS. + +On April 26 the First Division had gone into the line in the Montdidier +salient on the Picardy battlefront. Tactics had been suddenly +revolutionized to those of open warfare, and our men, confident of the +results of their training, were eager for the test. On the morning of +May 28 this division attacked the commanding German position in its +front, taking with splendid dash the town of Cantigny and all other +objectives, which were organized and held steadfastly against vicious +counter-attacks and galling artillery fire. Although local, this +brilliant action had an electrical effect, as it demonstrated our +fighting qualities under extreme battle conditions, and also that the +enemy's troops were not altogether invincible. + + +THE GERMAN AISNE OFFENSIVE. + +The Germans' Aisne offensive, which began on May 27, had advanced +rapidly toward the River Marne and Paris, and the Allies faced a crisis +equally as grave as that of the Picardy offensive in March. Again every +available man was placed at Marshal Foch's disposal, and the Third +Division, which had just come from its preliminary training in the +trenches, was hurried to the Marne. Its motorized machine gun battalion +preceded the other units and successfully held the bridgehead at the +Marne, opposite Chateau-Thierry. The Second Division, in reserve near +Montdidier, was sent by motor trucks and other available transport to +check the progress of the enemy toward Paris. The Division attacked and +retook the town and railroad station at Bouresches and sturdily held its +ground against the enemy's best guard divisions. In the battle of +Belleau Wood, which followed, our men proved their superiority and +gained a strong tactical position, with far greater loss to the enemy +than to ourselves. On July 1, before the Second was relieved, it +captured the village of Vaux with most splendid precision. + +Meanwhile our Second Corps, under Maj. Gen. George W. Read, had been +organized for the command of our divisions with the British, which were +held back in training areas or assigned to second-line defenses. Five of +the ten divisions were withdrawn from the British area in June, three to +relieve divisions in Lorraine and the Vosges and two to the Paris area +to join the group of American divisions which stood between the city and +any farther advance of the enemy in that direction. + + +OPERATIONS NEAR RHEIMS. + +The great June-July troop movement from the States was well under way, +and, although these troops were to be given some preliminary training +before being put into action, their very presence warranted the use of +all the older divisions in the confidence that we did not lack reserves. +Elements of the Forty-second Division were in the line east of Rheims +against the German offensive of July 15, and held their ground +unflinchingly. On the right flank of this offensive four companies of +the Twenty-eighth Division were in position in face of the advancing +waves of the German infantry. The Third Division was holding the bank of +the Marne from the bend east of the mouth of the Surmelin to the west of +Mezy, opposite Chateau-Thierry, where a large force of German infantry +sought to force a passage under support of powerful artillery +concentrations and under cover of smoke screens. A single regiment of +the Third wrote one of the most brilliant pages in our military annals +on this occasion. It prevented the crossing at certain points on its +front while, on either flank, the Germans, who had gained a footing, +pressed forward. Our men, firing in three directions, met the German +attacks with counter-attacks at critical points and succeeded in +throwing two German divisions into complete confusion, capturing 600 +prisoners. + + +BEGINNING OF THE COUNTER ATTACK. + +The great force of the German Chateau-Thierry offensive established the +deep Marne salient, but the enemy was taking chances, and the +vulnerability of this pocket to attack might be turned to his +disadvantage. Seizing this opportunity to support my conviction, every +division with any sort of training was made available for use in a +counter offensive. The place of honor in the thrust toward Soissons on +July 18 was given to our First and Second Divisions in company with +chosen French divisions. Without the usual brief warning of a +preliminary bombardment, the massed French and American artillery, +firing by the map, laid down its rolling barrage at dawn while the +infantry began its charge. The tactical handling of our troops under +these trying conditions was excellent throughout the action. The enemy +brought up large numbers of reserves and made a stubborn defense both +with machine guns and artillery, but through five days' fighting the +First Division continued to advance until it had gained the heights +above Soissons and captured the village of Berzy-le-sec. The Second +Division took Beau Repaire farm and Vierzy in a very rapid advance and +reached a position in front of Tigny at the end of its second day. These +two divisions captured 7,000 prisoners and over 100 pieces of artillery. + + +THE SOISSONS ATTACK. + +The Twenty-sixth Division, which, with a French division, was under +command of our First Corps, acted as a pivot of the movement toward +Soissons. On the 18th it took the village of Torcy, while the Third +Division was crossing the Marne in pursuit of the retiring enemy. The +Twenty-sixth attacked again on the 21st, and the enemy withdrew past the +Chateau-Thierry-Soissons road. The Third Division, continuing its +progress, took the heights of Mont St. Pere and the villages of +Charteves and Jaulgonne in the face of both machine gun and artillery +fire. + +On the 24th, after the Germans had fallen back from Trugny and Epieds, +our Forty-second Division, which had been brought over from the +Champagne, relieved the Twenty-sixth and, fighting its way through the +Foret de Fere, overwhelmed the nest of machine guns in its path. By the +27th it had reached the Ourcq, whence the Third and Fourth Divisions +were already advancing, while the French divisions with which we were +co-operating were moving forward at other points. + +The Third Division had made its advance into Roncheres Wood on the 29th +and was relieved for rest by a brigade of the Thirty-second. The +Forty-second and Thirty-second undertook the task of conquering the +heights beyond Cierges, the Forty-second capturing Sergy and the +Thirty-second capturing Hill 230, both American divisions joining in +the pursuit of the enemy to the Vesle, and thus the operation of +reducing the salient was finished. Meanwhile the Forty-second was +relieved by the Fourth at Chery-Chartreuve, and the Thirty-second by the +Twenty-eighth, while the Seventy-seventh Division took up a position on +the Vesle. The operations of these divisions on the Vesle were under the +Third Corps, Maj. Gen. Robert L. Bullard, commanding. + + +BATTLE OF ST. MIHIEL. + +With the reduction of the Marne salient we could look forward to the +concentration of our divisions in our own zone. In view of the +forthcoming operation against the St. Mihiel salient, which had long +been planned as our first offensive action on a large scale, the First +Army was organized on August 10 under my personal command. While +American units had held different divisional and corps sectors along the +western front, there had not been up to this time, for obvious reasons, +a distinct American sector; but, in view of the important parts the +American forces were now to play, it was necessary to take over a +permanent portion of the line. Accordingly, on August 30, the line +beginning at Port sur Seille, east of the Moselle and extending to the +west through St. Mihiel, thence north to a point opposite Verdun, was +placed under my command. The American sector was afterwards extended +across the Meuse to the western edge of the Argonne Forest, and included +the Second Colonial French, which held the point of the salient, and the +Seventeenth French Corps, which occupied the heights above Verdun. + + +PREPARATION FOR THE ATTACK. + +The preparation for a complicated operation against the formidable +defenses in front of us included the assembling of divisions and of +corps and army artillery, transport, aircraft, tanks, ambulances, the +location of hospitals, and the molding together of all of the elements +of a great modern army with its own railheads, supplied directly by our +own Service of Supply. The concentration for this operation, which was +to be a surprise, involved the movement, mostly at night, of +approximately 600,000 troops, and required for its success the most +careful attention to every detail. + +The French were generous in giving us assistance in corps and army +artillery, with its personnel, and we were confident from the start of +our superiority over the enemy in guns of all calibers. Our heavy guns +were able to reach Metz and to interfere seriously with German rail +movements. The French Independent Air Force was placed under my command +which, together with the British bombing squadrons and our air forces, +gave us the largest assembly of aviation that had ever been engaged in +one operation on the western front. + + +LOCATION OF THE TROOPS. + +From Les Eparges around the nose of the salient at St. Mihiel to the +Moselle River the line was roughly forty miles long and situated on +commanding ground greatly strengthened by artificial defenses. Our First +Corps (Eighty-second, Ninetieth, Fifth, and Second Divisions), under +command of Maj. Gen. Hunter Liggett, restrung its right on +Pont-a-Mouson, with its left joining our Third Corps (the Eighty-ninth, +Forty-second, and First Divisions), under Maj. Gen. Joseph T. Dickman, +in line to Xivray, were to swing in toward Vigneulles on the pivot of +the Moselle River for the initial assault. From Xivray to Mouilly the +Second Colonial French Corps was in line in the center and our Fifth +Corps, under command of Maj. Gen. George H. Cameron, with our +Twenty-sixth Division and a French division at the western base of the +salient, were to attack three difficult hills--Les Eparges, Combres, and +Amaramthe. Our First Corps had in reserve the Seventy-eighth Division, +our Fourth Corps the Third Division, and our First Army the Thirty-fifth +and Ninety-first Divisions, with the Eightieth and Thirty-third +available. It should be understood that our corps organizations are very +elastic, and that we have at no time had permanent assignments of +divisions to corps. + + +MOVEMENT OF THE TROOPS. + +After four hours' artillery preparation, the seven American divisions in +the front line advanced at 5 A.M. on September 12, assisted by a limited +number of tanks manned partly by Americans and partly by the French. +These divisions, accompanied by groups of wire cutters and others armed +with bangalore torpedoes, went through the successive bands of barbed +wire that protected the enemy's front line and support trenches, in +irresistible waves on schedule time, breaking down all defense of an +enemy demoralized by the great volume of our artillery fire and our +sudden approach out of the fog. + +Our First Corps advanced to Thiaucourt, while our Fourth Corps curved +back to the southwest through Nonsard. The Second Colonial French Corps +made the slight advance required of it on very difficult ground, and the +Fifth Corps took its three ridges and repulsed a counter-attack. A rapid +march brought reserve regiments of a division of the Fifth Corps into +Vigneulles in the early morning, where it linked up with patrols of our +Fourth Corps, closing the salient and forming a new line west of +Thiaucourt to Vigneulles and beyond Fresnes-en-Woevre. At the cost of +only 7,000 casualties, mostly light, we had taken 16,000 prisoners and +443 guns, a great quantity of material, released the inhabitants of many +villages from enemy domination, and established our lines in a position +to threaten Metz. This signal success of the American First Army in its +first offensive was of prime importance. The Allies found they had a +formidable army to aid them, and the enemy learned finally that he had +one to reckon with. + + +PREPARATION FOR THE ARGONNE OFFENSIVE. + +On the day after we had taken the St. Mihiel salient, much of our corps +and army artillery which had operated at St. Mihiel and our divisions in +reserve at other points, were already on the move toward the area back +of the line between the Meuse River and the western edge of the forest +of Argonne. With the exception of St. Mihiel, the old German front line +from Switzerland to the east of Rheims was still intact. In the general +attack all along the line, the operation assigned the American army as +the hinge of this Allied offensive was directed toward the important +railroad communications of the German armies through Mezieres and Sedan. +The enemy must hold fast to this part of his lines or the withdrawal of +his forces with four years' accumulation of plants and material would be +dangerously imperiled. + +The German army had as yet shown no demoralization and, while the mass +of its troops had suffered in morale, its first-class divisions and +notably its machine gun defense were exhibiting remarkable tactical +efficiency as well as courage. The German General Staff was fully aware +of the consequences of a success on the Meuse-Argonne line. Certain that +he would do everything in his power to oppose us, the action was planned +with as much secrecy as possible and was undertaken with the +determination to use all our divisions in forcing a decision. We +expected to draw the best German divisions to our front and to consume +them while the enemy was held under grave apprehension lest our attack +should break his line, which it was our firm purpose to do. + + +LINE OF BATTLE. + +Our right flank was protected by the Meuse, while our left embraced the +Argonne Forest, whose ravines, hills, and elaborate defense screened by +dense thickets had been generally considered impregnable. Our order of +battle from right to left was the Third Corps from the Meuse to +Malancourt, with the Thirty-third, Eightieth, and Fourth Divisions in +line, and the Third Division as corps reserve; the Fifth Corps from +Malancourt to Vauquois, with Seventy-ninth, Eighty-seventh, and +Ninety-first Divisions in line, and the Thirty-second in corps reserve; +and the First Corps, from Vauquois to Vienne le Chateau, with +Thirty-fifth, Twenty-eighth, and Seventy-seventh Divisions in line, and +the Ninety-second in corps reserve. The army reserve consisted of the +First, Twenty-ninth, and Eighty-second Divisions. + + +BATTLE OPERATIONS. + +On the night of September 25 our troops quietly took the place of the +French who thinly held the line in this sector which had long been +inactive. In the attack, which began on the 26th, we drove through the +barbed wire entanglements and the sea of shell craters across No Man's +Land, mastering all the first line defenses. Continuing on the 27th and +28th, against machine guns and artillery of an increasing number of +enemy reserve divisions, we penetrated to a depth of from three to seven +miles, and took the village of Montfaucon and its commanding hill and +Exermont, Gercourt, Cuisy, Septsarges, Malancourt, Ivoiry, Epinionville, +Charpentry, Very, and other villages. East of the Meuse one of our +divisions, which was with the Second Colonial French Corps, captured +Marcheville and Rieville, giving further protection to the flank of our +main body. We had taken 10,000 prisoners, we had gained our point of +forcing the battle into the open and were prepared for the enemy's +reaction, which was bound to come, as he had good roads and ample +railroad facilities for bringing up his artillery and reserves. + + +GREAT DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME. + +In the chill rain of dark nights our engineers had to build new roads +across spongy, shell-torn areas, repair broken roads beyond No Man's +Land, and build bridges. Our gunners, with no thought of sleep, put +their shoulders to wheels and dragropes to bring their guns through the +mire in support of the infantry, now under the increasing fire of the +enemy's artillery. Our attack had taken the enemy by surprise, but, +quickly recovering himself, he began to fire counter-attacks in strong +force, supported by heavy bombardments, with large quantities of gas. +From September 28 until October 4 we maintained the offensive against +patches of woods defended by snipers and continuous lines of machine +guns, and pushed forward our guns and transports, seizing strategical +points in preparation for further attacks. + + +OTHER UNITS WITH ALLIES. + +Other divisions attached to the Allied armies were doing their part. It +was the fortune of our Second Corps, composed of the Twenty-seventh and +Thirtieth Divisions, which had remained with the British, to have a +place of honor in co-operation with the Australian Corps on September +29 and October 1 in the assault on the Hindenburg Line where the St. +Quentin Canal passes through a tunnel under a ridge. The Thirtieth +Division speedily broke through the main line of defense for all its +objectives, while the Twenty-seventh pushed on impetuously through the +main line until some of its elements reached Gouy. In the midst of the +maze of trenches and shell craters and under cross-fire from machine +guns the other elements fought desperately against odds. In this and in +later actions, from October 6 to October 19, our Second Corps captured +over 6,000 prisoners and advanced over 13 miles. The spirit and +aggressiveness of these divisions have been highly praised by the +British army commander under whom they served. + + +OPERATIONS NEAR RHEIMS. + +On October 2-9 our Second and Thirty-sixth Divisions were sent to assist +the French in an important attack against the old German positions +before Rheims. The Second conquered the complicated defense works on +their front against a persistent defense worthy of the grimmest period +of trench warfare and attacked the strongly held wooded hill of Blanc +Mont, which they captured in a second assault, sweeping over it with +consummate dash and skill. This division then repulsed strong +counter-attacks before the village and cemetery of Ste. Etienne and took +the town, forcing the Germans to fall back from before Rheims and yield +positions they had held since September, 1914. On October 9 the +Thirty-sixth Division relieved the Second and, in its first experience +under fire, withstood very severe artillery bombardment and rapidly took +up the pursuit of the enemy, now retiring behind the Aisne. + + +RESULTS OF AMERICAN OPERATIONS. + +The Allied progress elsewhere cheered the efforts of our men in this +crucial contest as the German command threw in more and more +first-class troops to stop our advance. We made steady headway in the +almost impenetrable and strongly held Argonne Forest, for, despite this +reinforcement, it was our army that was doing the driving. Our aircraft +was increasing in skill and numbers and forcing the issue, and our +infantry and artillery were improving rapidly with each new experience. +The replacements fresh from home were put into exhausted divisions with +little time for training, but they had the advantage of serving beside +men who knew their business and who had almost become veterans +overnight. The enemy had taken every advantage of the terrain, which +especially favored the defense by a prodigal use of machine guns manned +by highly trained veterans and by using his artillery at short ranges. +In the face of such strong frontal positions we should have been unable +to accomplish any progress according to previously accepted standards, +but I had every confidence in our aggressive tactics and the courage of +our troops. + + +PROGRESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES. + +On October 4 the attack was renewed all along our front. The Third Corps +tilting to the left followed the Brieulles-Cunel road; our Fifth Corps +took Gesnes, while the First Corps advanced for over two miles along the +irregular valley of the Aire River and in the wooded hills of the +Argonne that bordered the river, used by the enemy with all his art and +weapons of defense. This sort of fighting continued against an enemy +striving to hold every foot of ground and whose very strong +counter-attacks challenged us at every point. On the 7th the First Corps +captured Chatel-Chehery and continued along the river to Cornay. On the +east of Meuse sector one of the two divisions co-operating with the +French captured Consenvoye and the Haumont Woods. On the 9th the Fifth +Corps, in its progress up the Aire, took Fleville, and the Third Corps, +which had continuous fighting against odds, was working its way through +Brieulles and Cunel. On the 10th we had cleared the Argonne Forest of +the enemy. + + +FORMATION OF SECOND ARMY. + +It was now necessary to constitute a second army, and on October 9 the +immediate command of the First Army was turned over to Lieut. Gen. +Hunter Liggett. The command of the Second Army, whose divisions occupied +a sector in the Woevre, was given to Lieut. Gen. Robert L. Bullard, who +had been commander of the First Division and then of the Third Corps. +Major General Dickman was transferred to the command of the First Corps, +while the Fifth Corps was placed under Maj. Gen. Charles P. Summerall, +who had recently commanded the First Division. Maj. Gen. John L. Hines, +who had gone rapidly up from regimental to division commander, was +assigned to the Third Corps. These four officers had been in France from +the early days of the expedition and had learned their lessons in the +school of practical warfare. + +Our constant pressure against the enemy brought day by day more +prisoners, mostly survivors from machine gun nests captured in fighting +at close quarters. On October 18 there was very fierce fighting in the +Caures Woods east of the Meuse and in the Ormont Woods. On the 14th the +First Corps took St. Juvin, and the Fifth Corps, in hand-to-hand +encounters, entered the formidable Kriemhilde Line, where the enemy had +hoped to check us indefinitely. Later the Fifth Corps penetrated further +the Kriemhilde Line, and the First Corps took Champigneulles and the +important town of Grandpre. Our dogged offensive was wearing down the +enemy, who continued desperately to throw his best troops against us, +thus weakening his line in front of our Allies and making their advance +less difficult. + + +AMERICANS IN BELGIUM. + +Meanwhile we were not only able to continue the battle, but our +Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first Divisions were hastily withdrawn from +our front and dispatched to help the French army in Belgium. Detraining +in the neighborhood of Ypres, these divisions advanced by rapid stages +to the fighting line and were assigned to adjacent French corps. On +October 31, in continuation of the Flanders offensive, they attacked and +methodically broke down all enemy resistance. On November 3 the +Thirty-seventh had completed its mission in dividing the enemy across +the Escaut River and firmly established itself along the east bank +included in the division zone of action. By a clever flanking movement, +troops of the Ninety-first Division captured Spitaals Bosschen, a +difficult wood extending across the central part of the division sector, +reached the Escaut, and penetrated into the town of Audenarde. These +divisions received high commendation from their corps commanders for +their dash and energy. + + +REGROUPING FOR FINAL ASSAULT. + +On the 23d the Third and Fifth Corps pushed northward to the level of +Bantheville. While we continued to press forward and throw back the +enemy's violent counter-attacks with great loss to him, a regrouping of +our forces was under way for the final assault. Evidence of loss of +morale by the enemy gave our men more confidence in attack and more +fortitude in enduring the fatigue of incessant effort and the hardships +of very inclement weather. + +With comparatively well-rested divisions, the final advance in the +Meuse-Argonne front was begun on November 1. Our increased artillery +force acquitted itself magnificently in support of the advance, and the +enemy broke before the determined infantry, which, by its persistent +fighting of the past weeks and the dash of this attack, had overcome his +will to resist. The Third Corps took Aincreville, Doulcon, and +Andevanne, and the Fifth Corps took Landres et St. Georges and pressed +through successive lines of resistance to Bayonville and Chennery. On +the 2d the First Corps joined in the movement, which now became an +impetuous onslaught that could not be stayed. + + +SUCCESSFUL ACCOMPLISHMENT. + +On the 3d advance troops surged forward in pursuit, some by motor +trucks, while the artillery pressed along the country roads close +behind. The First Corps reached Authe and Chatillon-Sur-Bar, the Fifth +Corps, Fosse and Nouart, and the Third Corps Halles, penetrating the +enemy's line to a depth of twelve miles. Our large caliber guns had +advanced and were skillfully brought into position to fire upon the +important lines at Montmedy, Longuyon, and Conflans. Our Third Corps +crossed the Meuse on the 5th and the other corps, in the full confidence +that the day was theirs, eagerly cleared the way of machine guns as they +swept northward, maintaining complete co-ordination throughout. On the +6th, a division of the First Corps reached a point on the Meuse opposite +Sedan, twenty-five miles from our line of departure. The strategical +goal which was our highest hope was gained. We had cut the enemy's main +line of communications and nothing but surrender or an armistice could +save his army from complete disaster. + + +TROOPS ENGAGED. + +In all forty enemy divisions had been used against us an the +Meuse-Argonne battle. Between September 26 and November 6 we took +26,059 prisoners and 468 guns on this front. Our divisions engaged were +the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, +Twenty-ninth, Thirty-second, Thirty-third, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-seventh, +Forty-second, Seventy-seventh, Seventy-eighth, Seventy-ninth, Eightieth, +Eighty-second, Eighty-ninth, Ninetieth, and Ninety-first. Many of our +divisions remained in line for a length of time that required nerves of +steel, while others were sent in again after only a few days of rest. +The First, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Forty-second, Seventy-seventh, +Eightieth, Eighty-ninth, and Ninetieth were in the line twice. Although +some of the divisions were fighting their first battle, they soon became +equal to the best. + + +OPERATIONS EAST OF THE MEUSE. + +On the three days preceding November 10, the Third, the Second Colonial, +and the Seventeenth French Corps fought a difficult struggle through the +Meuse Hills south of Stenay and forced the enemy into the plain. +Meanwhile, my plans for further use of the American forces contemplated +an advance between the Meuse and the Moselle in the direction of Longwy +by the First Army, while, at the same time, the Second Army should +assure the offensive toward the rich iron fields of Briey. These +operations were to be followed by an offensive toward Chateau-Salins +east of the Moselle, thus isolating Metz. Accordingly, attacks on the +American front had been ordered and that of the Second Army was in +progress on the morning of November 11, when instructions were received +that hostilities should cease at 11 o'clock A.M. + +At this moment the line of the American sector, from right to left, +began at Port-Sur-Seille, thence across the Moselle to Vandieres and +through the Woevre to Bezonvaux, in the foothills of the Meuse, thence +along to the foothills and through the northern edge of the Woevre +forests to the Meuse at Mouzay, thence along the Meuse connecting with +the French under Sedan. + + +RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES. + +Co-operation among the Allies has at all times been most cordial. A far +greater effort has been put forth by the Allied armies and staffs to +assist us than could have been expected. The French Government and army +have always stood ready to furnish us with supplies, equipment, and +transportation, and to aid us in every way. In the towns and hamlets +wherever our troops have been stationed or billeted the French people +have everywhere received them more as relatives and intimate friends +than as soldiers of a foreign army. For these things words are quite +inadequate to express our gratitude. There can be no doubt that the +relations growing out of our associations here assure a permanent +friendship between the two peoples. Although we have not been so +intimately associated with the people of Great Britain, yet their troops +and ours when thrown together have always warmly fraternized. The +reception of those of our forces who have passed through England and of +those who have been stationed there has always been enthusiastic. +Altogether it has been deeply impressed upon us that the ties of +language and blood bring the British and ourselves together completely +and inseparably. + + +STRENGTH. + +There are in Europe altogether, including a regiment and some sanitary +units with the Italian army and the organizations at Murmansk, also +including those en route from the States, approximately 2,053,347 men, +less our losses. Of this total, there are in France 1,338,169 combatant +troops. Forty divisions have arrived, of which the infantry personnel of +ten have been used as replacements, leaving 30 divisions now in France +organized into three armies of three corps each. + +The losses of the Americans up to November 18 are: Killed and wounded, +36,145; died of disease, 14,811; deaths unclassified, 2,204; wounded, +179,625; prisoners, 2,163; missing, 1,160. We have captured about 44,000 +prisoners and 1,400 guns, howitzers and trench mortars. + + +WARM APPRECIATION. + +The duties of the General Staff, as well as those of the army and corps +staffs, have been very ably performed. Especially is this true when we +consider the new and difficult problems with which they have been +confronted. This body of officers, both as individuals and as an +organization, have, I believe, no superiors in professional ability, in +efficiency, or in loyalty. + +Nothing that we have in France better reflects the efficiency and +devotion to duty of Americans in general than the Service of Supply, +whose personnel is thoroughly imbued with a patriotic desire to do its +full duty. They have at all times fully appreciated their responsibility +to the rest of the army and the results produced have been most +gratifying. + + +SPECIAL WORK OF DEPARTMENTS. + +Our Medical Corps is especially entitled to praise for the general +effectiveness of its work both in hospital and at the front. Embracing +men of high professional attainments, and splendid women devoted to +their calling and untiring in their efforts, this department has made a +new record for medical and sanitary proficiency. + +The Quartermaster Department has had difficult and various tasks, but +it has more than met all demands that have been made upon it. Its +management and its personnel have been exceptionally efficient and +deserve every possible commendation. + + +SPLENDID TECHNICAL SERVICE. + +As to the more technical services, the able personnel of the Ordnance +Department in France has splendidly fulfilled its functions, both in +procurement and in forwarding the immense quantities of ordnance +required. The officers and men and the young women of the Signal Corps +have performed their duties with a large conception of the problem and +with a devoted and patriotic spirit to which the perfection of our +communications daily testify. While the Engineer Corps has been referred +to in another part of this report, it should be further stated that the +work has required large vision and high professional skill, and great +credit is due their personnel for the high proficiency that they have +constantly maintained. + +Our aviators have no equals in daring or in fighting ability and have +left a record of courageous deeds that will ever remain a brilliant page +in the annals of our army. While the Tank Corps has had limited +opportunities its personnel has responded gallantly on every possible +occasion and has shown courage of the highest order. + +The Adjutant General's Department has been directed with a systematic +thoroughness and excellence that surpassed any previous work of its +kind. The Inspector General's Department has risen to the highest +standards and throughout has ably assisted commanders in the enforcement +of discipline. The able personnel of the Judge Advocate General's +Department has solved with judgment and wisdom the multitude of +difficult legal problems, many of them involving questions of great +international importance. + + +TRIBUTE TO THE PERSONNEL OF THE VARIOUS BRANCHES. + +It would be impossible in this brief preliminary report to do justice to +the personnel of all the different branches of this organization which I +shall cover in detail in a later report. + +The navy in European waters has at all times most cordially aided the +army, and it is most gratifying to report that there has never before +been such perfect co-operation between these two branches of the +service. + +As to Americans in Europe not in the military services, it is the +greatest pleasure to say that, both in official and in private life, +they are intensely patriotic and loyal, and have been invariably +sympathetic and helpful to the army. + +Finally, I pay the supreme tribute to our officers and soldiers of the +line. When I think of their heroism, their patience under hardships, +their unflinching spirit of offensive action, I am filled with emotion +which I am unable to express. Their deeds are immortal, and they have +earned the eternal gratitude of our country. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PRESIDENT WILSON'S REVIEW OF THE WAR. + +TROOP MOVEMENT DURING THE YEAR--TRIBUTE TO AMERICAN SOLDIERS--SPLENDID +SPIRIT OF THE NATION--RESUME THE WORK OF PEACE--OUTLINE OF WORK IN +PARIS--SUPPORT OF NATION URGED. + + +On December 2, 1918, just prior to sailing for Europe to take part in +the Peace Conference, President Wilson addressed Congress, reviewing the +work of the American people, soldiers, sailors and civilians, in the +World War which had been brought to a successful conclusion on November +11th. His speech, in part, follows: + +"The year that has elapsed since I last stood before you to fulfill my +constitutional duty to give to the Congress from time to time +information on the state of the Union has been so crowded with great +events, great processes and great results that I can not hope to give +you an adequate picture of its transactions or of the far-reaching +changes which have been wrought in the life of our Nation and of the +world. You have yourselves witnessed these things, as I have. It is too +soon to assess them; and we who stand in the midst of them and are part +of them are less qualified than men of another generation will be to say +what they mean or even what they have been. But some great outstanding +facts are unmistakable and constitute in a sense part of the public +business with which it is our duty to deal. To state them is to set the +stage for the legislative and executive action which must grow out of +them and which we have yet to shape and determine. + + +TROOP MOVEMENT DURING THE YEAR. + +"A year ago we had sent 145,918 men overseas. Since then we have sent +1,950,513, an average of 162,542 each month, the number in fact rising +in May last to 245,951, in June to 278,760, in July to 307,182 and +continuing to reach similar figures in August and September--in August +289,570 and in September 257,438. No such movement of troops ever took +place before, across 3,000 miles of sea, followed by adequate equipment +and supplies, and carried safely through extraordinary dangers of +attack, dangers which were alike strange and infinitely difficult to +guard against. In all this movement only 758 men were lost by enemy +attacks, 630 of whom were upon a single English transport which was sunk +near the Orkney Islands. + +"I need not tell you what lay back of this great movement of men and +material. It is not invidious to say that back of it lay a supporting +organization of the industries of the country and of all its productive +activities more complete, more thorough in method and effective in +results, more spirited and unanimous in purpose and effort than any +other great belligerent had ever been able to effect. We profited +greatly by the experience of the nations which had already been engaged +for nearly three years in the exigent and exacting business, their every +resource and every proficiency taxed to the utmost. We were the pupils. +But we learned quickly and acted with a promptness and a readiness of +co-operation that justify our great pride that we were able to serve the +world with unparalleled energy and quick accomplishment. + +[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPHED IN A VILLAGE IN GERMANY. + +A member of the 369th (old 15th N.Y.) brought this picture back with +him. He is wearing the smile which tells the story. The war is over.] + +[Illustration: LIEUT. "JIMMY" EUROPE AND HIS FAMOUS BAND. + +This band was hailed with enthusiasm by the French. Five kettle drums in +this band were presented by the French as a mark of esteem. Another +drum, beaten by Willie Webb, of Louisville, Ky., was a trophy left by +the Germans when they retreated.] + +[Illustration: GETTING READY FOR THEIR DAILY BATH. + +Negro troops in a transport going over. No inconvenience marred their +good cheer.] + +[Illustration: IN LINE FOR REVIEW. + +Members of the 15th Infantry being reviewed. A sturdy and determined +line of fighting men.] + +[Illustration: A QUARTETTE WHICH GAVE GOOD ENTERTAINMENT. + +These colored members of the 301st Stevedore Regiment were attached to +the 23rd Engineers in France.] + +[Illustration: LINED UP AND READY FOR ACTION. + +Members of the 15th Infantry. Note the serious and determined expression +in their faces. They mean business and will obey orders.] + +[Illustration: AT THE SIGNAL BOX READY TO SOUND THE GAS ALARM. + +These men had a great responsibility placed upon them. The sounding of +the Gas Alarm quickly and accurately, when gas was detected, meant +saving the lives of many men.] + +[Illustration: BOTH WORKING FOR THE Y.M.C.A. + +Mr. Kelly and his colored driver at work during the last German +offensive.] + +[Illustration: BAPTIZING NEGRO SOLDIERS AT CAMP GORDON. + +A religious and very effective scene. These Christian men had faith and +confidence in their religion.] + +[Illustration: COLORED TROOPS IN PUERTO RICO. + +A brilliant Fourth of July parade through Allen Street, San Juan, Puerto +Rico.] + +[Illustration: NEGRO SHARPSHOOTERS.] + +[Illustration: NEGRO CHILDREN WEAVING CLOTH. + +Recently photographed in Kamerun, the last of the German provinces in +Africa to surrender to the Allies. Illustrating child labor at the +lowest possible cost.] + +[Illustration: AFRICAN NEGROES IN KAMERUN, SHOWING NATIVE HEADDRESS. + +These pictures were photographed in Fumban, the largest and most densely +populated section of Kamerun, one of Germany's colonies in Africa +captured by the Allies.] + +[Illustration: NATIVE CHILDREN SPINNING COTTON IN KAMERUN, AFRICA. + +Kamerun was the last German province in Africa to hold out against the +Allies. This picture was taken by the Allies since they captured the +Colony. The natives were never before photographed.] + +[Illustration: Africa and the World Democracy + +HOW AFRICA WAS DIVIDED UP AMONG THE NATIONS OF EUROPE BEFORE THE WAR] + + _Area_ + _Country_ _Sq. Miles_ _Populat'n_ + British Empire 3,700,000 52,325,000 + France 4,641,000 29,577,000 + Germany 931,000 13,420,000 + Portugal 749,000 8,244,000 + Italy 593,000 1,579,000 + Belgium (Belgian Congo) 909,000 15,000,000 + Spain 88,000 660,000 + + INDEPENDENT STATES + Abyssinia 432,000 8,000,000 + Liberia 40,000 1,800,000 + +[Illustration: AFRICAN TROOPS BEING TRAINED IN FRANCE. + +These husky fighters are bound to deliver the goods.] + + +TRIBUTE TO AMERICAN SOLDIERS. + +"But it is not the physical scale and executive efficiency of +preparation, supply, equipment and dispatch that I would dwell upon, but +the mettle and quality of the officers and men we sent over and of the +sailors who kept the seas, and the spirit of the Nation that stood +behind them. No soldiers, or sailors, ever proved themselves more +quickly ready for the test of battle or acquitted themselves with more +splendid courage and achievement when put to the test. Those of us who +played some part in directing the great processes by which the war was +pushed irresistibly forward to the final triumph may now forget all that +and delight our thoughts with the story of what our men did. Their +officers understood the grim and exacting task they had undertaken and +performed with audacity, efficiency, and unhesitating courage that touch +the story of convoy and battle with imperishable distinction at every +turn, whether the enterprise were great or small--from their chiefs, +Pershing and Sims, down to the youngest lieutenant; and their men were +worthy of them--such men as hardly need to be commanded, and go to their +terrible adventure blithely and with the quick intelligence of those who +know just what it is they would accomplish. I am proud to be the +fellow-countryman of men of such stuff and valor. Those of us who stayed +at home did our duty; the war could not have been won or the gallant men +who fought it given their opportunity to win it otherwise; but for many +a long day we shall think ourselves 'accursed we were not there, and +hold our manhoods cheap while any speaks that fought' with these at St. +Mihiel or Thierry. The memory of those days of triumphant battle will go +with these fortunate men to their graves; and each will have his +favorite memory. 'Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, but he'll +remember with advantages what feats he did that day!' + +"What we all thank God for with deepest gratitude is that our men went +in force into the line of battle just at the critical moment, and threw +their fresh strength into the ranks of freedom in time to turn the whole +tide and sweep of the fateful struggle--turn it once for all, so that +henceforth it was back, back, back for their enemies, always back, never +again forward! After that it was only a scant four months before the +commanders of the Central empires knew themselves beaten, and now their +very empires are in liquidation! + + +SPLENDID SPIRIT OF THE NATION. + +"And throughout it all how fine the spirit of the Nation was; what unity +of purpose, what untiring zeal! What elevation of purpose ran through +all its splendid display of strength, its untiring accomplishment. I +have said that those of us who stayed at home to do the work of +organization and supply will always wish that we had been with the men +whom we sustained by our labor; but we can never be ashamed. It has been +an inspiring thing to be here in the midst of fine men who had turned +aside from every private interest of their own and devoted the whole of +their trained capacity to the tasks that supplied the sinews of the +whole great undertaking! The patriotism, the unselfishness, the +thoroughgoing devotion and distinguished capacity that marked their +toilsome labors, day after day, month after month, have made them fit +mates and comrades of the men in the trenches and on the sea. And not +the men here in Washington only. They have but directed the vast +achievement. Throughout innumerable factories, upon innumerable farms, +in the depths of coal mines and iron mines and copper mines, wherever +the stuffs of industry were to be obtained and prepared, in the +shipyards, on the railways, at the docks, on the sea, in every labor +that was needed to sustain the battle lines men have vied with each +other to do their part and do it well. They can look any man-at-arms in +the face, and say, we also strove to win and gave the best that was in +us to make our fleets and armies sure of their triumph! + + +PATRIOTIC WOMEN OF AMERICA. + +"And what shall we say of the women--of their instant intelligence, +quickening every task that they touched; their capacity for +organization and co-operation, which gave their action discipline and +enhanced the effectiveness of everything they attempted; their aptitude +at tasks to which they had never before set their hands; their utter +self-sacrificing alike in what they did and in what they gave? Their +contribution to the great result is beyond appraisal. They have added a +new luster to the annals of American womanhood. + +"The least tribute we can pay them is to make them the equals of men in +political rights, as they have proved themselves their equals in every +field of practical work they have entered, whether for themselves or for +their country. These great days of completed achievement would be sadly +marred were we to omit that act of justice. Besides the immense +practical services they have rendered, the women of the country have +been the moving spirits in the systematic economies by which our people +have voluntarily assisted to supply the suffering peoples of the world +and the armies upon every front with food and everything else that we +had that might serve the common cause. The details of such a story can +never be fully written, but we carry them in our hearts and thank God +that we can say we are the kinsmen of such. + + +RESUME THE WORK OF PEACE. + +"And now we are sure of the great triumph for which every sacrifice was +made. It has come, come in its completeness, and with the pride and +inspiration of these days of achievement quick within us we turn to the +tasks of peace again--a peace secure against the violence of +irresponsible monarchs and ambitious military coteries and made ready +for a new order, for new foundations of justice and fair dealing. + +"We are about to give order and organization to this peace, not only +for ourselves, but for the other peoples of the world as well, so far as +they will suffer us to serve them. It is international justice that we +seek, not domestic safety merely.... + +"So far as our domestic affairs are concerned the problem of our return +to peace is a problem of economic and industrial readjustment. That +problem is less serious for us than it may turn out to be for the +nations which have suffered the disarrangements and the losses of war +longer than we. Our people, moreover, do not wait to be coached and led. +They know their own business, are quick and resourceful at every +readjustment, definite in purpose and self-reliant in action. Any +leading strings we might seek to put them in would speedily become +hopelessly tangled because they would pay no attention to them and go +their own way. All that we can do as their legislative and executive +servants is to mediate the process of change here, there and elsewhere +as we may. I have heard much counsel as to the plans that should be +formed and personally conducted to a happy consummation, but from no +quarter have I seen any general scheme of reconstruction emerge which I +thought it likely we could force our spirited business men and +self-reliant laborers to accept with due pliancy and obedience. + + +ORGANIZATION FOR WAR. + +"While the war lasted we set up many agencies by which to direct the +industries of the country in the services it was necessary for them to +render, by which to make sure of an abundant supply of the materials +needed, by which to check undertakings that could for the time be +dispensed with and stimulate those that were most serviceable in war, by +which to gain for the purchasing departments of the government a certain +control over the prices of essential articles and materials, by which +to restrain trade with alien enemies, make the most of the available +shipping and systematize financial transactions, both public and +private, so that there would be no unnecessary conflict or confusion--by +which, in short, to put every material energy of the country in harness +to draw the common load and make of us one team in accomplishment of a +great task. + +"But the moment we knew the armistice to have been signed we took the +harness off. Raw materials upon which the government had kept its hand +for fear there should not be enough for the industries that supplied the +armies have been released, and put into the general market again. Great +industrial plants whose whole output and machinery had been taken over +for the uses of the government have been set free to return to the uses +to which they were put before the war. It has not been possible to +remove so readily or so quickly the control of foodstuffs and of +shipping, because the world has still to be fed from our granaries and +the ships are still needed to send supplies to our men oversea and to +bring the men back as fast as the disturbed conditions on the other side +of the water permit; but even there restraints are being relaxed as much +as possible, and more and more as the weeks go by. + +"Never before have there been agencies in existence in this country +which knew so much of the field of supply of labor, and of industry as +the War Industries Board, the War Trade Board, the Labor Department, the +Food Administration and the Fuel Administration have known since their +labors became thoroughly systematized; and they have not been isolated +agencies; they have been directed by men which represented the permanent +departments of the government and so have been the centers of unified +and co-operative action. It has been the policy of the Executive, +therefore, since the armistice was assured (which is in effect a +complete submission of the enemy) to put the knowledge of these bodies +at the disposal of the business men of the country and to offer their +intelligent mediation at every point and in every matter where it was +desired. It is surprising how fast the process of return to a peace +footing has moved in the three weeks since the fighting stopped. It +promises to outrun any inquiry that may be instituted and any aid that +may be offered. It will not be easy to direct it any better than it will +direct itself. The American business man is of quick initiative.... + + +OUTLINE OF WORK IN PARIS. + +"I welcome this occasion to announce to the Congress my purpose to join +in Paris the representatives of the governments with which we have been +associated in the war against the Central Empires for the purpose of +discussing with them the main features of the treaty of peace. I realize +the great inconveniences that will attend my leaving the country, +particularly at this time, but the conclusion that it was my paramount +duty to go has been forced upon me by considerations which I hope will +seem as conclusive to you as they have seemed to me. + +"The Allied governments have accepted the bases of peace which I +outlined to the Congress on the 8th of January last, as the Central +Empires also have, and very reasonably desire my personal counsel in +their interpretation and application, and it is highly desirable that I +should give it, in order that the sincere desire of our government to +contribute without selfish purpose of any kind to settlements that will +be of common benefit to all the nations concerned may be made fully +manifest. The peace settlements which are now to be agreed upon are of +transcendent importance both to us and to the rest of the world, and I +know of no business or interest which should take precedence of them. +The gallant men of our armed forces on land and sea have consciously +fought for the ideals which they knew to be the ideals of their country; +I have sought to express those ideals; they have accepted my statements +of them as the substance of their own thought and purpose, as the +associated governments have accepted them; I owe it to them to see to +it, so far as in me lies, that no false or mistaken interpretation is +put upon them, and no possible effort omitted to realize them. It is now +my duty to play my full part in making good what they offered their +life's blood to obtain. I can think of no call to service which could +transcend this.... + + +SUPPORT OF NATION URGED. + +"May I not hope, gentlemen of the Congress, that in the delicate tasks I +shall have to perform on the other side of the sea in my efforts truly +and faithfully to interpret the principles and purposes of the country +we love, I may have the encouragement and the added strength of your +united support? I realize the magnitude and difficulty of the duty I am +undertaking. I am poignantly aware of its grave responsibilities. I am +the servant of the Nation. I can have no private thought or purpose of +my own in performing such an errand. I go to give the best that is in me +to the common settlements which I must now assist in arriving at in +conference with the other working heads of the associated governments. I +shall count upon your friendly countenance and encouragement. I shall +not be inaccessible. The cables and the wireless will render me +available for any counsel or service you may desire of me, and I shall +be happy in the thought that I am constantly in touch with the weighty +matters of domestic policy with which we shall have to deal. I shall +make my absence as brief as possible and shall hope to return with the +happy assurance that it has been possible to translate into action the +great ideals for which America has striven." + + +PRESIDENT WILSON'S DIPLOMATIC MISSION. + +In accordance with this message, President Wilson broke the traditions +of more than a century, and took upon himself the deep responsibility of +a diplomatic mission. He went as the representative of one of the great +belligerent powers to confer with the premiers and leading diplomats of +Europe to frame, not only a peace of justice to terminate the World War, +but--if possible--to organize a League of Nations, henceforth making +such cataclysms an impossibility. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE FLASH THAT SET THE WORLD AFLAME. + +TEUTONS FIND IN A MURDER THE EXCUSE FOR WAR--GERMANY INSPIRED BY AMBITIONS +FOR WORLD CONTROL--THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL SUPREMACY A FACTOR--THE +UNDERLYING MOTIVES. + + +The assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir apparent to +the throne of Austria, together with his wife, in Bosnia, during the +last days of June, 1914, is commonly regarded as the blow which forged +the chain that bound the European powers in bloody warfare. The tragedy +was the signal for putting on the world stage the greatest war play of +all times. + +When Austria, regarding the murder of the Archduke as a National +affront, precipitated the conflict which has convulsed the universe, she +marked the way easy for Imperial Germany to put into effect a +long-contemplated plan for territorial expansion, and to wage a warfare +so insidious, so brutal and so ruthless in its character as to amaze the +civilized world. + +Word-pictures were drawn, so to speak, of a mighty nation striving to +burst iron bands that were slowly strangling her, and her perfectly +natural wish to find outlets for her rapidly growing population and +commerce. Germany sought to obtain "a place in the sun," to use one of +the Kaiser's most unfortunate expressions, and the world soon found that +the "place" included the territory embracing a few ports on the English +channel, with control of Holland and Belgium, Poland, the Balkan +countries, a big slice of Asia Minor, Egypt, English and French colonies +in Africa, not to mention remote possibilities. + +Germany's ambitions may have been laudable, but her methods of trying to +satisfy these ambitions were not such as to either gain for her the +"solar warmth" which she sought to win, or gain for her the friendship +of the nations of the civilized world. The drama which Germany directed +moved swiftly in this wise: + +Austria claimed that Servia, as a Nation, was responsible for the +assassination of the Archduke in Bosnia. She sent an ultimatum to +Belgrade, making demands which the Servians could not admit. Thereupon +Austria declared war and moved across the Danube with her army. + + +THE FOUR GROUPS. + +Austria's attack threatened to disturb the balance of power, because at +the time the continent was divided into four groups: The close alliance +of the central powers--Germany, Austria and Italy--referred to as the +Triple Alliance or Dreibund; the Triple Entente, or understanding +between Great Britain, France and Russia; the smaller group whose +neutrality and integrity had been guaranteed, or at least +recognized--Belgium, Denmark, Holland and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, +sandwiched in between Germany, France and Belgium, together with +Switzerland. The fourth group included the Balkan nations: Bulgaria, +Servia, Montenegro, Greece, Turkey and Roumania, all drawn close to +Russia; Norway and Sweden, and the Iberian nations, Spain and Portugal. +The increase in the power of one of these groups would at any time have +been sufficient to precipitate a war, but in the movement of Austria +against Servia there entered a racial element. There was a threatened +drawing of another Slavonic peoples into the Teutonic system. Besides +this, the action let loose the flood of militarism which civilization +had been holding in check. + +With this situation in mind, it is easy to understand how Germany could +precipitate a world conflict by attempting to keep open the way to the +near East, and controlling the markets as against Britain, France and +Russia. Back of all this was the question of commercial supremacy, +Germany showing her intention of keeping the way open to the near East +and dominating the markets as against Britain, France and Russia. + +Russia could not stand by and see one of her Slavonic wards crushed, and +France, which held the Russian national debt, prepared to support her +debtor, whereupon Germany, threatened on both sides, struck. In doing so +the Kaiser ignored the rights of the small neutral states, invaded +Belgium and brought his armies within threatening distance of England. +France prepared to defend her country against Germany, and England, +alarmed by the move of Germany and sympathizing with Belgium, struck +back to avert the disaster which she felt must follow the German +movement, which had been threatening for years. + + +REGARDED EACH OTHER WITH SUSPICION. + +All attempts to maintain a balance of power between the European +countries were from time to time jeopardized by various developments. +The elements in the continental group struggled against each other, and +the Nations, while seemingly at rest, regarded each other with +suspicion. One of the underlying forces that the world knew must at some +time be felt was of racial origin. The historical explanations of the +war would involve the retelling of almost everything that has happened +in Europe for more than a century. + +But it is necessary to the long train of evil consequences which have +followed the interference of other powers in the settlement of affairs +between Russia and Turkey after the war of 1877, when Russia was +victorious. Russia and Turkey had agreed upon a large Bulgaria and an +enlarged and independent Servia, but at the Berlin Congress, which +Austria had taken the initiative in calling, Austria showed that she +wished to have as much as possible of this Christian territory of +Southeastern Europe kept under the domination or nominal authority of +Turkey. Austria feared Russia's influence with the new countries of +Servia, Roumania, Bulgaria and Montenegro, and therefore she desired to +have this territory remain Turkish by influence, to the end that she +might some day acquire part or all of it for herself. + +One of the articles of the agreement of Berlin turned Bosnia and +Herzegovina over to Austria for temporary occupation and management. +Austria was a trustee of the country which lies between Servia and the +Adriatic sea, and while Austria's management was efficient, Servia +looked forward to the time when a union could be effected with Bosnia, +which would provide Servia with an outlet to the sea. + + +THE SERVIANS EMBITTERED. + +But when Russia fell humiliated by the Japanese and the Young Turks +reformed their government, and there was prospect that the Turks might +demand the evacuation of Bosnia by Austria, the powers that had engaged +in the Berlin treaty were informed that Austria had decided to make +Bosnia and Herzegovina a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The +Servians were embittered, because this stood in the way of their +attaining their ideals, and their country was landlocked. + +With this bitterness rankling in her national breast, Servia joined +forces with Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro to drive the Turks out of +Europe. The larger powers, including Austria, tried to prevent the +action, but the heroic Balkan struggle is a matter of history. Servia +was to have secured as a share of the conquered territory a portion of +Albania, on the Adriatic. This would have compensated her for the loss +of Bosnia, but the great powers, led by Austria, stepped in, and a plan +was devised of making Albania an independent state or principality, with +a German prince to rule over it. + +The Servians were bitter, and both Servia and Greece demanded of +Bulgaria portions of the territory acquired in the war and which had +originally been assigned to Bulgaria as her share. Bulgaria stood upon +her technical rights and precipitated the last Balkan war, which was +really made possible, or probable, by the Austrian policy. When the war +was concluded Servia had acquired more territory to the south, but she +remained a landlocked country, with Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania +stretching between her and the Adriatic sea. + +This was the situation when the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand +and his wife occurred in Bosnia. The Archduke was, in effect, a joint +ruler with the Emperor Franz Joseph, who was nearly 84 years of age, and +the entire world realized that great events were likely to follow the +killing of the heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The murder +was committed by a young Servian fanatic, and Austria determined to hold +Servia responsible for the murder, and therefore presented her +now-famous ultimatum. + + +NO CAUSE FOR WAR. + +Students of history hold that if there had been a proper respect for the +commendable desire of the Christian peoples in European Turkey to throw +off the Turkish yoke and become self-governing states, there would have +been no cause for war, so far as relates to Servia and the situation +which precipitated the conflict. There would have been developed a +series of peaceful and progressive countries of the non-military type of +Denmark, Sweden and Holland. + +A wiser treatment of the Balkan problem might have averted the war, but +it could not have set aside racial differences, nor could it have ended +the curse of militarism or set at rest the distrust and fear which it +promotes. + +The end of European militarism might have come about, however, through a +better understanding between Germany and France. This might have been +arrived at years ago if Germany had opened the Alsace-Lorraine question, +and had rearranged the boundary line between the two countries so that +the French-speaking communities lost in the Franco-Prussian war be ceded +back to France. The cost of maintaining the feud over Alsace-Lorraine +has been a burden to both France and Germany, and the progress which +Germany has made in world affairs, despite the burden of militarism +which she has earned, is one of the marvels of the century. And the +situation compelled France to maintain a defensive military organization +which was as great a burden to her and barrier to world peace as the +military burden of Germany. + + +STRAIN BETWEEN GERMANY AND RUSSIA. + +Whether Germany conspired to bring on the war so that she could wage a +campaign of aggression has not yet been made clear, but the strain +between Germany and Russia had been growing for some time, and the +assassination of the Teutonic heir, Francis Ferdinand, by a ward of +Russia, created an occasion which gave Germany an opportunity to fight, +without being compelled to directly precipitate the conflict. Russia +could do naught else but come to the aid of Servia, and Germany by +reason of her alliance with Austria must aid the latter country. + +Germany anticipated the entry of Italy into the conflict as the third +member of the Triple Alliance, but Italy did not regard Germany's action +as defensive and declined to aid Austria. Germany had made overtures to +Great Britain, but England had an understanding with France, which was +in the nature of a limited alliance, and Germany might have kept England +out of the struggle; but Germany proceeded with a plan to invade France +by way of Belgium, which was in violation of international agreement +establishing Belgium's neutrality and independence. Germany had nothing +to gain by choosing the Belgium route, for the fact is that even had the +Belgian government approved the movement, there must have been a French +counter-movement, which would have made Belgium the theatre of war just +the same. + +Pan-Germanism has been described as one of the underlying motives in the +world war, and Pan-Slavism has always opposed Pan-Germanism. +Pan-Germanism is described as a well-defined policy or movement which +seeks the common welfare of the Germanic peoples of all Europe and the +advance of Teutonic culture, while Pan-Slavism, represented by Russia, +seeks in the main the uniting of all the Slavonic folk for common +welfare. The contact between these two has always been seething, and the +racial differences made burdensome the arbitrary alignment and political +geography arranged by the Berlin Congress. + + +OUTLETS TO THE WORLD'S MARKET. + +The commercial side, however, was a big factor, for Germany sought world +markets for its products. In the near East are the grain fields of +Mesopotamia, and in the far East are the vast markets of India and +China. The great banking and financial interests of Europe have been +seeking the conquest of Asia for nearly half a century. German capital +built railroads through Asia Minor, but English capital controls the +Suez Canal. Russia welded the Balkan states until the Slavonic wedge +from the Black sea to the Adriatic barred Germany's way to the Orient. +England threatened the Kaiser's expansion on the sea; while Russia, on +one side, with France her strong ally, closed the Germans in on opposite +sides. So Germany must have outlets to the world markets. + +The religious element was also a factor in the affairs of Europe, for +the territory has been divided into four large religious groups for +centuries. Moslems counted several millions of Turks, Bosnians and +Albanians in Europe, the Protestants among the Germans, English, Swiss +and Hungarians number about 100,000,000, while the Roman Catholics in +all the Latin countries, Southern Germany, Croatia, Albania, Bohemia, +and in Russian Austria and Russian Poland are about 180,000,000. The +Greek Catholics in Russia, the Balkan countries and a few provinces in +the Austrian Empire number more than 110,000,000. + +The differences in religion have precipitated many European struggles, +but for more than a century the countries have been forced to assume an +attitude of tolerance, so that churches other than those established by +the State have thrived; But just what influence religions may have had +in the various incidents of the war it is difficult to determine. + +The outstanding fact is that but for the arrogant, militaristic policy +of Imperial Germany, the differences between nations might have been +settled, and almost indescribable horrors of the war would never have +been experienced. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WHY AMERICA ENTERED THE WAR. + +THE IRON HAND OF PRUSSIANISM--THE ARROGANT HOHENZOLLERN +ATTITUDE--SECRETARY LANE TELLS WHY WE FIGHT--BROKEN PLEDGES--LAWS +VIOLATED--PRUSSIANISM THE CHILD OF BARBARITY--GERMANY'S PLANS FOR A +WORLD EMPIRE. + + +Not merely to prevent Germany from opening avenues of commerce to the +seas nor to throttle the ambitions of the Kaiser was America drawn into +the vortex of war with France, England, Russia, Belgium, Italy and other +nations; but that the iron hand of Prussianism, as exemplified in the +conduct of the German Government, might be lifted from the shoulders of +men, and the world given that measure of peace and security which modern +civilization demands. + +Germany by her ruthless submarine warfare brought desolation to many +American homes. She sank without a pang of conscience the great +transatlantic steamship Lusitania, and, while pretending friendship for +the United States and pleading no intent to disregard American rights, +broke her own pledges and repeated her overt acts, ignoring +international law and the rights of all neutrals at sea. + +She began her outlawry by the invasion of Belgium, which was followed by +conduct on the part of the German forces which clearly marked them +descendants of the "wolf tribes" of feudal days, fighting with the motto +before them of, "To the victor belong the spoils." + +But all of Germany's diabolical acts involving the peace and security of +America and American citizens might have been the subject of +international adjudication but for the arrogance of the ruling forces of +the Teutons. In a broad sense, Prussianism is credited with +responsibility for the devastating war and for the policy which drew +America into the conflict. + +The country, led by President Woodrow Wilson, who temporized to an +extent that for a time made him the subject of bitter criticism, found +that war was being forced upon it by an autocratic and ambitious German +Government--that of the Hohenzollern dynasty--which possessed an insane +ambition to dominate the earth, leaving to America no alternative but to +borrow the piratical terrorism of Imperialistic Germany, with temporary +abandonment of its own constitutional free government, and join the +Allies to defend it. + +In the sense which Prussianism or militarism is here used it denotes a +mental attitude or view. It is a condition of mind which is partisan, +exaggerated and egotistical, and is developed by environment and +training. Just as the professional spirit in any other occupation leads +to an exhibition of exaggerated importance, the despotic doctrine of +militarism assumes superiority over rational motives and deliberations. +Everything must be sacrificed to perpetuate and maintain the honor and +prestige of the military. + + +WHAT MILITARISM IS. + +What that militarism is and what it has done to America, and to the +whole world, is best summed up in the words of Secretary Lane, of the +Department of the Interior, at Washington, who in an address before the +Home Club of the Department on June 4, 1917, just when America was +beginning to send forces to Europe, said: + +"America is at war in self-defense and because she could not keep out; +she is at war to save herself with the rest of the world from the nation +that has linked itself with the Turk and adopted the methods of Mahomet, +setting itself to make the world bow before policies backed by the +organized and scientific military system. + +"Why are we fighting Germany? The brief answer is that ours is a war of +self-defense. We did not wish to fight Germany. She made the attack upon +us; not on our shores, but on our ships, our lives, our rights, our +future. For two years and more we held to a neutrality that made us +apologists for things which outraged man's common sense of fair play and +humanity. + +"At each new offense--the invasion of Belgium, the killing of civilian +Belgians, the attacks on Scarborough and other defenseless towns, the +laying of mines in neutral waters, the fencing off of the seas--and on +and on through the months, we said: + +"'This is war--archaic, uncivilized war, but war. All rules have been +thrown away; all nobility; man has come down to the primitive brute. And +while we cannot justify, we cannot intervene. It is not our war.' + + +IN WAR TO DEFEND RIGHTS. + +"Then why are we in? Because we could not keep out. The invasion of +Belgium, which opened the war, led to the invasion of the United States +by slow, steady, logical steps. Our sympathies evolved into a conviction +of self-interest. Our love of fair play ripened into alarm at our own +peril. + +"We talked in the language and in the spirit of good faith and +sincerity, as honest men should talk, until we discovered that our talk +was construed as cowardice. And Mexico was called upon to cow us. + +"We talked as men would talk who cared alone for peace and the +advancement of their own material interests, until we discovered that we +were thought to be a nation of mere moneymakers, devoid of all +character--until, indeed, we were told that we could not walk the +highways of the world without permission of a Prussian soldier, that our +ships might not sail without wearing a striped uniform of humiliation +upon a narrow path of national subservience. + +"We talked as men talk who hope for honest agreement, not for war, until +we found that the treaty torn to pieces at Liege was but the symbol of a +policy that made agreements worthless against a purpose that knew no +word but success. + +"And so we came into this war for ourselves. It is a war to save +America, to preserve self-respect, to justify our right to live as we +have lived, not as some one else wishes us to live. In the name of +freedom we challenge with ships and men, money and an undaunted spirit, +that word 'verboten' which Germany has written upon the sea and upon the +land. + +"For America is not the name of so much territory. It is a living +spirit, born in travail, grown in the rough school of bitter +experiences, a living spirit which has purpose and pride and conscience, +knows why it wishes to live and to what end, knows how it comes to be +respected of the world, and hopes to retain that respect by living on +with the light of Lincoln's love of man as its old and new testaments. + + +AMERICA MUST LIVE. + +"It is more precious that this America should live than that we +Americans should live. And this America as we now see has been +challenged from the first of this war by the strong arm of a power that +has no sympathy with our purpose, and will not hesitate to destroy us if +the law that we respect, the rights that are to us sacred, or the spirit +that we have, stand across her set will to make this world bow before +her policies, backed by her organized and scientific military system. +The world of Christ--a neglected but not a rejected Christ--has come +again face to face with the world of Mahomet, who willed to win by +force. + +"With this background of history and in this sense, then, we fight +Germany: + +"Because of Belgium--invaded, outraged, enslaved, impoverished Belgium. +We cannot forget Liege, Louvain and Cardinal Mercier. Translated into +terms of American history these names stand for Bunker Hill, Lexington +and Patrick Henry. + +"Because of France--invaded, desecrated France, a million of whose +heroic sons have died to save the land of Lafayette. Glorious, golden +France, the preserver of the arts, the land of noble spirit. The first +land to follow our lead into republican liberty. + +"Because of England--from whom came the laws, traditions, standards of +life and inherent love of liberty which we call Anglo-Saxon +civilization. We defeated her once upon the land and once upon sea. But +Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Canada are free because of what we +did. And they are with us in the fight for the freedom of the seas. + +"Because of Russia--new Russia. She must not be overwhelmed now. Not +now, surely, when she is just born into freedom. Her peasants must have +their chance; they must go to school to Washington, to Jefferson and to +Lincoln, until they know their way about in this new, strange world, of +government by the popular will; and + +"Because of other peoples, with their rising hope that the world may be +freed from government by the soldier. + + +GERMANY'S CRIMES AGAINST US. + +"We are fighting Germany because she sought to terrorize us and then to +fool us. We could not believe that Germany would do what she said she +would do upon the seas. + +"We still hear the piteous cries of children coming up out of the sea +where the Lusitania went down. And Germany has never asked forgiveness +of the world. + +"We saw the Sussex sunk, crowded with the sons and daughters of neutral +nations. + +"We saw ship after ship sent to the bottom--ships of mercy bound out of +America for the Belgian starving; ships carrying the Red Cross and laden +with the wounded of all nations; ships carrying food and clothing to +friendly, harmless, terrorized peoples; ships flying the Stars and +Stripes--sent to the bottom hundreds of miles from shore, manned by +American seamen, murdered against all law, without warning. + +"We believed Germany's promise that she would respect the neutral flag +and the rights of neutrals, and we held our anger and outrage in check. +But now we see that she was holding us off with fair promises until she +could build her huge fleet of submarines. For when spring came she blew +her promise into the air, just as at the beginning she had torn up that +'scrap of paper.' Then we saw clearly that there was but one law for +Germany, her will to rule. + +"We are fighting Germany because she violated our confidence. Paid +German spies filled our cities. Officials of her Government, received as +the guests of this nation, lived with us to bribe and terrorize, defying +our law and the law of nations. + +"We are fighting Germany because while we were yet her friends--the only +great power that still held hands off--she sent the Zimmermann note +calling to her aid Mexico, our southern neighbor, and hoping to lure +Japan, our western neighbor, into war against this nation of peace. + + +GOVERNMENT THAT HAS NO CONSCIENCE. + +"The nation that would do these things proclaims the gospel that +government has no conscience. And this doctrine cannot live, or else +democracy must die! For the nations of the world must keep faith. There +can be no living for us in a world where the State has no conscience, no +reverence for the things of the spirit, no respect for international +law, no mercy for those who fall before its force. What an unordered +world! Anarchy! The anarchy of the rival wolf packs! + +"We are fighting Germany because in this war feudalism is making its +last stand against oncoming democracy. We see it now. This is a war +against an old spirit, an ancient, outworn spirit. It is a war against +feudalism--the right of the castle on the hill to rule the village +below. It is a war of democracy--the right of all to be their own +masters. Let Germany be feudal if she will! But she must not spread her +system over a world that has outgrown it. Feudalism plus science, +thirteenth century plus twentieth; this is the religion of the mistaken +Germany that has linked itself with the Turk; that has, too, adopted the +method of Mahomet: 'The State has no conscience,' 'the State can do no +wrong.' With the spirit of the fanatic, she believes this gospel and +that it is her duty to spread it by force. + +"With poison gas that makes living a hell, with submarines that sneak +through the seas to slyly murder non-combatants, with dirigibles that +bombard men and women while they sleep, with a perfected system of +terrorization that the modern world first heard of when German troops +entered China, German feudalism is making war upon mankind. + + +LIVE IN HAUNTED TERROR. + +"Let this old spirit of evil have its way and no man will live in +America without paying toll to it, in manhood and in money. This spirit +might demand Canada from a defeated, navyless England, and then our +dream of peace on the north would be at an end. We would live, as France +has lived for forty years, in haunting terror. + +"America speaks for the world in fighting Germany. Mark on a map those +countries which are Germany's allies, and you will mark but four, +running from the Baltic through Austria and Bulgaria to Turkey. All the +other nations, the whole globe around, are in arms against her or are +unable to move. There is deep meaning in this. + +"We fight with the world for an honest world, in which nations keep +their word; for a world in which nations do not live by swagger or by +threat; for a world in which men think of the ways in which they can +conquer the common cruelties of nature instead of inventing more +horrible cruelties to inflict upon the spirit and body of man; for a +world in which the ambition or the philosophy of a few shall not make +miserable all mankind; for a world in which the man is held more +precious than the machine, the system or the State." + +In his denunciations of the Imperial German Government President Wilson +and his advisers have indicted the House of Hohenzollern, of which +Emperor Wilhelm is the head, and which has developed the unbending +military spirit which has resulted in Germany being counted an outcast +among the nations of the world. + +America, it must be noted, has no antipathy for the Germans as a race, +but modern civilization opposes that form of Government which has +permitted the cruel characteristics of the "wolf tribes" of feudal times +to be carried down through the generations, and capitalized by the +Imperial powers to bring terror to the hearts of all who do not bow to +the iron hand of the Kaiser and his ilk. + + +GERMANY A WARLIKE RACE. + +The thing from which this Prussianism--this militarism--grew is easily +traceable down the German ages. The very first appearance of the Germans +in history is as a warlike race. The earliest German literature is +composed of folk tales about war heroes--their ideals and manly virtues. +And this ideal in one form or another, under varying circumstances and +conditions, persisted throughout the centuries. + +It is not merely that military service has been compulsory in Germany, +but that almost everything else has been subjugated to the development +of the army. While Germany has given to the world a generous quota of +scientists, industrial geniuses, musicians and poets, the whole race is +imbued with the warlike spirit and its influence is manifest in every +phase of national life. Practically all that is best in the nation in +the way of efficiency has been inspired or may be traced to the military +discipline to which the people have been subjected for years. They have +been created human machines, trained to obey orders and to perform the +services to which they are assigned without protest and without +question. + +The history of Germany began with Henry, the Fowler, about A.D. 929, +who was essentially the first sovereign. He developed the system of +margraves or wardens to guard the frontiers of the kingdom, fortified +his towns and required every ninth man to take up arms for his country. +Robbers were forced to become soldiers or be hanged, and as lawlessness +was rampant there was no dearth of material to fill up the ranks of the +army. + +The margraves, or military leaders under them, grew in importance and +influence until the offices tended to become hereditary. Gradually the +country was divided into principalities, each of which maintained a +force of arms. This limited form of military rule maintained for several +centuries of troublesome times, or until about 1412, when Emperor +Sigismund appointed Burgrave Frederick, of Nuremberg, "Stratt-halter," +or vice-regent. + + +BIRTH OF THE MILITARY SPIRIT. + +This appointment marked the establishment of the Hohenzollerns in +Brandenburg, and, in fine, fixes the birth of the military spirit in +Germany. + +Other princes of the German Reich maintained armies, but the +Hohenzollerns were destined to imprint upon the nation the military +ideal. In the beginning history says that Burgrave Frederick tried all +the arts of peace, but it was only with the army of Franks and some +artillery that he was able to batter down the castles of the robber +lords and bring order into Brandenburg. + +Thomas Carlyle gives a list of twelve electors who strove in turn to +consolidate the power of Prussia, so that when Frederick the Great +became King of Prussia he found much of the work done. Among the rulers +of these strenuous days to whom the Kaiser Wilhelm may point as having +handed down to him the warlike spirit are Kurfuerst Joachim I, of +Brandenburg (1529), who introduced Roman law and established a supreme +court for all the provinces at Berlin; Kurfuerst Joachim II, of +Brandenburg (1542), whom history describes as an unscrupulous despot, +fond of luxury and display, and who changed his religion because it was +an advantage politically for him to do so; Margrave Georg Frederick von +Ansbach (1564), who caused the eyes of sixty peasants to be bored out +upon winning the Peasants' war, and Kurfuerst Frederick William der +Grosse, of Brandenburg (1652), known as the "Great Elector," a fighter, +who had two clearly defined aims: to build up agriculture and maintain a +big army. + +For years the Hohenzollerns and their aides were fighting unfriendly +neighbors and quarrelsome princes, and when after the lapse of time the +Thirty Years' War finally turned Germany into a field of blood, the +Great Elector emerged from the strife with the support of about 25,000 +well drilled soldiers, and freed his country from foreign foes. + + +HELD EUROPE AT HIS MERCY. + +The establishment of the power of the Junkers--the autocrats of +Prussianism--is credited to Frederick the Great, who was the great +drillmaster who organized the Prussian army on lines of efficiency and +economy. It is related that Frederick, afterward "The Great," was taken +from his women teachers at the age of seven years and subjected to rigid +military discipline. He commanded a company of cadets, composed of the +sons of nobles who were compelled to drill for him, and at the age of +fourteen he was a captain in the Potsdam Guards, and when, in 1740, he +became king, he took the army and held all Europe at his mercy. His +successor, Frederick William II, was incapable, and the French +revolution found Germany in a state of discord. + +When Frederick William III acceded to the throne in 1797 he started to +reorganize the army. Frederick William I had divided the country into +districts, or cantons, and here began the system of compulsory military +training. All males born were enrolled and liable to service when of +age. The army was recruited by districts and every district had its +regiment, though later exemptions were allowed. Under Frederick William +III, Scharnhorst, a Hanoverian, was the military reorganizer, and he +began the work with the slogan "All dwellers of the State are born +defenders of the same." + +Instead of depending for its development on king, the army was directed +by genius of best men developed by the system. After the formation of +the German Empire in 1871, which placed the king of Prussia at its head, +the Constitution of the German Empire made every German a member of the +active army for seven years. Service with colors three years and with +the reserve four. In 1875 there were eighteen army corps, of which +twelve were Prussian. The strength by law in 1874 was 400,000. + + +PEACE STRENGTH INCREASED. + +In 1881 the established peace strength was increased by thirty-four +battalions of infantry, forty batteries of field artillery and other +forces, and in 1886 Bismarck, recognizing the power of Prussianism and +its military influence, was compelled to dissolve the Reichstag, but +after the election in 1887 thirty-one other battalions and twenty-four +batteries were added. Two complete army corps were added in 1890, and in +1893 the color service, or length of time when reservists were subject +to duty under colors only, was decreased by two years, bringing the +peace strength up to more than half a million and the reservists up to +4,000,000. Step by step the strength of the military force was increased +until after the adoption of the law of 1913, when provision was made for +699 battalions of infantry; 633 batteries of field artillery; 44 +battalions of engineers; 55 battalions of garrison artillery; 31 +battalions of communications and 26 battalions of train troops--a grand +total of 870,000 actually in service in peace strength. + +The German Empire is composed of twenty-six states--Prussia, Bavaria, +Wurttemberg, Baden, Saxony, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, +Mecklenburg-Sterlitz, Oldenburg, Brunswick, Saxe-Weimer-Eisnach, +Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Waldeck, Lippe, +Schaumburg-Lippe, Reuss (elder line), Reuss (younger line), Anhalt, +Schwarz-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen, Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck +and Reichsland--the Alsace-Lorraine. The area is less than that of the +State of Texas while the population according to the most recent +statistics is about 65,000,000. + +Every male person between the ages of eighteen and forty-five is liable +for military service. Reservists under the rules in force when the war +started were subject to two musters annually and two periods of training +not to exceed eight weeks in duration. + + +EGOTISTICAL AND EXAGGERATED UTTERANCES. + +That the present Emperor is imbued with the harsh military spirit of his +ancestors is illustrated by his many egotistical and exaggerated +utterances. In dedicating the monument of Prince Frederick Charles at +Frankfurt-on-the-Oder in 1891, he is quoted as having said: + +"We would rather sacrifice our eighteen army corps and our 42,000,000 +inhabitants on the field of battle than surrender a single stone of what +my father and Prince Frederick gained." The thrills which such +expressions arouse are born of an inveterate emotional habit, and are +responsible for the obliquity of view and conduct which has made Germany +an outcast among civilized nations. + +But Germany was not satisfied with what she had obtained by her +crusading. Developments of the war prove conclusively that the Kaiser +has followed out the blood and iron politico-economic methods of +Bismarck for the development of Prussian power and that while at times +Germany has been reported to be maneuvering for peace, her peace moves +have in reality been war moves, and that a truce would only give the +Imperial Government time in which to further Prussianize and prepare +for a greater world war the territory to the southeast which she has +conquered under the guise of a friendly alliance. + +It will be recalled that President Wilson declared that "America must +fight until the world is made safe for democracy." This declaration +refers immediately to the plans which Germany had developed for its +conquest. Based upon reports received by agents of the United States, of +England, of France and other countries, Germany aimed to form a +consolidation of an impregnable military and economic unit stretching +from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, cutting Europe permanently in +half, controlling the Dardanelles, the Agean and the Baltic, and +eventually forming the backbone of a Prussian world empire. + + +LEAGUE AT WORK SINCE 1911. + +In her southeastern conquests, it is apparent, Germany followed almost +in toto the long established plan of the Pan-German League, whose +propaganda had been regarded outside of Germany as the harmless activity +of extremists, too radical to be taken seriously. Coupled with this +plan, as an instrument of economic consolidation, the German officials +used with only slight modification the system of customs union expansion +which aided Prussia in former years to extend her domination over the +other German States now making up the empire. + +As early as 1911 the Pan-German League is said to have circulated a +definite propaganda of conquest, with printed appeals containing maps of +a greater Germany, whose sway from Hamburg to Constantinople and then +southeastward through Asiatic Turkey was marked out by boundaries very +coincident with the military lines held today, under German officers, by +the troops of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey. Adhesion of +the German Government itself to such a plan was not suspected by the +other Powers, although the propagandists were permitted to continue +their activities unhindered and to spread their appeals in a country of +strict press supervision. How closely the German Government did adhere +to the plan in reality has been demonstrated clearly by the course of +the war. + +Following the footsteps of Bismarck, who used the Franco-Prussian war +alliance to bring Baden, Bavaria and Wurttemburg into the German +confederacy and then into the German Empire, Emperor William chose war +as the means of establishing the broad pathway to the southeast which +was essential for realization of the dream of a great Germany. + + +VERGE OF DISSOLUTION. + +The subjugation of Austria-Hungary, which would have presented a +different task under ordinary conditions, became in these circumstances +comparatively very simple. A polyglot combination of States, having +little in common and apparently held together only by the decaying +genius of the aged Emperor Franz Joseph, the dual monarchy was regarded +everywhere as on the verge of dissolution. Her helplessness before +Russia's army became apparent early in the war, and the eagerness with +which Germany seized the opportunity thus presented is pointed to as +emphasizing the far-sightedness of the German plans. + +Austria-Hungary's submission is declared to be complete, both in a +military and economic sense. The German officers commanding her armies, +abetted by industrial agents, scattered throughout the country by +Germany, hold the Austrian and Hungarian population in a union which +neither the hardships of war, the death of the Emperor nor the +inspiration of the outside influences, such as the Russian revolution, +can break. + +Bulgaria's declaration of war on the side of Germany was actuated by a +German diplomatic coup, which in itself is regarded now as further +evidence that a clear road through to the Dardanelles was considered in +Berlin as a primary and imperative purpose of the war. + +In the case of Turkey, German domination is even more complete than in +Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. Not only have German officers led in +defending Turkish territory and in eradicating inharmonious elements, +such as the Armenians and Syrians, but German industrial organizations +have taken a firm grip on Turkish industry and a large delegation of +German professors have been spreading German kultur among the +population. + +The developments threw a new light on many events before the war. Among +them the long-unexplained declaration of Emperor William at Damascus in +1898 that all Mohammedans might confidently regard the German Emperor as +"their friend forever." There also is a complete understanding now of +Germany's eagerness to obtain, in 1899, a concession for the Bagdad +railroad, an artery of communication now indispensable to the German +operations. + +These are the things and conditions to which the Allies referred when in +replying to one of President Wilson's peace notes they declared that war +must accomplish the "liberation of Italians, of Slavs, of Rumanians and +of Tzecho-Slovacs from foreign domination; the enfranchisement of +populations subject to the bloody tyranny of the Turk; the expulsion +from Europe of the Ottoman Empire, and the restoration of Servia, +Montenegro and Rumania." + +America entered the war to fight for Democracy. On the surface the +United States pledged itself to protect its ships and make secure the +lives of its citizens on the highways of the world, but the principles +for which the manhood of the country were called to fight have been +summarized as follows: + +That the nations of the world shall co-operate and not compete. The +paradox of history is that every struggle leads to firmer unity. Wars +cemented France, unified the British Empire, consolidated the American +Union. + +That national armaments be limited to purposes of internal police, no +nation be allowed to have a force sufficient to be a menace to general +peace, and a League of Peace be formed which shall have at its hand +sufficient armed power to compel order among the States. + +That nations be governed by the people that compose them, and for the +benefit of those people, and not of a ruling class. + +That every nation be governed with an eye to the welfare of the whole +world as well as to its own prosperity or glory, and patriotism properly +subjected to humanity. + +That the power of government be dissociated from advancing the profits +of capital, and made always to mean the welfare of labor. + +That security of life, freedom of worship and opinion, and liberty of +movement be assured to all men everywhere. + +That no munitions or instruments of death be manufactured except under +control of the International Council of the World. + +That the seas be free to all. + +That tariffs be adjusted with a view to the general welfare and not as +measures of national rivalry. + +That railways, telegraph, and telephone lines, and all other common and +necessary means of intercommunication be eventually nationalized. + +That every human being in a country be conscripted to devote a certain +part of his or her life to national service. + +That both labor unions and combinations of capital be under strict +government control, so that no irresponsible group may conspire against +the commonwealth. + +That every child receive training to equip him or her for self-support +and intelligent citizenship. + +That woman shall enjoy every right of citizenship. + +That the civil shall always have precedence over the military authority. + +And that the right of free speech, of a free press, and of assembly +shall remain inviolate. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE THINGS THAT MADE MEN MAD. + +GERMANY'S BARBARITY--THE DEVASTATION OF BELGIUM--HUMAN FIENDS--FIREBRAND +AND TORCH--RAPE AND PILLAGE--THE SACKING OF LOUVAIN--WANTON +DESTRUCTION--OFFICIAL PROOF. + + +The conduct of Germany in ignoring international treaties and invading +Belgium first aroused the antagonism of the United States and the rest +of the civilized world, and furnished the primary glimpse of how +Imperialism made light of human rights. What the Kaiser and his arrogant +followers did is fully set forth in the report which a special envoy, +appointed by King Albert of Belgium, laid before President Wilson on +September 16, 1914. + +The mission consisted of Henry Carton de Wiart, Minister of Justice; +Messrs. de Sadeleer, Hymans and Vandervelde, Ministers of State, and +Count Louis de Lichtervelde, serving as secretary of the mission. On +being received by President Wilson, Mr. de Wiart, for the mission, +outlined for the world and for America, the situation in part as +follows: + +"His Majesty, the King of the Belgians, has charged us with a special +mission to the President of the United States. Let me say how much we +feel ourselves honored to have been called upon to express the +sentiments of our King and of our whole nation to the illustrious +statesman whom the American people have called to the highest dignity of +the commonwealth. + +"Ever since her independence was first established, Belgium has been +declared neutral in perpetuity. This neutrality, guaranteed by the +Powers, has recently been violated by one of them. Had we consented to +abandon our neutrality for the benefit of one of the belligerents, we +would have betrayed our obligations toward the others. And it was the +sense of our international obligations as well as that of our dignity +and honor that has driven us to resistance. + +"The consequences suffered by the Belgian nation were not confined +purely to the harm occasioned by the forced march of the invading army. +This army not only seized a great portion of our territory, but it +committed incredible acts of violence, the nature of which is contrary +to the laws of nations. + +"Peaceful inhabitants were massacred, defenseless women and children +were outraged; open and undefended towns were destroyed; historical and +religious monuments were reduced to dust and the famous library of the +University of Louvain was given to the flames. + +"Our government has appointed a Judicial Commission to make an official +investigation, so as to thoroughly and impartially examine the facts and +to determine the responsibility thereof, and I will have the honor, +Excellency, to hand over to you the proceedings of the inquiry. + + +THE UNITED STATES' ATTITUDE. + +"In this frightful holocaust which is sweeping over Europe, the United +States has adopted a neutral attitude. + +"And it is for this reason that your country, standing apart from either +one of the belligerents, is in the best position to judge, without bias +or partiality, the conditions under which the war is being waged. + +"It is at the request, even at the initiative of the United States, that +all civilized nations have formulated and adopted at the Hague a law +regulating the laws and usages of war. + +"We refuse to believe that war has abolished the family of civilized +powers, or the regulation to which they have freely consented. + +"The American people has always displayed its respect for justice, its +search for progress and an instinctive attachment for the laws of +humanity. Therefore, it has won a moral influence which is recognized by +the entire world. It is for this reason that Belgium, bound as she is to +you by ties of commerce and increasing friendship, turns to the American +people at this time to let you know the real truth of the present +situation. Resolved to continue unflinching defence of its sovereignty +and independence, it deems it a duty to bring to the attention of the +civilized world the innumerable grave breaches of rights of mankind, of +which she has been a victim. + +"At the very moment we were leaving Belgium, the King recalled to us his +trip to the United States and the vivid and strong impression your +powerful and virile civilization left upon his mind. Our faith in your +fairness, our confidence in your justice, in your spirit of generosity +and sympathy, all these have dictated our present mission." + + +THE INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE. + +In the report handed to President Wilson, the preface sets forth that +the committee appointed to investigate the conduct of the German +invaders, and all of the surrounding circumstances, consisted of Messrs. +Cattier, professor at the Brussels University; Nys, counselor of the +Brussels Court of Appeals; Verhaegen, counselor of the Brussels Court of +Appeals; Wodon, professor at the Brussels University; Secretary, Mr. +Gillard, Director of the Department of Justice. Afterwards, when the +invasion made it necessary to transfer the seat of the government from +Brussels to Antwerp, a sub-committee was appointed there, consisting of +Mr. Cooreman, Minister of State; Members, Count Goblet d'Aviella, +Minister of State, Vice President of the Senate; Messrs. Ryckmans, +Senator; Strauss, Alderman of the City of Antwerp; Van Cutsem, Honorary +President of the Law Court of Antwerp. Secretaries, Chevalier Ernst de +Bunswyck, Chief Secretary of the Belgian Minister of Justice; Mr. Orts, +Counselor of the Legation. + +In brief the report submits first, that in violation of the perpetual +treaty of June 26, 1831, Germany notified Belgium that France was about +to march upon Germany, and that Germany proposed to frustrate such a +move by sending its soldiers through Belgium; that the German government +had no intention of making war against Belgium, and that if Belgium +made no opposition it would evacuate Belgium after hostilities ceased, +and during the period the German forces were in the country, would buy +everything needed for its army. Belgium replied that it had assurance +from France that France had no intention of invading Belgium, and that +if France attempted to pass through Belgium would oppose such an act +with force. It informed the German Imperial Government that it would +similarly oppose any move on the part of Germany to pass through. + +Nevertheless Germany proceeded at once through Belgium. Quoting articles +from the Hague treaty, the commission's report reads: + + +THE DAYS OF BARBARISM. + +"In the days of barbarism, the population of a territory occupied by the +enemy was deprived of all judicial capacity. At that time," as Ghering +writes ironically, "'the enemy was absolutely deprived of rights; +everything he owned belonged to the gallant warrior who had wrenched it +away from him. One had merely to lose it.' + +"In our days the rules of warfare clearly establish the difference +between the property of the government of the territory occupied and the +property of individuals. While the present doctrine allows the conqueror +to seize, in a general way, everything in the way of movable property +belonging to the State, it obliges him, on the other hand, to respect +the property of individuals, corporations and public provincial +administrations. + +"The Hague Convention, signed October 18, 1897, by all the civilized +States, among others by Germany, contains the following stipulations +regarding laws and customs of warfare on land: + +"'Art. 46. The honor and right of the family, the life of the individual +and private property, as well as religious convictions and the exercise +of worship, must be respected. Private property cannot be confiscated. + +"'Art. 47. Pillaging is formally prohibited. + +"'Art. 53. When occupying territory, the army can only seize cash as +well as funds and securities belonging entirely to the State; also +depots of arms, ways and means of transportation, warehouses and +provisions, and in a general way all movable property belonging to the +State and liable to be used for warlike operations. + +"'Art. 56. Property of municipalities, property of establishments +consecrated to worship, to charity and instruction; to art and science, +even though belonging to the State, will be treated as private +property.' + +"In defiance of these conventional rules, voluntarily and solemnly +accepted by Germany, she has committed, from the beginning of her +invasion of Belgian soil, numerous attacks upon private property." + + +GERMAN CUPIDITY. + +At Hasselt, the report shows that on August 12, 1914, the Germans +confiscated the funds of the branch of the National Bank, which amounted +to 2,075,000 francs. At Liege, on entering the city, they forcibly +seized the funds of a branch of the same bank, amounting to 4,000,000 +francs. Moreover, upon finding at that branch bundles of bank notes of +5-franc denomination, representing an amount of 400,000 francs, and +which were not yet signed, they forced a printer to sign those bank +notes by means of a rubber stamp, which they had also seized, and +afterwards put the notes in circulation. The bank, it is explained, was +a shareholders' corporation, the capital having been obtained by +subscription from private parties and was in no wise an institution of +the State. + +The enormity of this offence is made apparent by the fact that in the +war of 1870, when the Prussians entered Rheims in the Franco-Prussian +war, and they wanted to confiscate the funds of the branch of the +National Bank of France, Crown Prince Frederick ordered that funds which +were found at the bank could not be seized so long as they were not used +for the maintenance of the French army, it having been contended by +directors of the institution that the bank was not a State, but a +private bank. But more than this Germany levied supplies from every +Belgian city and tried to levy upon the city of Brussels the sum of +50,000,000 francs and the province of Brabant 450,000,000 francs. + + +TREATY OBLIGATIONS. + +Categorically, the violation and disregard of every phase of the Hague +treaty is described. In spite of the strict provision that undefended +cities, villages and dwellings are not to be bombarded, and where +bombardment is necessary the commanding officer of the attacking party +must warn the authorities that such bombardment is to take place, German +aeroplanes and dirigibles bombarded relentlessly from the beginning. In +Antwerp a Zeppelin threw explosive bombs at the Royal Palace, but the +missiles went astray, demolishing private residences, killing eight +persons and injuring many. Servants were killed in their beds in one +private house when the bombs tore away the top of the building. + +"In the Place du Poids Public a bomb fell on the pavement. Fragments +scattered all over the place. Not a house facing the square was +untouched. A policeman was cut to pieces, all that was found of him +being a leg covered with a few rags of his uniform. Five other persons +who opened their windows were blown to atoms. The bed-rooms of two +houses facing one another were visited. In the first there were three +corpses. Blood was scattered all over the place. The floor was covered +with fragments of windows and with blood-soaked underwear. On the +ceiling and walls, parts of intestines and brains were visible. In the +other house two old persons had been killed while looking down upon the +street. Later Antwerp was bombarded, as was Heyst-op-den-Berg and the +city of Malines, which was undefended, and where there was not a Belgian +soldier. At Malines the batteries fired shell after shell in the +direction of the Cathedral of Saint Rombault, a beautiful edifice, which +was hit many times and badly damaged, though there was no military +reason for the assault as the town was practically abandoned." + +The commission turned over to President Wilson explosive bullets used by +the Germans at Werchter, and submitted briefs from physicians who +treated wounds made by the explosive bullets. + + +DETAILED ATROCITIES OUTLINED. + +A few details of the atrocities are outlined as follows: + +"German cavalry, occupying the village of Linsmeau, were attacked by +some Belgian infantry and two Gendarmes. A German officer was killed by +our troops during the fight, and subsequently buried at the request of +the Belgian officer in command. None of the civilian population took +part in the fight. Nevertheless, the village was invaded at dusk on +August 10 by a strong force of German cavalry, artillery and machine +guns. In spite of the assurance given by the Burgomaster that none of +the peasants had taken part in the previous fighting two farms and six +outlying houses were destroyed by gunfire and burned. All the male +population were compelled to come forward and hand over what they +possessed. No recently discharged firearms were found, but the invaders +divided the peasants into three groups. Those in one group were bound +and eleven of them placed in a ditch, whither they were afterward found +dead, their skulls fractured by the butts of German rifles. + +"During the night of August 10, German cavalry entered Velm in great +numbers; the inhabitants were asleep. The Germans, without provocation, +fired upon Mr. Deglimme-Gever's house, broke into it, destroyed +furniture, looted money, burned barns, hay, corn stacks, farm +implements, six oxen, and the contents of the farmyard. They carried off +Mme. Deglimme half-naked, to a place two miles away. She was then let go +and was fired upon as she fled, without being hit. Her husband was +carried away in another direction." + +Farmer Jeff Dierckx, of Neerhespen, bears witness to the following acts +of cruelty committed by German cavalry at Orsmael Neerhespen, on August +10, 11 and 12: + + +SHOCKING BARBARITIES. + +"An old man of the latter village had his arm sliced in three +longitudinal cuts; he was then hanged head downward and burned alive. +Young girls have been raped and little children outraged at Orsmael, +where several inhabitants suffered mutilations too horrible to describe. +A Belgian soldier belonging to a battalion of cyclist carbineers who had +been wounded and made prisoner was hanged, while another who was tending +his comrade was bound to a telegraph pole and shot." + +The sacking of Louvain, which was one of the vile acts of the Germans +during the early days of the war, is described briefly in the report of +the commission as follows: + +"The Germans entered Louvain on Wednesday, August 19, after having set +fire to the towns through which they passed. + +"From the moment of their having entered the city of Louvain, the +Germans requisitioned lodgings and victuals for their troops. They +entered every private bank of the city and took over the bank funds. +German soldiers broke the doors of houses abandoned by their +inhabitants, pillaged them and indulged in orgies. + +"The German authorities took hostages; the mayor of the city, Senator +Vander Kelen, the Vice Rector of the Catholic University, the Dean of +the City; magistrates and aldermen were also detained. All arms down to +fencing foils had been handed over to the town administration and +deposited by the said authorities in the Church of St. Peter. + +"In the neighboring village, Corbeck-Loo, a young matron, 22 years old, +whose husband was in the army, was surprised on Wednesday, August 19, +with several of her relatives, by a band of German soldiers. The persons +who accompanied her were locked in an abandoned house, while she was +taken into another house, where she was successively violated by five +soldiers. + + +LUSTFUL CRUELTY OF THE GERMANS. + +"In the same village, on Thursday, August 20, German soldiers were +searching a house where a young girl of 16 lived with her parents. They +carried her into an abandoned house and, while some of them kept the +father and mother off, others went into the house, the cellar of which +was open, and forced the young woman to drink. Afterwards they carried +her out on the lawn in front of the house and violated her successively. +She continued to resist and they pierced her breast with bayonets. +Having been abandoned by the soldiers after their abominable attacks, +the girl was carried off by her parents, and the following day, owing to +the gravity of her condition, she was administered the last rites of the +church by the priest of the parish and carried to the hospital at +Louvain." + +Upon entering villages occupied by the Germans after they were driven +back to Louvain, the report says the Belgian soldiers found that the +German soldiers had sacked, ravaged and set fire to the villages +everywhere, taking with them and driving before them all the male +inhabitants. "Upon entering Hofstade, the Belgian soldiers found the +corpse of an old woman who had been killed by bayonet thrusts; she still +held in her hand the needle with which she was sewing when attacked; one +mother and her son, aged about 15 years, lay there pierced with bayonet +wounds; one man was found hung. + +"In Sempst, a neighboring village, were found corpses of two men +partially burned. One of them was found with legs cut off to the knees; +the other was minus his arms and legs. A workman had been pierced with +bayonets, afterward while he was still living the Germans soaked him +with petroleum and locked him in a house which they set on fire. An old +man and his son had been killed by sabre cuts; a cyclist had been killed +by bullets; a woman coming out of her house had been stricken down in +the same manner." + + +A LAME EXCUSE OFFERED. + +Concerning the sacking of Louvain itself, the report says that one +detachment of the Germans met another detachment while in full flight +from the Belgian soldiers, and attacked one another. This was the basis +for the pretext that they had been attacked by the citizenry of Louvain +and was responsible for the bombardment of the city. The bombarding +lasted until 10 o'clock at night, and afterward the German soldiers set +fire to the city. + +"The houses which had not taken fire were entered by German soldiers, +who were throwing fire grenades, some of which seem to have been +provided for the occasion. The largest part of the city of Louvain, +especially the quarters of 'Ville Haute,' comprising the modern houses, +the Cathedral of St. Peter, the University Halls, with the whole library +of the University with its manuscripts, its collections, the largest +part of the scientific institutions and the town theatre were at the +moment being consumed by flames. + +"The commission deems it necessary, in the midst of these horrors, to +insist on the crime of lese-humanity which the deliberate annihilation +of an academic library--a library which was one of the treasures of our +time--constitutes. + +"Numerous corpses of civilians covered the streets and squares. On the +routes from Louvain to Tirlemont alone one witness testifies to having +seen more than fifty of them. On the threshold of houses were found +burnt corpses of people, who, surprised in their cellars by the fire, +had tried to escape and fell into the heap of live embers. The suburbs +of Louvain were given up to the same fate. It can be said that the whole +region between Malines and Louvain and most of the suburbs of Louvain +have been devastated and destroyed. + + +BASE INDIGNITIES TO CLERGYMEN. + +"A group of 75 persons, among whom were several notables of the city, +such as Father Coloboet and a Spanish priest, and also an American +priest, were conducted, during the morning of Wednesday, August 26, to +the square in front of the station. The men were brutally separated from +their wives and children, after having received the most abominable +treatment after repeated threats of being shot, and were driven in front +of the German troops as far as the village of Campenhout. They were +locked, during the night, in the church. The following day, at 4 +o'clock, a German officer came to tell them that they might all confess +themselves and that they would be shot half an hour later. When, +finally, they were released, the report continues, they were recaptured +by another German brigade and compelled to march to Malines, where they +were finally liberated. + +"An eye witness testified that he met nothing except burned villages, +crazed peasants, lifting to each comer their arms, as mark of +submission. From each house was hanging a white flag, even from those +that had been set on fire, and rags of them were found hanging from the +ruins. The fire began a little above the American College, and the city +is entirely destroyed, with the exception of the town hall and the +depot. Today the fire continues and the Germans, instead of trying to +stop it--seem rather to maintain it by throwing straw into the flames, +as I have myself seen behind the Hotel de Ville. The Cathedral and the +theatre have been destroyed and fallen in, and also the library. The +town resembles an old city in ruins, in the midst of which drunken +soldiers are circulating, carrying around bottles of wine and liquor; +the officers themselves being installed in arm chairs, sitting around +tables and drinking like their own men. + +"In the streets dead horses are decaying, horses which are completely +inflated, and the smell of the fire and the decaying animals is such +that it has followed me for a long time." + +And the policy which developed such outrageous conduct on the part of +the Kaiser's soldiers in the early days of the war, against which +Belgium protested to the world, inspired brutal acts, ruthlessness and +cruelty at every stage and during every period of the war. Nowhere is +there written a single line which tells of the humanitarian acts of the +German soldiers. Those who fight against them acknowledge their stoical +bravery, the efficiency of the army, the navy and the people as a whole, +but there is no reflection of refined instincts in any of the acts of +Germany or the Germans. + + +THE AMERICAN MINISTER'S REPORT. + +Of those conditions which existed in Belgium when the German soldiers +overran the country, America's own minister to the devastated country, +Brand Whitlock, sent a report to the State Department in the beginning +of 1917, when President Wilson was protesting against the treatment +accorded the helpless people of Belgium by the Germans. + +Mr. Whitlock tells how the Germans determined to put the Belgians thrown +out of employment to work for them. "In August," says the report, +dealing with the treatment of the helpless Belgians, "Von Hindenburg was +appointed supreme commander. He is said to have criticised Von Bissing's +policy as too mild, and there was a quarrel; Von Bissing went to Berlin +to protest, threatened to resign, but did not. He returned, and a German +official said that Belgium would now be subjected to a more terrible +regime, would learn what war was. The prophecy has been vindicated. + +"The deportations began in October in the Etape, at Ghent and at +Bruges. The policy spread; the rich industrial districts at Hainaut, the +mines and steel works about Charleroi were next attacked, and they +seized men in Brabant, even in Brussels, despite some indications and +even predictions of the civil authorities that the policy was about to +be abandoned. + +"As by one of the ironies of life the winter has been more excessively +cold than Belgium has ever known it and while many of those who +presented themselves were adequately protected against the cold, many of +them were without overcoats. The men, shivering from cold and fear, the +parting from weeping wives and children, the barrels of brutal Uhlans, +all this made the scene a pitiable and distressing one. + + +RAGE, TERROR AND DESPAIR. + +"The rage, the terror and despair excited by this measure all over +Belgium were beyond anything we had witnessed since the day the Germans +poured into Brussels. The delegates of the commission for relief in +Belgium, returning to Brussels, told the most distressing stories of the +scenes of cruelty and sorrow attending the seizures. And daily, hourly +almost, since that time, appalling stories have been related by Belgians +coming to the legation. It is impossible for us to verify them, first +because it is necessary for us to exercise all possible tact in dealing +with the subject at all, and secondly because there is no means of +communication between the Occupations Gebiet and the Etappey Gebiet. + +"I am constantly in receipt of reports from all over Belgium that tend +to bear the stories one constantly hears of brutality and cruelty. A +number of men sent back to Mons are said to be in a dying condition, +many of them tubercular. At Molines and at Antwerp returned men have +died, their friends asserting that they have been victims of neglect and +cruelty, of cold, of exposure, of hunger. + +"I have had requests from the burgomasters of ten communes asking that +permission be obtained to send to the deported men in Germany packages +of food similar to those that are being sent to prisoners of war. Thus +far the German authorities have refused to permit this except in special +instances, and returning Belgians claim that even when such packages are +received they are used by the camp authorities only as another means of +coercing them to sign the agreements to work. + + +A MORTAL BLOW TO BELGIANS. + +"By the deportation of Belgians to work in Germany," says Mr. Whitlock's +report, "they have dealt a mortal blow to any prospect they may ever +have had of being tolerated by the population of Flanders; in tearing +away from nearly every humble home in the land a husband and a father or +a son and brother; they have lighted a fire of hatred that will never go +out; they have brought home to every heart in the land, in a way that +will impress its horror indelibly on the memory of three generations, a +realization of what German methods mean, not as with the early +atrocities in the heat of passion and the first lust of war, but by one +of those deeds that make one despair of the future of the human race, a +deed coldly planned, studiously matured, and deliberately and +systematically executed, a deed so cruel that German soldiers are said +to have wept in its execution, and so monstrous that even German +officers are now said to be ashamed." + +And if these acts were not sufficient to convince the world that Germany +"is without the pale" so far as civilized warfare is concerned her +conduct in wantonly destroying property in Flanders while in retreat +could permit of no other conclusion. + +After the violation of Belgium and the destruction of the Lusitania and +the adoption of the policy of sinking neutral ships on sight for +military advantage, or "necessity," why shouldn't the soldiers pollute +wells, kill trees, carry off the girls, smash the household furniture +not worth taking away and smear the pictures on the wall, just for +revenge or in the sheer lust of destruction? + +It makes no difference, so far as the principles of humanity are +concerned, whether the German army is in victory or suffering defeat, +advancing or retreating. The treatment accorded the evacuated cities of +the Somme district was foretold by the treatment of the cities occupied +early in the war. Here is the wording of an order posted during the +victorious invasion of Belgium: + +"Order--To the people of Liege. The population of Andenne, after making +a display of peaceful intentions toward our troops, attacked them in the +most treacherous manner. With my authority the general commanding these +troops has reduced the town to ashes and has had 110 persons shot. I +bring this fact to the knowledge of the people of Liege in order that +they may know what fate to expect should they adopt a similar attitude. + + GENERAL VON BULOW. + Liege, Aug. 22, 1914." + + +CRUEL EXTREME OF PUNISHMENT. + +And yet this order showed only a cruel extreme of punishment where some +punishment was to be expected. It was left for the retreating Germans of +1917 to destroy, without provocation and without purpose, motived by +revenge and obsessed by the Nietschean doctrine of "spare not." + +Before Bapaume was evacuated it was deliberately converted into a mass +of muck. There is no Bapaume now. It is perfectly understandable that +the retreating soldiers should destroy their trenches and put up the +question, "Tommy, how do you like your new trenches?" But why smear +filth over the photograph of three little girls, a family treasure? All +around Bapaume the villages were looted and the night the deliverers +entered the destroyers made the sky lurid with the fires of towns and +hamlets. Some 300 in the evacuated region were burned. + +At Nesle, Roye and Ham there was not time enough to destroy everything. +The house of a doctor at Nesle, a specially attractive home, was not +blown down for strategic purposes, but some soldiers did find time to +drive axes through the mahogany panels of the beds and smash the clocks +and mirrors. They were angry at being compelled to leave the house. + +Villages like Cressy, near Nesle, where a shell never fell in the course +of the war, have been completely destroyed. + + +PERONNE A HOPELESS RUIN. + +There is not a habitable house left in Peronne. The sixteenth century +church of St. Jean is but a relic. W. Beach Thomas wrote after the +retreat that nothing was left that was valuable enough to be worth +collection by a penny tinker or a rag-and-bone merchant. Foul what you +cannot have, was the motto. + +The famous ruins of the Feudal Castle of Coucy, one of the finest relics +of architecture of its period, was wantonly blown up by the Germans on +retreat. It was built in the thirteenth century by Enguerrand III and +passed to the French crown in 1498, and was one of the great historic +landmarks of Northern France. + +Coucy was one of the noblest relics of the Middle Ages, respected by the +most barbarous wars of the past, whose donjon (greatest in all Europe) +dates almost from Charlemagne, harmless, time-wrecked, illustrious +Coucy! + +To give an idea of Coucy's importance, the French, in their first +astonishment and sorrow, proposed to make reprisals on Hindenburg, +should it take ten years. Of course, they will not; it is not their way. + +Coucy is a mountain of blasted stones. Shoun Kelly, American, owned one +of the outer towers of the great castle and the story of its ownership +is the American antithesis of German ravage. Americans were always +faithful tourists to Coucy; but among them, one loved more than all the +glorious old ruin and its story which began with Enguerrand, the Sire +of Coucy, in the year 1210. This was the late Edmund Kelly, of New York +and Paris, international lawyer and for many years counsel of the +American Embassy in Paris. He meditated on the motto of old Enguerrand: +"I am not king, nor prince, nor duke, nor even count: I am the Sire of +Coucy!" In fact, the Sire made a record for standing off local kings. + +"He was a good American ahead of his time," said Lawyer Kelly; and he +took to reading up the ancient chronicles, how Enguerrand's descendants +stood off royalty for some 200 years, until finally bought out by the +wealthy Louis of Orleans, and all the later glories of the place. +Mazarin dismantled Coucy, but left it standing in its beauty; and Lawyer +Kelly discovered it to be a State museum, impossible to be purchased, in +these latter days, even by a millionaire. Not being one, he preferred it +so, loving Coucy more than ever, the cultured American did the next best +thing. + + +A LITTLE TOWN REDUCED. + +The little town, once so rich, had dwindled since Mazarin. On the castle +side stood two massive towers of the inner defense, belonging to the +town. Mr. Kelly asked Mayor and department legislature to make a price +on the nearest. As soon as he had bought his tower, he used loving care +restoring it. He pierced windows through walls 16 feet thick. He built +rooms in three stories, furnishing them in massive antique style. The +tower roof was his shady terrace, covered with a little grove of +century-old trees! From it he dominated Coucy. All its soul of beauty +lay beneath his view. + +All was systematically blown up, the town, the towers, the castle, by +retreating Germans in their rage. Just masses of crumbled stones. The +German papers boast that it took 28 tons of high explosives, and any one +can see, this hour, the plain of Coucy covered with a white layer of +powdered limestone, for miles around. + +What for? To clear a battlefield, they say. It is not true. Nothing is +cleared. The masses of crumbled stone remained, when they fled their +"battlefield." + +The donjon was very high. It stood on a kind of bluff or elevation, +overlooking the country, and before the days of aeroplanes it might have +been used for observation. The donjon walls were 16 yards thick, not +feet, but yards! No other tower in Europe had those dimensions. They +tell a story about Mazarin. He deemed so strong a place, so near to +Paris, might be dangerous to the Crown; so he dismantled Coucy +militarily, without destroying its architectural beauty. The donjon +worried him in those days when artillery could make no impression on its +massive thickness. So Mazarin put 16 barrels of powder inside the tower, +and set them off. The tower just converted itself into gun barrel! The +powder blew out all the stories and the roof--shot them up like a gun +pointed at the sky! But the tower stood, exactly as before. + + +OF MASSIVE ARCHITECTURE. + +The masonry was admittedly the heaviest achieved by the Middle Ages. +From the donjon extended three great vaulted halls. Massive buildings +continued. There was a Gothic chapel, a Tribunal Hall, the Hall of the +Nine Peers (whose statues remained), the Hall of the Nine Countesses +(whose medallion-portraits were carved on the monumental chimney). There +was a Romanesque chapel (relic from Charlemagne, like the original +donjon), the separate Fortified Chateau of the Chatelain (the Sire's +First Officer), and so on, and so on. + +The retreating Germans have not only blown up Coucy, but that other +priceless relic, the Tower of the Grand Constable and the entire +historic Chateau of Ham, and equally the Castle of Peronne, a jewel of +beauty--all in one corner of the Vallois! On the smoking wreck of +Peronne, they left a humorous placard: + +"Nicht aergen! Tur wundern! Don't be angry, just wonder!" Noyon and +Peronne are sacked and ruined. At Chauny 1800 houses out of 2500 were +deliberately burned, and at a distance they bombarded the remainder, +full of old folks and children whom they had parked there. All the +public buildings, churches, hospitals and poorhouse were blown up. Three +hundred towns and villages were burning at one time in this small +section of the Cradle of France. Hindenburg was at Roisel when they +rounded up the populations, went through their pockets for their money +(giving "receipts"), took their clothes off their backs (so that all the +American relief agencies in Paris were overwhelmed with telegrams of +appeal) and burgled all the safes in banks and business houses before +setting fire to the town and blowing up the main street! + + +ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPLE OF WAR. + +The German official communique said that it was "all done uniquely +according to the technical principles of modern war." At Berlin they +caused an American correspondent to cable these words to his papers: +"The enemy will find great difficulty to take shelter on a battlefield +where everything has been completely razed. We regret the destruction of +a beautiful region of France, but it was necessary to transform it into +a clear field of battle before we quit it." + +They blew up the precious Romanesque Church of Tracy-le-Val (which dates +before the Gothic). The church was situated in the midst of the great +forest of Laigue; they blew up the church--and left the forest standing! +No battlefield was cleared, but they hacked the bark to kill great noble +trees by thousands. They made no effort to clear the forest; but weeping +old French peasants told how half a German regiment was occupied three +days in barking trees to prevent the sap from mounting. The crushed +pearl of architecture lies in a dying forest. + +At Le Novion, torch in hand, they burned 223 houses; but all the gutted +walls are standing. + +What technical principles of war command the wholesale destruction of +young fruit trees? In 20 orchards, by count, in sweet Leury (hidden at +the bottom of a valley) every peach, plum, apricot and pear tree has +been assassinated--hacked and standing, when the trunks are thick, and +sprawling, severed by one blow of a sharp hatchet, young trees from the +thickness of your wrists to your thumb. The French, with loving care, +trained peach and pear trees against sunny walls, as if they were +grapevines. The slender trunks are cut--and the garden walls left +standing. + + +DESECRATION OF TREES. + +The soldiers spared neither the orchards nor the single trees that took +a generation to grow, and would have borne fruit for generations to +come. Reapers and binders and other farming machines were collected and +broken to pieces. One might see a measure of advantage that the +deliverers would gain from these things if not destroyed, but it is an +awful war doctrine that refuses to discriminate between the immediate +and the eventual, the direct and the indirect, the important and the +negligible advantage that would impoverish posterity to get a dime in +cash. No military advantage is sufficient motive for such wanton +ravishment. It is military fanaticism. + +Ambassador Sharp, after a 100-mile trip through the evacuated territory, +declared that never before in the history of the world had there been +such a thorough destruction by either a vanquished or victorious army. + +One thing alone was left, after the red-brick villages had been turned +into heaps and the murdered fruit trees into black fagots, on the hill +outside of St. Quentin. This was the log hut and shooting box of the +Kaiser's son, Eitel Friederick. Its white-barked beech was unburnt, its +glass windows unbroken, its inside adornments unlooted, the tables and +chairs of its terrace beer garden remained. All around the works of man +and God were destroyed. The contrast made this destroyer's lodge a sort +of boast of his destruction. + +The shocking ruin to human life in the evacuated region is of even +greater moment. The half-starved civilians of Bapaume were forced to +make trenches there and later for the defense of Cambrai also. All men +and boys strong enough to work were taken along with the retreating +forces. Near Peronne some hundreds of old men, women and children were +found locked in a barn. One woman pathetically asked of an English +officer, "Are you many?" And he was able to answer, "We are two millions +now," and see her anxiety turned to relief and joy. Children who had +been slowly starving for a year wandered about the ruins of their homes, +but soon found reasons for smiling at the soldiers who had rescued them. + + +NEITHER MEAT NOR MILK. + +These children had had no meat for months and no milk for a year and had +almost forgotten the taste of butter. They probably never received a +quarter of the rations Americans sent. Girls were compelled to attend +the market gardens, and then the Germans took all the produce. The +region was desolated and left inhabited by women and children moribund +with misery and starvation. + +At Noyon, where the Germans had concentrated 10,000 Belgian refugees, +they promised to leave the American Relief Committee with sufficient +supplies to feed them. But the last patrols completely sacked the +American relief storehouses of all eatables and then dynamited the +building. And it was from this place that fifty young women, from 18 to +25 years of age, were taken by the officers. Their distracted mothers +were told that they were to be used as "officers' servants." + +At Ham, when a mother of six children, seeing her husband and two eldest +daughters being carried away, remonstrated, she was told that as an +alternative she might find their bodies in a canal in the rear of the +house. + +Nothing could be more significant of the Government's attitude than the +incident told by James W. Gerard. The people of a town were imprisoned +or fined for their conduct toward a delayed train of Canadian prisoners. +When he heard it he thought that at last the Government was going to put +a stop to the maltreatment of prisoners. But he learned on investigation +that the townsfolk had been punished for giving a little food and drink +to the starving and fainting prisoners. + +And yet the most singularly brutal phase of this destruction of nature +and wealth and art and life is the German defense of it. War is always +hell and most of the awful things in this war have had their +counterparts in other conflicts, though the Teutonic element has brought +some peculiar refinements of cussedness and has given a thoroughness and +"pep" and "kick" to the war business. + + +BETTER PREPARED NEXT TIME. + +German writers, instead of making excuses for turning the nation into a +war machine for forty years, complain that Germany was not prepared as +she should have been and would be better prepared next time. Her +professors do not regret that the soldiers at the front are so +unrestrained in cruelty, but urge that they are too soft and kind to +make effective war. The German correspondents all write enthusiastically +of the devastation of the country they are leaving and of the desert +created by German genius. Editors speak of the mercy which tempered the +necessary hardness towards this once beautiful stretch of country and +its inhabitants. The destruction of property which can serve no military +purpose is defended on the ground that it is legitimate from a strategic +point of view. + +This all amounts to saying everything must give way to the +considerations of war. It is taking the argument in the fable of the +wolf and the lamb as serious philosophy and accepting the position of +the wolf. They fail entirely to see the humor of the fable, and hence +the fallacy of the wolf's argument. + +The greatest hope of civilization, which trembled for a time before the +spectre of German barbarity, is that frightfulness cannot endure the +long and full test. The great initial advantages are more than offset by +new opponents. The gain of the invasion of Belgium was canceled by +England coming into the war. The advantage against England of the U-boat +campaign was more than canceled by the entrance of the United States in +the war. + +Irvin Cobb says that the trouble with the Germans is that they are not +"good sports and lack a sense of humor. It is impossible to conceive of +a group of German officers playing football or baseball or cricket and +abiding by the rules of the game. If Barbara Frietchie had said to a +Prussian Stonewall Jackson, 'Shoot, if you must, my gray old head,' he'd +have done it as a matter of course." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE SLINKING SUBMARINE. + +A VORACIOUS SEA MONSTER--THE RUTHLESS DESTRUCTIVE POLICY OF +GERMANY--STARVATION OF NATIONS THE GOAL--HOW THE SUBMARINES +OPERATE--SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. + + +Almost the entire story of the world war is written around the +development of the submarine. One can scarcely think of the terrible +conflict without bringing to mind the wonderful "underseas" boat which +has made infamous Germany famous. The truth is that, in so far as +America is concerned, the conflict was precipitated by the ruthless +submarine warfare which Germany waged as part of her plan to starve out +England, France, Belgium--and all nations which opposed her. + +The slinking submarine proved an efficient instrument, whose activities +clearly indicated the diabolical intent and purpose of Germany to make +the whole world suffer, if necessary, to the end that she might gain her +point and perpetuate the Hohenzollern dynasty. It was not so much that +her submarines wrought havoc--for death and disaster stalk always with +war--but the methods by which Germany waged their warfare and +disregarded all the rules which had been laid down for the guidance of +civilized countries at war proved conclusively that even the innocent +could expect no quarter from her. + +The story of the sinking of the brave ocean steamship Lusitania on May +7, 1915, contains in its brief recital a typical illustration of +Germany's lack of humanitarian instincts. The vessel, torpedoed off the +coast of Ireland, went to the bottom of the ocean, carrying to death +more than 1150 persons, many of them prominent Americans. With an +audaciousness which has no counterpart in the history of civilized +warfare, German agents in the United States had caused advertisements +to be printed in the public press, warning citizens against sailing on +the vessel, and advised that she was in danger of being destroyed. + +The world stood aghast and believed it impossible that Germany should +carry out her threat, but they were soon to be disillusioned. Because +the handsome vessel passed through a zone of the seas which the Teuton +war lords declared blockaded, they sent a torpedo from an underseas boat +into her bowels. The horrors of that event are still fresh in the minds +of millions. No such ruthless and wanton destruction of innocent human +beings had been accomplished by a so-called civilization at war. + + +THE DUTIES OF WAR CAST ASIDE. + +Articles of The Hague agreement defining the rights and duties of +nations at war, and which Germany had accepted, were thrust aside and +disregarded by Imperial Germany. The Hohenzollern dynasty was above +rules and regulations. International law and the rights of +non-combatants at sea were as nothing. That all nations had agreed that +the enemy ship must give the captain of the vessel attacked opportunity +to land innocent passengers was forgotten. There had not been a word of +warning. + +And Germany, and the adherents of the Imperial Government, expressing +regret that Americans should have been sacrificed, professed deep sorrow +on one hand and on the other shouted with glee. America protested +vigorously, quoting the laws and demanding that Germany recognize +them--not merely that she leave American vessels alone--and give +assurance that no such further acts would be committed. + +Contending that the sinking of the ship was justifiable, in the +exigencies of war, Germany ceased for a short time her wanton sinking of +boats without warning. For almost a year her underseas crafts had been +preying upon the small British coasting vessels, and sunk hundreds of +fishing boats, trawlers and steamships. England's mercantile marine was +the object of the Teuton's attacks, and no one had anticipated any +danger to Americans or American interests. + +Germany had no reasons for desiring to attack American boats and she +promised to mend her ways. There followed a brief period in which no +vessels were sunk on which were Americans, and then without warning the +campaign against all vessels was renewed. A dozen were sunk on which +were American seamen or non-combatant passengers, none of whom was given +warning or time to land before a torpedo sent the boat to the bottom of +the ocean. Threats on the part of President Wilson to take action +against Germany finally brought another cessation. + + +GROWING DISTRESS AND AMAZEMENT. + +"The sinking of the British passenger steamship Fabala and other German +acts constitute a series of events which the Government of the United +States has observed with growing concern, distress and amazement," said +President Wilson in a note on the submarine warfare. "This Government +cannot admit the adoption of such measures or such a warning of danger +as in any degree an abbreviation of the rights of American shipmasters +or American citizens, bound on lawful errands as passengers on merchant +ships of belligerent nationality. It must hold the Imperial German +Government to a strict accountability for any infringement of those +rights, international or incidental. + +"The objection to their present method of attack lies in the practical +impossibility of employing submarines in the destruction of commerce +without disregarding those rules of fairness, reason, justice and +humanity which all modern opinions regard as imperative. + +"American citizens act within their indisputable rights in taking their +ships and traveling wherever their legitimate business calls them upon +the high seas. + +"No warning that an unlawful and an inhuman act will be committed can +possibly be accepted as an excuse or palliation for that act, or as an +abatement of the responsibility for its commission. * * * + +"The Imperial German Government will not expect the Government of the +United States to omit any word or any act necessary to the performance +of its sacred duty or the inalienable rights of the United States and +its citizens, and of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment." + + +WHOLESALE DESTRUCTION OF VESSELS. + +Apparently Germany modified her submarine policy for a period of upward +of a year, or until in February, 1917, when to the astonished world she +threw aside all pretense and declared her intention of destroying any +vessel which attempted to cross or sailed into a zone which she +established along the English coast and around English and French ports. +America's further protests availed not; her citizens, many of them, went +to the bottom of the seas, and some of them suffered almost unbelievable +cruelties or neglect, when the captain of a German sea raider with some +humanitarian instincts permitted these innocent passengers or seamen to +be rescued from the torpedoed vessels on which they were. + +Even the Red Cross vessels and Belgian relief ships carrying supplies +and food to the maimed or sick at war and the starving children of +Belgium did not escape the torpedo from the submarine. English hospital +ships were attacked, and men unable to protect themselves were subjected +to danger because the Germans feared that something might be carried on +the boat which would prove valuable to the Allied forces in making war. + +Dozens--even hundreds of vessels of all sorts--were sunk from week to +week. Food and supplies for the Allied forces were destroyed, until both +England and France were threatened with starvation. + +All this was the work of the submarine. + +One smiled twenty-five years ago when he read that highly imaginative +story of Jules Verne, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," and +wondered if it would ever be possible for man to create such a marvelous +underseas craft as that which the famous French writer described. Today +the imaginative detail of the submarine which the novelist described has +been crystallized, and the world has learned that dreams sometimes come +true. + +Marvelous things have been developed by the war which is involving the +peace and security of the world, but no single device has had such an +effect upon the warfare and upon the methods of waging it as the +diabolical submarine, which, like an assassin in the night, sneaks upon +the great ships along the water highways of the world and sends them +with their human freight to the bottom of the ocean. + + +TORPEDO'S DEADLY WORK. + +A giant cigar-shaped missile, whose nose is pointed with guncotton and +filled with high explosives--and which the world knows as the +torpedo--launches forth from the submarine, and speeding under the drive +of a propeller at the stern steers its way into the side of the +battleship or great steamship. The torpedo plunges into the bowels of +the vessel. There is a tremendous explosion, and the water-tight +compartments of the vessel are torn open; the boat fills, and the pride +of the seas is no more. + +Had the vessel's master and her crew any warning? No; unless the +vigilant officer on the bridge should note a thin pole with a hooked end +projecting above the surface of the ocean some miles away, and turning +his glasses upon it discover that it is the "eye" of a submarine--the +periscope--which is protruding above the surface. Then he may turn his +larger vessel and ram the submarine, or change the course of his craft +so that the torpedo launched by the submarine will miss its mark, or +perhaps expert gunners may turn the muzzles of their rapid-fire guns +upon the underseas craft and riddle it before it can get far enough +below the surface of the water to make the attack upon it futile. + + +EFFICIENCY OF THE SUBMARINE. + +The enormous inroads on the world's shipping made by German submarines +during the war shows the efficiency of this diabolical device. In the +first two years and a half of the war statistics were compiled to show +that more than 10 per cent of the world's merchant marine was destroyed +by Germany's underseas craft of the U-boat type. Incidentally, the name +U-boat as applied to submarines developed because Germany, instead of +naming these slinking boats, as is the custom with surface-cruising +vessels, painted upon the conning tower or nose of the craft the letter +U, representing the word "underseas," coupled with the numeral denoting +the number of the boat. Thus those who sail the ocean highways came to +recognize the fact that a conning tower or low, sharp-nosed craft +bearing the mystic characters U-9 was a German underseas boat No. 9. + +The statistical records at the end of April, 1917, showed that nearly +3000 vessels of almost 5,000,000 gross tons were destroyed by the +U-boats in the war. More than half of the vessels sunk belonged to +England. Norway and France were the next greatest sufferers from the +submarine warfare. In one week after Germany announced her intention to +give no quarter, but to sink any vessel which came within the range of +the U-boat torpedoes, the toll of ships lost was more than 400,000 tons. + +At the beginning of the war the submarine was to all intents and +purposes a novelty--a boat of recognized possibilities, but existing +very largely in the experimental stage. Its use was very largely ignored +by naval men, although it was conceded that when properly developed it +would prove a wonderful agency of destruction. The proud commanders of +the great battleships, with their 10, 12 and 14 inch guns, which sent +great shells miles across the ocean, looked down upon the little +underseas boat, and applied to it the sobriquet of "tin sardine." + +But the "tin sardine" has grown up, and the commander of the monster war +vessel is at the mercy of the little craft which he ridiculed. A short +time ago Holland, the American inventor of the modern submarine, died of +a broken heart. His type was necessarily an experimental one. He built +five boats before he was able to sell one to the United States +Government, and this latter one, after being bought by a junk dealer, +who intended to break it up for its metals, was finally rescued from +such an inglorious end by the city of New York, which has placed it in +her municipal museum. + + +PRINCIPLE OF THE SUBMARINE. + +Germany has developed the highest type of submarines, which she has used +to the fullest advantage. The principle of the submarine is that of a +floating bottle. An empty bottle, as every one knows, will float on the +surface, but submerges as soon as it is filled with water. The submarine +has, as part of its constructive features, a number of compartments +which, as they are filled or emptied of water, enables the craft to +submerge or rise. + +At the bow and stern, respectively, there are two horizontal rudders, +and as these are manipulated at various angles so the bow points either +upward or downward, and with a steady gliding motion the submarine +slides under or is brought to the surface. + +This, in brief, is the story of the submarine. Its history is another +matter; its radius of action and results achieved one of the marvels of +the ages. A long-sheathed body, the shape of a cigar with the butt end +to the fore, the inside filled with machinery and compactness the order +of the day, might be regarded as a fair description from a physical +standpoint. It has spread terror to all corners of the earth, and, +taken in proportion to its size and steaming radius, may well be said to +be the superior of the super-dreadnought. + +The manner in which the submarine is operated is difficult to describe. +It leads a sort of dual existence. When cruising along the surface +"awash," it is propelled like a motorboat, the power being provided by a +gasoline engine; but when it dives or submerges it is operated +underwater by electric motors, and the steering, pumping, handling, +loading and firing of the torpedoes is done pneumatically and +electrically. The interior of the submarine is a marvel of mechanical +complexity and scientific detail. There are gauges to show the water +pressure, to indicate the speed, to show the depth; sensitive devices by +which the commander can tell of the approach of vessels; wheels, cranks, +levers and instruments which are used in driving and controlling this +almost human mechanical agency of the seafighter. + + +SUBMARINE AN ANOMALY IN WARFARE. + +The submarine is the sudden and amazing problem of the naval world. +While naval men assert with confidence that it can never win the mastery +of the seas, in the same breath they will admit that it may easily +prevent the older and better known types of ships from establishing the +mastery that was once theirs. It is an anomaly in warfare. + +Many are the tales of horror told by survivors of ships which have been +torpedoed by the undersea boats of the Teutons. The lordly Lusitania, on +board of which were some of the leading lights of literature and some of +the world's wealthy men, was sent to the bottom without the least +warning. Neutral shipping has been devastated, and men, women and +children have been murdered by the hand of the Kaiser, as exemplified in +the lurking submarine. + +One of the dastardly tragedies of the war was the sinking of the Lars +Kruse, a ship flying the Danish flag and which had been chartered by +the Belgian Relief Commission. This was sunk in the early part of +February, 1917, and the crew of nineteen men, together with the captain +and other officers, with the exception of the first mate and Axel +Moeller, the first engineer, perished in the bitter cold sea. No warning +was given by the attacking submarine; indeed, no sight of it was had by +the crew. Delivering its torpedo as it lay submerged, it silently stole +away into the night after the murders had been done. + +In the maritime court in Copenhagen Mr. Moeller tells of the sinking of +the ship. Dressed as the regulations of the German autocrat demanded, +with the balloon, flag and bunting displayed at each of the mastheads, +together with other marks of identification, the ship was steaming along +in the bright moonlight when she was struck, according to the testimony +of the engineer. + + +SHIP NOT STRUCK BY A MINE. + +The fact that the ship was hit near the fourth hatch alone combats the +theory that she was struck by a mine. In this latter case the mine would +have struck her nearer the bow. The ship was near the mouth of the +English channel when hit. In an instant she started to settle, and the +crew at once lowered away the single lifeboat. + +The boat had hardly started over the side, however, before the ship +lurched, and with a mighty heave went down stern first. She seemed to +turn a back somersault, according to the engineer, and because of the +fact that the lifeboat was not clear it was dragged under. The men +succeeded in cutting the ropes, however, and the lifeboat came to the +surface, although bottom side up. Engineer Moeller was struck on the +head as the boat came to the surface, but, although he was momentarily +stunned, the icy water quickly revived him. + +Striking out for the lifeboat, the engineer soon had a tight grip on her +side. A man struggling in the water grasped his wrist, but by a quick +movement he wrenched himself free, and then, climbing upon the boat, +reached out and caught the man by the hand. Then began a slow struggle +to get him aboard, but the men were unequal to the task, and the man in +the water sank. Part of the skin and flesh of his hand remained in the +fingers of Moeller, showing the desperation with which he had clung to +the man's hand. + +Three other men, who were fast becoming exhausted, were assisted upon +the boat, where they lay sprawled across its bottom. Four others were in +the water, making a total of seven who were alive. + +Water and air were freezing cold, and Moeller, who was in the water, +together with three others, held to the gunwales with stiffened fingers. +Within the hour one of the sailors gave up the struggle, and with a +farewell to the others slid quietly into the depths. + + +PASSENGERS' AGONIZING SUFFERINGS. + +Finally Moeller climbed upon the upturned boat, where he lay listening +to the shrieks of his companions. He said that their cries were most +pitiful. The cabin boy was the next victim. He cried pitifully for a +time, but finally became silent and slid into the water. One after +another, the men died of exposure and slipped into the peaceful sea. + +After a time the only persons remaining, besides the third mate, were +the two who had thrown themselves across the bottom of the boat. Finally +one of them gave up the struggle, and the other, in an effort to combat +the cold, pulled the clothes from his dead body and wrapped them about +himself. The boat settled a little, and finally both were corpses, lying +with feet and hands dipping into the sea. The engineer said that he did +not have the heart to push their bodies into the water, although he knew +they were dead. + +Finally the third mate was the only other man alive. The clothes of the +engineer were frozen fast to his body, and he felt that he was dying of +cold. The third mate started to get a sort of bluish black from the +cold, and with a gasping cry he attempted to sit up straight. Then +reason left him, and for a couple of hours he shouted and shrieked, and, +as the sun began to streak the sky and dawn brought slight comfort, the +demented man raved and swore. + +Then a flash of reason seemed to return to him and he spoke to Moeller. + +"I'm going," he said. "Give my love to my wife." + +The man had been married just before starting on this ill-fated voyage. +With this farewell message on his lips he died. When Moeller returned to +his home he found that it was impossible to deliver the message to the +wife of the dead man, because of the fact that worry had driven her +insane. + + +TROUSERS USED AS SIGNAL. + +Shortly after the death of his companion Moeller saw the smoke of a +steamer on the horizon. Summoning all his strength, he tore the trousers +from the limbs of one of the dead men, and, using them as a means of +signaling, swung them about his head to attract attention. As the +engineer made every effort to attract the attention of those aboard the +steamship, he saw a sneaking submarine slowly edging toward her. This +made him shout all the louder, thinking thereby to warn the captain of +the ship of his danger. His efforts were vain, however, and in a short +time the ship had gone to the bottom and the crew was adrift in the +lifeboats. The sunken ship proved to be a Russian steamer. + +In his efforts to attract the attention of the intended victim of the +U-boat, the drifting man had attracted the attention of the captain of +the submarine, and it was this boat to which his cold-stiffened body was +hauled a few minutes later. It was a time before his numb body could be +thawed out. + +Seeming to know from which ship he had been cast off, the engineer was +closely questioned by the captain of the submarine. As the captain +talked he made motions, as though to shut out from before his eyes a +horrible sight. He told Moeller afterwards that the most horrible sight +he had ever seen was the overturned boat with the two corpses laying on +it, and the lone man signaling for help. The victim was black from cold, +and his legs were rubbed by members of the crew. Port wine was given +him, and later food and coffee. + +Then the captain continued his questioning. He knew the name of the boat +on which Moeller had been engineer, and from his intimate knowledge of +the sinking of her, the engineer felt sure it was his submarine that had +done the work. + + +SUBMARINE TOWS RUSSIAN SHIP. + +Turning his attention to the lifeboats of the Russian ship which he had +just torpedoed, the captain of the submarine promised to tow them to the +French coast. He had been towing them but two hours, however, when he +came below and told Moeller that he had sighted a French destroyer, and +that he would have to make his escape. He gave the engineer his choice +of staying on the submarine, in which case it would be fourteen days +before he touched port, after which he was promised his freedom, or the +privilege of getting aboard one of the lifeboats, and taking his chances +of rescue by the destroyer. + +Electing to take his chances in the lifeboat, Moeller was fitted out +with new clothing, the outfit being topped off with a fur-lined +overcoat. It turned out, however, that the captain had taken this +clothing from the stores of the Russian steamer before sinking her, and +the engineer learned when he got into the lifeboat that he was wearing +the greatcoat of one of the shivering Russians. + +Just before submerging the U-boat set off a couple of red-light bombs, +for the purpose of attracting the attention of the crew of the +destroyer, and submerged. The drifters were picked up by the destroyer, +which steamed for France. The captain of the U-boat had promised Moeller +that he would not attack the destroyer, although he had been trailing +her for two weeks. The U-boat was sunk before she reached port, and all +perished. + +An American importer who, because of his German name and the intimate +relations he enjoyed with certain important men in Berlin, had been +taken to the hearts of some of the leaders, became a factor in +pro-German activities in Cuba. He was taken into the confidences of many +of the officials and learned the plans of the Tirpitz group. + +Deciding that his allegiance was American, he returned to the United +States. In his possession were many of the inner secrets of the German +Government, and these were given to the officials in Washington. His +information with reference to the submarine has been of great value to +the government. + +For the sake of convenience we will call the man Johann Schmidt. This is +his story: + + +THE U-BOAT TYPE OF SUBMERSIBLE. + +Germany's most successful and highly developed class of submarine has +been, of course, the U-boat type of submersible. These are the terrors +of the sea which have succeeded in crossing the Atlantic, and have been +developed both as the fighting and as the commercial U-boat. + +Herr Schmidt reported that Germany was constructing submarines 25 per +cent larger than anything the United States had ever seen or heard of. +His information was to the effect that Germany had a building capacity +for ten submarines a week. The ability to produce these boats with such +rapidity is due to the process of standardization--the practice of +modern efficiency which has made it possible for American factories to +turn out such big quantities of automobiles in a limited period. + +All parts of the German U-boats are made in standard sizes and from the +same original pattern. Consequently, these parts are turned out by +machinery in replica, and the building of the finished boats is merely a +matter of assembling them at points to which the various parts have been +shipped. The Diesel oil engine, which is regarded as the ideal +power-producing engine for submarines, has been developed to its highest +state of efficiency by Germany, and is made at the famous Krupp gun +works, the great engine works in Augsburg, Emden and Nuremburg, and +other less well-known places in Germany. + +It has been estimated that Germany has anywhere from 250 to 500 +submarines, and it is said that the aim is to produce 1000 of these +craft, to absolutely destroy the commerce of the seas and starve into +submission England and France. + + +HOW SUBMARINES WORK. + +According to Herr Schmidt, the submarines work in groups of four. +Because of the limited capacity of the boats for carrying provisions, +supplies and fuel, it is necessary for them to have supply bases, to +which they can return and secure torpedoes. In operation each group +consists of four submarines, traveling along in a diamond-shaped +formation, one in front, one on either flank and one in rear. Eight +miles separate the boats. The leading submarine carries the extra +gasoline and supplies and acts as a scoutship; she sights a vessel, +reports its speed and direction and then submerges--her task is done. + +The two torpedo carriers on either flank immediately change their +courses so as to converge on the prey, and they arrive one on either +side of her--they get her in between them. The boat in the rear keeps +them informed as to the doomed ship's progress, and submerges at the +last moment. She carries the extra crews for the fighting pair. The +U-boats are fairly well protected against the onslaught of the light +torpedo-boat destroyers and chasers, because the decks are protected by +several feet of water at almost all times, while the commanding tower is +covered with from two to three inches of the best steel armor plate. + +It is related that at the outset of the U-boat menace, England ordered +its commanding officers to ram the U-boats on sight. The length to which +the Germans will go in an effort to win is illustrated by the fact that, +in consequence of this order, a Von Tirpitz council presented this +answer: Attacking submarines were equipped with explosive mines +containing 300 to 400 pounds of nitroglycerin or guncotton. To the top +of this mine was fastened a fake periscope. This devilish device was +attached to the submarine by a light cable, and towed along the surface +of the water 1000 feet or more behind the submarine. The result that +would follow any attempt on the part of a commander to run down one of +these decoys is readily imagined. + + +DESCRIPTION OF A PERISCOPE. + +The periscope is distinctly a submarine device which is worthy of brief +description. It is, in effect, a long tube, with an elbow joint at the +top and a similar one at the bottom. At the elbow joints at both ends +are arranged reflectors. The reflector in the upper end catches the +object which comes within the range of vision, and reflects the image +down the tube to the mirror at the lower elbow, where the pilot sees it. +The principle of the periscope is the same as that of the "busybody," +familiar to householders, and which is placed on the sill of an upper +window, so that a person inside the house may see who is at the front +door. + +The Germans have recently devised a new form of periscope, designed to +make the device invisible to the lookout of approaching boats. This +device consists of two mirrors, put together like a "Y" lying on its +side, the wide part in front. These skim through the waves and converge +the image upon the low periscope's lens, which shoots the light down the +tube to the receiving apparatus below. When looked at from a distance +the mirrors reflect the surface of the sea, so that a lookout sees +nothing but the waves as they are reflected in the mirror. + +The Germans use the bottom of the sea as regular "land" for their supply +bases, and when the submarines go to the surface it is precisely like an +aeroplane mounting the air. The submarine fleet boasts also of "mother +boats." They lie on the bottom of the ocean, in designated places, and +rise at night to hand out their supplies. Crews are changed and tired +men go back to the bottom to rest up, while fresher comrades take their +places. + +So, too, the submarine, with its ability to rest on the bottom of the +sea, has become an efficient boat for mine laying. The mine layers work +from the undersea boats without fear of disturbance, the divers walking +out from the submarines to the floor of the sea without being seen or +without ever coming to the surface. + + +TALES OF REMARKABLE EXPLOITS. + +American citizens landed from vessels sunk by German submarines tell +remarkable tales of the strenuous exploits of the U-boats. In one case +three undersea boats appeared simultaneously alongside the ship, one +being a submarine cruiser, 800 feet long, and the others old-fashioned +submarines, with a length of about 120 feet. + +In another case a German submarine wore an elaborate disguise of a +fishing boat. This submarine carried a gun which had a range of nearly +five miles. + +In at least two cases the crews of vessels sunk by submarines were +rescued from open boats by passing ships, only to suffer a repetition of +disaster when the ship on which they had taken refuge fell prey to an +underwater boat. + +A seaman from Pensacola, who was a member of the crew of a Swedish +sailing vessel, said: + +"We were almost within sight of land late in the afternoon when we +observed a Norwegian sailing vessel in an encounter with a submarine +eight miles away. Apprehending that our turn would come next, we +prepared a lifeboat. A 300-foot submarine came up to us in due course +and fired three warning shots from its heavy gun. + +"We pulled our boat over to the lifeboat from the Norwegian ship +previously sunk, and a dozen hours later were picked up by a British +steamer. We had only a brief stay on the British boat, as she was +torpedoed the same morning. After a few hours in the boats we were found +by a British patrol and landed." + +A Baltimore seaman from a Danish sailing vessel said: + + +THE SHIP ABANDONED. + +"We abandoned ship in response to three shots from a submarine. +Thereupon the submarine fired twenty-two shots into the hull of the +ship, sinking her. We tried to speak with the submarine commander, but +he told us he was in a hurry, as he had to attend to a Norwegian bark +which was waiting a short distance off. + +"We pulled for the nearest land, and all our twenty-five men got ashore +safe, although both lifeboats were badly smashed up in the surf as we +were beaching them." + +A Philadelphian described the manner in which his steamer escaped being +sunk. + +"We were attacked by a submarine disguised as a fishing vessel," he +said. "She opened fire on us at five miles, sending fifteen shots at us, +and smashing our wireless. She pursued us for an hour. We did not use +our gun. Finally a British patrol boat appeared. The submarine +submerged, disguise and all, presenting a ludicrous sight as the +carefully prepared equipment simulating a fishing boat sank beneath the +waves." + +The captain of an American sailing ship which was sunk said: + +"Submarines are lying along the sea lanes in regular nests. They keep +well under the water most of the time, coming up now and then for +periscopic observations, or on hearing the approach of merchant craft, +which often can be identified readily by the sound of the engines. By +thus conserving fuel the submarines are able to remain away from their +base a long time, and also they find means of renewing their stores from +ships which they sink. + +"The U-boat which sank us had been out for six weeks. She had one +British captain on board. She renewed all her supplies from our boat and +took all the nautical instruments. The submarine gave us a sharp signal +to halt, with a shell from a distance of two miles. It was good +marksmanship. The shot hit the ship squarely, but caused no casualties. +We stopped and took to the boats. The submarine came up in leisurely +fashion, sank the ship with bombs and passed the time of day with our +boats. She had a crew of thirty-seven, and was 250 feet long." + +"We were picked up by a Norwegian sailing vessel, on which we spent six +days. She was then attacked by a 120-foot submarine. We all took to the +Norwegian's boats. The submarine commander declined to look at the +Norwegian captain's papers. We had another twenty-four hours in open +boats, and then were picked up by a British patrol and landed." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THWARTING THE U-BOAT. + +NETS TO ENTANGLE THE SEA SHARKS OF WAR--"CHASERS" OR "SKIMMING-DISH" +BOATS--"BLIMPS" AND SEAPLANES--HUNTING THE SUBMARINE WITH "LANCE," BOMB +AND GUN--A SAILOR'S DESCRIPTION. + + +The advantage which Germany gained by the development of what has been +termed the super-submarine placed the other nations where it became +absolutely necessary for them to concentrate their energies in an effort +to counteract the devastation which the U-boats brought upon the seas. +England tried first to protect the English channel and many of its ports +with mines, floating bombs and submarine nets, and while the latter +served as barriers which prevented the submarines penetrating into some +of the important waters and harbors, they could act merely in a +protective sense. + +The submarine net is a specially devised net with heavy iron or wire +meshes, similar to a fishing net. These nets--miles in length--were born +of the nets originally devised to sweep harbors clear of mines. They are +carried between two boats described as trawlers, which are a form of +sea-going tug with powerful engines, that can draw a heavy load. A heavy +cable runs from trawler to trawler, and from this the chain net is +suspended in the water. It is heavily weighted at the bottom so as to +hold it in a perpendicular position. The trawlers steaming along, side +by side, sweep up with the net anything which may be placed in the water +for the purpose of blowing up or injuring vessels. + +The submarine nets in some places have been anchored to form a regular +barrier against the passage of submarine boats, and in this way were +effective, but their use could in no way restrict the underseas boats in +their work upon the open seas. + +The most effective plan of overcoming the dire consequences of the +U-boat warfare was found, therefore, to lie in the use of submarine +chasers and airships, the two operating together in conjunction with the +battleships, cruisers and torpedo boat destroyers. + +The submarine chaser is a light-draught, high-powered, skimming-dish +type of husky motorboat, mounting rapid-fire, 3 or 4-inch guns. In order +to prove effective against the submarine it is necessary to have many of +these boats, and it is a matter of particular interest that the +marvelous resources of the United States at the time of her entrance +into the war enabled her to immediately begin a campaign for the +construction of chasers, which would be able to guard the seas in the +channels of traffic and along the ports into which the submarine might +attempt to sneak. + + +NO EXPERT NAVAL KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED. + +The operation of the chaser does not require the degree of technical +skill and knowledge of naval strategy required in the handling of ships +of the naval type. A fleet of chasers is manned largely by naval +reserves, who have a certain amount of training, but who are neither +navigators nor experts in naval affairs. The operations are, however, +directed by the naval authorities. + +The submarine chaser is effective because it draws very little water, +has high speed, can be quickly turned and diverted from its course and +does not present any great depth of hull at which the submarine can fire +a torpedo. It would be possible for a torpedo to pass under a chaser +without hitting it--if the submarine cared to waste such an expensive +weapon on so small an adversary. When the submarine attempts to come to +the surface and use the rapid-fire gun with which she is armed she is at +a disadvantage, because it takes her several minutes to emerge. +Additional time is required to swing the gun up through its automatic +hatch while the men scramble to the deck to man it. + +The chaser, with a speed of approximately 35 to 40 miles an hour, will +travel somewhere between a mile and a half to two miles in this period. +Its gun has been ready from the start, and the chaser has had half a +dozen shots or so with only a single hit needed to put the submarine out +of commission. Even if the submarine is at the surface and has her gun +mounted ready for action, she is at a disadvantage with the chaser. The +chaser, taking advantage of her speed and small size, goes skimming +across the water at the rate of 40 miles an hour, and it takes a mighty +fine gunner to be able to hit a small craft, going in a zigzag course +over the water at such speed. + +The chaser may continue to circle the submarine awaiting her opportunity +which will of necessity come when the U-boat attempts to submerge. The +submarine must go through the regular form of running back her gun, and +battening down the water-tight hatches, before she can submerge, and the +latter process again takes several minutes. Therefore while the +submarine is preparing to dip, the chaser can run upon her and let loose +the fire from its rapid-fire gun. + + +A POOR SURFACE FIGHTER. + +The submarine, by very virtue of the qualities which make it a good +submarine, is a poor boat for surface fighting. It can carry no very +heavy armament, and it is not heavily armored. The problem of stowing +away all the heavy machinery, supplies, torpedoes and devices necessary +for her operations and maneuvering has presented about all the +difficulties the constructors have been able to handle. The highest +speed of the submarine is not in excess of 20 miles an hour. The +submarine must be light and easy to handle. It gains in steadiness and +certainty of operation with increased size, but it loses in capacity for +quick and delicate maneuvering. + +In addition the submarine has what is termed a strategic vulnerability. +A shot which might mean nothing more serious than a hole in the side to +a surface boat would end the submarine's usefulness for underseas work +and convert her into a helpless hulk of surface craft. + +The submarine is an easy quarry for a chaser, for even when submerged +and moving along, the U-boat creates a distinct wave on the surface of +the water which can be followed by the chaser. The little boats are just +what their name implies--chasers--and besides having the qualities +already described they may conceal themselves behind large steamers, and +when the submarine in preparing to launch a torpedo makes its presence +known the chaser may speed from its hiding place and drive the underseas +craft away, even if it does not succeed in injuring it. + + +OPERATING IN CONNECTION WITH AN AEROPLANE. + +The chasers also have a special facility of operation in connection with +the aeroplane or seaplane, principally because of their high speed; and +next to the chaser the aeroplane is one of the submarine's worst +enemies. Used in conjunction with the regular torpedo boat destroyers of +the navy, the chaser and the aeroplane promise in future wars to +minimize the effectiveness of the underseas craft. This is proven by the +fact that immediately after the United States naval forces joined those +of the Allies in European waters, the disasters resultant upon submarine +attacks were greatly reduced. The speedy destroyers, while not actually +sinking many submarines, by their vigilance prevented the submarine from +operating. + +Large types of the chasers ordered in this country by the Russian +Government are 72 feet long by 11 feet 3 inches wide and draw 3 feet 3 +inches of water. Each boat carries three of the 8-cylinder 6-3/4 x 7-3/4 +Duesenberg, 350 to 400 horsepower motors. The boats carry an 18-inch +torpedo tube amidships and a 47-millimetre rapid-fire gun on the forward +deck. They are controlled from the bridge deck with a sheltered cabin +for the quartermaster, with controls from either the shelter or bridge +deck. They have a guaranteed speed of twenty-eight knots. + +Deck arrangements consist of the following: A hatch to the fo'castle, +followed by; the emplacement for the rapid-fire gun. Following this is +the steering shelter containing duplicate controls, &c., for the engine +room and for the steering. Immediately aft of the steering shelter is +the bridge deck, located on top of the engine room trunk house. The +entire after half of the vessel is a clear sweep of deck with the +exception of a booby hatch to crews' quarters well aft. + +The boats are arranged for wireless with foremast and jigger mast. Rail +stanchions in the way of the torpedo tube are hinged down, giving clear +sweep to the tube for firing purposes. + + +PROVISION FOR OFFICERS AND CREW. + +Below decks ample space has been provided for the crew and officers. The +forepeak is arranged for chain lockers and bosun's gear lockers, +followed by ship's galley, which has two pipe berths. Next to the galley +is located the officers' cabin and wireless room, which is entered by a +hatch from the steering shelter. This cabin accommodates two officers +and includes lavatory, officers' desks, wireless desk and folding mess +table. + +Next aft is the machinery space, in which are located the three eight +cylinder Duesenberg motors, a three k.w. universal lighting set, the +necessary oil tanks, batteries and a work bench. The next compartment +contains fuel tanks, with 1300 gallons capacity. Aft of this compartment +is located the crew's quarters, berthing eight men, with lavatory +attached. The hull is divided into six water-tight compartments by steel +bulkheads. + +The hull is of wooden construction, as developed for this service by the +builders. + +The 72-footers develop a speed of twenty-eight knots and have a cruising +radius exceeding 1200 miles. The design of the hull is the concave +bottom, square bilge type, developed for this particular service. It +furnishes a steady gun platform, which, with the necessary speed, is +the most vital feature of a submarine chaser. + +The demand for speed and stability was borne out by the experience of +the Russian and Italian navies in their active work and no consideration +at all is given propositions from these two countries which do not range +well about twenty-five knots. + +Exceptional success was attained by the Russian Black Sea and by the +Italian high speed fleets in actual use and their demand for exceptional +speed was based on experience. + +It is a well known fact that the Russian government was successful in +patrolling its shores and in protecting its harbors and shipping. The +Italian government also was exceptionally successful in maintaining its +mercantile fleet in comparative safety and in protecting its harbors +against the offensive work of enemy submarines. The entire Italian fleet +of submarine chasers consists of high speed, high powered motor patrol +boats, most of which were equipped with American made motors. + + +CATALOGUED AS "PATROL BOATS." + +In a general way the "chasers" are catalogued in naval circles as +"patrol boats." England has thousands of them, ranging from motorboats +to naval auxiliaries, raking the English Channel, the North Sea and the +waters all about the British Isles. As a rule the boats work in groups +of five or six, one boat serving as a flagship--and often there is a +"blimp" attached to the fleet. The armament of these small vessels is +distinctive. Each carries, besides a deck gun, a "depth charge," half a +dozen lance bombs and arms for each member of the crew. The deck gun +fires a shell that weighs about thirteen pounds. + +The "depth charge" is a submarine bomb, so constructed that it is +discharged at any determined depth of water when thrown overboard. If +the water is 100 feet deep the bomb will explode at that depth. The +bombs are used to drop in places where the submarine has been located +or is expected of lurking in the bottom of the sea. While the exploding +bomb may not strike the underseas boat it will create havoc on board the +underwater craft if discharged in close proximity, the extra water +pressure exerted causing disarrangement of the delicate mechanism, if +not rendering the boat unfit for service. + +Some of the patrol boats of the English have been armed with "lance +bombs." These are bombs of highly explosive character which are fastened +to the end of a long pole or staff. They are used just as a harpoon is +used when by chance a submarine may emerge from the water in too close +proximity to the chaser. It is not of record that any U-boats have been +sunk with these strange javelins, but official reports show that the +boats are armed with them for emergencies. + + +CHASER TROUBLES THE SUBMARINE. + +What with dragging bombs through the water, and setting traps and nests +for the submarines, the chasers make great trouble for the underseas +craft, but the ingenious Germans are constantly on the alert, and it has +been proved that in one or two instances at least the submarines cut +their way through the heavy chain nets which were set to catch them near +Havre. It was said that the submarine was provided with steel knives or +wire cutters, and shears operated by electricity or pneumatic pressure, +which enabled the boat to cut its way through the barrier of chains and +wires. + +As a means of visualizing the operations of the "chaser" and giving some +idea of the excitement which attends the attempt to run down the +underseas craft, the following description by an English sailor is +interesting. The chase occurred off the Isle of Wight: + +"Offshore a short distance was a patrol boat lying very low and flying +distress signals. We had run over to her and learned that about an hour +before the periscope of a submarine had been stuck up not far from her, +then the craft had submerged, appeared again about a mile away, and +fired four shots, which let in enough water slowly to sink the patrol, +which before the war had been nothing but a dirty little trawler. + +"Finding the crew of the patrol could take care of themselves in their +small boats and learning that the submarine had run over to the +westward, where we knew chain net traps to be laid, we circled in that +direction. + +"Our powerful motors thrummed evenly. The water seemed to part ahead of +us, and the gunners squinted along the surface, looking for the glimpse +of a periscope or the first sign of the hull of the U-boat if she should +be proceeding awash. + + +CREW THRILLED WITH JOY. + +"Suddenly, off to the west, we made out her periscope. Intense joy +thrilled our little crew. She was inshore from us. She was between our +circular course and the chain nets--in the trap. The periscope we had +seen might be a dummy, for a submarine frequently casts loose a phoney +periscope to draw fire, but, at any rate, she must have been between us +and the nets if she cut it loose. + +"Presently, probably after a look around, the periscope suddenly +disappeared, and we knew it was a real one with a German U-boat on the +end of it. Like a flock of falcons we were swooping down on the prey. + +"Abruptly the lead boat comes to a dead stop and lists heavily to +starboard. Evidently something is wrong. We see men crawl out over the +stern and fish around with boat hooks and poles. Cold as it is, one man +goes overboard and remains under water so long we could not believe he +would come up alive. The boat had fouled the chain nets. + +"Circling round in an ever smaller radius, we search the water for a +periscope, a shadow, or the conventional 'streak of dirty grease' or +'line of bubbles.' + +"All of us have towing torpedoes out. These are bombs on long cables +which are towed astern and sink to a certain specified depth. If the +cable fouls anything at all, as the boat goes ahead, the bomb pulls up +to it, and, when it bumps, it explodes. + +"We are in line. Suddenly there is a crash and a roar just ahead of us. +I am thrown off my feet. Barrels of water splash down into our cockpit +and roll off the decks. The bow lifts itself clean for a second. I think +that the submarine has blown us up. Perhaps I am dead already. + +"Then we settle down again, and except for a scared look on the faces of +a couple of men and rather nervous, forced jests on the lips of others, +we are plowing ahead just as before. + +"Nothing has happened except the towing torpedo of the boat in front of +us in the line fouled a submerged spar, or a bit of wreckage, and +exploded right under our bow. 'If we had been a few yards closer we +would never have been there any more.' + + +FOULS A SUBMERGED SPAR. + +"As we realized what had happened, our tongues were loosened, and, if +the crew of the boat ahead could have heard what we said about them, we +would have lost their friendship most assuredly. + +"Way inshore, after a circling chase of perhaps twenty minutes, the +submarine came up. She was in such shallow water that she probably was +having trouble in operating submerged. She was gone then. + +"What followed was very business-like. It illustrates the attitude the +British have come to take toward the submarines because of their +flagrant violations of every form of international law and decency. It +is the attitude which any country, obliged to fight against them, will +assume. To the British mind, submarines must be exterminated, just as +one would exterminate a nest of poisonous vipers, or a nest of hornets. +People ask me how many submarines are being captured now. Very few! Many +are destroyed, but few captured. + +"No sooner did the hull of the submarine show itself than we began to +hammer her with our three-inch guns. She opened fire, but her shots went +wild, and, in a few seconds, she disappeared. + +"As fast as we could, we ran over to where she had gone down. If the +principles which obtain on land, in the air or in the navy at large, +existed in submarine warfare, we would have gone over to see if we could +rescue any of the wounded, but it was a U-boat and we simply made sure +that there was nothing left of the craft. + +"About where she went down, a quantity of gas and air bubbles were +rising, and the dirty patch of oil was once more in evidence. That was a +pretty certain sign the career of one U-boat was at an end, for the sea +must have been pouring into her, and even though all her crew did not +drown, once the salt water reached the storage batteries, the chloride +would do the work. + + +WERE TAKING NO CHANCES. + +"But we are taking no chances. We circle round and round the spot and +drop depth bombs--deadly machines. These are powerful explosives which +are set so they will detonate at a certain depth. We first sounded the +bottom and then set our bombs for ten fathoms. Suddenly I hear a cry +from the boat behind us. One of the crew reaches out, grabs the collar +of a man who has just dropped a depth bomb over the stern and yanks him +unceremoniously into the cockpit. At a glance I see what has happened. + +"The engineer has stalled his motor--just as the bomb was let go. It +sinks slowly, and there is a slight momentum left in the +submarine-chaser. We hold our breath and watch in suspense, expecting +any second to see our comrades hurled into the air among a mushroom of +water and splinters. + +"There is no way to help them. Suddenly there is a muffled roar, a +column of water rises to what seems a hundred feet, and falls back, +drenching every one who is near it. But our comrades are unhurt. The +momentum of their boat has carried them just far enough to save them +from being blown to atoms. That is the second narrow escape for our +little squadron in this chase after a single submarine. + +"But our work is done. There is no doubt now about the fate of the +U-boat. It is not necessary for one of the depth bombs actually to come +in contact with the submerged craft to destroy it. When under water, a +submarine's rigidity is multiplied. Its elasticity is next to nothing. +An explosion as powerful as that of a depth bomb near it, is almost +certain to cripple it if not destroy it. It is the same principle as +that which kills fish in a pond when dynamite is exploded beneath the +surface of the water. The shock is sufficient to kill the men in the +U-boat, and so we glide along homeward, secure in the knowledge that +even if our gunfire did not finish the enemy, the bombs have done the +work. On the surface, we notice swarms of dead fish." + + +THE HAWK-EYED AEROPLANE. + +The last wrinkle developed for submarine hunting was the aeroplane. Like +a fish-hawk it can see its prey beneath the water by flying high in air. +Another step just a bit in advance of aeroplane scouting for submarines +is the use of a small dirigible for the same purpose. But the cleverest +development of the aeroplane-submarine idea involved the use of +seaplanes for the purpose of launching submarine torpedoes at enemy +ships. + +Here's how this is practiced. As most folks know, the seaplane differs +from the land-flying craft in that it rides on floats instead of wheels. +These floats permit the seaplane to come to rest on the waves, and to +launch itself again. Between these floats, which resemble a pair of +broad home-made sleds, may be slung a torpedo. The same type of missile, +this, that is used by the submarine and the destroyer--a long, +cigar-shaped cylinder, operated by compressed air driving a propeller, +and equipped with a warhead filled with guncotton. The torpedo is held +by slings, delicately adjusted so that they can be released in an +instant. + +The great seaplane, swinging the missile of death between its giant +floats, climbs the skies in search of an enemy ship. From a distance of +miles, perhaps, the seaplane looks like a gull. To the observer in the +plane, however, sweeping the horizon with his binoculars, a ship is +plainly and easily seen. + + +NOT TO BE OUT-DISTANCED. + +Off in the distance is spied a ship suspected of being an enemy +transport. It isn't hard to determine--the ship cannot steam away from +them, no matter how swift its engines. A seaplane can go so fast that it +makes the fastest torpedo boat destroyer look as if it were standing +still. The attacked transport may try to bring its anti-aircraft guns to +bear, if luckily it is equipped with them. Failing this, the soldiers +will man the decks with their rifles ready. Then there is a duel of +skill and daring between the men on the cruiser and the lone fighters in +the seaplane. + +The seaplane must swoop sufficiently close to the water to release the +torpedo and let it drop without damage. And this must be done from a +sufficient distance to safeguard the seaplane from the vessel's guns. +The superior speed and mobility of the seaplane gives it a great +advantage over the ship attacked. + +Another of the weapons or instruments of warfare devised largely for use +in destroying the evil submarine is the "blimp." This is nothing more +nor less than a small dirigible balloon, hundreds of which the United +States government started to build when it entered the war. + +The blimp is an aerial sea-scout. Its principal employment is for +observation. It is a watcher of enemy movements on the water. But it is +also serviceable for attack, and especially for assailing submarines. + +The British used blimps for the latter purpose, and to great advantage. +The dirigible sausage-balloon, when a submarine is descried, can hover +over it (as an aeroplane cannot), remaining as nearly stationary as may +be desired, and waiting for an opportunity to drop a bomb with accurate +aim. + +If the submarine be under water, and its presence betrayed by the +peculiar surface-ripple that marks its wake, a bomb with a delay-action +fuse can be dropped upon it, the projectile not exploding until it +reaches a depth of fifty feet or so. In case the first bomb does not +score a hit, there are others to follow, with better luck perhaps. + + +THE IMPORTANCE OF THE "BLIMP." + +Thus, it will be seen that the blimp is an important auxiliary of the +flying-machine in the pursuit of the submarines. Both together, in this +exciting sport, supplement the swift power-boats called +"submarine-chasers." + +For some time the Navy Department has trained enlisted men and officers +for this work, chiefly at a Gulf port, where a school--it is no war +secret--of aviation and ballooning has been maintained. Six officers and +40 men are required for each coast station. + +The Navy Department adopted for the blimp a standardized pattern, with +definite published specifications, in accordance with which contractors +turned them out in numbers. It is a sausage-shaped balloon 160 feet +long, with a great diameter of 31-1/2 feet, and containing, when +inflated, 77,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas. + +The fabric of the "envelope"--that is to say, of the gas-bag--is coated +both outside and inside with rubber. It is required that the balloon +shall not lose more than 1 per cent of its gas-content in 24 hours. When +inflated it must be able to carry (including its own weight) a total of +5275 pounds. + +If the "Zeppelin" be excepted, the blimp is the most highly-developed +and scientific heavier-than-air flying machine ever devised. It has a +cruising speed of 35 miles an hour, but at a pinch can travel ten miles +an hour faster. At the "cruising" rate, it carries enough gasoline to +keep going for sixteen hours; at 45 miles, its load of "petrol" will +suffice for ten hours. + +Even the best war balloons of a few years ago were at the mercy of the +winds. It is not so with the blimp. Barring storms, it is able to +navigate the air as it wishes. It can rise safely to an altitude of a +mile and a half. To furnish fuel for its engine of 100 horsepower it +carries, in two tanks, 100 gallons of gasoline. + + +DESCRIPTION OF THE "BLIMP." + +In effect, the blimp is a combination of balloon and aeroplane. Like the +latter, it is provided with "skids" (resembling sled runners and made of +ash wood), or sometimes with bicycle wheels, for safe landing on terra +firma. When designed for sea scouting, floats--cylinders of waterproof +fabric stuffed with vegetable fibre--are attached to the skids, or to +the wheels, so that the airship, in calm weather, may be able to rest, +like a sea bird, on the waves, if desired. + +The blimp's balloon envelope must contain two smaller balloons, together +holding 19,250 feet of hydrogen gas. The idea, of course, is that if +anything happens to the major balloon--puncturing by gunfire or by other +mishap--the "balloonets" inside of it will keep the machine afloat. + +The wingless aeroplane is suspended from the balloon by cables of +galvanized wire. There is a special arrangement by which the +"pilot"--the man who steers and operates the airship--can at any time +measure the pressure of hydrogen in the balloon, thus knowing what he +has to count on in the way of carrying power. + +The front part of the blimp's car is occupied by the engine and +radiator, behind which is a bulkhead of sheet steel. In the rear of this +bulkhead sits the pilot, and behind him the "observer," who makes +sketches and takes notes of anything important that he sees. Behind the +observer are the tanks for fuel oil and 300 gallons of water ballast. +The body of the car is covered with aeroplane linen, save for the +engine, which is sheathed with sheet aluminum. + +In order to hold whatever position in the air may be desired, the blimp +is equipped with two horizontal fins and three vertical fins. Not every +blimp, that is to say, but the pattern approved and required of +contractors by the Navy Department. These fins are made of wood and +light steel tubing, reinforced with wire, covered with aeroplane linen +rubber painted and finished with varnish. + + +THE "BLIMP" WELL EQUIPPED. + +There are also two horizontal rudders and two vertical rudders, for +steering up and down or sidewise. They work on ball bearings. A blimp, +one should understand, is a fish in the ocean of air, a swimmer--just as +the aeroplane is a flyer, like the bird. + +The blimp's "car" carries an electric storage battery to furnish lights. +The same battery energizes a searchlight for night scouting. A wireless +apparatus, for transmitting information to the shore station, is part of +the equipment. + +The blimp, as already stated, is a sea scout. It is meant to be operated +from a base on shore--which base is in constant communication by +telegraph and wireless with the great radio stations that are strung all +along our coasts at intervals of 200 miles. These stations, in turn, are +in communication with the huge wireless outfit at Arlington (across the +Potomac from Washington), whose "antennae," uplifted on tall steel +towers, receive instantaneous war news from half the world. + +Thus if (just for illustration) a blimp spies a hostile submarine, the +news is instantly transmitted to the Navy Department. The department +orders its "chasers" and warplanes nearest to the scene to go after the +undersea boat. Within a few minutes the pursuit has started, and the +U-boat finds itself in much the same situation as a fox hunted by +hounds. In this case, however, the hounds are in the air, as well as +"quartering" the aqueous terrain. + +The United States' blimps are modeled on European patterns. But they are +to have special improvements of their own. To make sure of their +efficiency and structural correctness, each contractor, in offering bids +to furnish them, was required to exhibit a model, exactly like the +sausage balloons he proposed to make, but of toy size--one-thirtieth the +length of the full-sized, completely equipped aerial sea scout. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE EYES OF BATTLE. + +AEROPLANES AND AIRSHIPS--THEY SPY THE MOVEMENTS OF FORCES ON LAND OR +SEA--LEAD DISASTROUS BOMB ATTACKS--VALUABLE IN "SPOTTING" +SUBMARINES--THE BOMBARDMENT AT MESSINES RIDGE. + + +Just as the submarine has revolutionized warfare on the seas and +presented new problems for the naval experts to solve, so the aircraft +of the last decade has had its effect upon the operation of land forces. +Probably the aeroplane and the dirigible balloon have had a greater +influence on the conduct of battles and military campaigns as a whole +than any other device utilized in connection with the war. + +It is significant, too, that just as America produced the first +submarine, and then failed as a nation to develop it to its highest +state of efficiency for military use, so American inventors were +pioneers in the construction and successful operation of aeroplanes, or +airplanes, which were first developed to their greatest efficiency and +utility by the French and Germans. + +Some of the most striking events of the war centre around the use of the +airplanes or dirigibles, and aside from the picturesqueness and +thrilling atmosphere that seem to surround their use, the operator of +the aircraft has proved himself one of the most valuable servants in +modern warfare. He has reduced the proudest cavalry to second place in +the matter of reconnoissance, and has rendered services which have +heretofore been impossible. + +The airman sails out over the lines of battle, so far above the earth +when necessary as to be out of range of the most powerful guns, and with +glasses looks down upon the whole country. His machine, whether it be a +dirigible balloon or airplane, is equipped with a wireless telegraph +instrument with which he is able to send brief messages back to his own +line or military headquarters. He can and does mark the changed +positions of the contending forces, note the entrenchments and +reinforcements, follow movements, and last but not least, as was +noticeable in one of the desperate attacks upon the German position in +June, 1917, swoop down upon the enemy, attack the lines and forces with +bombs, and rain bullets upon them from rapid-fire guns. + +No longer can the enemy mask its heavy batteries or conceal them beneath +earthen mounds, plant them in corners of the forests or in clumps of +bushes without their being located. The "eyes of the sky," as the planes +are now termed, can spy them out. And when the airman has communicated +to his military commanders the positions of the opposing batteries, he +acts as a director in instructing the friendly gunners in finding the +range and cleaning out the enemy. + + +THE AIR SCOUT'S USEFULNESS. + +The air scout can detect the enemy's lines of communication and raid it +with bomb attacks. Even when the land forces cannot reach the enemy with +gunfire he can rain missiles of all sorts upon them. Sometimes the +airman flies over the enemy lines and drops glittering tinsel or bright +metal devices, which falling to the ground serve as marks for the +artillerymen in finding the range. + +Where the cavalry scout or creeping scout of days gone by could never +have proved successful, the airman has easily accomplished his purpose. +He has carried messages from one frontier to another in hours, when it +would have taken days for a scout on horseback or on foot to have +rendered the service, if they could have accomplished it at all. He has +eliminated distance. + +Trench warfare developed in the world-war in a way that has never before +been deemed necessary or possible, but the miles of trenches which +conceal the men from the fire of the enemy are plainly visible to the +airmen. And armed with cameras having powerful telescopic lenses they +can photograph the entire scene and send to their own military +headquarters not mere indicated plans of the battle lines, but exact +photographs. + +The war has shown conclusively that once the formation of the battle +line has been decided upon it is, in a measure, a fixture. It may be +subject to rearrangement, but this is when the force of battle demands, +or for strategic purposes, but such an arrangement requires a great deal +of time and much work. The battle fronts on the borders of France and +Belgium have ranged from 100 to nearly 300 miles in length, with nearly +3,000,000 strung out in opposing lines along the entire distance. + + +LIKE AN IMMENSE GRIDIRON. + +The ground has been dug up and trenched until the surface of the earth +looks like an immense gridiron. The soldiers almost live within the +trenches and dugouts beneath the ground. Telephone and telegraph wires +run through the trenches and even railroad tracks are laid so that small +engines go whirring through the ditches like "dinky" locomotives in a +coal mine. + +And the "eyes in the skies" make it possible for the commanders to know +each other's strength and the disposition of the forces at all times. + +Particularly has the air scout proved valuable in enabling commanders to +execute their final orders without grievous error. There is danger of +possible misjudgment because of the great length of the firing lines. +The airmen verify positions and make last minute reports, taking minutes +to perform services that cavalry forces or other scouting parties would +have taken hours or days to render. + +Operated in conjunction with cavalry scouts, and motor and cycle squads, +the airplane is a destruction-directing and defensive force. And it was +the large fleet of aircraft that aided Germany in making such rapid +advance in its drive toward Paris in the early days of the war. The +scouts reconnoitering in the early dawn were able to report the +situation and give the commanders time to move their forces before the +Belgians and French were aware of what was being done. + +Germany had probably the largest fleet of airplanes at the beginning of +the conflict and is said to have possessed upward of 500, of various +sorts, and this does not include the famous Zeppelins or dirigible +balloons. She also had something like two dozen factories which could +turn out flying machines, and had been at work on the development of her +aircraft long enough to have her patterns and methods of manufacture +somewhat, if not entirely standardized. During the third year of the war +it was estimated that she had more than quadrupled her force of flying +machines. + + +GERMANY'S PREPAREDNESS. + +Germany's preparedness in this as well as in other directions was what +enabled her to obtain such a tremendous advantage in the beginning of +the war. Later England and France concentrated on the development of +aeroplane squads or corps, and when the United States entered the war +one of the first detachments sent into France consisted of 100 aviators. +How rapidly the aeroplane forces were developed is indicated by the +statement made in the beginning of 1916 that the air forces of the +Allies were represented by 3380 aeroplanes of various types and 64 +dirigible balloons, while Austria and Germany had 2000 aeroplanes and 70 +dirigibles. + +The dirigibles--the type of airship commonly referred to as +Zeppelins--have the advantage over the heavier-than-air machines of +being almost silent in their operations, while at the same time they can +remain for a longer time suspended in air over a camp or battleground +without being detected. The Zeppelin is the development of the old +balloon, made, however, in a conical shape with a long basket or car +attached. They are driven by propellers similar to those used with +aeroplanes, but as the power generated by the engines is merely used to +drive the machines and has nothing to do with maintaining their position +in the air, the motors do not have to be so powerful. They are steered +by rudders. + +Some of the largest Zeppelins which have been leading factors in night +raids conducted by the Germans on London and English coast resorts are +capable of maintaining a speed of 60 miles an hour. One of these immense +Zeppelins was reported to have covered 1300 miles in less than forty +hours, covering the German borders, and still keeping in touch with its +base. The Zeppelins, because of their large size, can carry large +quantities of bombs, wireless apparatus, signals and electric +searchlights. They can rise to a height that places them fairly beyond +the range of the aerial guns used for fighting the air forces of the +army. + + +MANY KINDS OF BOMBS. + +The bombs used are as diversified as the crafts on which they are +carried. The French aviators at one time dropped long steel billets or +arrows which had swedged heads and sharpened points. These missiles, +dropped from the height of a thousand feet or more, attained a velocity +and force which made them dangerous weapons of the minor sort. + +The bombs, in the main, however, consist of jacketed shells containing +high explosives, some of which are constructed on what is called the +delayed-action principle. Such bombs explode after penetrating the fort +or object which they strike, instead of going off by contact. Germany is +said to have developed some of these that were of such size and power as +to penetrate an armored ship. As much as 50 pounds of explosives or +chemicals is declared to have been carried in some of the larger ones. + +The big dirigibles mount machine guns of superior range. Some of them +have been armored to an extent, and to make them less easily detected +they have been painted tints and colors to harmonize with the clouds and +sky. Special kinds of gas have been used to fill the envelopes or bags, +and instead of one large bag they consist of a series of bags enclosed +in an envelope or casing, so that if a bullet would penetrate the +envelope it would only destroy one of the gas bags, and not cause the +whole thing to collapse. + +Besides having proved of great value in the land campaigns, the aircraft +has shown itself to be one of the most effective devices of warfare for +use against the submarine, and all manner of naval craft. From the +heavens they can see the submarine under the water, and as either the +dirigible or the aeroplane can develop a speed greater than that of any +battleship or cruiser, it is not difficult for it to soar over the +vessel and drop bombs upon it. Even gas bombs have been used in the +raids by the aircraft. + + +ACCURACY THE GREAT DIFFICULTY. + +The difficulty in the use of bombs has been in accurately directing the +death-dealing devices when the airship or aeroplane is in motion. To +assist in this work aerial range finders have been devised. These are +constructed on the principle of the finder on a camera, with graded +scale markings to indicate the allowance that must be made for speed and +motion. Complete apparatus has been built up for launching the +projectiles from the large dirigibles, and to insure the missiles +traveling properly vanes have been attached to some of them. + +In a test made under the auspices of the French Government and the +Aerial Club of France, a few years ago, one of the bomb-launching +machines on an aeroplane scored eleven bull's-eye shots in a target ten +yards in diameter, from an altitude of more than 2000 feet, while the +aeroplane was going at a speed of more than 65 miles an hour. + +Though there has not been any widespread use of the plan the air has +been "mined" in an experimental way to protect certain sections against +night raids by the airmen. Mining the air consists of locating small +balloons over an area, each balloon being attached to the other with +wires. The small balloons have attached to them explosive bombs which +would destroy the larger aircraft if it was to run into this nest of air +vessels in the dark. + +Reverting to the use of aircraft in naval warfare it may be said that to +the aeroplane the relatively fast fleet is virtually stationary. About +the only case parallel to the aeroplane looking over the hill and down +on concealed enemy positions would be in rising above the smoke screen +thrown out by destroyers. + + +THE SMOKE SCREEN. + +The smoke screen, by the way, which has been used by the British with +marked success in many instances, is an American invention. The low, +swift craft are equipped with special oil burners which throw off dense +volumes of heavy smoke, which float low over the surface of the water, +concealing the maneuvers of the larger boats and protecting them from +the skill of enemy gunners. Its effectiveness, of course, is influenced +by the direction and strength of the wind. Used generously by small +craft convoying a ship through a submarine area, it should be of great +value. + +A battleship can see about as far as it can shoot, anyhow. Except for +smoke screen, or the famous "low visibility," which means foggy weather +or darkness, no enemy within range can be concealed. + +What the fleet commander wants to know is how those enemy vessels beyond +the horizon, which may be within range of his guns tomorrow, the day +after, or next week, may be distributed, and how many of them there are. +This is where the speed of the airplane comes in. + +A machine which can travel 100 miles an hour covers a thousand miles in +10 hours. Locating an approaching enemy fleet this distance away, it +brings back the news of the approach in 10 hours. It takes the fleet, +traveling at 15 miles an hour, two days and 18 hours to cover this +distance. The aeroplane can beat it by two days and eight hours. + +But the aeroplane flying high enough to give it the widest practical +range of vision is able to see only over a path 75 miles wide under the +most favorable weather conditions. Haze will cut this down considerably. +This means that for anything like complete scouting work a fleet must be +equipped with a large number of them. + + +PROPORTION OF FIGHTING PLANES. + +Then, too, there must be a generous proportion of fighting planes to +spread out in a very wide circle beyond the fleet. It will be +appreciated that this circle must be a mighty wide one if the enemy +planes be kept far enough away to prevent their counting the number and +type of ships in the command. There is required also a large detail to +guard against the submarines. While an aeroplane can see quite deep in +the sea, this penetrating vision is limited to the water directly +beneath it. It can see straight down in the water, but not off to the +side at an angle. + +If such a thing is possible, air control at sea is more important than +over the land, and of first value is the fighting plane. In this +connection there is an aeroplane gun which works well. It is a +double-ender. That is, there is a breech in the middle, and the two ends +are muzzles. In air fighting it is seconds and fractions of seconds that +count, and the advantage of this gun lies in that it can be fired in +opposite directions, thus cutting down the length of the arc through +which it has to be swung to be brought to bear on the enemy. + +Of exceptional value to the United States navy is the super-American +type of planes which the Curtiss factories have developed and which have +done such wonderful service for the British. In this type the fuselage +is entirely enclosed, built with a hull much along the lines of the +motorboat or hydroplane. The 'plane may thus come to rest safely in the +open sea. + +It weighs nearly 6000 pounds and can carry a useful load of more than +2000 pounds. The boat is slung well below the planes, eight feet below +the lower one, which has a span of 66 feet. Eight feet above this is the +upper plane, which overlaps the lower plane by 13 feet on each side. The +complete span of the upper plane is 92 feet. It can carry six to eight +men, if necessary, altogether a huge, sturdy, dependable machine with +two powerful motors. + +And what was done to give America the equipment of 'planes which we +needed? + + +RESOURCES AT GOVERNMENT'S COMMAND. + +Fifteen aeroplane manufacturers, with a combined capital of $30,000,000 +and a total capacity of 175 machines a week, organized and placed all +their resources at the command of the government. The organization +provided for the interchange of ideas and plans and for the +standardization of manufacture, which resulted in a material increase in +output. + +One hundred and seventy-five machines a week should give us, in a year, +9100. And there are other conditions which may modify the estimate both +favorably and unfavorably. There is, for instance, a limit to the amount +of seasoned lumber available in this country of the peculiar type and +quality needed for airplane construction. Provision must be made for the +future in this respect. All-steel machines have been made and used in +Europe to some extent, but no metal alloy has been developed which is +likely to take the place of wood in general construction. The +manufacturers developed some interesting things along these lines which +were not given to the public. + +In the Spring of 1917 the fighting in the air took on an entirely new +interest abroad, because of the German policy of painting their machines +most grotesque patterns. They seemed to have taken this idea from the +old American Indian custom of painting their faces to frighten their +opponents, or else the fancies of the German airmen were allowed to run +riot with vivid color effects. + +British pilots daily brought home from over the lines new reports of +fantastic creations encountered amid the clouds. The gayest feathered +songsters that came north with the Spring did not rival the variegated +hues of the harlequin birds that rose daily from the German airdromes. +The coming of this fantastic order of things in the air was first +heralded by a squadron of scarlet German planes. It then was noticed +that some of the enemy machines were striped about the body like +yellowjackets. + + +GAUDY TASTES OF AIRMEN. + +Nothing appeared too gaudy to meet the tastes of the enemy airmen, who +seemed to have been given carte blanche with the paint brush. There were +green planes with yellow noses, silver planes with gold noses, +khaki-colored planes with greenish-gray wings, planes with red bodies, +green wings and yellow stripes, planes with red bodies and wings of +green on top of blue, planes with light blue bodies and red wings. +Virtually all the gaudiest machines were in red body effects, with every +possible combination of colors for their wings. Some had one green wing +and one white; some had green wings tipped with various colors. + +One of the most fantastic met had a scarlet body, brown tail and +reddish-brown wings, with white maltese crosses against a bright green +background. One machine looked like a pear flying through the air. It +had a pear-shaped tail and was painted a ruddy brown, just like a large +ripe fruit. One of the piebald squadrons encountered was made up of +white, red and green machines. There still were others palpably painted +for what became known as "camouflage" purposes, as guns, wagons and +tents often are painted to blend with the landscape and thus avoid +detection. + +This lavish use of paint, however, did not reduce the heavy daily loss +inflicted on the Germans by the British flyers. But it must not be +imagined that the Germans did not put up a stalwart fight. Just as their +resistance was strengthened on land, so it was increased in the air. +Just as the Germans threw in new divisions of infantry and new batteries +of artillery to check the Allies' offensive, so they sent aloft hundreds +of new machines to contest for the mastery of the air, an important +phase of modern war. + +The manner in which the British flying corps dominated the air during +the battle of Messines Ridge in June, 1917, and completely smothered the +German aviation service for the time being is one of the most thrilling +and remarkable stories of the entire war. + +Hundreds of British planes were well behind the German lines when the +battle broke into its fury at dawn. They had stolen over during the +darker intervals of the brief night when the moon was hidden by storm +clouds. Other hundreds went aloft with the first faint streaks of coming +day and, guided by the flashes of the guns, flew into the thick of the +fighting. + + +COMBED BY MACHINE GUNS. + +During the night British machines combed enemy railway stations, trains, +ammunition dumps and troops coming up on the march. Others hovered above +German airdromes and circled low among airplane sheds and fired hundreds +of rounds from machine guns into them and prevented the enemy machines +from coming out. Later in the day, while the fighting was most intense, +British airmen dropped about three tons of bombs on the German flying +grounds as a further deterrent, which proved highly effective. + +In addition to shutting the German airmen out of any early participation +in the battle, the British airplanes were in a large degree responsible +for the fact that the Germans could not launch a counter-attack of +appreciable strength until forty hours after the battle for the ridge +began and every bit of ground desired by the British in this particular +operation had been taken and secured. + +Far back of the German lines the British planes searched out troops in +every hamlet, town and village. In several places they saw them +gathering or marching in the main streets, whereupon they flew down low +at times and opened a fire which scattered the gray-clad soldiers in all +directions. All pilots report that their accurate fire had a most +demoralizing effect upon the hostile troops. Convoys and ammunition and +supply columns were attacked while on the march and the disorganized men +left their teams and automobiles on the roads while they sought shelter +in nearby ditches. + + +AIRPLANES ATTACK TROOPS. + +Airplanes attacked troops in the support trenches and sent them +scurrying to the cover of their dugouts. One pilot made so many of these +attacks that he finally ran out of ammunition, but he delivered his last +stroke by letting go his signal rockets at a platoon of soldiers who, +evidently mistaking this for some particularly horrible new style of war +frightfulness, fled in all directions. + +German troops were fired upon in the more distant back areas as they +were entraining for the front. Many of the enemy retreating from the +British attack and hiding in shell holes were seen by the low-flying +airmen and pelted with bullets. + +One British pilot patrolled a road for half an hour before he saw +anything to shoot at. Then a German military automobile with three +officers sitting in the back seat came along. The Britisher dived at +them from a height of three hundred feet, firing at them as they came. +He flew so low eventually that the wheels of his under carriage barely +missed the automobile, which swerved into a ditch while going at about +forty miles an hour and crashed into a tree. + +This same pilot later came across an active field gun battery and +charged it, scattering the gun crew and hitting a number of them. Still +further along he attacked a column of Germans marching in fours. The +column broke when he opened fire, scattering to both sides of the road. +At no time during his stay inside the German lines was this pilot more +than 500 feet from the ground. + + +ON CONTACT PATROL WORK. + +Large numbers of British machines were on contact patrol work, flying +low over the advancing lines of infantry, constantly watching their +movements, their progress, any temporary reverse, any attempt to form +counter-attacks and all the while sending detailed reports back to corps +and army headquarters. + +Of the fourteen planes lost during the day of the battle, a majority +were those contact machines. They had to fly through a frightful storm +of their own as well as the enemy's artillery fire, and they succumbed +to chance blows from these exploding missiles. + +Late on the day of the battle, when the enemy machines had finally +arrived from more distant airdromes, there was some good fighting in the +air, some of it at close quarters with collisions barely avoided. Twenty +enemy machines were accounted for in the fighting, some flopping about +until they broke up in the air and others being driven down on their +noses in yellow buttercup fields so far back of the fighting line that +no shell had ever marred the symmetry of the landscape. + +Some of the most marvelous work was done by artillery airships. One +squadron of these alone, acting with several batteries of British +heavies, succeeded in silencing seventy-two German batteries before six +o'clock on the morning of the attack which began at 3.10 o'clock in the +morning. These planes also directed the firing on the enemy's guns en +route to the front, some of the big weapons being drawn by caterpillar +tractors. Wherever a thousand or more troops were observed forming for +possible counter-attacks the artillery planes directed "shoots" upon +them. + +So complete was the British domination of the air along the front of +attack that not a single one of the British artillery observing +aeroplanes was lost during the week that the intense bombardment was +going on. During the battle British aeroplanes also attacked and +silenced a number of enemy machine-gun positions. + +The growth of the aeroplane industry has developed as many makes of +machines as there are makes of automobiles, but in a general way +aeroplanes are divided into four classes--monoplanes, biplanes, +triplanes and hydroplanes. About 90 per cent of all designs are +monoplanes and biplanes, and the types are distinguished by their single +set of wings or planes or the double planes or wings. Both types have +their advantages in use, the biplane being regarded as more stable for +certain scouting purposes than the monoplane. It can carry heavier +weights--has greater lifting power--but is not capable of as great speed +or as easily maneuvered. + + +MACHINE ON PRACTICAL BASIS. + +The War has placed the machine on an intensely practical basis. The +manufacturers have learned that machines constructed along certain lines +will travel at such and such a speed and have a certain lifting +capacity, will rise under a particular speed and may be expected to do +certain things under certain circumstances, but with all the advance +which has been made in the construction of the air machines, the +designers do not yet understand all the "factors" that enter into the +"why" of the case. + +The makers have, however, succeeded in standardizing their machines to a +degree. The story of how the aeroplane flies is a highly technical and +scientific one, but the basic principle is the reaction of air and an +inclined surface in motion. It might be likened to a stone skipping +across the surface of a pond, if the imagination can conceive of the +water as being air. It is simplicity itself to drive an inclined plane +against the air with such force that the impact will produce a lifting +power. In raising an ordinary kite, for instance, the boy runs into the +teeth of the wind. His kite is so attached to a string as to stand at an +angle, and as he runs the pressure against the air drives the kite +upward. In the aeroplane the propellers drive the machine into the air +with such force that the planes, standing at an angle, guide the machine +upward. + +There are innumerable problems to be solved--those of buoyancy, delicacy +of balance and many others--but the designers themselves have not been +able to determine upon a precise formula for their solution. It is +sufficient that the aeroplane has reached a degree of practicability in +construction and use which insures its permanent existence, and has +given the military and the naval forces one of the greatest agencies in +the world for protecting themselves and watching their enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +WAR'S STRANGE DEVICES. + +CHEMISTRY A DEMON OF DESTRUCTION--POISON GAS BOMBS--GAS MASKS--HAND +GRENADES--MORTARS--"TANKS"--FEUDAL "BATTERING RAMS"--STEEL +HELMETS--STRANGE BULLETS--MOTOR PLOWS--REAL DOGS OF WAR. + + +Things new and passing strange--thousands of them--have been brought +into being by the great world war. Human minds have developed things +undreamed of by science or fiction--things that a few years ago would +have been considered too strange and fantastic for even the professional +romancer to weave into the tissues of his stories. + +Every known science has been called upon to produce its quota of new +things which might be used for the destruction or the protection of men +at war. The wonders of chemistry have always lent descriptive +inspiration to the pen of writers, but mankind to get a vivid conception +of the horrors of chemistry has had to wait for the great world war. + +The conflict which has involved the entire world might almost be termed +a warfare of chemists. Without their diabolical products, ranging all +the way from high explosives to poison gases, it would have few of the +characteristics of ultra-frightfulness that render it unique in the +history of international struggles. + +But of all the instruments of destruction used in this war, there is +none more horrifying than the so-called "incendiary bomb," which sets +instant fire to whatever it touches and which spreads flame in a manner +so terrific that three or four such gravity-projectiles dropped from an +aeroplane burned up the whole of a peaceful Dutch village in a few +minutes. + +Now, what is the fearsome stuff with which such bombs are loaded? A new +chemical compound? Not at all. What they contain is simply the mixture +of two of the most harmless things in the world--oxide of iron (which +is simply iron rust) and powdered aluminum. + +When these two innocent substances are mixed together the result is a +compound truly infernal in its potentialities for mischief. It is not an +explosive but if set on fire it burns with an intensity that is +positively appalling. Nothing will put it out; no quantity of water has +any effect upon the raging flames it engenders. + +This is the material used for loading incendiary bombs. It is ignited in +such projectiles by a mercury-fulminate cap that sets off a fuse +containing powdered magnesium--the stuff photographers employ for +flashlights. + + +THIN SHELLS OF STEEL. + +These bombs are thin shells of steel or iron--mere containers for the +mixture before described. They are so contrived that the fuse is +instantly ignited when they strike. + +Whereupon the shell is melted by the heat generated within it and a +flood of fiercely burning metal is scattered in all directions. All of +this seems rather extraordinary, and it is worth explaining. + +Oxygen has an affinity for iron, readily combining with the +latter--which is the reason why iron is liable to rust. This rust is a +chemical compound of iron and oxygen; in other words, oxide of iron. But +oxygen has a much greater affinity for aluminum. And so, when the two +metals are powdered and mixed together and heat is applied the oxygen +flies out of the iron rust and combines with the aluminum. + +The process is started in the bomb by the burning magnesium. And then +the oxygen passes out of the iron and into the aluminum so rapidly that +an enormously high temperature is developed. It runs up to 3500 or 4000 +degrees Fahrenheit--which means, of course, a tremendous combustion. The +mixture of aluminum and iron burns like so much tinder--though such a +way of putting it is absurdly feeble. + +The present war has been conspicuously marked by reversions to ancient +methods of fighting. In this line the incendiary bomb offers an +excellent illustration. It is in effect merely an adaptation of an idea +utilized by the Saracens--we should call them Turks nowadays--in their +warfare with the Crusaders of the Middle Ages. + + +DREAD INSTRUMENT OF WAR. + +The instrument of war most dreaded by the Crusaders, as they found it in +the hands of the Turks, was the incendiary bomb--a projectile that flew +through the air "like a fiery dragon" as they described it, and set fire +to whatever it touched. Sometimes it was provided with iron barbs, by +which it clung to buildings. + +This was one of the ways in which the Saracens employed the celebrated +"Greek fire"--an inflammable compound that is understood to have been a +mixture of petroleum, saltpeter and pitch. The chief horror of it, from +the Crusaders' point of view, was that it was unquenchable. Mere water +had no effect upon it. Hence they were sure that it must be of +diabolical origin. + +But the up-to-date incendiary bomb is a great improvement on its +original of the Middle Ages. The modern contrivance is thoroughly +scientific, and it does its destructive business with certainty and +dispatch. + +No less effective are the gas bombs which were introduced by the German +soldiers at Rheims, and which when exploding near the trenches occupied +by the French and English threw off vapors and poisonous gases which +killed or overwhelmed thousands of brave men. These devices used in +violation of all rules of civilized warfare sent hundreds to the +hospitals. Seventy-five victims were taken at one time from the trenches +to the hospital at Zuydcoote, north of Dunkirk, where it was found that +some of those who had inhaled the fumes turned a violet tinge. + +Altogether it was estimated that from 3000 to 5000 men were affected by +the gas fumes in this first onslaught and at least 10 per cent of those +who were overcome succumbed to the deadly fumes. Many of those who +inhaled the poisons expectorated blood and for days afterward were +racked by terrible coughing. In many cases fever developed in a few days +ending with pneumonia. When the men were not sufficiently poisoned to +cause death they were so affected that their usefulness as soldiers was +ended for all time. The poison made them confirmed invalids. + + +INTRODUCTION OF GAS MASK. + +Naturally human ingenuity was called into play to protect men against +the poisons and the gas mask came into being. These were of many types. +The early creations consisted primarily of a nose and mouth covering +with a receptacle for inclosing a sponge or gauze soaked with a chemical +which possessed the power to neutralize the gas fumes. Such devices have +been used by fire fighters in large cities the world over where the men +battling to save buildings have been compelled to enter smoke-filled +rooms and cellars. Other types which have proven more effective are +designed after the fashion of the diving apparatus, and having a small +tank of compressed oxygen with feeding tubes running to the mask. The +oxygen combines with the contaminated air breathed through absorbent +cotton or sponge and provides the wearer with the proportion of oxygen +necessary to existence. And even the horses have been provided with such +masks. + +But to go back to bombs. All through France and Belgium, and wherever +the Prussian soldiers found their way, there was evidence of the use of +hand grenades which were thrown against the sides of or into buildings +to set them in flames. Some of these devices, made of sheet metal, were +in their action similar to the "Fourth of July torpedoes" familiar to +every American school boy. When thrown they exploded throwing oil and +chemicals over walls and floors. Some of them seem to have been loaded +with bullets and were in effect hand shrapnel. + +Then there developed from the primary use of these nefarious weapons the +recognized hand grenade, which is actually hand-shrapnel, plied by men +at close quarters. Thousands of these have been thrown by the armies in +their charges on the trenches. And then, to offset the use of these +devices in the offensive, there came into being also the smoke bombs. +These when exploding throw up great clouds of black smoke which hang +over everything. + + +EFFECTIVE IN A HUNDRED WAYS. + +The use of such bombs has proved effective in a hundred ways. They have +been used to create a perfect shield of smoke to conceal the movements +of troops, or prevent the enemy from finding the range with their long +distance guns. Similarly bombs which contained burning chemicals have +been used to hold in check the approaching enemy forces. + +Half way between the great gun and the hand grenade stand among war +weapons the trench mortars. The first of these were used by the Japanese +in their war with Russia. The Japanese mortars were mere logs hollowed +out and strengthened by wrappings of bamboo rope. The projectiles fired +from these were empty provision tins filled with high explosives, scraps +of metal, bits of stone or whatever, in the emergency, could be found to +fill them. + +The mortars are pitched at an angle and the projectiles are shot with a +skyrocket effect, to land in the trenches or camp of the enemy. The +Germans developed the idea and the perfected mortars are of steel, and +capable of throwing bombs weighing several hundred pounds. + +And then the great moving fort which has been called "the tank!" Those +snorting, fire-spitting dragons which were depicted for us in childhood +can scarcely bring to our mind a greater element of the fanciful, the +horrible, and the powerful than the steel hulks which came into being in +this war under the name of "tanks." + +We see them in our mind's eye spitting fire as they crossed No Man's +Land, amid the smoke and dust of bursting shells. Keeping steadily on +their courses they dived into huge craters made by exploding shells; +stretched themselves across trenches, brushed trees and boulders aside, +and kept steadily on their courses. German wire entanglements were as so +many pieces of string before their huge frames. Nothing deterred them. +They moved forward into the face of the enemy, reaching the first line +of German trenches. There the soulless devices sat complacently astride +the trenches, and turning their guns along the ditches swept them in +both directions. + + +THE TANK DEFIES ALL OBSTACLES. + +The tanks which were introduced by the English, move along on revolving +platforms, so to speak. These platforms enable the tank to overcome all +obstacles as the caterpillar tread is curved up in the arc of a huge +circle at the front which gives the vehicle its wonderful tractive +powers. This large curvature acts as a huge wheel with a tremendously +long leverage equal to the radius of the circlet or the spokes of the +imaginary wheel of the same diameter. Only that portion of the assumed +wheel which would come in contact with the ground acts as the lever, and +it is just this portion that is reproduced in the front end of a +caterpillar belt. + +Although varying in size and details, all tanks have the common +characteristic of being divided into three main compartments between the +two side caterpillar frames. The first is the observation compartment in +which the driver and his helper are perched high above the ground to +direct the movements of the huge steel beast. + +In the middle is the ammunition room from which the guns carried in the +two side turrets are fed. At the rear is the engine room. From two or +four gasoline engines are used--these driving the rear axle and its +integral sprockets over which the caterpillars run. The latter run an +idler pulley or sprockets at the extreme front ends and are supported by +means of rollers attached to the upper portion of the frame on each side +when passing over the top. This movement of the caterpillar belts is +exactly analogous to that of the ordinary variety of garden insect with +the same name which similarly lays down his own track by humping his +back continuously and regardless of the land surface. + +The tanks are steered by a pair of small ordinary wheels at the rear. +These are supported in a pivot on a frame extended from the rear. They +are merely for steering, and support none of the weight of the tank +except when bridging wide trenches or dips in the surface. Steering can +be accomplished by making one caterpillar go faster than the other by +manipulating clutches on the driving mechanism. + + +TANK'S "CATERPILLAR" FEATURE. + +The "caterpillar" feature of the tank had its origin in the caterpillar +belts or shoes which were first used on the great field guns and +mortars--those tremendous weapons which shoot bombs and shells weighing +tons and containing 500 or more pounds of guncotton or explosive which +on contact is discharged, rending everything for yards around. + +These guns, as well as the smaller field guns, have had attached to them +great shields of steel behind which the gunners stand, so that they are +protected against the old-fashioned sharpshooters whose duty it was to +pick off the gunners. + +The caterpillar or wheel belts on the big guns consist of flat blocks, +or shoes, wider than the tires of the wheels. They are hinged and +fastened together so as to form a great chain, and when placed on the +wheels present broad surfaces to the ground and keep the gun carriages +from sinking into the soft earth. With a set of these shoes a heavy gun +can be drawn over soft and irregular ground, which would be almost +impassable where the gun is mounted on wheels of ordinary width. + +Before these belts were devised it was necessary for every gun crew to +carry a supply of beams, jackscrews and devices to be used in +extricating the heavy guns when they got fast in the mud. Now every gun +has these belts which can be put on or detached in a few minutes. + +Paradoxically, this is the day of the big gun's greatest effectiveness, +and the day of its greatest limitations. The war has taught us more in +two years about gunnery and the effect of various types of ordnance +under varying conditions than could have been learned in twenty years of +theoretical research--for actual experience proves where theoretical +research merely gives ground on which to base an opinion. + + +NATIONAL RESOURCES TO DISLODGE A MAN. + +One of the things that we have learned is that when man takes unto +himself the humble pick and shovel and proceeds to dig a hole for +himself in the ground, we can get him out of that hole only by drawing +on the combined resources of a nation, by constructing one of the most +complex and expensive instruments in the world, and with it hurling at +man dug-in a projectile weighing a good part of a ton. + +The blunder, perhaps unavoidable, which stands out with equal emphasis +among the preliminary preparations of all the nations engaged in the +struggle was the underestimation of the artillery power required for the +conduct of a successful military campaign under modern conditions of +warfare. It was an underestimation so great that in the light of +developments it will some day prove ridiculous. + +At the opening of the war two opposed theories of artillery +effectiveness were held by the combatants. The French swore by the +medium calibre, rapid-fire, low-trajectory field piece. The Teutons had +devoted their best efforts to the development of guns so big that their +opponents were tempted, before they learned better, to regard them as +too unwieldy for effective field service. Both were right, the French in +the full sense and intention of the term, the Teutons by pure accident. + +It should be explained here that the word Teuton is used advisedly, for +in reality it is to the Austrians before the Germans that the +development of the 11-inch and bigger field gun, with its special +carriage and caterpillar-tread wheels owes its existence. It was +Austrian guns and Austrian gunners that first made the heavy artillery +of the Teuton armies famous. + +The French field piece performed all that was expected of it, but it was +handicapped by unforeseen conditions of warfare. The heavy Teuton guns +performed their mission in the very introductory stages of the war, then +failed, and later, by the irony of fate, proved to be the very things +required when the unforeseen war conditions developed. + + +A WONDERFUL GUN. + +The Germans and Austrians believed that they could develop a big gun +which could be given sufficient mobility for use in the field, and with +commendable and methodical application they proceeded to do so. The +theory was, first, that it could batter down any permanent +fortifications that man could build, and when it was pitted against the +concrete ramparts of Liege and Namur it blew them out of existence in a +few hours. The Teutons had scored, and scored so heavily that the Allies +barely escaped the fate the Germans had prepared for them in an +overwhelming sweep on Paris. That they did escape this fate is no doubt +in a large measure due to the fact that the second effectiveness claimed +by the Teutons for their heavy ordnance failed in its full +accomplishment. Used in open fighting, the great explosive shells hurled +by these guns did not do the damage expected to the wide, open firing +lines of the Allies, nor did they produce the moral effect expected. The +great shells tore tremendous craters in the ground, from which the +force of the explosion was expended upward in a sort of cone-shape, +shooting above the heads of any troops in the vicinity except those +immediately adjacent to the explosion. In the meantime the field pieces +of the French, with their extreme mobility and rapidity of fire, were +scattering death and destruction with their straight shrapnel fire in +the solid formations which were so popular with the Germans in the early +stages of the war, and which today they do not seem to be able to drop +entirely. + +So far the French piece did all expected of it. The German piece had +proved its ability only to blow up permanent fortifications, and this +was nullified immediately by the action of the French in abandoning the +concrete shelters and moving their own guns into newly and +quickly-constructed trench forts. + + +A THING UNDREAMED OF. + +But the thing that neither side had dreamed of was the settling down of +the war on the west front into an eternal line of opposing trenches to +face each other for years. That it did so was due to the monumental +blunders on the part of the German staff in allowing itself to be +outmaneuvered and beaten back from the gates of Paris by numerically +inferior forces, and still further outmaneuvered in the extension of the +lines northward in that famous series of flanking movements which +finally reached the sea. + +It was their success in driving the German army to earth when it was +stronger than they were that saved the Allies, and gave them the +breathing time required in which to further their preparations and train +new troops, and likewise it is this same mode of trench warfare which +has made their task so difficult when they have taken the offensive. + +Against ordinary trench lines, as known in the early stages of the war, +the French field pieces were more effective than the heavy cannon of the +Teutons, just as they had been in the open. Shooting in flat trajectory +across the trench, and exploding just above it, the shrapnel scattered +more death downward than the heavy projectile could scatter upward after +it had buried itself in the soft earth. + +But with the continuous line of trenches stretching from Switzerland to +the sea, with consequent impossibility of out-flanking, demonstrated by +the Germans to their sorrow in repeated repulses of their drives to cut +through to Calais, each side felt justified in replying to the artillery +of the other by digging deeper and more permanently, with many feet of +shelter overhead. This ended the effectiveness of shrapnel except for +the repulse of attacks, and again the heavy guns swung into the position +of pre-eminence. + + +A SITUATION ALMOST BEYOND CONTROL. + +It was at this stage, however, that both sides realized how totally +inadequate the supply of these heavy guns and ammunition was to cope +with the situation. While the heavy gun was more effective in blasting +out the enemy from his dugouts than the field piece, it required many +times the artillery power which either side possessed to handle the job. + +Then commenced the race of the ammunition and gun factories to turn out +their products by the ton where they had been turned out by the pound +before; a race in which the Allies took and held the lead. + +With the greatly increased number of heavy guns it became possible to +develop the famous curtain of barrage fire, also known as drum fire, +with this type of ordnance, as well as with shrapnel. + +It is with this form of attack that the Allies blasted their way slowly +but steadily through the strongest networks of trenches which the +Germans were able to build. + +Along a given section of the front, or rather just behind it, the guns +were placed singly or in pairs, widely scattered, some close to the line +and some well back from it, all concealed as far as possible from enemy +aviators. There were also many dummy batteries, so that if the enemy +air scout saw a gun or group of guns, he had no way of telling whether +they were real or imitation. + +In such an instance before the actual advance of the troops the fire of +all these guns is concentrated along parallel lines to the enemy +trenches, first, second and sometimes third. Each gun has its work +mapped out for it in advance on a map covered with tiny squares. The +actual point may be well beyond view of the gunners. The shell is landed +in its appointed square solely on mathematical calculation. The +commander of each gun knows, for instance, that he must fire into this, +that or the other square for so many minutes or hours, and exactly at a +given minute change his fire to another source. + + +RAIN OF SHELLS LIKE STREAMS OF WATER. + +In effect on the enemy a continuous rain of shells, comparable to +streams of water from hundreds of hoses is poured in a line right down +the trench. At the same time a parallel line of fire is concentrated at +a given distance back of the enemy's first trench and in front of the +second, or in it. This means that the troops in the first line must not +only take their bombardment without hope of retreat or escape, but that +it is impossible to get reinforcements to them through the second +curtain. + +When it is calculated that the first line has been destroyed or +demoralized, the troops leap from their trenches and advance strictly +according to schedule over the ground between the opposing trenches. +Their arrival at the enemy's first trench is timed to the second, and +just as they are on the verge of plunging into their own curtain of fire +this latter is gradually thrown forward, forming a screen between the +newly captured trench and the enemy's second line. This means two +curtains of fire through which the enemy would have to advance to +counter-attack. + +Time is given to rout out what remains of the enemy from the first line +dugouts, and then the troops advance again. In the meantime the curtain +of fire has preceded them as before, moving up to the line of drum fire +which has been playing on the second line of trenches or just in front +of it. If any of the enemy have attempted to flee before the attack from +the first line they are caught between these two barrages which are +gradually brought together. + +When the first and second lines of fire have been brought together they +are poured with redoubled fury into the second line of the enemy +trenches, and then moved forward again just as the advancing troops +reach this line. + + +DEPENDING ON LOCAL CONDITIONS. + +The performance is made continuous so far as possible under the +conditions peculiar to the given section in which the attack is being +made. Sometimes it is possible to advance over three, four or five +trenches in a single attack. At others it is as much as can be +accomplished to capture one, which must be consolidated before further +advance is made. It depends on the strength of the trenches, the nature +of the ground, the distance apart that they are, and, of course, the +amount of artillery fire which the enemy is able to concentrate in +return. + +When a sufficient advance has been made, it also becomes necessary to +suspend operations for a time while the guns behind the lines are moved +forward to new positions. + +This is always the period of the counter-attack in force by the enemy, +who seizes the opportunity when a certain proportion of the artillery is +unable to fire because it is being moved. And it is during this period +that the infantry have to do their hardest fighting, which consists, not +in making the advance over no-man's land to the enemy trench, but in +holding that trench afterward when the bringing up of their own +artillery behind them to more advanced positions robs them of some of +the support of the drum fire. + +Still another factor of delay at this period is the time required by +the air scouts to find the rearranged positions of the enemy guns after +the advance, for these must be taken care of also before a new advance +can be made. + +An explanation of this form of attack shows why news dispatches have +told first of an advance of the British, followed by a period of quiet, +during which an attack by the French in some other section of the line +was in progress. Then suddenly the scene of action switched back to the +British lines again while the French were consolidating their new +positions preparatory to pushing the general advance a step farther. + + +GERMAN EQUIVOCATION. + +It also explains just what has happened when the Germans state that the +"enemy penetrated our first trenches in a small sector, but his attack +broke down before our second line." When the next attack is ready, of +course, the former second German line is referred to as the "first," and +so, on paper, as far as the uninitiated are concerned, the German +publicity office is able to build up a continuous series of enemy +attacks which "break down," and somehow never, never "penetrate our +invincible line." Actually an advance of this nature is extremely slow, +but it is sure, and it is made at the expense of tons upon tons of +ammunition rather than at the expense of lives, for ammunition can be +made faster than soldiers. + +Even the old battering ram of feudal times with which the ancestors of +Kaiser William used to knock down the castles of the baron robbers has +been approximated by his warring tribes. With the retreat of the German +troops from Flanders the Allied forces found crude battering rams such +as have been shown in the stirring "movies" when the ancient warriors +stormed the gates of the city. + +One of such devices was in the form of an upright frame made of heavy +timbers. An immense log was suspended from the cross-piece by a heavy +chain. An iron band circled one end of the log which was used for +battering purposes and at the opposite end were handles, used by the +operators in their nefarious work. The ram was used to batter in the +doors of houses which had been locked or barricaded against the German +soldiers. In their most destructive moods, it is charged that they used +these devices to destroy the standing walls of houses and cottages after +they had been gutted by fire. The Germans would not permit even so much +as a wall to stand which might be used by the poor peasant in +rehabilitating himself and building a new home. + + +NEW METHOD OF WARFARE. + +The new method of warfare, with men working in trenches and dugouts and +millions of shells breaking over head, while missiles rain all about, +necessitated the development of some device to protect the heads of the +fighters. Therefore the steel helmet. + +It has been shown that, due to trench warfare, about seventy-five per +cent of the wounded on the western front had been hit with shrapnel or +pieces of shell traveling at a low velocity and therefore had torn +wounds and in many cases smashed bones. About three per cent of the +wounds were in the head and about fifteen per cent in the face or neck. +This led to the adoption by the French of a steel helmet called after +its inventor, Adrian. The helmets were first used in May, 1915. That +their use is justified is shown by statistics. Among fifty-five cases of +head wounds, forty-two happened to soldiers without helmets. + +Twenty-three of these had fractured skulls, while the remaining nineteen +had bad scalp wounds. Of the thirteen who wore helmets, not one had a +skull fracture. Five had slight wounds only, while none of those who had +worn a helmet died. Quite a number of those who had not did. + +In the Academy of Medicine Dr. Roussey brought up the point that due to +the helmet the number of cases of sudden death from wounds in the head +had been so decreased that the number of wounded with head injuries +treated in the hospitals had materially increased. + +The French helmet proved such a success that Belgium, Serbia, Russia and +Roumania equipped their troops with the same model. The French helmet +has a bursting bomb as insignia on its front and is light blue or khaki +color, depending on whether it is worn by the metropolitan, the French +home army or the French colonial army. + + +THE BELGIAN HELMET. + +The Belgian helmet is khaki-colored, with the Belgian lion on the front; +the Italian, greenish blue, with no insignia; the Serbian, +khaki-colored, with the Serbian coat of arms; the Russian, +khaki-colored, with the Russian coat of arms, and the Roumanian, +blue-gray, with the Roumanian coat of arms. + +The French have made more than 12,000,000 helmets, using about 12,000 +tons of steel. In other words, a ton of steel will make 1,000 helmets. +The British also equipped their troops with a steel helmet, which has no +ridge running from front to rear, as has the Adrian, no decorations, and +a rather wide brim, which runs all the way round. It is of a khaki +color. + +The Germans issued to a certain number of their men, generally those +most exposed in trench fighting, a steel helmet considerably heavier +than any of the allied helmets. It has a much higher crown, and comes +down more over the eyes and the sides and back of the head. + +All these helmets are supported by means of a leather skull cap inside, +which fitting closely to the head, distributes the weight over the whole +of the skull, instead of simply around the edge of it, as is the case +with ordinary headgear. + +Of course, these helmets will not protect against high velocity +projectiles. However, as they do protect the wearer from low velocity +projectiles, and as these are, because of infection, often as fatal as +severe wounds, it can easily be seen how much good has been +accomplished. + +A French writer in La Nature shows that 332 out of 479 abnormal wounds +were caused by shrapnel and pieces of shell having a low velocity. + +In 13 out of 15 cases of lung wounds, the projectiles did not have +velocity enough to completely traverse the body and come out. + +In 71 cases of joint wounds, 66 were due to low velocity shrapnel and +only 5 to high velocity bullets. Practically every one of these wounds +could have been prevented by breast and body pieces and knee and elbow +caps of armor. + + +LOW VELOCITY MOST EFFECTIVE. + +As for every man who afterward dies from a wound made by a high velocity +bullet there are about ten who die from wounds made by the low velocity +shrapnel and shell fragments, the importance is seen of protection +against these low velocity wounds if it can be had. + +The wearing of armor means the lessening of the mobility of the soldier. +In the open field lessening of mobility means a decrease in efficiency, +which cannot be tolerated. However, in trench warfare the mobility of +the individual does not count for so much, as even during an attack he +does not have to go far, and generally does it at a walk in the rear of +the barrage fire of his own artillery. + +Efficiency in warfare, as indicated by the keeping of such records, has +set the brains of the world at work, and armor is used to a limited +degree for the protection of men in greatly exposed fronts or open +positions. + +The Japanese in modern times were first to resort to the forerunner of +armor. They used shields of steel and in the siege of Port Arthur such +shields were strapped to the front of the body. The Germans in the +charges have frequently used double shields, advancing in groups of four +behind a steel protector carried by two men, leaving the other two free +to fire at the enemy through port holes in the armor shields. + +None of the armors has, however, proved its resistance to the high +velocity bullets which the powerful field guns rain against it. +Experiments are being made continuously along these lines, and Guy Otis +Brewster, of New Jersey, has developed a bullet-proof jacket and +headgear which it is said approximates perfection. + +In the presence of ordinance officers from the Picatinny Arsenal he +invited an expert military marksman to fire at him from a distance of 60 +yards. A Springfield rifle was used, with regulation ammunition. The +steel bullet had a velocity of 2740 feet a second. Only one shot was +fired, but it failed to penetrate the armor. + + +COMPOSITION A SECRET. + +The composition of the latter is a secret, beyond the fact that it +consists in part of steel. Jacket and headgear weigh 30 pounds; but the +material is so flexible that the soldier wearing such an outfit can +kneel, lie down, rise and run, charge from the trenches, use the +bayonet, or throw hand grenades, without impediment to his movements. + +It has been denied that dum-dum bullets, placed under ban by all +civilized nations, have been used by the Germans, but there is no doubt +that explosive bullets have been used. The report of the Belgian +Commission, which investigated the horrors when the Germans first +invaded King Albert's country, contains testimony which proves +conclusively that such missiles were used. These bullets were, in +effect, small shells containing an explosive chemical which was set off +by contact. Photographs taken of wounds show the effect which these +bullets produced. + +More than that, the Russians charged that along the northern frontier +the Germans fired glass bullets, although there is nothing to sustain +the belief that such missiles were generally used. The dum-dum bullet +is a soft-nosed missile which, when it strikes a bone, flattens out and +splatters, creating a jagged wound which it is almost impossible to +treat or heal. The Germans, in ordinary, use a steel jacketed bullet +which possesses high penetrative powers, while the French at the +beginning of the war were using the ordinary lead bullet. + + +AN AMERICAN BULLET. + +Among the recent developments is a bullet which had its origin in one of +the United States arsenals for manufacturing ammunition. This is a steel +bullet covered with lead. The effect of such a combination on the +penetrating quality of the bullet may be readily understood by anyone +who has ever tried the experiment of driving an ordinary needle into a +board through a cork. If the cork is placed on the board and the needle +pressed down through the cork until it touches the board, a powerful +blow from a hammer will force the needle into the board without +breaking. In the application of this principle to the manufacture of the +bullet, experiments proved that the soft lead acted as a guide or +sustainer which permitted the inner steel to penetrate without +deviation. + +And just as these oddities of warfare have been created to meet arising +situations, others have been created to care for the sick and +injured--those who have fallen victims of the agencies of destruction. +Who ever heard of a sand sled? + +Such sleds have been used effectively on the Eastern fronts to carry +wounded soldiers to the hospitals. They are long, staunchly constructed +sleds similar to those used on the farms in America for hauling plows, +cultivators and other agricultural implements across the fields which +have been furrowed. + +The sleds have broad runners which do not sink into the sands and can be +drawn easily. In winter these same sleds have served to haul the wounded +and sick over miles of snow and ice on the Russian frontier. + +Then, though it is not a weapon of offense, there is the tractor plow +which works at night. It is a war device to the extent that as England's +need for food has been great and constant the tractor plow has been used +to solve the problem of working the ground. On the estate of Sir Arthur +Lee, the director-general of food production in England, great +agricultural motors equipped with acetylene searchlights were kept at +work in the fields day and night. + +Dogs too have been ushered into the arena. No longer may the old English +expression, "Let Slip the Dogs of War," be regarded as a mere figure of +speech. The war dogs, and particularly the animals used by the Red Cross +on the battlefields, have assumed a regular status in the armies of the +world. In the European armies are thousands of dogs which have been +trained to act as messengers or spies, or to seek out on the +battlefields the wounded. The Germans use a canine commonly known as +"Boxers." These animals are a cross between the German mastiff and the +English bulldog, and on the fields of Europe they have proved to be +"kings" among the Red Cross dogs. The animals are first taught to +distinguish between the uniforms of the soldiers of their own country +and those of the enemy. Then they learn that the principal business in +life for them is to find and aid wounded soldiers. + +The animals are trained to search without barking and to return to +headquarters and urge their trainers to follow them with stretcher +bearers. Sometimes the dogs bring back such an article as a cap, tobacco +pouch or handkerchief. The dogs of the Red Cross carry on their collars +a pouch containing a first aid kit, by means of which a wounded soldier +may staunch the flow of blood or help himself until assistance arrives. + +It is reported that one of these dogs rescued fifty men on the Somme +battlefield in France. The animal known as Filax of Lewanno, is a +typical German sheepdog. Such dogs weigh from 50 to 65 pounds and are +very powerful, but the Irish terriers and Airedales have also been +trained to do effective work, as have the Great Danes and St. Bernards. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WONDERFUL WAR WEAPONS. + +THE TERRIBLE RAPID-FIRE GUN--ARMORED AUTOMOBILES AND AUTOMOBILE +ARTILLERY--HOWITZERS--MOUNTED FORTS--ARMORED TRAINS--OBSERVATION +TOWERS--WIRELESS APPARATUS--THE ARMY PANTRY. + + +It is a long step from the old, smooth bore, flintlock rifle of the +Revolutionary days to the modern magazine gun, with its long-pointed +cartridges; and it is almost as great a step from the crude iron cannons +and smooth bore mortars of the Civil War, with their canister and grape +shot, down to the huge, 42 centimeter guns which have boomed their way +through France and Belgium. + +The patriotic citizen who is unfitted for military service no longer +sits at home and aids the armed forces of his country by melting pewter +spoons into bullets, or cutting patches of cloth to serve as wads to +pack down into the muzzle of guns. The powder horn and the bullet mould +are devices of the past. The whole world working in the old-fashioned +way could not have in the course of the "war-of-nations" made sufficient +bullets to supply the forces for a single week. + +Those who must sacrifice in the stress of war now turn their silverware +and precious metals into nuggets that may be sold to produce revenue, so +that the armed forces may purchase the machine-made cartridges and +weapons required to fight the enemy. + +Modern warfare has developed the climax in armament and the world has +learned more within the last few years about the devilish instruments of +destruction which human ingenuity has devised than was known in all the +ages before. Since Germany and Austria were the first into +action--actually precipitated the great conflict--and as by their years +of preparation they were ready for the emergency, it best serves the +purposes of those who seek enlightenment on the subject of armaments +and weapons to deal with the equipment of the Teuton forces. + +Other nations--England, France and the United States in +particular--have, in some directions, surpassed the Germans in +developing efficient weapons, but in the main, when Germany plunged into +the war, she had all around what was conceded to be the best equipment +that science and mechanics could supply. + + +INFANTRY AND FIELD ARTILLERY. + +While stories told of the awful havoc wrought by the German siege guns +in reducing the forts and fortifications in France and Belgium are true, +it is also true that the bulwark of the military organization is the +infantry and field artillery. The big guns may level the forts and +reduce them to powder, driving off the opposing forces, but the infantry +must advance and the small arms and rapid-fire guns must keep the +opposing forces from resuming the position which they had abandoned. + +The difficulty of handling the big guns has always been a problem, +except in fortifications and at fixed points of defense, and it has only +been within a few years that a solution of the trouble has been found. +The solution lay in the use of tractors, or the tractor principle, which +every person familiar with farming and the "traction engine" can +recognize. + +Germany and Austria, as in many other matters, solved the problem by +building mortars for field service which outclassed the heaviest +artillery of the old type, and mounting them on tractors. It would +require a team of probably forty horses to pull one of the German +42-centimeter guns over the rough ground, and then a relay would be +required every few hours. An immense number of horses would be required +and the transportation would be slow, and not certain at best. + +Early in the war Austria sent to the front a battery of 80-centimeter +howitzers, and from the famous Krupp gun works there were 21 and +28-centimeter howitzers. Later came the 42-centimeter guns, which are +classed as automobile field artillery. These are the weapons which +leveled the forts at Liege and were used to bombard Fort Maubeuge. + +The immense howitzers, with their caterpillar wheels, are taken apart +and transported to the scene of action in sections, or units. An +automobile tractor carries the artillery crew and tools and furnishes +the motive power. The second car carries the platform and turntable on +which the gun is mounted, and the third hauls the barrel, or gun proper. + + +THE MOVING OF HEAVY WEAPONS. + +The weapons can be moved anywhere, though they weigh as much as forty +tons in some cases. Sometimes it is necessary to build special roads +where fields must be crossed, but on the highways there is little +trouble. The big howitzers are built on the principle of the large +caliber guns used on battleships--that is, there is a system of recoil +springs and air cushions to take up the shock when the gun is fired, so +that the terrific energy, when the charge is exploded, shall not be +borne by the breech of the gun. The howitzers can be turned in any +direction, and the gearing attached to the mounting is such that the +barrels can be pitched at any angle. + +Such guns fire an explosive shell weighing from 500 to 1000 pounds, and +because of their form of construction--they have shorter barrels than +the naval guns--which reduces the surface of the barrel subject to +erosion, they are longer lived than the long guns. The endurance of the +guns is a factor because it is difficult to get repairs for such great +weapons on the field of battle. + +At the outbreak the contending forces are said to have had 4,000 guns in +the field artillery. Among the devices of interest identified with the +artillery is the armored automobile, which has been described as the +"cavalry" of motor driven artillery. The advent of the armored +automobile in the war changed many features of campaigning and helped to +revolutionize military methods. The armored automobile is an ordinary +chassis with a body made of chilled steel. + +Many types have been devised, including turreted automobile, mounting +one or two rapid fire guns which can be turned in any direction. The +armored motors have high-powered engines, and the chassis chosen for +these new instruments of war are of the heaviest types. Some have been +constructed especially for the purpose. One of these, used by the +Germans, had a "barbette" top, which looked like the shell of a +tortoise, fitted down over the chassis. Guns protruded from holes in the +front, back and sides. + + +VALUE OF ARMORED CARS. + +The armored cars have proved extremely valuable for scouting purposes. +They can sneak through and complete scouting where mounted men would be +detected, and besides, are better able to protect themselves against +attack. The cars also possess the ability to speed away out of range of +enemy detachments. + +The army officer, too, has taken to the armored automobile, and put +aside his horse. You cannot kill an automobile; and the armor laughs at +the bullets from small caliber guns. The officers can, with the +high-speed armored cars, travel from one end of a line to the other and +in a few hours make surveys and complete observations which would take +days were horses used. + +Very few of the light-armored cars used by the officers are armed, the +attache or aide of the officer carrying a rifle. Some of the armored +cars used for scouting and by the officers have, in the case of Germany, +been provided with sharp knives attached to the front of the machine. +These are steel blades vertically attached to the frame and hood, and +are designed to cut wires which the enemy may have stretched across +highways or passages to hinder progress. + +The armored covering on some of these cars is little more than a steel +box, with "port" holes all around. There is no hoop dome or cupola, and +the men are supposed to protect themselves by keeping their heads below +the sides of the box. Besides the driver, some of the cars carry two or +three men, who are further protected against the bullets of the enemy +and the chance missile from the sharpshooter by steel headpieces or +helmets. + +The Belgians have a type of car of heavy design, equipped with huge +headlights, as well as a searchlight to operate at night. The car has a +rapid fire gun mounted in a cupola-formed revolving turret. In the +matter of automobiles in the army, Italy outranked Germany at the +beginning of the war. While Germany had Mercedes and Opel trucks, +mounting five to seven rapid fire guns, which, with their steel armor +and solid tire disc wheels, were actually miniature forts, the Italians +had more formidable mounted creations of the same sort. + + +ITALY'S SINGULAR POSITION. + +As a matter of fact, Italy's position in regard to motors is unique +among the other countries in the war. Not only are the transportation +conditions different, but the motorcar industry in the country is on a +different basis. It is said to have been the only one of the countries +which was able to meet the demand put upon it for motors without going +into some other land to augment its supply. Italy did not buy a single +American motor vehicle for war purposes. There are cars of foreign makes +in the army and with the Red Cross, but these vehicles were in the +country--purchased for private use--when the war broke out and were +requisitioned. + +The big guns of the army are handled by motor tractors, 95 per cent of +the army mail service is motorcar service and 95 per cent of the +drinking water for the fighting forces is delivered by motortruck. +Profiting by the lessons of the other countries called to war, Italy had +time in which to prepare for emergencies, and when the order for +mobilizing forces was issued the motorcar factories were speeded up and +the workers were permitted to stay on the job, instead of being called +out to fill up the ranks of the army. + +Compared with the resources of America, the Italian motor industry is +not large; but the product is uniform and practically all of the +factories are conveniently located for distributing the machines to the +army on the frontier and readily providing repairs and parts. The +physical conditions of the country necessitated the use of certain types +of trucks and motors and the dropping of some of the practices of other +countries in motor usage. + +The rugged, irregular country, with its narrow roads, makes +impracticable the use of trucks larger than three and one-half tons, and +"trailers," largely employed by the French, German and Belgian armies, +were found not satisfactory. What is described as the Isotta Fraschini +heavy model armored artillery car of Italy is considered one of the most +effective of the "motor forts" or "land cruisers" developed during the +war. + + +THE WHEELED FORT. + +The wheeled fort has a battery of four rapid fire guns and a revolving +turret. Besides being full armored and turreted, the car has steel +wheels of the disc type, and is as formidable in appearance as it has +proven in practice. France has a type of the completely enclosed armored +motorcar which affords its crew unobstructed view on all sides through +lattice panels. Even the windshield is made on this plan. This car also +has a revolving turret and carries a 5-centimeter rapid fire gun and +possesses high speed. + +All of the powers have armored automobiles, and in Germany, England and +France the exigencies of conflict impelled the Governments to +practically commandeer all of the automobiles in the countries for war +purposes. Many of these cars were turned into armored cars of the +lighter type, and the number of such automobiles in use runs far into +the thousands. The United States has not made much fuss about it, but +has had armored cars in the regular army for several years. + +The experience gained in the campaign in Europe indicates that the +military authorities believe the high-powered, speedy cars, clad with +armor of medium weight and mounting one or two machine guns, are the +most valuable of all the "sheathed" cars. They can appear suddenly, +maintain a withering fire for a short period and then disappear +suddenly. + +As an instance of what the armored car accomplishes, it is recited that +when the German troops sought to invade the Belgian town of Alost a +detachment was sent through the streets in armored cars. The houses were +barricaded and the Germans feared snipers. There were no snipers when +the motorcars returned. More than a thousand Belgians were mowed down in +the streets by the rapid fire guns of the armored cars. + + +IMPORTANCE OF THE AUTOMOBILE. + +Evidence of how greatly the automobile is appreciated in its relation to +the modern army service is found in the fact that when America entered +the war and began the mobilization of its forces and resources, the +Quartermaster at Chicago was ordered to obtain bids for the delivery of +35,000 motortrucks of one and one-half tons capacity and 35,000 trucks +of three tons capacity. Bids were also asked on 1000 five-passenger +automobiles, 1000 runabouts, 1000 automobiles, in price ranging from +$1500 to $2000, several hundred motortrucks of half, three-quarter and +one ton capacity and 5000 motorcycles, and the same number of +motorcycles with auxiliary passenger capacity, or side cars. + +The motortruck, too, in modern warfare is a shoeshop. The care of the +feet is an important matter in the army, and the men, besides being +provided with good footwear, must have that footwear kept in serviceable +and comfortable condition. It is some job to keep the shoes of half a +million or more men in repair, and the United States Quartermaster +Department, in connection with their mobilization, included in its +equipment portable motor-power machines to nail on half soles for troops +in garrison and campaign. Such a machine will nail on a pair of soles in +five minutes. It weighs but 27 pounds and can be transported with the +troops on a motorcar, and may be used anywhere to keep the shoes in +serviceable shape until the troops can reach permanent camps, where new +footwear can be provided. + + +FRANCE'S TRANSPORTATION RESOURCES. + +At the outset of the war France is said to have had 100,000 passenger +cars, 25,000 motorbuses, taxicabs and motorcycles and 10,000 motortrucks +available for military use, and was able to give the various departments +of her military organization excellent transportation service. Besides +this, she had squads of automobile aeroplane cannon, and about 84 +12-centimeter and 15 5-centimeter Rimailho howitzers of the armored +artillery type. Russia is said to have been weak in automobile +equipment, having less than a thousand trucks in the Empire available +for military use; but this number was rapidly increased, upward of half +a thousand having been purchased within a short time. + +Austria and Germany together are said to have had something like 1500 +trucks and about 20,000 passenger cars available for army use. At the +start Germany alone had 250 armored automobiles, several score of +searchlight automobiles, or night scout cars, probably 8000 motorcycles +and more than 500 motor-driven field guns, besides the big tractors used +to draw the heavy howitzers. Aside from this, practically all the motor +vehicles in the country were commandeered, numbering upward of 75,000. + +While they are stationary devices, the forts which were stormed by the +Germans at Liege and Antwerp are properly part of the military equipment +used in the war. These forts, known as turret forts, are described on +preliminary inspection as looking like a row of huge tortoise or turtle +shells rising a few feet above the ground. The shell is, however, a +shell of chilled steel. Through it the guns protrude and are operated +very much like the guns on a battleship, the turret revolving. Under the +dome are vaults and the compartments of concrete, containing the +mechanism for moving the turrets, operating the guns, lifting the big +shells and handling the ammunition generally. + +The fortifications, which at Antwerp included nine intrenched sections, +were regarded as almost impregnable; but when they were built there were +no such field guns as the famous 42-centimeter guns which the Germans +brought to the attack. The forts themselves had no guns larger than a +7-inch caliber. + + +FRANCE'S ARMORED FIGHTING MACHINES. + +In the matter of movable guns, the French and Germans both had them +mounted on armored trains. One such train used by the French included +armored locomotive, flat cars on which were mounted the guns in +"barbettes," or steel turrets, and completely protected armored cars, +used to transport troops or detachments of men. + +A feature of the train was the observation tower. It was mounted upon +what would ordinarily be the cab of the locomotive. Such towers have in +one form or another become very common in the war. One type resembles +the motortruck ladder and platform devices used by the man who repairs +electric lights and wires in our city streets. Another is patterned +after the hook and ladder truck of the fire department. The tower, or +ladder, is raised after the fashion of the ladders in fighting a fire. A +couple of soldiers turn a crank, and the ladders are raised to a +perpendicular position and extended high into the air on the sliding or +telescope principle. + +The German and Austrian engineers also utilize observation ladders of a +less complicated mechanical nature. In use, and with a soldier perched +on top of them, they remind one of the toy devices with which we played +as children, using the slotted acrobats to do wonderful things atop the +"ladders." The ladders are carried in short sections, which may be +fastened together in a variety of ways, but a good idea of the manner in +which the ladders are used may be obtained if you can imagine a letter Y +made of ladders and turned upside down, with a soldier standing on top +of it. + + +THE IMPORTANCE OF OBSERVATIONS. + +And making observations is a highly important matter in modern warfare; +more important than it was in the old days. The long-range guns are +aimed and their fire directed by observation and calculation. The gunner +cannot see the target he is required to hit. His job is a mechanical +one--perhaps it would be better to say scientific--for he must read +mathematical calculations and interpret them into accurate gun action. +The guns may be on one side of a hill and the enemy on the other, and +they may be miles apart, yet the gunner must be able to get the range. +His efforts are directed by observers in aeroplanes or balloons, and the +range is established by calculations, so that the gunner must be +proficient in geometry, trigonometry and mathematics generally. + +Not all the great guns in the war when it started were owned by the +Germans, for England had 100-ton Armstrong pieces which were capable of +hurling a 2,200-pound projectile; but it was the modification of the +design of the large caliber guns and the method of mounting them, which +permitted them to be drawn wherever needed, that gave Germany such an +advantage. + +Most of the big guns are in the navy--on the huge dreadnoughts and +battleships--and therefore the fortifications at Helgoland, which are +designed to resist the bombardment of the heaviest naval guns, must be +regarded as equipment. Helgoland is the protecting fort of Germany's +most vulnerable point. It is the Gibraltar of Germany, and protects the +entrance to the Kiel Canal from the North Sea. If the British could get +past the fortifications to the Kiel Canal, it could establish a close-in +blockade which would render Germany helpless in a short time. + +Helgoland is an island fortress in the North Sea, in the center of which +is a mortar battery mounting 11-inch and 16-inch guns, capable of +puncturing the decks of the battleship which comes within range; and +these batteries have a range of from six to eight miles. The batteries +are ranged in tiers, one above the other, to a height of almost 180 feet +above the sea level, the heavy guns and pieces being placed below and +the lighter ordnance in the upper tiers. The guns range from 17.7-inch +caliber down to 8.2-inch. Germany calls Helgoland the "fortress +impregnable," and the developments of the war seem to indicate that the +description fits. + + +SMALL GUNS OF VARIED INTERESTS. + +In the smaller guns used in warfare there are many varieties of +interest. The United States prior to and with their entrance into war, +particularly during the period of the trouble along the Mexican border, +experimented with almost every known make of rapid fire machine and +field gun, and there was for a time much criticism because the +government did not adopt for army use the Lewis gun, which was adopted +by some of the foreign countries. + +The German army rifle carried by all the infantry is of the Mauser type, +first introduced in 1888 and gradually improved until 1898. The weapon, +because of the adoption of the improved model in 1898, has come to be +known as the "ninety-eight gun." It is a quick-firing weapon, from which +20 to 30 shots a minute may be projected by the soldier. The gun is +universally used and has a caliber of 7.9 millimeters, which provides +for the use of the smallest bullet which will work sufficient injury on +the enemy to make its use profitable. + +Experience in the Russian-Japanese war proved to the military +authorities that the use of a smaller caliber was not advisable. It was +found that the smaller bullet could, and in many cases did, pass through +a man's body without actually rendering him useless, and that in a large +percentage of cases--more than one-third--the wounded were back with +their troops within a few months. + +In the United States all of the forces are now provided with standard +arms or weapons. The army, the Marine Corps and the organized militia of +the States, absorbed into the body proper of national troops, have the +same firearms--the same service rifles, the same machine guns and field +guns and the same automatic pistols. One kind of cartridge--containing a +cylindro-conical bullet of copper-nickel, with a lead core--serves for +all rifles and for the machine guns as well. + + +OLD FLINTLOCK IN WAR. + +Many people, perhaps, will be surprised to learn that the Mexican war +was fought mainly with the antiquated flintlock muskets. When the +trigger was pulled the flint came down hard upon a piece of steel, and +the resulting spark was thrown into the "pan," igniting a pinch of +powder. The fire ran into the powder charge and the gun went off. Round +balls were used, and the loading was done with the help of a ramrod. + +There were already percussion rifles in those days, but General Winfield +Scott, who bossed the Mexican war, declared that he would have nothing +to do with those new-fangled weapons. The old smooth-bore flintlock was +good enough for him. In truth, the percussion gun of that period was not +as reliable as might have been wished. The cap was liable to get wet and +to fail to go off, whereas a good flint could be counted upon to yield a +spark every time. + +It was not until 1858 that the percussion rifle, still a muzzle-loader, +was generally used by the United States army. The Springfield, which was +the first breech-loader (one cartridge inserted at a time) came along +in 1870. In 1892 it was replaced by the first of our magazine rifles, +the Krag, and simultaneously we adopted smokeless powder, a European +invention. + +The regulation United States service rifle is a great improvement on the +Krag. It is loaded with "clips," holding five cartridges each. The +velocity of the bullet is greater, and the accuracy and rapidity of fire +are superior. + + +FIGHTING RANGE 800 YARDS. + +In the Mexican war the ordinary fighting range, with the smooth-bore +flintlock, was about 250 yards. In the Civil War, with the percussion +muzzle-loader, it was 350 to 400 yards. With the new service rifle, the +fighting range is 700 to 800 yards, and the infantryman is able to fire +at least twenty times as many shots in a given number of minutes as was +possible fifty years ago. + +The field artilleryman carries no rifle, but is provided with a +45-caliber automatic pistol and twenty-one cartridges. The men who +compose the machine-gun platoons have no rifles, but each one of them is +armed with the same sort of service pistol and a bolo. The latter is a +weapon new to our army, adopted as a result of military experience in +the Philippines. It is in effect a machete (a sugar cane chopping +knife), shortened and made heavier. At close quarters it is a formidable +weapon. + +The bolo embodies the best principles of the various razor-edged +fighting blades of the Filipinos, and was first adopted as a side arm of +the Marine Corps officers. The bolo, which is much heavier than an +ordinary sword, measures 24 inches from tip of handle to tip of blade, +and is forged from a piece of file steel. + +For many years the Marine Corps, except upon dress occasions, has had no +cutting weapon. It is not strange, therefore, that many of the officers +of the corps, while on duty in the Philippines, adopted for use in the +field that weapon of the Moro tribesmen. + +The introduction of the bolo as the field arm of the Marine Corps--the +sword having given place to the pistol several years ago in this branch +of the service--robs the time-tried and traditional Mameluke saber of +the corps of the distinction of being the only cutting weapon in the +equipment of this division of the Government's sea fighters. + +The Mamelukes are inseparably associated with the military history of +Egypt, the first country in which a regular military organization was +established, and a country in which the fighting element was the most +honored and powerful of all classes. This type of blade was adopted by +our Marine Corps in 1825, and later by the officers of the Royal Horse +Artillery of England. + +Until recently the allowance of machine guns in our army has been two to +a regiment, but abroad four to six are used. + + +AUTOMATIC MACHINE RIFLES. + +These guns are automatic machine rifles, firing ordinary rifle +cartridges, which (in the Benet-Mercie weapon, a French invention which +we have adopted) are supplied in brass clips of thirty. A small part of +the gas generated by the explosion of the individual cartridge operates +the mechanism, discharging the bullet, throwing out the empty shell and +making ready for the next shot. + +A machine gun is designed to enable one man to fire the equivalent of a +volley, or series of volleys, discharged by an entire platoon (one-third +of a company) of infantrymen. As at present developed, it represents a +step toward the evolution of a shoulder-rifle that will throw a +continuous stream of bullets. + +The latest government rifle--the weapons of the individual soldiers--are +manufactured at the Springfield (Mass.) Armory, which is the +government's great small-arms factory, and at the Rock Island (Ill.) +Arsenal--the facilities of the latter having hitherto been held in +reserve for emergency purposes. The rifle cartridges are turned out at +the Frankford Arsenal, in Philadelphia, and at private plants in Lowell, +New Haven, Bridgeport and Cincinnati. These concerns and another near +St. Louis also make the cartridges for the automatic pistols. + +At the outbreak of the world war we had 150 batteries of light field +guns and 45 batteries of heavy artillery (four guns to each battery), +including cannon provided for by Congress, and since then delivered. +There was an inadequate supply of ammunition for the heavy guns. + + +MUNITION SUPPLY AUGMENTED. + +The ammunition supply was immediately augmented and field guns of +various calibers turned out as fast as possible, including 9-inch +howitzers. + +A 3-inch field gun fires projectiles weighing 15 pounds, with a muzzle +velocity of 1700 feet per second. + +A 4.7-inch field gun fires projectiles weighing 60 pounds, with the same +velocity. + +A 6-inch howitzer fires projectiles weighing 120 pounds, with a muzzle +velocity of 900 feet per second. + +The principal difference between the field gun and the howitzer is that +the latter can be pointed at a high angle, to assail infantry protected +by intrenchments, or for other purposes. + +While reference has been made to siege guns, which were used by the +Germans in their attacks on the Belgian and French forts, the fact is +that the large caliber mortars and howitzers are what wrought the havoc. + +The large caliber howitzers and mortars throw shells containing huge +charges of explosives, and are more adaptable in their application than +the ordinary siege guns or cannons. + +One novelty which had not been used up to the entrance of the United +States into the war is a device invented by a Los Angeles man, which +makes a "periscope gun" of any ordinary service piece. + +In trench warfare, as developed abroad, the periscope has been used by +the men in the trenches to observe the movements of the opposing forces +and watch for scouts without exposing themselves to the fire of +"snipers" or sharpshooters, who are always looking for a head or mark to +aim at. + +The new device comprises two mirrors attached to the gun by a metal +frame in such manner that one mirror is above the range of vision and +reflects the image to be fired at upon the other mirror below the stock +or butt of the gun. The attachment enables the soldier sitting in a +trench or shelter to accurately aim his gun and conveniently shoot while +his head is kept below the safety line, or top of the parapet, or +properly built trench. + + +THE TRENCH PERISCOPE. + +With this attachment, approved by the United States Ordnance Department, +a rifleman, from his concealed point of vantage, can survey a 30-foot +field at 200 yards. The attachment can be removed at will and the metal +bars and parts can be easily carried. The device adds about one and +one-half pounds to the weight of the gun. + +In the same category with the aeroplane, the automobile, the submarine, +the torpedo, in their effect upon the method of waging modern warfare +are the telephone and the wireless telegraph. There were no telephones +and no wireless instruments in the days of our own Civil War, and the +stories related of the bravery and astuteness displayed by orderlies, +messengers and scouts of those days will not be repeated. + +Today the army carries a complete telephone system and wonderful +wireless apparatus. The commander sits in his headquarters and +communicates with his officers in all parts of the field, reaching +points miles distant. Wires are strung through trenches, along fences +and wherever needed, and telephone "booths" are set up wherever it is +found necessary. Switchboards are mounted on motor cars and encased in +armor plate. The "repair" wagons are motor vehicles, and lines cut or +destroyed are quickly repaired or replaced. + +Aerial stations for the wireless are carried, and are of many varieties. +Some of them are similar to the observation towers and ladders. The +French army regulations provide for wireless service between the general +staff headquarters and the army corps, connecting these with the heavy +cavalry divisions and lines of communication. The wireless companies in +the French army are made up of 10 officers and 293 men. + +Nearly all of the other nations have patterned their wireless companies +after the French. The company carries 302 miles of wire and cable and +about 96 sets of instruments. The rate of operation is more than 400 +words a minute. The mast for the aerial station is made in sections, on +the telescope plan, and can be erected by a trio of men in a few +minutes. The whole outfit for a station weighs about 750 pounds and the +range of service is about 200 miles. + + +"KNAPSACK" STATIONS. + +There are, in addition to the field stations, "knapsack" stations, which +are divided into sections so that four soldiers can carry an outfit. The +sections weigh about 20 pounds each. The small station set up with this +apparatus has a range of from 5 to 10 miles and in service replaces the +orderlies and such visual signs and signalling, as was used before the +wireless came into existence. Such an outfit can forward more +information in a few minutes than a whole squadron of orderlies could +riding at full speed. + +The aeroplanes carrying a wireless outfit can communicate with the field +stations, and have rendered wonderful service on the battlefields. The +cavalry also carry wireless outfits, and in the Allied armies the second +regiment of every cavalry brigade has a wireless detachment of 4 +troopers, 1 cyclist and 3 horses, besides a wagon. There is also a +division with tools and material for both destroying and repairing +lines. + +The French army also has automobile wireless stations. The automobile +outfit is complete in every particular and is not augmented. It carries +its own crew and has a traveling radius of several hundred miles. The +car containing the station is completely enclosed and the walls are +deadened so that the noise made by the apparatus may not betray the +presence of the station to the enemy scouts. + +The practical application of portable wireless outfits to military usage +is probably less than four years old, but the portables can transmit +messages over a radius of 200 to 250 miles. Expressed in technical +terms, the portable stations have a capacity of about 200 mile +wave-lengths. + +The one weakness of the wireless is that the enemy can purloin secrets, +though adroitness in manipulation can overcome some of this difficulty. + + +A WORD ABOUT "HEAVY ARTILLERY." + +It would not do to mention armaments and weapons without a word about +the "heavy artillery" of the commissary department, for this branch of +the army service is represented by formidable field kitchens, which are +again carried on trucks or motor cars. The officers' field kitchen +follows the advance of the officers to the field of action. Some of +these kitchens, particularly those of the Kaiser and the Crown Prince in +the German army, are described as almost luxurious. They contain +complete equipment--range, bake-oven, pantry, ice-box, china closet and +every device needed for preparing a complete meal. + +Supplies are hurried after the troops in motor trucks from stations +where the supplies are delivered by rail and soups and sturdy meals are +prepared which were lacking in the campaigns through which the soldiers +of the Civil War passed. The pioneer mobile military field kitchen which +has been the subject of widespread comment was developed by the German +army. + +It consists of a four-wheeled vehicle drawn by two horses, though +motors have supplanted the horses in some cases. The front carriage is +detachable from the rear and is actually a separate contrivance. On the +rear truck is a 200-quart copper, double, or jacketed vat. Also a +70-quart coffee tank. Both receptacles have separate fireboxes and ash +pits. One section carries extra rations for the men, the daily quota of +provisions, extra rations for horses, folding canvas water pails and +utensils. + +The actual food is cooked within the vat or caldron inside the water +jacket, so that the heat does not come in contact with the food direct, +thus preventing burning. The food will cook slowly for hours when once +the water is heated, and will remain hot for a long time. The men can +get water in an emergency and hot coffee is always ready for the +sentries and men on guard duty to carry with them at night. Of course a +bottle of the thermos type is used by these men so that they can have +hot coffee when on the line of duty. The kitchen outfits are complete +and so arranged that they can be rushed over rough ground without +spilling their contents. + +Electric flash lights, batteries for setting off dynamite and other +explosives used for blowing out trenches and other fortifications, +searchlights, mirror signaling devices, illuminating bombs, which are +shot high in the air to explode and illuminate the field for hundreds of +yards, signal bombs, and many ingenious contraptions never dreamed of +are part of the army's equipment used on the battlefields of the +greatest war that the world has ever known. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE WORLD'S ARMIES. + +THE EFFICIENT GERMAN ORGANIZATION--THE LANDWEHR AND LANDSTURM--GENERAL +FORMS OF MILITARY ORGANIZATION--THE BRAVE FRENCH TROOPS--THE PICTURESQUE +ITALIAN SOLDIERY--THE PEACE AND WAR STRENGTH--AVAILABLE FIGHTING +MEN--FORTIFICATIONS. + + +No one scoffs at the military organization which Germany has developed +through the years--yes, almost centuries--of moulding and training, for +Germany has proved herself efficient, even if egotistical and +domineering. She built up what at the beginning of the war was +recognized as the most powerful, most efficient and well balanced +military organization the world has ever known. And it was not an army +in the sense that America has been taught to think of armies. It was a +trained nation for war--a nation armed--rather than a small, compact +fighting machine. + +The strength of the German army on October 1, 1913, has been given in +fairly authentic reports as 790,788 men and 157,916 horses. Of the men +30,253 were officers and 2,483 sanitary officers. There were 104,377 +non-commissioned officers and 641,811 common soldiers. The general +divisions were 515,216 infantry and 85,593 cavalry, 126,042 artillery, +and the rest in the general service, including the commissary and +quartermasters' departments, as these are known in America. The +estimated army on a war footing is more than four times this number and +approximates about 4,000,000, while the entire available force was given +at probably 8,000,000. + +The infantry is designated as the main body of the army. The infantrymen +carry the "98" gun, already referred to, which is an improved Mauser, +and the non-commissioned officers and ambulance drivers carry revolvers. +There are several classes of infantrymen, a distinction being made +between the sharpshooters, and some of the others, variously known as +grenadiers, musketeers and fusileers. + +The cavalry is armed with lance, saber and carbine. There are +distinctions in this branch of the service, too, among the cavalry units +being cuirassiers, hussars, uhlans and dragoons. The field artillery +carries batteries of cannon and light howitzer, and the drivers are +armed with a sword and revolver. The cannoneers have a short knife or +dagger as well as the revolver. + +The communication troops are what parallel the engineers in the United +States army. They build the roads, put up the telegraph lines and +telephone service, construct bridges and make the travel possible. + + +STRENGTH OF GERMAN ARMY. + +While the full strength of the German army is given at 4,000,000 on a +war footing, the total availables from the nation's reserve is double +that sum. These forces are gathered from three sources: the first line, +with an estimated strength of 1,750,000; the Landwehr 1,800,000, and the +Landsturm 4,500,000. + +All who enter the service pass into the Landsturm after 19 years and +remain until they are 45. The cavalry service is three years with the +colors and four years in the army reserve. The horse artillery are +subject to the same service, while those in other branches serve two +years with the colors and five with the army reserve. The soldier passes +from the army reserve into what is described as the Landwehr, where +artillerymen and cavalrymen remain three years; those of other branches +of the military five years. The soldier passes from the first division +or class of Landwehr to the second, where he remains until his 39th +birthday. + +The Landsturm of the first class includes those between the ages of 17 +and 39, who have not reached the age of service, and those who have not +been called into active service because the ranks were full and there +was no room for them in the regular army. The second class includes +those who have passed through the other branches and whose ages are +between 39 and 45. + +There is a wide difference between the military organizations of the +different countries. Whereas the United States army regiment +approximates 1500 men, the German army regiment contains almost 3000. In +the German army six battalions form an infantry regiment. Two regiments +form a brigade, two brigades a division, and two divisions an army +corps. There are 10 divisions composed of 3 brigades each, but of course +the whole organization was augmented when war broke out. Adding the +necessary auxiliary troops, viz: an artillery brigade of 12 batteries +composed of 6 guns each--or 4 in the case of the horse Batteries--a +regiment of cavalry of 4 squadrons, an engineer battalion, sanitary +troops, etc., a German 3-brigade division at war strength numbers about +21,000, and an army corps--to which are further attached 4 batteries of +howitzers and a battalion of rifles--about 43,000 combatants. The +cavalry division is composed of 3 brigades of 2 regiments each and 2 or +3 batteries of horse artillery, a total of 24 squadrons and 8 to 12 +guns. + +In a general way it may here be interpolated that the organization of an +army is given in the military manuals as follows: + + +INFANTRY. + +A squad is 8 men under the command of a corporal. + +A section is 16 men under the command of a sergeant. + +A platoon is from 50 to 75 men under a lieutenant. + +A company is 3 platoons, 200 to 250 men, under a captain. + +A battalion is 4 or more companies under a major. + +A regiment is 3 or more battalions under a colonel, or a +lieutenant-colonel. + +A brigade is 2 or 3 regiments under a brigadier-general. + +A division is 2 or more brigades under a major-general. + +An army corps is 2 or more divisions, supplemented by cavalry, +artillery, engineers, etc., under a major-general or lieutenant-general. + + +CAVALRY. + +A section is 8 men under a corporal. + +A platoon is 36 to 50 men under a lieutenant, or junior captain. + +A troop is 3 to 4 platoons, 125 to 150 men, under a captain. + +A squadron is 3 troops under a senior captain, or a major. + +A regiment is 4 to 6 squadrons under a colonel. + +A brigade is 3 regiments under a brigadier-general. + +A division is 2 or 3 brigades under a major-general. + + +ARTILLERY. + +A battery is 130 to 180 men, with 4 to 8 guns, under a captain. + +A group or battalion is 3 or 4 batteries under a major. + +A regiment is 3 or 4 groups (battalions) under a colonel. + +When regiments are combined into brigades, brigades into divisions, and +divisions into army corps, cavalry, artillery, and certain other +auxiliary troops, such as engineers, signal corps, aeroplane corps, +etc., are joined with them in such proportions as has been found +necessary. Every unit, from the company up, has its own supply and +ammunition wagons, field hospitals, etc. + + +THE UNITED STATES ARMY. + +Prior to 1915 the regular United States army was a mere police body as +compared with the armed forces of other countries. It was concededly +highly efficient, but for the purpose of entering into conflict with +such forces as those presented by Germany, France and some of the other +European countries it was admittedly inadequate. + +The entire force consisted of 5,004 officers and 92,658 men. The forces +were divided into 15 regiments of cavalry and 765 officers and 14,148 +men; 6 regiments of field artillery, with 252 officers and 5,513 men; +the coast artillery with 715 officers and 19,019 men, and 30 regiments +of infantry, with 1,530 officers and 35,008 men. The Philippine scouts +had 182 officers and 5,733 men; the Military Academy 7 officers and +6,266 men and the Porto Rico regiment of infantry with 32 officers and +591 men. + +The signal corps had 106 officers and 1,472 men, and the engineer corps +237 officers and 1,942 men. There were also about 6000 recruits in the +various branches of the service under training. + +The marine corps, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, had +346 officers and 9,921 enlisted men. + + +THE REGULAR ARMY. + +The regular army was supplemented by the National Guards of the various +States which had 7,578 regiments with 9,103 commissioned officers and +123,105 enlisted men, or a total organization of 132,208. The "reserve +militia," which was in fact little more than a name, consisted of the +availables for service between the ages of 18 and 45 years, and +estimated on the basis of population, numbered about 20,000,000. + +Before there was any real indication that the country would become +actively involved in the world war steps were taken to reorganize and +develop an efficient army, and under the Act which became effective on +July 1, 1916, and which provides for the establishment of basic units +for the army, the War Department orders and regulations fixed the basis +of the organization as follows: + +Sixty-four infantry regiments, 25 cavalry regiments, 21 regiments of +artillery, a coast army corps, the brigade division, army corps, and +army headquarters, with their detachments and troops. A general staff +corps, adjutant general's department, inspector general department, +judge advocate general department, quartermaster corps, medical +department, corps of engineers, and ordnance department, signal corps, +officers of the bureau of insular affairs, militia bureau and detached +officers. + +The law specifies that the total armed force shall include the regular +army, volunteer army, officers' reserve corps, enlisted reserve corps, +and the National Guard of the various States, subject to call for duty +within the borders of the United States. + +The reorganization of the army was being effected at the time Uncle Sam +was called to fight for humanity, and only an approximation of the +condition can be made, for about two-thirds of the National Guard had +been taken into the regular service incident to the trouble with Mexico, +when the Guardsmen were summoned to the border to protect the country, +and recruiting was proceeding in all branches of the service to bring +all the regiments up to a war footing. + + +UNITS ON WAR FOOTING. + +The various units, on a war footing, are: Infantry regiment, 1,800 men; +cavalry regiment, 1,250 men; field artillery, light regiment, 1,150; +field artillery, horse regiment, 1,150; field artillery, heavy regiment, +1,240; field artillery, mountain regiment, 1,100; engineers, pioneer +battalion, 490; engineers, pioneer battalion, mounted, 270; engineers, +pontoon battalion, 500; signal troops, field battalion, 160; signal +troops, field (cavalry) battalion, 170; signal troops, aero squadron, 90 +men. Trains--infantry division: ammunition, 260; supply, 190; sanitary, +530; engineer, 10. Cavalry: ammunition, 60; supply, 220; sanitary, 300. + +A division of infantry consists of 3 brigades of infantry, 1 cavalry +regiment, 1 artillery brigade, 1 regiment of engineers, 1 field signal +battalion, 1 aero squad, 1 ammunition train, 1 supply train, 1 +engineer's train and 1 sanitary train, and comprises approximately +22,000 men and 7,500 horses and mules, and 900 vehicles, including guns. +The latter figures are, however, changed by reason of the introduction +of motor trucks, and automobiles, there being a consequent reduction in +the number of horses and mules and a slight increase in the number of +men. + +A cavalry division consists of 3 cavalry brigades, 1 regiment of field +artillery, 1 battalion of mounted engineers, 1 field signal battery, +mounted; 1 aero squadron, 1 ammunition, 1 supply, 1 engineer and 1 +sanitary train. + +A brigade, in the main, consists of three regiments, the infantry having +5,500 men, cavalry brigade 2,500 and artillery brigade 2,500 men. + +Under the reorganization plan the United States army would have about +293,000 in the service, but with the advent of the country's entrance +into the conflict of world powers Congress passed the Conscription bill +authorizing the drafting, for military purposes, all young men between +the ages of 21 and 31 in the country. + + +MILLIONS NOT IN THE COUNTRY'S SERVICE. + +The registration of those subject to call under this bill showed that +there were about 11,000,000 men in the country, not in the army, navy or +supporting branches, available. The bill designed to produce, within a +year from the time of the signing of the law by President Wilson, of a +national army of more than 1,000,000 trained and equipped men, backed by +a reserve of men and supplies and by an additional 500,000 under +training. + +Meantime the State authorities were authorized to fill up the National +Guard units and regiments to full war strength, so that with the regular +army there would be a total of 622,954--293,000 regular and 329,954 +guardsmen, to be taken over by the War Department. This was the physical +state of the army when the country found it necessary to ship men into +France to assist the Allies in their fight against the German and +Austrian forces, and General Pershing was sent to command the American +troops. + +The United States army and all of the military branches are armed with +the Springfield magazine rifle, which holds five cartridges. It shoots a +pointed bullet of tin and lead and is of .30 inch caliber. The Colt +automatic pistol is used as the service weapon by officers and those +requiring this sort of arm. It is a .45 caliber pistol with a magazine +holding seven cartridges, which can be fired successively by simply +holding the trigger back. + + +THE FRENCH ARMY. + +Military spirit in France has had an almost incredible resurrection +within the past few years. The increase in the standing army of Germany +was watched closely, and as new units were added to the standing army of +the latter country France retaliated by lengthening the term of military +service from two to three years. This accomplished practically the same +purpose without causing a ripple of excitement, and as France determined +to recover her lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine her fight is to the +limit of her endurance. + +There were, at the outbreak of war, 869,403 men in the National Army of +France, which was composed of the Metropolitan army, having a total of +753,403 men, of the Colonial army, numbering 116,000 men. These figures +do not include the personnel of the Gendarmerie, or military police, +which numbered 25,000 men. + +Military service is compulsory in France and all males between the ages +of 20 and 48 years must serve three years in the army, the only cause +for exemption being physical disability. Following the active service +the soldier passes to the reserve for 11 years, after which he is seven +years in the Territorial army and seven years in the Territorial +reserve. The training in the active reserve consists of two periods of +training and maneuvers which last for four weeks each, in the +Territorial army one period of two weeks, and in the Territorial +reserve, no fixed period. There are more than 2,000 reservists per +battalion produced by the length of the reserve service, and when the +troops are mobilized the active units can be easily maintained at full +war strength. The number available in this way gives enough men for each +battalion and regiment in the field with enough men left over for +routine home guard work. + + +FRENCH MILITARY DIVISIONS. + +There are two infantry regiments, composed of from six to eight +battalions, to the brigade, in the French army, with two brigades to a +division and two divisions to an army corps. A field artillery regiment, +consisting of nine batteries of four guns each, is attached to each +division. With nine field and three howitzer batteries and six +reinforcing batteries added under mobilization, each corps on a war +footing has 144 guns. There is also added to every army corps in the +field one cavalry brigade of two regiments, one cavalry battalion, +engineer companies and sanitary and service troops. The cavalry +divisions are composed of three brigades of two regiments each--together +with three batteries of horse artillery. There is in an army corps, when +mobilized, approximately 33,000 combatants, and in a cavalry division +4,700 men. An aeronautical corps in the French army consists of 334 +aeroplanes and 14 dirigibles. + +In the Reserve army at the time of mobilization there were two divisions +in each region, corresponding to those in the active army. When they +were mobilized the 36 reserve divisions contained virtually the same +organization and strength as the troops of the line. There were a large +number of troops for garrisoning the various fortresses when the +regional regiments, engineers and foot artillery were utilized for this +work. + +The Territorial army also consists of 36 divisions and garrison troops. +When the remaining men of the Reserve and Territorial armies were +summoned to the depots they were available to maintain the field army at +full strength. + +In the French field army there were 20 army corps, a brigade consisting +of 14 battalions, and 10 divisions of cavalry, when war was declared. +When this was raised to its full war strength the active army numbered +1,009,000 men, the reserves and depots 1,600,000, the Territorial army +818,000, and the Territorial Reserve 451,000, a grand total of 3,878,000 +soldiers. At this critical time, therefore, France had at her command +about 5,000,000 trained men. + +Lebel magazine rifles of .315 inches caliber are used by the infantry, +while the cavalry uses the Lebel carbine. The field piece is a +rapid-fire gun of 7.5 centimeters, or 2.95 inches, of the model of 1907, +and is provided with a shield for the protection of the gunners. A +howitzer of 12 or 15.5 centimeters is the type used by the French army. + +The French artillery is generally admitted to be in a class by itself, +and the commissariat is excelled by none other. The infantry is most +deceptive in appearance, but the ability of the French to march and +attack has never been surpassed. + + +THE RUSSIAN ARMY. + +There are 1,284,000 men in the Russian army in times of peace, while the +war strength is 5,962,306. The young man of Russia is compelled to enter +the army at the age of 20 years, the military service being compulsory +and universal, terminating at the age of 43 years. The period of service +in the active army is three years in the case of the infantry and +artillery, and four years in other branches of the service. The soldier +then passes to the reserve, where he serves for 14 or 15 years, during +which period he receives two trainings of six weeks each. After 18 years +in the active and reserve armies he is transferred to the Territorial +army for five years. There also exists a modified system of volunteers +for one year who supply the bulk of officers required for the reserve +upon mobilization. + +The Russian army is divided into three forces, the army, of the +European Russia, the army of the Caucasus and the Asiatic army. There +are 1,000 men in a Russian battalion, 4 battalions constituting a +regiment, 2 regiments a brigade and 2 brigades a division. + + +RUSSIAN FIELD BATTERIES. + +The field batteries are composed of 8 guns, the horse batteries of 6. +The ordinary army corps is made up of 2 divisions, a howitzer division +and one battalion of sappers, and has a fighting strength of +approximately 32,000 men. The rifle brigades form separate organizations +of 8 battalions with 3 batteries attached. The Cossacks, who hold their +lands by military tenure, are liable to service for life, and provide +their own equipment and horses. At 19 their training begins; at 21 they +enter the active regiment of their district; at 25 they go into what is +termed the "second category" regiment, and at 29 the "third category" +regiment, followed by 5 years in the reserve. After 25 years of age, +their training is 3 weeks yearly. In European Russia the field army +consists of the Imperial Guard and Grenadier Corps, 27 line army corps +and 20 cavalry divisions; in the Caucasus of 3 army corps and 4 cavalry +divisions. The Asiatic army is composed of Russians with a few Turkoman +irregular horse, and is mainly stationed in East Siberia. Since the +Russian-Japanese war these forces have been increased and reorganized +into a strong army which, at the outbreak, was capable of mobilizing, +together with auxiliary troops, more than 200,000 men. + +The small-arm of the infantry is the "3-line" rifle of the 1901 model. +It has a magazine holding five cartridges, a caliber of .299 inches, a +muzzle velocity of 2,035 foot seconds, and is sighted to 3,000 yards. +The arm of the cavalry and Cossacks has a barrel 2-3/4 inches shorter, +but uses the same ammunition, and is provided with a bayonet which no +other mounted troops use. The field piece is a Krupp rapid-fire, +shielded gun, of the 1902 model, with a muzzle velocity of 1,950 foot +seconds, the shell weighing 13-1/2 pounds. + + +AUSTRIA-HUNGARIAN ARMY. + +There are 472,716 men in the army of Austria-Hungary during times of +peace, with a war strength of 1,360,000 soldiers. Military service is +universal and compulsory, beginning at the age of 19 years, and ending +at the age of 43 years. The term of service in the common or active arm +of the service is for two years in the case of the infantry and three +years in the cavalry and horse artillery. + +There is a Landwehr, or first reserve, in which the term of service is +10 years in the infantry, and seven for the cavalry or horse artillery, +which service is followed by that in the Landsturm, or second reserve, +in which the soldier serves until his forty-second birthday. Hungary +possesses a separate and distinct Landwehr and Landsturm, which +constitute the Hungarian National army. There is also a supplementary +reserve intended to maintain the units of the common army at full +strength. + +The Empire is divided into 16 army corps districts, each presumed to +furnish a complete army corps of two divisions to the active army. Every +infantry division is composed of two brigades of 8 battalions each, 1 +artillery brigade and 10 batteries of six guns, a regiment of cavalry, +and a rifle battalion. The army corps also contains a regiment of field +artillery or howitzers, a pioneer battalion and a pontoon company, and +numbers about 34,000 combatants. + +There are 6 permanent cavalry divisions, each made up of 2 brigades--24 +squadrons, 3 batteries of horse artillery and a machine-gun detachment +numbering about 4,000 men. It is estimated that the war strength is, +active army, 1,360,000; Austrian Landwehr, 240,000; Hungarian Landwehr, +220,000; Landsturm, 2,000,000 and reserve of 500,000, or a grand total +of 4,300,000. + +The infantry carries the Mannlicher magazine rifle, .315-caliber and a +cavalry carbine of the same make. The field gun is a Krupp which uses a +14-1/2-pound shrapnel and the field howitzer is a 10.5 centimeter piece +which fires a 30-pound shell. The Hungarian cavalry is accounted fine, +but the main force is not regarded as efficient as the German or French. + + +THE ITALIAN ARMY. + +The army of Italy on a peace footing is only about 250,860 men, +exclusive of the troops in Africa, but the country is able to mobilize a +large force, and some of its branches of service are the most efficient +in the world. Service is compulsory and general, beginning at the age of +20 years. After two years in the standing army there are six years in +the reserve, four years in what is known as the mobile militia and seven +years in the territorial militia. + +There is compulsory training in both the reserve and the territorial +militia, ranging from two weeks to six weeks. In organization each +division of the army consists of 2 brigades composed of 2 regiments, +comprising 3 battalions, together with a regiment of field artillery, +with 5 batteries. The division has a war strength of 14,156 officers and +men and 30 guns. The cavalry division comprises 2 brigades of 4 +regiments and 2 horse batteries. Each army corps has two divisions in +which are included a regiment of field artillery, 3 heavy batteries, a +regiment of cavalry and one of light infantry. + +There is available for army service the military police, known as the +Carabinieri, besides the aeronautical corps, with half a dozen or more +companies, 30 aeroplanes and a dozen airships. There are also the +frontier troops organized for defense of the mountains, and which troops +waged heroic and picturesque warfare in the mountain passes. There are +in these troops 8 regiments of Alpine infantry, comprising 26 +battalions, and 2 regiments of 36 mountain batteries. + +The army strength approximates 2,600,000, made up of 700,000 active +army, 400,000 mobile militia, which is the second line of defense, and +the territorial militia, about 1,500,000. The infantry is armed with a +magazine rifle of 6.5 millimeters caliber known as the Mannlicher +Carcano, but up to the beginning of the war the territorials used a +different type. + + +GREAT BRITAIN'S ARMY. + +The military establishment of Great Britain consists of the Regular army +and the Territorial army, aside from the Indian army and the local +forces in the various colonies. These armies are recruited from youth +between the ages of 18 and 25 years, who are recruited by voluntary +enlistment. The enlistment period is for 12 years, although it can be +prolonged under certain circumstances to 21 years. + +Three to nine years is the period with the colors, and the remainder of +the enlistment is with the Army Reserve. Many men elect to serve seven +years with the colors and five with the reserve. Recruits are subjected +to five months' training, and each year are called out for six weeks, +supplemented by six days' musketry practice for the infantry. + +The Home army consists of 9,740 officers and 172,610 men, the Army +Reserve of 147,000 and the Special Reserve of 80,120, and the +Territorial army of 313,485, a total of 724,955 men. Raised to war +strength, these forces would number 29,330 officers, 772,000 men and +2,072 guns, the batteries being of six guns, except the heavy batteries +and those of the Territorial army, which have four. During the Boer War +England put more than 1,000,000 men in the field. + +The United Kingdom is divided into seven "commands," and the London +district, all of which include from two to three territorial divisions, +and one to four territorial cavalry brigades, in addition to detachments +of varying size from the Regular army. Two nearly full divisions are +stationed at Aldershot and in Ireland, one complete division in the +Southern and one in the Eastern "command." There are also six aeroplane +squadrons, each with 18 aeroplanes. + +The Lee-Enfield rifle, caliber .303, is the arm of the infantry and +cavalry. In the Regular army the field artillery has an 18-pounder +Armstrong gun, the horse artillery a 13-pounder, the field howitzers are +40-pounders, and the heavy batteries are armed with 60-pounders. + +The Territorial army was organized along the lines of the American +militia, and could scarcely be expected to distinguish itself when +pitted against the German regulars. + + +BELGIAN ARMY PEACE FOOTING. + +The Belgian army peace footing is 3,542 officers and 44,061 men, with a +war strength estimated at from 300,000 to 350,000. The infantry is armed +with the Mauser rifle, the artillery with a shielded Krupp quick-fire +piece of 7.5-centimeter caliber. + +In 1913 the Netherlands had in its standing army 1,543 officers and +21,412 men and 152 guns. On a war footing it could probably be raised to +270,000 men. The small arm is the Mannlicher rifle and carbine, the +field gun is the same as that of Belgium. + +Servia has 10 divisions, divided into 4 army corps. The peace footing is +160,000, and the war strength about 380,000. The rifle is the Mauser +model of 1899, and the field piece a quick-firing gun of the French +Schneider-Canet system. + +Bulgaria has a peace army of about 3,900 officers and 56,000 men. It is +armed with the Mannlicher magazine rifle, the Mannlicher carbine, the +Schneider quick-fire gun and a light Krupp for the mountain batteries. +On a war footing the country musters 4 army corps and 550,000 men. + +Roumania's army is about 5,460 officers and 98,000 men. On a war footing +it has 5 army corps and 580,000 men. The infantry uses the Mannlicher +magazine rifle and the cavalry the Mannlicher carbine. The field and +horse batteries are armed with the Krupp quick-fire gun of the model of +1903. + +In 1912 Greece had a peace establishment of 1,952 officers and 23,268 +men, but the recent war has caused her to augment them to 3 army corps, +and her war footing is not far from 250,000 men. The infantry is armed +with the Mannlicher-Schonauer rifle of the 1903 model and the field +artillery with Schneider-Canet quick-fire guns. + +Japan has a peace strength of 250,000 men, with a reserve of 1,250,000, +and a total war strength of 1,500,000 men, out of a total available +force capable of fighting of approximately 8,239,372 men. + + +SPAIN'S STANDING ARMY. + +The standing army of Spain is 132,000 men. The reserves are estimated at +1,050,000, and the total war strength at 1,182,000. The total available +unorganized force is 2,889,197 men. + +The army of Denmark on a peace footing is 13,725 men, with a reserve of +71,609. The total war strength is a little more than 85,000 men, and the +total fighting population is approximately 470,000. + +Sweden has a peace strength in excess of 75,000 men, and a reserve of +more than 500,000, giving an estimated war strength of 600,000 men. The +total available unorganized force is about 500,000. + +Norway has a standing army a little larger than that of Denmark--about +18,000 men--with 90,000 reserves, giving a total war strength of about +110,000 men. The unorganized force available is about 360,000 men. + +Portugal has a peace strength of 30,000 men, with a reserve of 225,000, +making a total war strength of more than one-quarter of a million. The +unorganized fighting material is more than 800,000. + +Turkey, which reorganized its forces within recent years, has a peace +strength of 210,000 men, about 800,000 reserves, giving a war strength +of over a million, and has a total available unorganized force to call +upon of more than 3,000,000. + +The little army of Montenegro is a permanent body of about 35,000 men. +There are no trained reserve forces, but there is an available fighting +population of 68,000, outside of the army, to call upon. + + +CHINA'S MILITARY RESOURCES. + +Recent events throw some doubt on the figures regarding China's military +resources, but the last available figures credited the great Republic of +the East with a force of 400,000 men, augmented by 300,000 reserves. +With this total war strength of 700,000 soldiers, estimates of the +available unorganized fighting material reaches the stupendous figure of +63,000,000. + +Brazil has a peace strength of 33,000, with more than 500,000 reserves, +with more than 4,000,000 unorganized available material. + +As relating to the armed strength of the nations abroad, some reference +to the system of fortifications which protect the various countries is +interesting at this point. Following years--in fact, centuries--of +study, Central Europe has been strongly fortified with a system of +embattlements which have reached the limits of human ingenuity. + +In the east of France, along the frontier where France, Switzerland and +Germany meet, there are the first-class fortresses of Belfort, Epinal, +Toul and Verdun in the first line, reinforced by Besancon, Dijon, +Langres, Rheims, La Fere and Maubeuge in the second line, with smaller +fortifications close to the German frontier at Remirement, Luneville, +Nancy and other points. Along the Italian frontier the fortresses are +situated at Grenoble, Briancon and Nice, with Lyons in the rear. There +are strong forts at all naval harbors, the defense of Paris consisting +of 97 bastions, 17 old forts and 38 forts of an advanced type, the +whole forming entrenched camps at Versailles and St. Denis. + +On that line of the German frontier which faces France there are the +fortresses of Neu-Breisach, Strassburg, Metz and Diedenhofen, in the +first line, with Rastatt, Bitsch and Saarlouis in the second line, and +Germershein in the rear. Situated opposite Luxemburg is Mainz, with +Coblentz and Cologne opposite Belgium and Wesel opposite Holland. + +All along the northern coast, from Wilhelmshafen to Memmel, the German +coast is strongly fortified. Memmel is the pivot point of the northern +and eastern frontier, the latter frontier being protected by Konigsberg +and Allenstein, of the first line, and Danzig, Dirschau, Graudenz, Thorn +and the Vistula Passages, of the second line. South of this point are +Posen, Glogau and Breslau, which face Poland, while beginning at Neisse +the strong defense against Austria consists of fortifications at Glatz, +Ingolstadt and Ulm, the approaches to Berlin being guarded by Magdeburg, +Spandau and Kustrin. + + +POLISH QUADRILATERAL. + +Along the line of the Russian frontier which guard that country from +attacks by the Germans are the fortresses of Libau, on the Baltic; +Kovna, Ossovets and Ust-Dvinsk, in the Vilna district, and in Poland +there are situated Novo-Georgievsk, Warsaw and Ivangorod, on the +Vistula, and Brest-Litovsk, on the Bug--four strongholds known as the +Polish Quadrilateral. Guarding Petrograd are the smaller fortifications +of Kronstadt and Viborg, with Sweaborg midway down the Gulf of Finland +near Helsingfors. Sebastopol and Kertch, in the Crimea, and Otchokov, +near Odessa, are the fortifications which guard the Black Sea. + +Along the Austrian frontier are the strong embattlements of Cracow and +Przemysl, on the road to Lemberg in Galicia. These forts face Poland. In +Hungary there are Gyula-Fehervar and Arad, on the Maros River, and which +guard the approach from the angle of Roumania. On her frontier facing +Servia there are Alt-Orsova and Peterwardein, on the Danube, and +Sarajevo, in Bosnia, with Temesvar and Komorn blocking the approach to +Vienna from the southeast. On the Adriatic are Cattaro, on the edge of +Montenegro, and the naval arsenals of Pola and Trieste. All the Alpine +passes of the Tyrol are fortified, but neither Vienna nor Budapest has +any defenses. + +The fortifications of Italy, aside from those on her coasts, extend in a +line from Venice, through Verona, Mantua and Piacenza to Alessandria and +Casale, which face the French frontier. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE WORLD'S NAVIES. + +GERMANY'S SEA STRENGTH--GREAT BRITAIN'S IMMENSE WAR FLEET--IMMENSE +FIGHTING CRAFT--THE UNITED STATES' NEW BATTLE CRUISERS--THE FASTEST AND +BIGGEST OCEAN FIGHTING SHIPS--THE PICTURESQUE MARINES: THE SOLDIERS OF +THE SEA. + + +Just as Germany at the outset of the war had the most efficient and, +broadly speaking, the greatest army in the world, so England had the +greatest navy in the world. As a matter of fact, Great Britain's +domination of the seas was very largely responsible for the development +of the super-submarine by Germany, and the putting into effect of the +submarine warfare which proved so disastrous to the Allies. This for the +reason that Germany, having sought for means to offset Great Britain's +power and control of the seas, turned to the underseas craft. + +Up to the accession of Emperor William II--the Kaiser--Germany's navy +was little more than a joke. In 1848 the National Parliament voted six +million thalers for the creation of a fleet, and some boats were +constructed. But the attempts to weld Germany, then little more than a +federation, into a nation having failed, the fleet was put up at +auction, and actually sold in 1852. Prussia, a separate state, had +started a fleet of her own and purchased the German boats. + +This fleet, just before the American Civil War, consisted of four +cruisers, carrying 28 cannon, and one cruiser having 17 cannon, besides +which there were 21 "cannon boats," carrying two and three cannons each. +The Prussian fleet merged into the North German Confederation in 1867, +and in turn became part of the fleet of the new German Empire in 1871. + +In the war with France the German fleet played no part. There were one +or two clashes between French and German small boats, but that was all. +Even the successful outcome of the war did not inspire Germany to build +up a navy. Plans for the greater navy were first outlined about 1882, +but for a period of seven years not a battleship was built, +concentration being placed upon the torpedo boat. The idea of developing +the torpedo boat fleet belong to the present Grand Admiral von Tirpitz, +then a young officer. The fleet became the best in the world, but its +usefulness was soon checked by the new inventions, searchlights, gatling +guns, etc. + +Germany's fleet legislation of 1898 for the first time looked ahead and +established rules for future building. The Spanish-American and the Boer +wars disquieted Germany, and about 1900 the fleet was doubled by +legislation. In 1906 the campaign of submarines, torpedo boats and +greater battleships began. Part of the program required that 12 torpedo +boats be built each year. Additional legislation for the construction of +cruisers and battleships was effected in 1908, and in 1912, until at the +beginning of the war, Germany had 38 ships of the line, 14 armored +cruisers, 38 protected cruisers, 224 torpedo boats and 30 submarines. +There were no torpedo-boat destroyers, the small cruisers taking their +places. The naval organization contained 73,000 officers and men. The +largest boats are the dreadnoughts, which are divided into several +classes. One of the last of these built by Germany was the Derfflinger, +which had a displacement of 28,000 tons. + +The personnel of the German navy prior to the war was 79,197 officers +and men. + + +THE BRITISH NAVY. + +Because of the fact that the territory of Great Britain is scattered +over the face of the globe and that it is necessary to use the highways +of the sea for reaching her various possessions, the navy of that +country is undoubtedly the greatest collection of fighting ships ever +gathered together under one flag. + +In order to take care of her population of 1,625,000,000 she has +gathered together a navy consisting of 60 modern battleships, 9 battle +cruisers, 34 armored cruisers, 17 heavy protected cruisers, 70 light +cruisers, 232 destroyers, 59 torpedo boats of the latest type, 75 +submarines, together with 50 sea-going auxiliaries of the fleet, which +are used as mother ships to destroyers, mine-layers, distilling ships, +oil ships, repair and hospital ships, with 145,000 officers and men. + +The first group, completed between 1895 and 1898, includes six +battleships, all of 14,900 tons displacement, 12,000 horsepower and +2,000 tons coal capacity. The speed is 17.5 knots, the armor belt being +from 10 to 14 inches at the big guns and with a mean armor belt of 9 +inches. The armament consists of 4 12-inch guns, 12 6-inch rapid fire, +16 3-inch rapid fire, 12 3-pounder rapid fire, 2 light rapid fire and 2 +machine guns. They have one torpedo tube above water and two under +water. + + +MONSTERS OF THE SEA. + +A later group of six was built in 1900 and 1902. These monsters of the +sea are of 12,950 tons displacement, 13,500 horsepower and have 2,300 +tons coal capacity. They have a speed of 18.25 knots, 6 inches of armor +belt and from 8 to 12 inches protection for her big guns. The armament +consists of 4 12-inch rapid fire guns, 12 6-inch rapid fire, 10 3-inch +rapid fire and 2 light rapid fire and 2 machine guns. There are four +torpedo tubes. + +Gradually England developed larger and larger vessels from this point, +increasing the displacement in each group from 16,350 tons in 1906 to +20,000 in 1911, and finally to 25,700, when the Queen Elizabeth and +Warspite were completed in 1915. These boats--England's +super-dreadnoughts--are of 58,000 horsepower (turbine), 4,000 tons oil +capacity. They have a speed of 25 knots, 13.5 inches of armor belt and +from 8 to 13.5 inches protection for the big guns. The armament consists +of 8 15-inch, 16 6-inch and 12 3-inch rapid fire guns. They have five +torpedo tubes. There were 150,609 officers and men in the navy when +England entered the war. + + +THE FRENCH NAVY. + +At the beginning of the war the French navy ranked fourth among the +navies of the world. She had 18 battleships of the older types, and +which ranged in date of launching from 1894 to 1909. There were building +at that time eight ships of about 23,095 tons displacement. Although +France had no battle cruisers, she had 19 armored cruisers. The heavier +of these ships had a designed speed of 23 knots, and carried from 2100 +to 2300 tons of coal. Their main batteries consisted of 2 7.6-inch rapid +fire and 8 6.4-inch rapid fire guns. + +Two protected cruisers, the D'Entrecasteaux and the Guichen, and 10 +light cruisers of no fighting importance completed the list of French +ships. + +France was, however, strong, so far as numbers go, in destroyers, +torpedo boats and submarines, there being 84 destroyers, with +displacements of 276 to 804 tons and speeds of 28 and 31 knots. She +possessed 135 torpedo boats and 78 submarines, but many of these were of +small size. One hundred and one of her torpedo boats had displacements +of about 95 tons, and 20 of the submarines had displacements of 67 tons. + +Of the submarines, there were 33 which had a displacement of 390 tons, 2 +of 410 tons, 6 of 550 tons, 2 of 785 tons and 7 of 830 tons. This +displacement, which was surface, is usually 70 per cent of the +submerged. The larger submarines carry from six to eight torpedo tubes. +In the early part of 1916 the French Government had 12 submarines +building, these latter having surface displacement of 520 tons and +having Diesel motors of 2000 horsepower. The speed of these submarines +is 17-1/2 knots on the surface and 8 knots submerged. + +Attached to the French fleet are 16 auxiliaries, used as mine-layers, +submarine destroyers and aeroplane mother ships, of from 300 to 7,898 +tons. + +There were 61,240 officers and men in the navy of France when war was +declared. + + +THE RUSSIAN NAVY. + +With the ending of the Russo-Japanese war the Russian navy was given an +overhauling. There were but three of the old battleships of the Russian +navy left after this fateful struggle, these being the Tri Sviatitelia, +the Panteleimon and the Czarevitch. The Russian Government labored +diligently to build up her navy, and is still doing her utmost to +readjust that branch of her service. + +With the outbreak of the great war she had six armored cruisers, none of +which was in the Black Sea. These averaged in tonnage from 7,900 to +15,170 tons displacement. There were eight cruisers of from 3,100 to +6,700 tons, and of no fighting value whatever. + +Russia had but 14 torpedo boats, all small and of little value. She had +a fairly good fleet of destroyers and submarines, having 91 of the +former and 55 submarines. + +There were 36,000 officers and men in the service when hostilities +opened. + + +THE AUSTRIAN NAVY. + +When the war was declared Austria, Germany's supporter, had nine +battleships ready. These were completed since 1905, as follows: In 1906 +and 1907 there were finished three battleships which displaced 10,433 +tons, had 14,000 horsepower and 1315 tons coal capacity. They had a +speed of 19.25 knots, 6 to 8.25 inches of side armor and 9.5 inches +protection for the big guns. The armament consisted of 4 9.4-inch, 12 +7.6-inch rapid fire, 14 3-inch rapid fire and 16 smaller guns. They had +two torpedo tubes. + +In 1910 three other ships were added to the navy. These were slightly +larger than those described just above, having a displacement of 14,268 +tons, with engines of 20,000 horsepower. They had three torpedo tubes. + +Three ships of 20,000 tons displacement were launched in 1912 and 1913. +They had a speed of 20 knots and four torpedo tubes. Three other +battleships had been built up until 1906, and these, together with 10 +light cruisers, were in the Austrian navy at the breaking out of +hostilities. + +The torpedo boat destroyers, of which there were 18, must not be +forgotten. Twelve of these were of 384 tons, capable of making 28-1/2 +knots. These carried 4 12-pounders and 2 21-inch torpedo tubes. They +were built for oil fuel. + +There were six submarines in this navy, these being of moderate size, +ranging from 216 to 235 tons displacement on the surface. + + +THE JAPANESE NAVY. + +There were 9 first-class battleships in the Japanese navy at the +beginning of the world war. Of battle cruisers there were 5, while of +the older battleships 13 were ready for orders. Twelve first-class +cruisers were ready for duty, and there were 9 second-class cruisers and +9 third-class cruisers. Of gunboats there were 5, 60 destroyers, 37 +torpedo boats and 15 submarines. The personnel of the Japanese navy +consisted of 47,000 officers and men. + + +THE ITALIAN NAVY. + +Italy was ready for her part on the seas with 7 first-class battleships, +8 of the older type, 9 first-class cruisers, 5 second-class cruisers, 10 +third-class cruisers, 5 gunboats, 46 destroyers, 75 torpedo boats and 20 +submarines. There were 36,000 officers and men to handle these ships. + + +THE TURKISH NAVY. + +When hostilities were declared Turkey had a navy consisting of 2 +first-class battleships, 3 battleships of an older type, 2 first-class +cruisers, 2 second-class cruisers, 4 third-class cruisers, 8 gunboats, 2 +monitors, 10 destroyers and 8 torpedo boats. The officers and men in the +Turkish navy numbered 30,000. + + +THE UNITED STATES NAVY. + +The United States navy, which has made an enviable reputation for itself +wherever and whenever the boats and men have been engaged, ranked third +at the beginning of the war. While not of the heaviest type, the boats +were of the most improved models, and maintained on a basis that +justified the belief that they would stand up in the face of the +severest opposition. + +There were 12 modern battleships, 30 of an older type, 10 armored +cruisers, 5 first-class cruisers, 4 second-class cruisers, 16 +third-class cruisers, 30 gunboats, 9 monitors, 74 destroyers, 19 torpedo +boats and 73 submarines, manned by 55,389 officers and men. The +California, Idaho, Arizona, Mississippi and Pennsylvania are the latest +battleships of the navy, and are of the super-dreadnought type. All of +these battleships have a displacement of more than 31,000 tons, and have +the most complete equipment that it is possible to command. The +batteries consist of 4 13-inch and 14 6-inch guns, 4 6-pounders, +together with 4 21-inch torpedo tubes. There is a variation in the +batteries, but all have approximately the same kind of armament. + +One of these huge vessels is about 625 feet long, and has a speed of +from 21 to 23 knots. The Pennsylvania, one of the largest, is of 31,500 +horsepower, and cost approximately $7,250,000. In addition to this, +Congress had authorized the construction of what is designed to be the +supreme type of fighting vessel. The plans for these vessels call for +the construction of vessels approximately 875 feet long and nearly 90 +feet wide. Some idea of what enormous vessels these must be may be +gained when it is seen that the cruisers are 250 feet longer than the +super-dreadnought. + +The battle cruisers have six decks, extending from end to end, and are +so extensive that they almost constitute a battlefront. + +This comparison to a battlefront on land becomes interesting when +consideration of it is further pursued. There are even railroads to +fetch ammunition to the guns, though they run vertically instead of +horizontally. The general headquarters is in the conning tower, to which +all lines of "field communication" lead--telegraphs, telephones, etc. + +The "observation posts," for directing and correcting the range and aim +of artillery, are at the tops of the two wire "bird-cage" masts. This +work is helped (as on land) by kite balloons and aeroplanes, which, as +part of its fighting equipment, the battle cruiser carries. To blind the +enemy ships, under suitable circumstances, the big guns create a +"barrage" of water, by directing their fire at the sea in front of the +hostile vessels, throwing over them a mass of spray. + + +AMPLE PROVISION FOR THE WOUNDED. + +On board the battle cruiser is a fully equipped field hospital, +supplemented by battle dressing stations near the guns, for the +emergency treatment of the wounded. To the musicians of the ship's band +is assigned the duty of carrying wounded men to the dressing stations +and the hospital, the latter being on one of the lower decks, beneath +the water level. + +The battle cruiser, built long and narrow, has a great speed. The four +monster propellers are driven by electricity, which is generated by +engines fed with fuel oil. The speed attained is 35 knots an hour, which +means the same speed as a train traveling at the rate of 40 miles an +hour, since the sea mile, or knot, is longer than the land mile. + +In order to obtain this enormous speed it was necessary for the +designers of the battle cruisers to sacrifice armor protection. The +armor on these ships is but an eight-inch belt. The real object of the +battle cruiser is to use its superior speed and overwhelming gun power +to overtake and destroy the enemy's ships of the second line, the +auxiliaries and scouts. + +Each of these vessels has a displacement of 34,800 tons--meaning, in +plain language, that they weigh that much, hence displace that much +water when launched. The biggest British battle cruiser, which is the +largest battle cruiser afloat, is the British Tiger, which has a +displacement of 28,500 tons, and is less in length by 150 feet than +these mighty battle cruisers. The Tiger is much less formidably armed, +carrying eight 13 1/2-inch guns. The largest German battle cruiser is +the Derfflinger, of 26,200 tons, and armed with eight 12-inch rifles. + +Our latest commissioned dreadnought, the Arizona, has engines of 31,400 +horsepower. The engines of that monster passenger steamship, the +ill-fated Lusitania, were of 70,000 horsepower. Those of the Tiger boast +120,000 horsepower. But each of our six battle cruisers has 180,000 +horsepower to drive her through the water. + + +HUGE FIGHTING CRAFT. + +These huge fighting craft are the most expensive ships ever built. Each +of them cost about $20,000,000, the money outlay being something like +$16,500,000, exclusive of armor and guns. And for each battle cruiser +must be provided, in the way of personnel, 1,153 enlisted men, 64 +marines and 58 officers. + +While the American Navy had but 55,389 men when the war opened it was +quickly increased, and under the Army bill, which provided for the +reorganization and increasing of the land forces, the naval forces were +also increased. + +The bill increasing the authorized enlisted strength of the navy to +150,000 did not provide for any additional officers above the rank of +lieutenant. The increase in the enlisted force amounts to 57,000, the +authorized strength at the time of the law's passage being 93,000. Based +on the increase, the allowance of officers would be 747 lieutenants and +954 lieutenants junior grade and ensigns. + +The increase in the enlisted strength of the Marine Corps from 17,400 to +30,000, or by 12,600, also gives an additional allowance of 504 +officers to the corps, which, under the bill, are distributed among the +grades of major, captain, first lieutenant and second lieutenant. + +The Marine Corps is one of the most picturesque military organizations +in the world. There is, probably, no other such body of trained +soldiery. While they are under the control of the Navy Department, they +can be detached from that branch of the service and assigned for duty +with any other branch of the military forces of the country. + + +POLICEMEN OF THE SEA. + +They are the policemen of the sea; they are artillerymen, infantrymen, +cavalry, engineers, and soldiers, first, last and all the time. They are +the first troops in action, and there is no restriction as to the kind +of military duty they are called upon to perform. + +The Marines served on shore and on board vessels of the navy throughout +the Revolutionary War, two battalions having been authorized by the +Continental Congress November 10, 1775. The present organization really +dates from July, 1798, when Congress passed an act approving the +establishment of an organization to be known as the Marine Corps, +consisting of 1 major, 4 captains, 16 first lieutenants, 12 second +lieutenants, 48 sergeants, 48 corporals, 32 drums and fifes and 720 +privates. + +Every one of the 15,000 men who composed the more than a century old +Marine Corps when the war broke out was ready and on his toes when the +call for action came. There was nothing in the way of scientific +preparedness that got by them. In the matter of trench helmets, for +instance, when it was time for the American nation to come to the front +in the great world war, the Marines had a helmet so much of an +improvement on the one used by the Allies that there was no comparison. + +Armored motorcars, likewise, of the most improved type, belonged to the +Marine Corps when the call for action came. These cars are capable of +making 45 miles an hour, and there were plenty of them for service in +the Marine Corps. Some interesting equipment never used before the big +war composed part of the quartermasters' stores in the Marine Corps. + +It's a marvel what these chaps can do with a big naval gun--one of those +big brutes which are bolted down to the deck of a warship. It doesn't +look like a thing to be picked up and carted around the country. That's +precisely what the heavy artillery companies do, however. It takes them +but a few minutes to sling one of these five-inchers over the side of a +ship, land it, and take it wherever it is needed. They do this with the +aid of a single-spar derrick, some little narrow-gauge trucks and a +portable narrow-gauge railroad. + + +TRANSPORTATION OF BIG GUN. + +The method is to lay down the railroad--it can be done very swiftly by +men carefully trained in the art of laying tracks over all kinds of +ground--put the gun and its mount, with a specially prepared base of +extremely heavy timbers, on the tracks, and trundle it to the place +where it is needed to pour a rapid fire into the enemy. + +Here a pit has been dug, in which is laid down the heavy timber base, +riveted together with heavy steel bolts. Then it is well packed with +dirt and stone, and the gun carriage made fast ingeniously. The +single-stick derrick has been erected alongside, guyed out in four +directions with heavy ropes, which are made fast to the ground by means +of "dead men," and manipulated by very live gangs of husky marines. A +chain block of powerful type is used to pick up the gun carriage and put +it in place, and afterwards to swing the gun into its sockets on the +carriage. + +Later the breech locks and sights are added, and the big five-inch, +40-caliber naval gun is ready to go into action. These big and heavy +guns, suitable for long range work with high explosive shells, can be +taken a quarter of a mile or so from the ship which carried them, over +rough ground, set up and put in operation in a few days' time. + +But the heavy artillery base is only one of the Marines' work. They have +big howitzers, of the more modern type, most of which are kept at +Annapolis, where they can be loaded aboard ship in short order. Men and +machines can be mobilized at the strategic points in a very short time. + + +EVERY MAN'S SERVICE. + +The Marine service is unique in many respects. For one thing, it is +every man's service. The proportion of officers who have risen from the +ranks or who have been commissioned from civilian life is higher in the +Marine Corps than in either the Army or the Navy. This, of course, makes +for democracy in the corps. An enlisted man, who does not wait until he +is too far up in the 20's to enlist, has a very fair chance of earning +his commission. Another thing--and this is of prime importance to the +ambitious fellow--promotion goes by merit. In the army and navy the +young officer is promoted by seniority. + +Things are a bit different in the Marine Corps. In this organization a +man doesn't absolutely have to wait for his number to come around. If he +distinguishes himself above his fellows, he may be promoted without much +regard for age or length of service. He goes up as he is able to, by his +active ability and his readiness to work hard and effectively for Uncle +Sam. There are advocates, of course, of both systems. There are merits +which both systems can justly claim. But it goes without saying that +this possibility of promotion keeps everybody in the Marine Corps on the +jump. + +Even the enlisted men who are too old to get commissions have something +to work for. Not very long since Congress authorized the appointment of +"warrant officers" in the Marine Corps. The Navy had this grade for many +years. It is new in the Marine Corps, and is an added incentive to hard +work. + +Another incentive--and perhaps the strongest one--that draws young +fellows of the up-and-doing sort into the Marine Corps is that of active +service. The Marines boast that they are always on the job; that no +matter how peaceful the time, the Marines are sure to see "something +stirring" right along. It is a saying--and a true one--in the Marine +Corps that every marine who has served the ordinary enlistment in the +corps since the Spanish-American war has smelt powder. Ever since the +fuss with Spain the marines have been covering themselves with glory. In +that little war of 1898 the Marines were the first to land in Cuba. They +held Guantanamo for three months. In 1890 they saw service in the +Philippines; the next year in China. In 1902 the Marines took part in +the fighting against Aguinaldo, the wily Filipino leader. In 1903 they +put down the rebellion in Panama, captured Colon and opened up the +Panama railroad. In 1906 they helped quiet the uprising of that summer +in Cuba. They were in Nicaragua in 1909. From 1911 to 1913 they did more +duty in Cuba, with a whirl in Nicaragua again in 1912. They helped hold +Vera Cruz for three months in 1914. Next year they went to Haiti, where +they have been moderately busy from time to time since. Santo Domingo +saw them in 1916. + + +AN UNAPPROACHABLE RECORD. + +Neither the army nor the navy can claim anything to beat it--you +couldn't tell a marine that the rival branches of the service can claim +anything to equal it. And as for the modern implements of warfare--the +European armies have no advantage over the marines for testing out new +devices. They had armored cars, for instance, as far back as 1906; they +began to use motor trucks for military purposes as early as 1909. Every +marine expedition is equipped with its quota of armored trucks. They +would as soon think of voyaging over the seas to put down an incipient +revolution without their armored cars and motor trucks as they would of +going to meet the enemy without their rifle. + +There used to be an old joke about "Horse Marines." A sailorman on a +horse is an incongruous thing--a sight to make you hold your sides. But +the marines are not plain sailormen. They are "soldier and sailor, too," +and as soldiers they have turned the joke on the old saw about "horse +marines." There are "horse marines" these days, and mighty good cavalry +they make. + +The marine can ride with the best of the cavalrymen. And in the fracas +in Domingo there were two cavalry companies of marines organized. + + +THE MANY-SIDED MARINE. + +It takes a bit longer to make an efficient marine than to make an +infantryman. This because the marine is a man of many specialties. He +is, of course, in season and out of season, an international policeman. +That's his job in time of peace. But when he fares abroad to fight his +country's battles he may be called upon to do almost any kind of work. +He may be an artilleryman; a signalman; an airman. He may be, and +usually is, anything that his country needs at that particular time. And +he is trained to meet the emergency. + +The new recruit, in ordinary times, is sent for his first instruction to +Port Royal, down in Georgia. There he has nothing to do but drill, +drill, drill, until he can do the infantry evolutions in his sleep. He +learns to drill, he learns to keep clean--the Marines are something of a +dandy corps--and he learns to take care of himself no matter what +happens. He is taught to be a soldier and a man. He learns to walk +straight, shoot straight, think straight. And then he goes for a spell +to sea--for after all, he needs sea legs as well as land legs. + +But these two tricks of duty by no means end the marine's schooling. +When he has become an efficient all-around man he may specialize. He +may, if he chooses, go into the signal corps and learn the multitude of +details connected with this ultramodern arm of the service. He learns to +send messages by every possible means. He learns to operate a radio. +And, it might be mentioned in passing, the Marine Corps is equipped with +the very finest of radio apparatus. They have big trucks which carry the +outfit and supply the power for either sending radio messages or +operating huge electric searchlights. Or he may go into aviation. + +[Illustration: INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARIES BEFORE THE WAR. + +This map shows the boundary lines between nations as they were at the +beginning of the war, as also the coast lines of Europe. The latter are +brought out in bold relief.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE NATIONS AT WAR. + +UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENTS--HOW THE WAR FLAMES SPREAD--A SCORE OF COUNTRIES +INVOLVED--THE POINTS OF CONTACT--PICTURESQUE AND RUGGED BULGARIA, +ROUMANIA, SERVIA, GREECE, ITALY AND HISTORIC SOUTHEAST EUROPE. + + +The real history of the greatest war of all times is the history of the +entire world, touching every phase of existence in a manner that has +never been approximated by any other conflict. The motives and +ramifications are so great that it is almost impossible for the human +mind to grasp the significance of many things of importance which, at a +glance, seem to be but incidents. + +The world looked on expectantly when the war started, because there was +a general knowledge of the conditions existing in Europe and the +undercurrent was felt by students of international affairs. But that +Russia would revolt and the Czar abdicate, as he did in March, 1917, and +the iron-ruled country would set up a government of its own--would join +the circle of democracies--was not even hinted at. Neither was it +intimated that Constantine I, King of Greece, would abdicate in favor of +his son, Prince Alexander, as he did in the following June, under +pressure, because of his sympathy for Germany. + +Neither was there a suspicion that the fire started by the flash of a +pistol and the bursting of a bomb in Bosnia would spread until sixteen +countries were arrayed against Germany and Austria, supported by the +Bulgarians and the Turks. And to these must be added the entrance into +the conflict of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, possessions of Great +Britain, and smaller possessions of other countries. The flames swept +over the face of the earth in this fashion: + +Starting with the movement of Austria against Servia, after the +assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand, there lined up as a +consequence of the alliances formed between the powers, the countries +referred to in preceding chapters. The triple alliance was originally an +agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, to strengthen +their positions, and the Triple Entente consisted of agreements between +France, England and Russia. + + +INVASION OF BELGIUM. + +Briefly, the invasion of Belgium by Germany, and her ambitions in the +southeast, where Russia had what amounted to protectorate relations, +drew first France, England and Russia into the strife, and step by step +there became involved nation after nation. The steps, marked by the +declarations of war, were as follows: On July 28, 1914, Austria declared +war on Servia, and on August 1 Germany made the declaration against +Russia. Next Germany turned upon France, on the third day of August, and +also on Belgium, whereupon, on the following day, Great Britain declared +war on Germany; a day later Austria-Hungary issued the mandate against +Russia, and two days later, or on August 8, Montenegro declared war on +Austria. Austria accepted the challenge, and then Servia took up the +cudgel against Germany. France made formal declaration of war on +Austria-Hungary and by the end of August Montenegro had declared against +Germany; Great Britain on Austria; Japan on Germany; Austria on Japan; +Austria on Belgium. Later, or early in November, Russia declared herself +against Turkey, as did France and Great Britain. + +For six months the battle raged and the rest of the world regarded the +result with grave concern until in May of 1915 Italy, having renounced +her alliance with Germany and Austria, declared war first on Austria, +then on Turkey. In the fall of 1915 Servia took up arms against +Bulgaria, as did Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia. Then Germany +declared against Portugal, whose government replied in kind; Austria +followed Germany in the alignment and finally, in August, 1916, there +were exchanges of sharp "courtesies"--the complete severance of all +diplomatic relations and open warfare--between Roumania and +Austria-Hungary; then between Bulgaria and Roumania, with the consequent +alignment of the Central Powers. Italy had also made her declaration +against Germany specific. So for nine months the war waged with terrible +bitterness until on April 6, the United States, by the proclamation of +President Wilson, was finally at war with Germany. + + +IN THE NATURE OF MERE FORMALITIES. + +These steps were, in many instances, in the nature of formalities, for +the relationships of some of the countries involved placed them in the +position of practically being at war before formal announcement was +made. The position then, was that Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey +were supported by Bulgaria, who was anxious to get redress for having +been cheated out of what she regarded as her rightful possessions in the +settlement of the Balkan war question. Those aligned on the other side +were England, France, Russia, Montenegro, Italy, Belgium (which had been +making defensive warfare in keeping with her desire to be true to her +neutral pledges); Servia, Roumania, Japan, Portugal, the United States, +the little principality of Monaco, which is best known as the seat of +Monte Carlo, the great gambling center of Europe, and San Marino, a +similar "patch" on the map of Europe. Brazil, Guatemala, and the little +Republic of Cuba also aligned themselves against Germany in support of +the Allies, though there was no actual engagement of their forces. Thus +there could be counted as at war against the Central Powers in June, +1917, sixteen countries. + +Most interesting of all the countries involved were those belonging to +the Balkan group and centering in southeastern Europe. The Balkan +nations, Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, with Greece, paved the way for +their entrance into the conflict when they formed an alliance, in 1912, +for common protection, particularly for the enforcement of one of the +provisions of the Berlin Treaty, guaranteeing local government to the +Bulgar and Serbian colonies in Macedonia. Montenegro began war on Turkey +in October, and Bulgaria, Servia and Greece joined and drove the Turks +out of many of their strongholds. + +[Illustration: OUTLINE MAP OF GERMANY AND THE STATES FORMING THE EMPIRE. + +This drawing shows the location of the twenty-five States which were +included within the boundaries of the German Empire at the beginning of +the war.] + + +"COMIC OPERA" SOLDIERS. + +In a month of fighting the little countries, in the picturesque +southeastern section, whose soldiers have been depicted as "comic opera" +soldiers, had rent Turkey; Greece had captured the famous Macedonian +city of Salonica, once known as Thessalonica, where was located the +church in which was addressed St. Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians; +while the Servians had captured Monastir, one of the most important +centers in Macedonia, and the Bulgarians had driven the Turks almost to +the famed city of Constantinople. The Servian soldiers finally marched +to the Adriatic sea, and Albania raised a flag of its own and asked +Austria-Hungary and Italy to recognize its independence and grant it +protection. + +Within little more than two months Turkey had been deprived of the +greater portion of her possessions in Europe and a treaty of peace was +signed between the allied countries and the Turks. By this agreement +Albania became in effect a suzerainty, protected by Austria. But the +agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy--the Triple +Entente--gave those countries a combined power which, when it came to +fixing the terms of peace, left the small allied countries of victory at +a disadvantage, and while Montenegro and Greece gained some territory, +as did Servia, Bulgaria lost what she had gained in the war. Turkey lost +90 per cent of her Empire in Europe, which so aroused the country that +the rising of the young Turks followed and the government was +reorganized. The enforced terms of settlement, however, set the little +countries at each other's throats. + +The field of the Balkan battles is the very center of the world's +history. Along the Adriatic, Ionian and Agean seas are lands and +territories peopled with races that mark their ancestry back to the very +darkest ages. The protected country of Albania, with its rocky surface, +numbers among its peoples descendants of the Arnauts, whose very origin +is a mystery. They were present before the days of Greece and Rome. The +Ottoman Turks, the Bulgars from the plains of the Volga and the Ural +Mountains, the Serbs, the Roumanians, Russians, Italians, the Slavs, +Tartars. + + +A REGION OF MOUNTAINS. + +Albania is a mountainous region along the Adriatic coast, peopled with +descendants of the ancients who maintain their characteristics. They are +said to be descendants of the Pelasgian races, which inhabited the +territory before the Greeks builded their Athens. + +The Albanians are wild, daring mountaineers, and though the people have, +to all intents and purposes, been under Turkish rule for centuries, they +have never recognized the sovereignty of the Sultan. It was originally +part of the Turkish Empire in Europe, having been taken by Turkey, in +1467, and is a fertile, but wild country. + +The same picturesque people that make up the population of Albania +constitute the populace of the little country of Montenegro, which was +once part of the Turkish possession. Montenegro contained about 3486 +square miles of territory before its acquisitions in the Balkan wars. +Aided by Russia, the country obtained its independence from Turkey in +1878, and in 1910 became a kingdom. Its present area is about 5650 +square miles and the population 520,000. The capital is Cettinje. + +Bulgaria was also once a part of the Turkish possessions, and under the +Treaty of Berlin, in 1878, became a suzerainty. It is a famous pastoral +country, inhabited by a people for years held under the Ottoman heel. +They are racially Turanians, and kin of the Tartar and Huns, who came +into their present fertile country from the vast plains of eastern +Russia. They made their way thither more than a thousand years ago, and +battling at the very gates of Constantinople, by their fierce crusades, +secured the grants from the Byzantine Empire of the territory, which +constitutes the Bulgaria of today. The population is nearly 5,000,000, +and the country contains about 43,000 square miles. + + +WHY ITALY ENTERED THE WAR. + +Italy's reasons for entering the war, aside from her demands for +territory, in exchange for continuance of neutrality, have to do with +matters of years gone by, when she began the struggle for her liberation +from the Austrian domination. Italy desired, among other things, to +acquire Trentino, Goritz, and other adjacent territory controlled by +Austria, but Italian in every attribute. Trentino is a rocky region, and +strategically valuable to the country possessing it, which was proved by +the terrible struggle which the Italians were forced to make in their +attacks against the Austrian forces. + +The city of Trent is the capital of Trentino, famous in history, and the +seat of the long church council in 1545-46. It was in turn controlled by +Roman, Goth, Hun, Lombard and Holy Roman Empire. It is the site of many +historic buildings, notably the cathedral of Trent, which is a fine +example of Lombard architecture, and the church of Santa Maria Maggorie, +where the famous Council of the Roman Catholic Church was held. There +are old towers, and libraries rich in manuscripts. + +Trentino is famous for its mountain passes, over which the Italians have +been compelled to drag their heavy artillery and implements of war. The +Alpini, the mountaineer soldiers of Italy, are among the most +picturesque in the world. They have scaled the almost perpendicular +faces of the Alps, climbing from crag to crag with their bodies roped +together, dragging machine guns in pieces strapped to their shoulders. +Tolmino, Trieste, Istria, Dalmatia, Avlona, the prime harbor of Albania +(seized by Italy in the fall of 1916). These are little spots in the +territory logically Italian, which Italy covets. + +[Illustration: OUTLINE MAP OF THE AUSTRIA-HUNGARY EMPIRE. + +Drawn and engraved especially to show the Provinces comprising the +Empire, and their locations as they were at the beginning of the war. +This is a country of many nationalities and languages.] + + +DIVIDED INTO SIXTEEN DEPARTMENTS. + +Italy, since its consolidation into one kingdom in 1870, has been +divided into sixteen departments comprising sixty-nine provinces. The +country has a total area of 110,623 square miles, and a population of a +little more than 35,000,000. The Roman Catholic Church is irrevocably +linked to the history of Italy and Rome, its capital, marked the +farthest advance of civilization in the ancient days. It possesses four +distinct zones, ranging from the almost arctic cold of the mountain +belts to an almost tropical heat in the southern lowlands. It is one of +the picturesque countries of the world, a center of art, industry and +travel. + +Servia, which is separated from Austria-Hungary by the Danube, is of +precisely the same character as the other rich, mountainous region. The +country was subjugated by the Turks, who retained possession of it until +1717. Austria then wrested control from the Turks, and held it until +1791, when Turkey again dominated it. In 1805 the Servians revolted, and +secured temporary independence, only to again come under the Ottoman +rule. Again it secured freedom in 1815, and by the Treaty of Paris, +independent existence was secured for it. Turkey became only a nominal +authority. It became a kingdom in 1882, after having become absolutely +independent with the Berlin Treaty. + +The people are Slavonic, and kin to the Croats of ancient history. They +are described as having come from Poland and Galicia, moving down the +Danube, into what is the present kingdom. In the fourteenth century the +Servian empire comprised the whole Balkan peninsula, from Greece to +Poland, and from the Black Sea to the Adriatic. But Servia warred with +Turkey, and her troops were defeated in the great battle at Kossovo, and +the Ottoman power became supreme. The country has an area of about +34,000 square miles and a population of 4,600,000. + + +LITTLE BOSNIA'S FUTURE. + +Bosnia, where was assassinated the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, of +Austria, was a Turkish province, west of Servia, and under the treaty of +Berlin was to be administered for an undefined period by the Austrian +government. The little section contains about 16,000 square miles and +has a population of about 1,750,000, largely of Slavonic origin. They +are partly Mohammedans, partly Roman Catholics and Greek Catholics. In +the middle ages Bosnia belonged to the Eastern Empire. Later it became a +separate kingdom, dependent upon Hungary, only to be conquered by the +Turks. It is the mountainous, rugged country of the Julian and Dinaric +Alps, but has many fertile valleys, and is well watered by the river +Save, and its numerous tributaries. + +Greece, the modern kingdom, is one of the countries that for centuries +were politically included within the limits of the Turkish Empire. In +its present form it represents but a portion of that country, famous in +history, as the Greece of the Ancients--that classic land which holds +the most conspicuous place in the pages of ancient history--but still it +is inclusive of the greatest names belonging to the glorious past. It is +the country of Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes and Argos. It is +separated from Turkey by a winding boundary, extending from the Gulf of +Arta on the west to the Gulf of Salonica on the east. + +The earliest settlers were the Pelasgi, who were in course of time +replaced by the Hellenes. They, in turn, were succeeded by the +Phoenicians, who swayed the country. Athens, Sparta, Thebes and Corinth +came into existence and became the centers of political government, of +the most progressive advancement in civilization. Civil discords brought +on first the Peloponnesian War, about 434 B.C., and made them prey to +the Macedonians. Successively invaded by Goths, Vandals and Normans the +country came into the possession of the Turks in 1481, though for two +centuries the power of the Turk was questioned by the Venetians. Revolt +was had from the Ottoman yoke in 1821, and independence was secured by +the interference of foreign powers after the defeat of the Turk at the +Navarino, in 1827. Through the succeeding years it has been a protected +monarchy. + + +ONE OF THE BALKAN GROUP. + +Roumania, the largest of the Balkan group, lying between Russia on the +north, and Bulgaria on the south, is the home of the Gacians, +descendants of the warlike tribes who for years held their own against +Greek and Roman. After the fall of Rome the province became a melting +pot, through which the hordes of invaders, passing from Russia to Asia, +were in a sense made one people. The Goths, the Huns, the Lombards, the +Bulgars and the Magyars traversed the region, leaving many settlers. It +became divided into two provinces, Moldavia and Wallachia, known as the +Danubian provinces. + +Both provinces were conquered by the Turks in the fifteenth and +sixteenth centuries, and under Peter the Great the Russians attempted +the conquest of the provinces. In 1859 the two provinces were united +under a prince whose independence both Turkey and Russia recognized, and +in 1881 the country declared itself a kingdom. The province of Wallachia +derives its name from the people who early settled there, the Wallachs. +The Roumanians claim descent from Vlachi, a colony of Romans, who +settled in Thrace, and, in the twelfth century, emigrated to the Danube. +The name Roumania is derived from the word Roman, the country having +originally been "the Land of the Roumani." Roumania has a population of +about 7,600,000 and comprises 64,000 square miles. + +Macedonia, famous country of Greece in the time of Philip, father of +Alexander the Great, embraced the entire region from the Scardian +Mountains to Thessaly, and from the Epirus and Illyria to the river +Nestos, taking in what is now part of Salonica. It was reduced by the +Persians and subsequently Alexander the Great made it the nucleus of a +vast and powerful empire along with Greece. Ultimately it passed under +Roman sway, until it was ceded, in 1913, to Greece. + + +AN OBJECT OF CONTENTION. + +Alsace-Lorraine is worthy of note, as comprising one of the territories +which for centuries have been the cause of conflict between Germany and +France. It is pointed to as the physical evidence of the humiliation of +France at the hands of the Germans, in 1870, and has for nearly one-half +a century been a German imperial territory. The surrender of Alsace and +part of Lorraine was made the principal condition of peace on the +settlement of the war of 1870. Bismarck, it is said, might have been +content with a language boundary, taking only that portion of the +country in which lived those who spoke the German tongue. + +For strategic purposes, however, Alsace and Lorraine, with the exception +of one district, were taken. The strip of country was to be governed by +the power of the German Emperor until the constitution of the German +Empire was established. Many of the inhabitants opposed the Prussian +domination, and a vote was taken on who would declare themselves Germans +and remain in the territory, or French and leave. More than 40,000 left +the country and went into France. + +The German language was made compulsory in the schools, the courts and +the legislative body. The French never forgot their loss, and revenge +for that loss has been a subject of consideration in their foreign +policy ever since the war of 1871. Alsace and Lorraine contain about +5600 square miles, and together have a population of about two million. +About 85 per cent of the people speak German. + +[Illustration: OUTLINE MAP OF TURKEY IN ASIA. + +A country where civilization was first born and which is now undergoing +a new birth of a new civilization. The location of the Garden of Eden +was between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The drawing shows the +country which is mentioned largely in Bible history.] + + +PICTURESQUE TURKEY. + +Turkey, one of the picturesque and ancient countries which is aligned +with the Germans, is a Mohammedan state of the Ottoman Empire in +southeastern Europe and western Asia, whose holdings in Europe have been +steadily decreasing, especially during recent years. The immediate +possessions of Turkey, or those directly under the Sultan's rule at the +time this country became involved in the great world war, extended from +Montenegro, Bosnia, Servia and eastern Roumelia on the north, to the +Agean Sea and Greece on the south, and from the Black Sea to the +Adriatic, the Straits of Otranto and the Ionic Sea. In September, 1911, +the Italian government sent a long list of claims made by Italy against +Turkey for economic and commercial discrimination against Italian +commerce, and the person of Italian citizens all over the world. A reply +was demanded within twenty-four hours, and failing to receive a reply +considered satisfactory, Italy immediately sent warships to Tripoli, +bombarded and captured the city. This meant that Turkey has lost one of +her most important seaports, consequently weakening her position. + +The immediate possessions of Turkey in Europe, at this time, had an area +of 65,350 square miles, with a population of 6,200,000. In Asia Turkey +had possessions of 693,610 square miles, with a population of +16,900,000, while in Africa about 398,000 square miles belonged to the +Turkish Empire, on which lived 1,000,000 persons. This gave Turkey an +area of about 1,157,860 square miles, with a population of 24,100,000. A +number of islands in the Agean Sea belong to Turkey, and Egypt is also +nominally part of the kingdom of the Sultan. + +[Illustration: A DASTARDLY CRIME WHICH AUTOCRACY CANNOT DENY. + +Aerial photograph by a British pilot showing four huts of a British +hospital in France, in which were helpless men who were blown to bits. +All plainly shown in the foreground.] + +[Illustration: A BRITISH TOMMY ON WAY TO TRENCHES. + +This photograph shows a soldier crossing through a trench--which is +camouflaged. The screen prevents his being seen.] + +[Illustration: AN ATTACK BY AMERICANS. + +Company H and Company K of the 336th Infantry, 82nd Division are +advancing on enemy positions in France and driving them out while the +307th Engineers of the 82nd Division are clearing the way by blowing up +wire entanglements.] + +[Illustration: GENERAL BULLARD.] + +[Illustration: GENERAL LIGGETT.] + +[Illustration: GENERAL DICKMAN. + +American Army Commanders who out-generaled the Germans. They were well +supported by the fearless and determined fighters, the U.S.A. troops.] + +[Illustration: A RELIGIOUS MEETING ON THE FIELD. + +American, British, French, Belgian and Portuguese troops are represented +in this gathering of defenders of Liberty listening to a sermon on the +western front.] + +[Illustration: THE HOLY LAND AND THE WAR. + +Christmas Day at Bethlehem. Latin procession to the Church of +Nativity.] + +[Illustration: FIGHTING IN PALESTINE EAST OF THE JORDAN. + +Infantry were in the act of occupying an important hill when they were +met with a strong counter-attack. The timely arrival of machine guns and +supports the situation.] + +[Illustration: SIGNING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE BY +MID-EUROPEAN NATIONS. + +Professor H.A. Miller, Director; Thos. Naroshevitshius (Lithuaniana); +Christos Vassilkaki (Unredeemed Greeks); Christo Dako (Albanians); +Charles Tomazolli (Italian Irredentists); Nicholas Ceglinsky (Ukranian); +Dr. Hinko Ninkovich (Jugoslavs); T.M. Helinski (Poles); Dr. T.G. Masaryk +(Prime Minister of Cezhoslovakia); G. Pasdermadjian (Armenians); Capt. +Vasile Solca (Roumanians): Gregory Zsatkovich (Uhro-Rusins); Ittamar +Ban-Avi (Zionists). Signed Independence Hall, Phila, Oct. 26.] + +[Illustration: GENERAL ALLENBY. + +One of the notable events in the history of the war was the surrender of +Jerusalem to the British Army under the command of General Allenby.] + +[Illustration: GENERAL TOWNSHEND. + +The British officer who was taken prisoner at Kut-el-Amara, and who +afterwards became the peace negotiator.] + +[Illustration: OFFICE OF A FIELD CASHIER. + +This spot was formerly one of the pillbox strongholds of the famous +switch in the Hindenburg line. It was afterwards run by the Canadians.] + +[Illustration: Negro Band of the 814th Infantry Leaving the Celtic After +Her Arrival.] + +[Illustration: 8th Reg., FRENCH WAR-CROSS WINNERS. + +Top Row: 1st-Lieut. Hurd, Lieut-Col. Duncane, Major White, Capt. +Crawford, 1st-Lieut. Warfield and Capt. Smith. Bottom Row: Capt. Allen, +Lieut. Browning, Capt. Warner and 1st-Lieut. Tisdale.] + +[Illustration: Captain John H. Patton, 370th U.S. Infantry (formerly 8th +Illinois Infantry). + +Regimental Adjutant to September 11, 1918. Commanding 2nd Battalion from +September 11, 1918 to December 17, 1918. Saint Mihiel Sector from June +21, 1918 to July 3, 1918. Argonne Forest from July 16, 1918, to August +15, 1918. Battles for Mont des Signes September 16 to September 30, +1918. Oise-Aisne offensive September 30 to November 11, 1918. Awarded +the French Croix de Guerre (Division Citation for meritorious service +covering the period September 11 to November 11, 1918.)] + +[Illustration: Homecoming of 370th (old 8th Regiment), parade passing +the reviewing stand, Michigan ave., opposite Art Institute, Chicago Ill. +Line of march broken by the great mass of people eager to march with the +soldiers, the greatest gathering ever assembled on Chicago's great +boulevard.] + +[Illustration: Officers of the 370th (old Illinois 8th Regiment) + +Reading left to right: 2nd-Lieut. Lawson Price, 2nd-Lieut. L.W. Stearls, +2nd-Lieut. Ed. White, 2nd-Lieut. Eliass F.E. Williams, 1st-Lieut. Oaso +Browning, Capt. Louis B. Johnson, 1st-Lieut. Frank Bates and 1st-Lieut. +Binga Desmond.] + +[Illustration: Left to right: Col. Franklin Dennison, Col. J. Roberts +and Lieut. Col. Otis B. Duncan of 370th (old Illinois 8th Regiment).] + +The population is a motley assortment of races, nationalities and +creeds. About 38 per cent being Ottomans or Turks. The Slavic and Rouman +races come next in importance, then the Arabs, the remaining population +consisting of Moors, Druses, Kurds, Tartars, Albanians, Circassians, +Syrians, Armenians, and Greeks, besides Jews and Gypsies. + + +PHOENIX OF THE GREEK EMPIRE. + +The Ottoman Empire arose from the ruins of the old Greek Empire, early +in the fifteenth century, Constantinople being made its capital in 1453, +after its capture by Mohammed II. At the accession of Mohammed IV, in +1648, the Turkish Empire was at the zenith of its power. Internal +corruption caused loss of power, and in 1774, a large slice of territory +was ceded to Russia. In 1821 Greece became independent. The Crimean War, +in 1854-56, checked Russia for a while, but in 1875 the people of +Herzegovina rebelled. A year later the Servians and Montenegrins +revolted, and in 1877 Russia began hostile operations in both parts of +the Turkish Empire. At this time Roumania declared her independence. +After the fall of Kars and of Plevna, the Turkish resistance completely +collapsed, and in 1878 Turkey was compelled to agree to the Treaty of +San Stefano. + +Within the year the Treaty of Berlin declared Roumania, Servia and +Montenegro independent; Roumanian Bessarabia was ceded to Russia, +Austria was empowered to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Bulgaria was +made a principality. The main events in the history of the Ottoman +Empire since the Treaty of Berlin were the French invasion of Tunis in +1881, the Treaty with Greece, executed under pressure of the Great +Powers in 1881, by which Greece obtained Thessaly and a strip of Epirus; +the occupation of Egypt by Great Britain in 1882; the revolution of +Philippopolis in 1885, by which eastern Roumelia became united with +Bulgaria. In 1908 Bulgaria declared its independence and the Young Turk +Party extorted a constitution and a parliament from Abdul-Hamud II, who +was deposed in 1909 by the unanimous vote of the national assembly. +Mohammed V, eldest brother of the deposed Sultan succeeded to the +throne. + +Russia, "the Great Bear," whose part in the war brought on internal +strife and revolution which robbed Czar Nicholas of his throne, traces +its history back for more than ten centuries, when the Norse invaded the +territory and founded Veliki Novgorod, for many years one of the chief +Russian cities. The Norse, to use the modern vernacular, "put Russia on +the map" when the Russian army fought its way to the very walls of +Constantinople. Much of the early history of the country is legendary, +and one of the famous stories is that after Igor, who commanded the +great armies, was put to death by rebellious subjects, his widow sought +out the territory where her husband had lost his life and pretending to +make peace with them, requested every householder to give her a pigeon. + + +WINGED FIREBRANDS. + +When they gladly complied with her request she sent the tame birds back +home with flaming firebrands tied to their tails, and they entered their +lofts or rests and started fires which destroyed the city of Korosten. +The ascendancy of the Romanoff dynasty, which maintained in Russia +through the centuries, was established through the atrocities of Ivan +the Terrible, who is said to have absolutely destroyed the descendants +of the Rurik, the first Norse chieftain. Ivan the Terrible was the first +Czar of Russia. He conquered Servia and his domestic infamies and +intrigues are among the historical scandals of the country. + +Through every reign in Russian history there ran stories of terrible +crime, cruelties, infamies, immoralities and degradation. Following the +death of Ivan the Terrible came Fedor, one of his sons, who was a +weakling in the hands of the Duma of five, one of whom was Boris +Godounoff. Fedor reigned but a few years, and Godounoff was elected +Czar. He was ambitious, and was founder of the system of serfdom, and +also of the Russian State Church, and like many of the other rulers of +Russia, met death through infamy, supposedly having been poisoned. + +[Illustration: OUTLINE MAP OF THE BALKAN STATES. + +This drawing shows the boundary lines as they were at the beginning of +the war. It also shows the location of the principal city of each +country. This part of the world has always been of great importance +since the earliest history of man and nations--a continuous struggle +between nations to control this gateway into southwestern Asia.] + + +BASE IMPOSTER SLAIN. + +Boris Godounoff was succeeded by his son Feodor, but he was seized by a +pretender, and with his mother, thrown into prison, where they were +murdered. The discovery of the plot, which was laid at the door of the +King of Poland, produced an uprising and Czar Dimitry the Impostor was +slain. Vasili Shouyskie, leader of the mob that slew Dimitry, was +proclaimed Czar, but pretenders sprang up, and one of these, who posed +as a false Dimitry, invaded Russia from Poland, and established a rival +imperial court at Toushin, and some of the Russian cities swore +allegiance to him. + +Vasili Shouyskie held out at Moscow, and after a time Dimitry's cause +failed, whereupon Sigsmund, of Poland, invaded Russia, and put forward +his son Vladislav. Vasili, roused to anger, committed acts which +provoked Moscow, and in 1610 he was compelled to abdicate, and a council +of nobles was formed to run the government until a Czar could be chosen. +Vladislav was finally selected, but Feodor Romanoff sought to prevent +his being crowned. There was a period of anarchy, cities were burned, +and chaos was complete. + +The dignitaries of the church and state finally set to work and +supported the candidacy of Mikhial Feodorovitch Romanoff, who was the +first Romanoff Czar. He reorganized the empire, and reigned for +thirty-three years. His successor, Alexis, the direct heir, reigned for +thirty-one years, and cultivated friendly relations with Ukraine and the +Cossack country. He was followed by Feodor II, and then came Peter the +Great. There were two claimants to the throne, Ivan and Peter, both sons +of Alexis by separate wives, and the difficulty was settled by letting +the two reign jointly under the regency of Sophia, a sister of Ivan. + +When Ivan died Peter assumed the reins, and it was he who gave Russia a +frontage on the Black Sea, and on the Baltic, and built St. Petersburg. +He did much for the development of Russia, creating a navy and a +merchantile marine. + +Catherine the First, his widow, followed him in reign, and at her death, +Peter II occupied the center of the stage. At his death there was chaos +again and counter claims. Anna of Courtland, a daughter of Ivan, brother +of Peter the Great, was finally elected sovereign, but she was a mere +puppet, vesting her authority in a High Council. + + +FAMILY'S WRETCHED CAREER. + +During her reign her lover, named Biren, held sway and distinguished +himself by sending thousands of political exiles to Siberia. At the +death of Anna, Ivan IV, her grandnephew, reigned, but was deposed and +sent to prison for life, while Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Peter the +Great, succeeded him. She permitted the government to be run on +comparatively honest lines by favorites, and while they ruled she drank +herself to death. + +Her nephew, Peter III, succeeded her. He was incompetent and a tool in +the Prussian hands. His wife was a German princess, and led a movement +which ended in his being deposed, imprisoned and murdered. + +Catherine, widow of the murdered Peter, succeeded. She was known as +Catherine the Great, and is credited with having been the most infamous +of women in all history. Catherine was succeeded by Paul, who was +assassinated by his own courtiers when he was on the point of joining +Napoleon Bonaparte in his conquest of India. + +His son was Alexander I, who added Finland and Poland to Russia, and +founded the Holy Alliance. He was followed by his son Nicholas, who +ruled for 30 years, and crushed the Poles and Hungarians, but died of a +broken heart in the Crimean War. + +Next came Alexander II, who gained fame as liberator of the serfs, and +died the victim of a Nihilist bomb thrower. Alexander III succeeded him, +and then came Nicholas II, the last Czar, whose reign lasted 22 years. +The beginning of the end was marked by the request of the workingmen in +1905 for an increase in civil rights. They were fired upon, and there +was general disorder, until the Czar proclaimed a constitution, and +established a Duma, or national parliament, which met for the first time +in 1906. + + +BETRAYAL OF RUSSIA'S MILITARY PLANS. + +The outbreak of the war was marked by the personal decree of the Czar to +change the name of the capital, St. Petersburg, to Petrograd, but his +evident intent to eliminate evidences of German influence did not stop +the betrayal of Russia's military plans by German spys within the court +circles, and it was charged that supplies were withheld from the Russian +army by those within the charmed circle, who were friendly to Germany. + +Russia was a party to the Franco-Russian and Anglo-Russian agreement, +which constituted the basis of the Triple Entente, but conditions were +such that the soldiers refused to fight, and the situation culminated in +the uprising which ended with the abdication of the Czar, in behalf of +his brother, who, however, declined to accept the throne, unless he +should be elected by the votes of the Russian people. The Duma thereupon +decided to organize a republican form of government, and so the Russian +Republic came into being in March, 1917. + +Spain, a fertile country in the southwestern part of Europe, has played +a prominent part in the development of the world. She has a coastline +extending nearly 1500 miles, and there are about 200,000 square miles +included in her territory. The coastlands and the southern section of +the country are especially rich in fruits and agriculture. Although +watered by many rivers, the land, for the most part, is artificially +irrigated. + +Up until 1898 Spain held possession of magnificent colonies in Cuba and +Porto Rico and the Philippines, but now her colonial possessions are +confined to a strip on the west coast of the Sahara, and the island of +Fernando Po, with some smaller possessions on the Guinea coast in +Africa. Their total area is about 434,000 square miles, the total +population being 10,000,000. + + +SPAIN, PAST AND PRESENT. + +Spain formerly composed the ancient provinces of New and Old Castile, +Leon, Asturias, Galicia, Estremadura, Andalusia, Aragon, Murcia, +Valencia, Catalonia, Navarre and the Basque Provinces. These, since +1834, have been divided into 49 provinces. The capital of Spain is +Madrid, and the present constitution dates from 1876. There is a +Congress, which is composed of deputies, each one representing 50,000 of +the population. + +The Roman Catholic faith is the established form of religion, and the +priesthood possesses considerable wealth and power, although the +dominant influence once possessed has been curtailed of recent years. +The peace strength of the army is about 83,000, and what navy she has is +practically new, as the Spanish navy was annihilated in the war with the +United States in 1898. + +During recent years the republican tendencies among the people have +found vent in socialism. The Spanish socialist leaders belong mostly to +the intellectuals, and here again is the weakness of the movement, +whether considered as a means of giving Spain a republic or of +liberating her political system under monarchical form. Some of the +intellectual leaders among the socialists headed straight for +philosophic anarchy, while others expended their energies in building +castles in the clouds. + +The substantial socialism of the recent period was, however, based on +the workingmen's movement. Before the outbreak of the great war the +tendency was to affiliate with the groups in other countries of Europe +which advocated socialism as an international creed. But when the German +socialists placed their country above internationalism, and the French +socialists did the same, and the Italian socialists joined in the +agitation to force the government into war to get back territory lost to +Austria, the international basis of Spanish socialism disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +MODERN WAR METHODS. + +INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE AS AGAINST MASS MOVEMENTS--TRENCH WARFARE A GAME +OF HIDE AND SEEK--RATS AND DISEASE--SURGERY'S TRIUMPHS--CHANGED +TACTICS--ITALIAN MOUNTAIN FIGHTING. + + +Warfare such as carried on in the Great World War is so different from +that of any other of the great wars which the world has seen, that it +might be described as a method of fighting distinctively unique. +Undoubtedly, more ancient methods, and even ancient weapons, have been +employed than were used in any of the wars which have changed, from time +to time, the boundary lines of nations. The fighting of mass against +mass has been practically obliterated, and modern evolutions where the +plan is man to man have developed a mode of fighting where terrible +execution has resulted. + +Undoubtedly this means of fighting has developed the personal initiative +of the soldiers, and the modern fighting machine of the nations is of a +high standard, which, together with death-dealing weapons, has resulted +in terrible havoc. Massed movements, such as carried on in the War of +the Rebellion, have been practically done away with, and although there +have been long and costly sieges, they have been carried on by tedious +trench fighting, airships, hand grenades, and massive shells fired from +guns of great caliber, and with a range which is really marvellous. + +Shells are fired, shrapnel in some cases, explosive shells in others, +which are timed to the second, so that when fired from guns many miles +from the objective point, they explode at a measured distance from the +earth. They are exploded within a gauged distance of the target, and the +execution is done over a measured area. On the shells are indicators. +Within the shrapnel shells are hundreds of small shot. As the shell +explodes the shots are scattered over the enemy, and death and +destruction are unavoidable. + +With bomb shells, fired from guns of the largest caliber, there are also +indicators which are timed to the second. The range and time of +explosion previously figured out by officers, the shell explodes where +it is intended that it shall, and the work of the great explosive is +done with resultant damage. + + +WAR'S MANY DEVELOPMENTS. + +The war has developed many of the new methods of fighting and revived +many of the old means of warfare. Cavalry has not been as active in the +relation in the great war as in any of the wars of comparatively recent +date, because of the extensive trench warfare which has formed so much +of the fighting plan. Fighting has been a question of trench raids, and +barrage fire, followed by the infantry charge through shell holes. The +impression brought home to the modern observer is that the older +recognized methods of warfare are gone for good. + +The thing which war changed in the work of the cavalryman is in the +nature of an addition, rather than a subtraction from his duties and the +training he must have. The day of cavalry--as cavalry and nothing +else--has passed. For today the cavalryman must be familiar not only +with the sword, lance and revolver, but with the rifle as well. It has +been demonstrated that such long periods of trench warfare may develop +that it becomes necessary for him to dismount and make himself valuable +in the scheme of military economy by fighting as infantry until such +time as the enemy line is broken and he can again take to his horse and +the work of harrying the retreating foe. + +The war has been full of surprising results as regards cavalry. It was +popularly supposed that in facing such terrible modern weapons as the +repeating rifle of long range, the machine gun and the automatic field +pieces which have become so well known as the French "75s," any body of +cavalry which attempted to charge the enemy would be annihilated. + + +CAVALRY'S SUCCESSFUL CHARGES. + +Yet all through the early stages of the war one reads of desperate, and, +what is more to the point, successful charges made by British cavalry +against batteries of German field pieces. There was one instance in +France, just back of the Belgian frontier, where a charge of British +lancers against a German battery, which had a commanding position, saved +the day for a greatly-outnumbered allied detachment, which was +conducting that most difficult of all maneuvers, a rear guard action, +covering the retreat of the body of the army. The charge of the lancers +took the Germans so by surprise, and was executed with such speed, that +despite the heavy fire they poured into the advancing horsemen the +latter were at work among them with spear and saber before +reinforcements could be brought up. Then the cavalry, dismounting and +unslinging their carbines, defended the position with such tenacity that +the German advance was delayed several hours, sufficient for the rest of +the allied forces to make good its withdrawal and the consolidation of +the new lines chosen for defense. + +This idea of cavalry serving in the double role of infantry and cavalry +is a distinctly American development, a trick which the Federal and +Confederate armies taught the world during the Civil War, and of which +the British made excellent use in South Africa against the Boers. The +fact which this war has established, however, is that the older use of +cavalry, in the charge against infantry, artillery and even entrenched +positions is still of great value. The idea had developed from the +tactics so largely employed in the Civil War of using the cavalry as +mounted infantry, that the increased deadliness of modern weapons would +make this use of cavalry the sole use. + +Now, however, it seems that not even the lance is to be discounted. +Given the opportunity to reach his objective, the lance becomes a +terrible weapon in the hands of the horseman. In hand-to-hand fighting +the man with the rifle and bayonet has some chance against the mounted +man with the saber. While fighting upward from a lower level he has a +pretty long reach, and the advantage of being completely in control of +his own movements, whereas even the most expert horseman cannot control +the step and movement of his mount as well as a man can control his own. +Barring fire, however, the infantryman has no chance against the lance, +with the speed and momentum of the mounted man behind it. + +So, for this reason, though they are cumbersome weapons under ordinary +circumstances, and make a detachment equipped with them much more likely +to be seen, lances were retained by many of the British cavalry +regiments, just as the German Uhlans retained them. + + +CAVALRY'S IMPORTANT SERVICE. + +One of the most important services which cavalry fulfills in modern +warfare is that of drawing the enemy's fire at the time his positions +are being approached. This is done to obtain some idea of his force and +the disposition of his guns. + +Cavalry detachments are sent scurrying across the front, as though +threatening an attack, deliberately furnishing a mark for the enemy +gunners that this object of ascertaining his strength may be attained. + +The more ordinary work of scouting, advance guard work, and riding wide +on the flanks of an advancing force are parts of the cavalryman's work +which are more familiar. + +In the European conflict with tremendous concentration of troops and +continued occupation of the same territory the foraging feature of +cavalry work disappeared. It is no longer possible for an army to "live +on the country as it goes." Food and supplies must be brought up from +depots in the rear through an entirely separate and specialized +department of the military organization, which does its work with a +celerity certainly undreamed of in former days, even as late as our own +war with Spain. + +In the modern campaign trenches have been developed to such an extent +that it is really marvellous how the soldiers live, and to what an +extent the "underground fortresses" have been used for living as well as +fighting purposes. + +In a letter written by a French soldier who took part in a successful +raid upon a German trench, he adequately describes the luxuries enjoyed +by the German soldiers in the front line trenches in the Marne. The +letter was written by a youth who had been wounded in the fight, and was +mailed in April, 1917. + + +LUXURIOUS DUGOUTS. + +"We are now living in German lines and dugouts--a magnificent work we +have just now taken--cement and steel are used with profusion, and +electricity in every dugout, even in their front lines. Unharmed +casements and machine guns in cemented shelters and light railways and +immense reserves of food--thousands of bottles of claret. + +"But also, at the middle of each staircase, in the wall, a box with +about seventy pounds of cheddite--to blow the shelter up in case of +retreat. They knew they might have to go back, as they are doing now. +America will gain victory, as until the present moment only the bravery +of our soldiers can put them back, with much exertion and frequent loss. + +"Our men are magnificent in spite of death. We hope your help may be +quick and decisive. I think your flying corps especially may be useful, +the more as yesterday, with four fellows, I was run through the field, +and in a destroyed trench by a German Albatross shooting a machine gun, +and flying very low, he missed us quite near. On the other hand, we have +just a few days hence seen a sausage balloon destroyed by our men. +Anyhow your help may be decisive. + +"I believe your joy is great about the Russian revolution. At home they +are happy, too--only let us hope the Russian army may attack this +summer--to help us. + +"I need not tell you the impression made by your American decision here. +We now know victory is sure. Let us hope it may be this year--though you +may easily guess such is not my belief--next year. + +"I hope my next letter be sent from farther in the German lines--perhaps +from a place they have not had time to destroy." + +Shorn of all technicalities, the plain method of warfare which has +developed as the result of the trench building is that each force +establishes lines along miles of front with trenches in rows, one after +the other, at measured intervals. The soldiers are thus "entrenched." +One force seeks to drive the other from its position. + + +MANY DEADLY DEVICES. + +The force of batteries is directed against the entrenchments, hand +grenades, bombs, shells, gases and every device which has fallen to the +use of armies is projected at the ditches in which are hidden the enemy +soldiers. When, by the concentration of attack the trenches are +destroyed or the soldiers driven from their first position, the opposing +force has gained if it has succeeded in advancing its own soldiers to +occupy and reconstruct the trenches or defences from which the enemy was +driven. + +The soldiers carry, in addition to the ordinary weapons, a trench spade, +and in most cases large knives, which are used to cut away brush or dig +in the earth when emergency demands. The close confinement in the +trenches tends to develop disease, and the sanitary force of the modern +army is a thing that was undreamed of in the olden days. More men died +from disease during the Civil War than were killed by bullets or in +hand-to-hand encounter. + +The percentage of those who die from camp fever has been reduced to a +minimum. Napoleon said that armies travel on their stomachs, but the +European War and the Russian-Japanese War have proven, as did our +campaigns in Cuba and Mexico, that soldiers live by reason of the health +which they are permitted to maintain. Some idea of the conditions which +developed in the trenches may be gained from a study of the various +hospital reports, and investigations which have been made by physicians. + + +INFECTED WITH ASIATIC JAUNDICE. + +Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, +completed a series of experiments which showed that apparently healthy +wild rats in the European war zone became infected with Weil's disease, +or "infectious jaundice," common in Asia. Weil's disease is +characterized by sudden onsets of malaise, often intense muscular pain, +high fever for several days, followed by jaundice, frequently +accompanied by complications. It becomes more virulent as it is +successively transmitted from one victim to another. This is supposed to +explain the much greater mortality, about 38 per cent. in Japan, as +compared with from 2 to 3 per cent. among European soldiers. + +The study of the disease was made possible by the successful importation +from Japan and Flanders of guinea pigs and rats which had been +inoculated with the causative organism in those two countries. +Experiments previously made showed that the germ of the disease was +carried in the kidneys of a large percentage of apparently healthy wild +rats caught near the districts where the disease had been epidemic. +Experiments in Europe demonstrated the presence of the germ in rats not +only near the infected zones, but also in captured localities some +distance from trenches. + +For purposes of comparison Dr. Noguchi collected a number of rats in +this country and removed their kidneys. His report states that by +inoculating the emulsion made of the kidneys of 41 wild rats into 58 +guinea pigs during a period of three months, he had been able to produce +in three groups of guinea pigs typical cases of infectious jaundice +altogether identical with the findings in the guinea pigs which died of +the injection of the Japanese and Belgian strains of the disease. The +germs taken from wild rats caught near New York produced death in guinea +pigs within nine to twelve days. + + +AMERICA'S GREAT SERVICE IN WAR ZONE. + +In studying the conditions and helping to fight the dangers encountered +in the battlefields and camps of Europe, no country in the world +rendered a greater service than America. Long before the country entered +the war hundreds of American nurses, ambulance drivers and surgeons were +on the battlefields and in the hospitals of Belgium, France and England. +Men who were leaders in the medical and surgical world gave their +services to the Allies, and almost every hospital in the United States +sent some of its staff. + +Through the efforts and study of Dr. Alexis Carrel, of New York, deaths +from wounds received in battle were reduced almost 90 per cent. by a +system of treatment which he devised. Dr. Carrel began his work in 1914, +at Compiegne, in connection with the military hospital, and in +collaboration with the Dakin Research Laboratory, under the auspices of +the Rockefeller Foundation. + +Using a solution of sodium hypochlorite, the plain method of treating +wounds which proved such a great boon, was described at the Congress of +Surgeons in Philadelphia in 1916, where many of the wonders of war +surgery were described. By means of a rubber tube, which is run through +or into the wound, the injury is flushed continuously by the solution, +for a period of hours or minutes, according to the nature and character +of the wound. + +The inflammation is reduced, the wound cleaned, and blood poisoning is +averted. Under the treatment the soldier's stay in a hospital is +reduced weeks and even months, and, as has been stated with authority, +where in the old days twenty operations would have been necessary, the +modern methods have reduced the percentage to a point where the twenty +has become as one. + +The story of surgery itself and what it has done in modern warfare would +make a wonderful volume. The shattered bones of the legs and arms have +been spliced, and laid side by side in open wounds, to knit together and +practically form a new limb. Artificial hands, feet, and legs have been +made by ingenious mechanics, which are so perfect that those who have +been deprived of their natural facilities can use them with a degree of +facility never before believed possible. + + +RESULT OF SCIENTIFIC SURGERY. + +Armless men and legless men have worked in the munition factories of +both France and of England, and the fact that they are able to do so is +due to the genius of surgeons and of scientists. Thoroughness and +preparation, coolness in execution and scientific accuracy in all +directions is the modern necessity in warfare. + +What this means in modern battle, as demonstrated in the last important +conflict in the clearing of German East Africa by British forces, was +described by Reuters' correspondent in an account of the battle of +Rufiji River. + +This was the last campaign personally commanded by Major General Jan +Christian Smuts, the former Boer commander, and resulted in giving the +British control of all the coastline and the inhabitable portion of +German East Africa. + +For two weary months the army lay upon its weapons, consolidating, +reorganizing, rebuilding railway lines and piling up great dumps of food +and ridding itself of its sick and wounded. Then it moved forward from +Morogoro. The object of the advance was the ejection of the enemy from +his trenches on the Mgeta River and the seizure of the passages of the +Rufiji River. + +The battle was directed and controlled from an observation hill at +Dathumi, but General Smuts spent little time on the hill. He had made +all the dispositions and issued his orders. Nothing remained for him to +do and he was back in his camp calmly reading a book. + +In the straw hut the brigadier general sat at a table on which was an +oriented map showing the strategic and geographical points of the plans +which lay before us, at his elbow the telephone and just below the hut +the wireless instrument incessantly emitted sparks. Higher up the slope +of the hill were the observing stations of the battery commanders. + + +SIGNALED BEGINNING OF BATTLE. + +The burning of huts at Kiruru signaled the beginning of the battle. The +brigadier general, a polite little man who has lectured at the staff +college for twenty years and who knows the last word in the science of +warfare, especially of artillery, called the howitzer battery by +telephone. + +"Open fire a little to the right of the palm tree," he said. "You have +the elevation and direction. The Nigerians will be on the move." Just +behind the palm tree and a little to the right a great brown cloud of +mud and smoke rose high in the air. From the plain came the boom of +heavy guns and all along the river branch rose clouds of smoke, mud and +dust. + +The staff officer handed in a telegram reading: "The infantry are now +about to advance; they ask artillery support." + +"Bring the field guns into action," said the general. + +It was all so very matter of fact. This little man, who was about to let +loose upon the German trenches a hell's broth of fire and disaster, +acted as if he were in his own drawing room, deciding how many lumps of +sugar he would take with his tea. + +Down below on the plain the howitzers were lobbing 60-pound shells into +the German Askaris, the Nigerians were advancing by sharp rushes and the +rat-tat of the machine guns and the crackle of musketry broke very +faintly. Airplanes sailed above us. A message came from the Nigerians, +"We are going to take the enemy's trenches; please lift gunfire." The +order was passed along, "All guns lift two degrees." + +Little black dots, like tiny ants, are running where the shells are +bursting. The Nigerians are rushing the trenches. The forward observing +officer reports that the enemy is retiring. The 15-pounders, man-killing +guns, shower shrapnel on the German line of retreat. + + +SUGGESTS A CUP OF TEA. + +The infantry report having occupied the German first line trenches, +halting for one hour to consolidate. The brigadier-general commented on +the difficulty of observation in the humid atmosphere and suggested a +cup of tea. It seemed that nothing more would happen until after lunch, +so I visited the commander-in-chief. He was occupied for the moment with +a volume by George Gisslog and was satisfied with the reports he had +received. By dark the whole of the German entrenchments were in our +hands. + +A volume could be written alone on the changes in tactics which have +been developed and practiced by the military geniuses of the contending +forces. In the European War the range of artillery and infantry fire was +three times what it was in the Franco-Prussian War. The flattening of +the trajectory, which means making the bullets go more nearly on a +straight line instead of traveling in an arc, has made the fire so +effective as to compel the soldiers to "travel on their stomachs." To +crawl along the ground like alligators, or advance like moles digging +their way into the earth. + +The tremendous range of the modern rifle, single arm, or rapid-fire gun, +and the development of more powerful explosives for ammunition have +wrought this change. The bullet will travel a longer distance at a +horizontal position than in the old days when ordinary black powder and +a smooth-bore gun were used, and so at hundreds of yards distance the +soldiers can aim direct to kill, without making elevation allowances. + +The machine gun has made it possible for the men to fire from four to +five shots for every one that was fired in the Franco-Prussian War and +probably ten for every one that was fired in the Civil War. The only +time the soldiers exposed themselves on the army frontiers were when +they were storming trenches, and this was not attempted until the trench +had suffered bombardment so it was made untenable. + + +DIFFICULT MOUNTAIN FIGHTING. + +Probably nothing in the warfare of nations has been more colorful and +replete with surprises than the campaign waged by the Italian soldiers +on the Alpine passes between Italy and the Austrian strongholds, and in +the discussion of modern warfare, a brief description of some of the +work of these intrepid mountain fighters is interesting. + +Much of this fighting has been the most difficult known in the annals of +modern warfare, save, perhaps, that done by the famous Younghusband +British Expedition to Thibet. And that, by comparison, was a very small +matter. + +The mere height--altitude--at which the Italian warfare against the +Austrians was carried on has been sufficient to entail enormous +difficulties and a great additional strain, due actually to difficult +breathing in a rarefied atmosphere. + +The warfare in the clouds which has characterized the struggle along the +Isonzo front has been conducted at an altitude seldom less than 8,000 +and often rising to 12,000 feet, which is well within the realm of +eternal snow. + +Naturally, therefore, most of the fighting was done in bitter cold. To +this fact add the other that the Italian soldiers who carried it on were +almost exclusively men who had not been accustomed to the cold. They had +been drawn from among dwellers in a semitropical climate, and one gets +an idea of the immense accomplishments of this army which struggled in +the skies. + +The average American knows the Italian as immensely industrious, but +perhaps is disinclined to credit him with great constructive ability or +engineering genius. He would change his estimate of him if he could see +him fight and study his battlefield. The Italian warfare of the mountain +peak and gorges has been a warfare of construction, even more than it +has been a warfare of destruction, and has been rendered possible only +by the exercise of engineering genius comparable with that which sent +our world-beating American railways through the famous Rocky Mountain +passes! + + +HALTED BY INTIMIDATION. + +The fact that Italy's warfare has been invariably against positions +stronger than her own is the result of the fact that while, since 1866, +Austria continually strengthened her frontier with fortifications, most +of them of ferro-concrete, the Italians were not able to fortify at all. +Every step in that direction brought forth threats of war. These began +at a time when Italy was in no condition to fight, before, as a unified +nation, she became a world-power. + +Being weak, she was prevented from making any preparations for defense +against a foe which continually was obviously getting ready for attack +upon her. The mere commencement of preparations might have precipitated +war. But Austria continually prepared. Besides, the Italians ever have +been a peace-loving nation. + +As a natural and inevitable consequence of all these conditions all the +dominating positions along the Austro-Italian frontier were strongly +fortified by the Austrians. They have long occupied the crest of every +mountain in such a way that their guns could rake any Italian approach +from below, along a front of 450 miles--about the distance from New York +to Buffalo, and almost the same as that of the whole French-British-Belgian +eastern front in this war. + +During the winter of 1916, one of the most exceptionally hard winters +known in the annals of the Italian Weather Service, the Italians not +only have been fighting for their sunny homeland, but have been fighting +in a region of eternal snow. + +This snow was an obstacle extremely hard to overcome. It may be said +never to have been less than six yards deep on the Isonzo front, so the +task of the consolidation of positions, enabling troops at once to +resist attack and protect themselves from assault from the rear, was +highly difficult. + + +TYPICAL ROAD BUILDERS. + +The Italians were ever road-builders, descendants, as they are, of those +Romans who built roads for all Europe. While the Austrians were fully +supplied with roads of the best and most modern character, there were +hundreds of miles on the Italian side where there were not even +mule-tracks. + +Here was a vast problem. + +Literally millions of soldiers were not free to fight, but had been +drafted for the road-building work. Carrying picks and shovels, managing +steam-shovels, working electric hoists, stringing supporting cables, +they were as truly fighting men, however, as any who ever bore rifles or +worked machine-guns. + +Miles of the roads were rebuilt under Austrian fire, by men who built +them well enough, even in the great 8,000-foot heights, that they could +bear heavy artillery of vast weights without suffering damage. They +built them in such easy gradients that heavy artillery could be moved +speedily, the guns and motor-lorries that passed over them frequently +weighing as much as fifteen tons. + +Nor did the problem end with the construction of these marvel-roads. It +was necessary to transport very heavy war material across stretches +where the building of any roads whatever was a sheer impossibility. +Often it was necessary to take heavy guns as far as might be upon +sleighs and then drag them for considerable distances by hand; quite as +often it was imperative that across chasms great cables should be rigged +on which the guns might be swung, sometimes hundreds or even thousands +of feet above the valleys beneath, from one height to another. + +The "wireways" by which much of this unique transportation was +accomplished are of Italian invention, as were other notable and +essential engineering devices of this great war of mountain +transportation. + +Such contrivances, known as "teleferrica," were introduced for the first +time during the winter of 1916, and by summer there were about 200 along +the mountainous front. They not only supplied very advanced positions +with armament, ammunition and food, but transported men back and forth +between them and lower points. + + +SYSTEM ONE OF TACKLES. + +The system was one of tackles (where guns and other heavy freight were +to be moved) or cars (like cradles, where men were to be moved), +operated by motor-pulleys directly connected up with great electric +power. One of the most astonishing and picturesque uses to which these +aerial wireways were put was the movement downward of men wounded at the +advanced posts with which the teleferrica communicate. + +To see wounded men going down these wireways, mere dots, each +representing a suspended stretcher upon which a suffering human being is +strapped securely, was described as one of the most amazing spectacles +of the whole war. The experience, to some wounded men, swinging +sickeningly, dizzyingly alone in midair, was probably more terrifying +than actual fighting, although there were few, if any, accidents +connected with the wireways. + +Not infrequently these wireways were within direct range of the enemy +fire, and that complicated matters. So far as is known, there has been +no instance of a cable cut by gunfire, but in several districts it was +necessary that the men, going to their duty and the wounded going +backward, having done theirs, must needs be protected in armored +baskets, somewhat like those which often are swung beneath observation +balloons on the various fronts. + + +PROBLEMS OF TRANSPORTATION. + +The problems of transportation, great as they are, are by no means the +only unique difficulties presented to these brave mountain fighters. In +this extraordinary warfare mining by means of high explosives was +carried on upon a hitherto unequaled scale. Such work with high +explosives was not only continually necessary in the construction of +roads and fortifications in a region of solid rock, but sometimes proved +the only effective means of attack upon the enemy. + +The mine was used as an offensive weapon by both sides, and often with +very terrible results. + +Perhaps the most extraordinary of the campaign was the mine laid by the +Italians after infinitely difficult and very extensive tunneling in +solid rock at the Cima del Col di Lana. + +This immense effort with explosives blew off the whole top of a +mountain--and that mountaintop was thickly occupied by Austrians at the +time of the explosion of the mine. None on the Italian side knows +exactly what the Austrian casualties were, but it is certain that +through this one explosion more than an entire company--that is, more +than 400--of the enemy's soldiers were destroyed. + +An interesting detail of this operation is the fact that while the +Italians were tunneling for this great mine they were perfectly aware +that the Austrians also were at work upon a similar effort. It amounted +to a race with death, and the Italians won it. + +Correspondents agree that the thing which most impresses the visitor to +the mountain fronts of the Italian army is the immense patience which +it has shown in the face of the difficult tasks of this astonishing +campaign. Italians usually are regarded as temperamental creatures, but +"dogged" has been the word which has meant most in this campaign. + +Some of the movements of troops across exposed snow-covered spaces have +been marvels of incredible patience. To escape observation the soldiers +have been clad in white clothing, but in addition to this it has been +necessary for them to lie flat upon their faces in the snow, moving +very, very slowly, accomplishing their transfers from point to point +literally at snail speed. + +With regard to such work, as with regard to the Italian wounded, one +thing is remarked by all the officers and those who have been privileged +even for a short time to share the hardships of the Italian "common +soldier." He never complains. Healthy or hurt, weary or fresh, he takes +war with a smile full of flashing teeth and with eyes glittering with +interest and good nature. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +WOMAN AND THE WAR. + +SHE HAS WON "HER PLACE IN THE SUN"--RICH AND POOR IN THE MUNITIONS +FACTORIES--NURSE AND AMBULANCE DRIVER--KHAKI AND TROUSERS--ORGANIZER AND +FARMER--HEROES IN THE STRESS OF CIRCUMSTANCES--DOING MEN'S WORK FOR +MEN--EVEN A "BOBBIE." + + +If it were ever really necessary for woman to "win a place in the sun" +she has done so by her activities with relation to the war. We have +regarded woman with a high degree of sentimentality, and to her pleas +for recognition in world affairs have shrugged our shoulders and +intimated that she was fit to bear children, nurse the sick, do +household chores and cook, cook, cook; but physically, mentally and by +training she was unfit to perform the greater world duties. + +But the world war has proved that all the tasks which men claimed women +were unfitted to perform can as well be done by what we have been +pleased to term the "weaker sex." + +The war has proved a truism that old saying, "The hand that rocks the +cradle rules the world," and also that the burden of war falls upon +women. It is they who give up their sons to their country and send their +husbands and boys to the front to serve as fodder for the cannon. + +In England the work of women in the war secured for them a degree of +recognition in Parliament which all of their agitation and militant +tactics failed to produce. + +National extremity was woman's opportunity; frank invitation to new +lines of work was followed by hearty appreciation on the part of the +men; and a proposition to extend suffrage to 6,000,000 English women was +based avowedly upon the general gratitude felt for their loyal and +effective service in the war. And it is war service, for modern warfare +has greatly enlarged the content of that term. In the modern conception +those who make munitions or in other ways release others for the front +are doing war service as truly as those who bear arms. + +Instead of yielding to fame a few isolated Mollie Pitchers, the war +brought a largely neglected half of the nation's military strength into +practical service. Indeed, though woman dreads war more than man does, +if it comes to actual defense of land and home and young, we find, with +Kipling, that "the female of the species is more deadly than the male." + + +THE WORK OF WOMEN. + +The work of the women in the munitions factories in England has +deservedly attracted large attention, and, doubtless, British historians +will for centuries tell how, when England found herself utterly at a +loss before her enemies because of a lack of effective ammunition, the +women responded "as one man" to meet the need and save the Union Jack +from being forced to the shore. It was a repetition, multiplied 10,000 +times, of the Presbyterian parson at Springfield, N.J., supplying +Washington's army with Watts hymn books when it was retreating to serve +as paper wadding for the rifles. + +The innovation of the task, the large scale on which it was carried out +and the striking success of it make it a major event of the war, even to +be compared with the battle of the Marne. And shall not American +historians ascribe to the scores of young girls who lost their lives in +an explosion at Eddystone, Pa., making munitions, the honor of being the +first martyrs of the German-American War? + +It was not alone the working girls of England who tired their arms and +calloused their hands on the heavy shells. When the work was at its full +capacity, a proposition was sent to the women of leisure to undergo +three weeks of training in a munitions factory and then take up the work +at the week-ends to relieve the regular workers, the women shell +machinists, whose strength and skill could best be maintained by saving +them from Saturday and Sunday overtime. + +There was a strange incongruity in paying them less than the men for the +same work. They worked in eight-hour shifts and were required to stand, +except during a single half-hour interval. The prospectus of instruction +suggested short skirts, thick gloves and boots with low heels, adding +that evening dress would not be necessary. + +Hotel accommodations were attempted for these "lady" workers, but this +proved inadequate, and part of them went to the lodgings with the +regular workers. Short skirts were only the first step that promptly led +to overalls, and when these English ladies, whom the girls called +"Miaows," got well grimed with dust and grease, utterly tired out with +handling 12-pound shells and hungry enough to prefer coarse food, they +understood the workgirls as never before, and the men, too, and they had +a new birth of patriotism. One lady said she found great relief and +enthusiasm by thinking of the shells as so many dead Boches or live +Tommies. + + +VARIED OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN. + +Making ammunition and hospital supplies, handling luggage and trunks in +baggage rooms, driving motors, conducting trolley cars, carpentry work +on wooden houses for the front, are but a few of the occupations in +which European women engaged in war service. They have served as lift +attendants, ticket sellers, post office sorters, mail carriers, +gardeners, dairy lassies, grocery clerks, drivers of delivery wagons and +vans, commissionaires. More than a million were added to the industrial +workers in England during the first two years of war. + +America coming later into the war, its women naturally followed the lead +of the English and French along many lines tried and proved to be worth +while, but our matrons and maids, famed for their independence and +initiative, developed also new lines of patriotic effort. As soon as it +was evident that German ambitions included designs upon America, the +strong feminine instinct for preservation began to assert itself. +Pacifism had no special appeal to the gentler sex at such a time. She +got behind the recruiting as if it were her own job, and much of the +success of it was due to her efforts. + +The Woman's Section of the Navy League may well be described by quoting +from its own statement of motive and purpose. "Every mother with sons, +every wife with husband, every sister with a brother, feels her heart +stand still with the horror of what war may bring to her." + + +WOMAN'S MANY SERVICES. + +These women spread information to arouse interest in the condition of +the United States naval forces, aided recruiting for the Naval Reserve, +assisted in procuring enrollments for the Naval Coast Reserve, and +drawing on their resources provided many needed articles of clothing, +equipment and comfort not furnished by the Government. A knitting +committee makes sleeveless jackets, helmets, wristlets and mufflers. +Comfort kits, games, blankets, underwear, rubber hats, coats and boots +are made or bought by the Comfort and Supplies Committee. + +The two poles of patriotic service are the production of food and +fighting at the front; a world of activity bulges between them. European +women are accustomed to farm labor. Millions of peasant women, serfs, +all but in name, under the late Russian regime; Balkan women, German and +French wives and girls, and, to some extent, the mothers and daughters +of the English poor, would have understood Markham's poem better if he +had called it, "The Woman With the Hoe." + +In the war food crisis the women of America matched the women of the +enemy and vied with those of their own allies in persuading mother earth +to yield her bounty. In heavy shoes, trousers of jean, rolled-up sleeves +and a straw hat, the girls of America here and there turned to the land +and took hold of the tasks of the farm. + +So far we have mentioned only the work at home that women took up for +the war, but this is only a part; the other pole finds them near. The +invaluable service of Red Cross nurses, their zeal and sacrifice and +sometimes martyrdom, from Elizabeth Fry and Florence Nightingale to +Edith Cavell, have been women's glory for more than half a century. This +war multiplied the need many times and veritable regiments of them +responded. Their emblem became the symbol universal of mercy, charity +and good will. + +In addition to the 50 trained nurses for a base hospital, there are 25 +hospital aids, who serve without pay. America has 8000 registered Red +Cross nurses and scores of thousands are in training for aids. + +The effective and helpful work of women in all lines of endeavor, aside +from home and family life, has never before been shown so impressively +as now. Their energy, willingness, faithfulness and capability in every +activity are unsurpassed. + + +WOMAN BENT ON DOING HER UTMOST. + +But woman shares the lot of mankind on earth, and in the issues of life +and death, land and home, she fears to do less than her most, and we +would fear to have her do less. + +The woman for ages has been the war nurse, but the American woman has +gone a step further and qualified as the war physician. When the war +clouds first hovered over America more than 200 women physicians +formally offered their services to the Government. At the graduation +exercises of a women's medical college, when America first entered the +war, a prominent official made the statement that 3,000 women physicians +could find unlimited work of mercy behind the first line of firing in +Europe. + +The surgeon general of the United States army did not await an actual +call to arms to notify a physician that the proffer of the services of +women physicians would be accepted when the need came. + +"When I spoke to the women," said this physician, "I asked them this +question: + +"'Can I tell the Government that it may count upon each and all of you +for any work within your power?' + +"Their answer was unanimous. It was 'Yes.'" + +There is a law prohibiting women from going aboard battleships when they +are under way, but such an obstacle has not stood in the way of woman's +desire to help where she can when her country calls, and so Miss Loretta +Walsh became a member of the United States navy--the first woman +enlisted in that branch of the service, with the exception of the +nurses' corps. Her title was chief yeoman. + +Women announced their readiness to assist in another way--in +economizing--one organization having adopted the following resolutions: + + +RESOLUTION ON ECONOMICS. + +"Resolved, That all patriotic women be urged to use their influence on +fashions in dress to keep them as economical as possible, and to +register their disapproval of such styles as the melon and peg-top +skirt, or any other styles that imply extravagant changes in the +wardrobe, to the end that the time and money thus saved from clothes may +be devoted to the needs of the nation." + +How often have we heard: "When war comes, when our homes are threatened, +when peril stalks abroad in the land, who shoulders the musket and goes +out to fight? The man! The man!" + +But woman, knowing better than man the impulses of her own heart, only +awaited the opportunity to show what she could do, though, much more +than man, she loves peace, detests strife. But she did not await an +actual call to arms to show the patriotic spirit with which her soul was +fired. Whatever her Government was willing she should do, to that was +she prepared to give her best efforts. + +Lady Frances Balfour, president of the London Society of National Union +of Women Suffragists and president of the Travelers' Aid Society, worked +as hard to win the war as any Tommy in the trenches. + +A daughter of the eighth Duke of Argyll and the widow of a soldier, she +played an important part in Scotch and English public life for many +years, and has done much to advance the cause of British women. + +An authentic view of the situation as it developed with reference to the +reception of women into the everyday work and what American women might +do is contained in the following interview with Lady Balfour: + + +WOMAN AS WAGE EARNER. + +"We are doing everything," she said. "We are filling nearly every post. +If the House of Lords had not vetoed the bill we would be solicitors, +but that must wait for a time. British women are now meeting with +success because for the first time they are receiving a proper wage and +are able to live in a way to do their best work. The old sweat shop wage +has gone, and I hope never to return. Women will never return to the +conditions which existed before the war. + +"American women start with a great advantage. They have already the +entree in the business world and fill many clerical places, whereas our +women and girls had to break down the barriers of conservatism existing +in a great number of banks. There was the same objection to women +workers among the farmers of the South of England, though in Scotland +the woman has always done her part on the farm. + +[Illustration: GENERAL PETAIN. GENERAL MANGIN. GENERAL D'ESPEREY. + +Three French Generals who fought their way to fame. In many a battle +they saved the day, and through their heroic deeds France was saved from +the Hun.] + +[Illustration: ENGLISH BOMBING PLANE ON THE AISNE FRONT. + +Preparing the departure for a bombing expedition. The bombs and their +holders can be seen in the foreground.] + +[Illustration: UNITED STATES COLORED LABOR TROOPS BOARDING A TRANSPORT. + +An American Negro battallion entering a pier ready to board a transport. +These husky doughboys perform their tasks with a vim and a will.] + +[Illustration: FIRST LOOK AT FRANCE FROM A TRANSPORT. + +United States soldiers seeing France as the transport arrives in sight +of land. This vessel was formerly a Hamburg-America (German) liner.] + +[Illustration: BRITISH TANKS ADVANCING ACROSS THE HINDENBURG LINE. + +This battery of tanks shows the new superstructure on their fronts, +which is used to carpet the slippery mud which the caterpillar wheels do +not grip.] + +[Illustration: MAMMOTH BRITISH GUN "KILL JOY." + +Used by the British forces in Flanders. No gun of more power was used by +any belligerent. It is greater than the "Busy Berthas" of the Germans.] + +[Illustration: A RAPID FIRING GUN ON A FRENCH AEROPLANE. + +This remarkable picture from a close-up photograph shows the little +Nieuport "scout" plane. The electric gun is worked from the pilot seat +by a wire. It produced great havoc among German birdmen.] + +[Illustration: THE GUN WITH THE PUNCH. A FRENCH 320 M.M. + +Photographed While in Action--Loading. + +One of the largest and most effective guns used in the war. An idea of +its immense size is gained in comparison with the men. It is moved about +on a specially constructed railway.] + +[Illustration: THE RETURN OF THE HOLY SCROLL IN JERUSALEM. + +General E.H.H. Allenby, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in the +Holy Land, is seen seated at the left. The ceremony was very +impressive.] + +[Illustration: THE GUN WITH THE PUNCH. + +Huge American railway artillery of 16-inch calibre for the U.S. Army. +This big gun can be put into position in 15 minutes and will fire all +around the horizon. The ammunition car for shell and powder is +attached.] + +[Illustration: A MONSTER BRITISH HOWITZER NICKNAMED "GRANNY." + +One of the guns which blasted the way along the Menin Road in the big +offensive. "Shells hastily delivered and with a punch," that's all +Granny had to say. Any German trooper will vouch for its accuracy.] + +[Illustration: THE HANDLEY PAGE SUPER AERIAL BOMBING DREADNAUGHT. + +Designed by Mr. Handley Page, a British manufacturer. It was claimed +that this giant plane could cross the ocean under its own power. + +AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY MARCHING UNDER INSPECTION. + +The Anzacs, famous for their brave and daring accomplishments, and among +the best of fighters.] + +[Illustration: WELCOME HOME, ALL HAIL TO THE CONQUERING HEROES. + +When New York's Negro Soldiers marched amid the cheering crowd, Harlem +was mad with joy over the return of its own.] + +[Illustration: SOME OF THE WOUNDED IN THE NEW YORK PARADE. + +The 369th Colored Regiment was cited as a whole for bravery in +action--at Champagne, Chateau Thierry, Mihiel Salient or in the Argonne, +wherever there was hard fighting to be done.] + +[Illustration: MANUAL OF ARMS OF THE UNITED STATES. + +Showing the different positions in the drill.] + +[Illustration: GROUP OF RUSSIAN SAILORS. They are the first to come to +New York since the United States entered the war.] + +[Illustration: SERBIAN CORPS ORGANIZED IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Hundreds of Serbians organized an army and went to France and joined the +offensive. The photo shows the men leaving San Francisco, where they +were mobilized. The United States paid for the transportation of the +men.] + +"Girls are beginning on the farm at 18 shillings ($4.50) a week; before +the war men farm hands worked for 11 shillings ($2.75). Our women are +milking cows, running steam plows, digging in the fields and giving +complete satisfaction. I dare not venture to predict what will happen in +the future, but we can face it with confidence, I am certain. Now we are +inspired with the spirit of patriotism; we feel we owe our best to our +country; we are ready to suffer hardship just as our brave men are doing +in the trenches. + + +BRITISH WOMEN'S PATRIOTISM. + +"The patriotism of British women had stood a hard test; I hope American +women have an easier trial. Lloyd George says he hopes America will +profit by the mistakes of Britain. For more than a year the government +of this country snubbed and discouraged our women. The government does +not pay women at the same rate as men; it does not give them the same +war bonus. There came a time when the government realized the war could +not be won without the women. Then it issued frantic calls for help, and +the women responded nobly, just as they would have done months before. I +hope your American Government will recognize the value of woman's help +from the very start. + +"Unfortunately I must judge your women largely by those who come over +here for the season in peace days. As I remember they spent a great deal +of time and money at the hairdressers, manicures, dressmaking +establishments and hotels. But I am certain the great majority of +Americans care more for their homes and country and less for display. I +feel that they should concentrate on the production of food. We need all +we can get and then we shall not have as much as we require. Money, food +and ships are the things most needed. + +"Your women have been wonderfully generous in giving us money, +supporting hospitals and sending us supplies. We can use some of your +nurses and women doctors. We have a hospital here in London holding +nearly 1000 soldiers and it is run entirely by women. Our Scottish +women's hospitals have done grand work in the various theaters of war. +Not only the nurses, but the doctors and ambulance drivers are women. We +have supplied about 72,000 women for this work alone." + +"How have women regarded the discipline of army life?" was asked. + +"Wonderfully!" said Lady Frances. "It has been good for them. Just see +our women 'bus conductors. They work hard, handle all kinds of people, +but I never heard them say they are unable to meet the emergencies which +arise. And for the most part they are women who come from very humble +surroundings. You hear that women have broken down in health under their +work, but it seems to me I have read frequently about American business +men suffering from nervous breakdowns and overwork." + + +SUCCESS BUILT ON RUINS OF FAILURE. + +No great victories, either in war or in the ordinary relations of life, +are attained without initial blunders. Many a splendid success is built +upon the ruins of failure, and this is a fact that the women of Europe +learned after the first hysteria occasioned by the marching soldiers, +the beat of drums and all the excitement incident to real warfare. +American women, when they joined hands with the Allies against +Prussianism and all that it meant, builded splendid records of their +usefulness upon the mistakes that these women made. + +In the summer of 1914 every girl and woman clamored to be a nurse. Women +with a great deal of money and no experience opened "hospitals" that +were about as fit for the reception and treatment of wounded men as a +henroost is capable of housing an eagle. They all wanted to be in the +"Red Cross" or "V.A.D." (Voluntary Aid Department) and wear caps and +bandage wounds. + +Then there were the amateur nurses who didn't know much about nursing, +"but would love to try." The daughter of a duke tried to go through a +probationary course at St. Bartholomew's Hospital because she thought +the uniform "perfectly sweet." But of course this element of +"fluffiness" exists on the outside of any great movement. It has to be +blown away so that the hard surface of genuine and practical endeavor +can be seen and felt. And that is what happened to England. The "fluff" +disappeared and women knew where they were, and men realized that women +possess a force, a firm and splendid resolve, that gives them the right +to step beside men in the march toward victory. + +Another craze that amounted to a vice was the furious and ill-considered +efforts of totally unskilled women to make shirts and hospital garments +for soldiers. If some of the results had not been pathetic one could +almost be overcome with the comicality of the whole business. Soldiers' +shirts were turned out by a circle of busily sewing ladies that would +not fit a dwarf, while probably the next batch of garments dispatched +with patriotic fervor to a regimental depot might have been designed for +a race of giants. + + +NATIONAL SERVICE FOR WOMEN. + +National service for women as well as for men proved a very substantial +portion of Great Britain's strength, but before national service had +been generally thought of an organization called the Women's Service +Bureau had been formed by a group of influential and intelligent women +who were imbued with the idea that only by careful and systematized +registration and selection could the matter of feminine war work be +successfully arranged. + +Lady Frances Balfour was the first president of the Women's Service +Bureau, which with the London Society for Suffrage established 62 +branches in the city of London and its suburbs. + +What the women at the head of this society realized was the necessity +for giving the right women the most suitable employment and also to give +every applicant for work helpful and practical advice. The need for +women's labor in the many trades and professions hitherto closed to +them, and for their increased co-operation in those in which they +already took part, has been forced home even to unwilling minds. + +Here and there on the battlefields of Europe--in Bulgaria, Servia, +Roumania, France, Belgium and Russia--have been noted occasionally the +presence of a woman warrior, a modern Joan of Arc. It was not expected, +however, that in America woman would do more than perform the service +work which fell to the lot of the Red Cross nurses and the women +practicing conservation and effecting organization in England. + +But the women of America were not satisfied with "petticoat +preparedness." They rushed to the khaki suits and to the colors with +unexpected enthusiasm. One khaki-clad woman walked from San Francisco to +New York, making recruiting speeches on the way. + +The infantry, the cavalry, the navy, the marines could all point to +their girls in khaki. + + +ALL KINDS OF WOMEN ENLISTED. + +As the women enlisted for all kinds of service, so it may be said all +kinds of women enlisted--that is, women of all ranks of life--some from +society, some from the mills, others from the offices, the shops, the +stage, the restaurants and the colleges. + +Many years ago the country rang with the name of Tippecanoe, and one of +the men who bore arms on the western frontier was William Henry +Harrison. The years went by and Benjamin Harrison came to the White +House as President. + +The Harrison blood showed in the preparedness work, and Old Tippecanoe's +great granddaughter helped to make the women of the country fit for the +burden of war. + +There isn't anything on earth that shows so strongly in the blood as the +soldier element, and Elizabeth Harrison, whose great ancestor faced the +perils of the frontier warfare, was a leader by force of her inherited +ability as a leader. She was elected drill sergeant for the college +girls of the New York University. + +When the war clouds came she was following inherited bent. All of the +Harrison men had been among the country's greatest lawyers and Miss +Harrison was studying for the bar. + +But just as the warwhoop of the West called Tippecanoe from his books +and briefs to bullets and battles, so the daughter of the former +President dropped Blackstone and Kent to take up the Drill Regulations +and the elementary text books of the army. + +She knew that the way to make women fit for their part of war service +was to make them strong and healthy and to give them an idea of the +things that men-at-arms have to do. + + +NOTED WOMEN IN THE WORK. + +So Miss Harrison was one of the first workers in the movement to teach +women the elements of war. Many women of importance in the social and +financial world took up the task with a will, and there was a girl for +every signal flag, a maid for every wireless station, and an angel for +every hospital ward in the making as the men pursued the task of +providing guns and the men behind the guns. + +Miss Harrison and the girls she drilled at the University wore +regulation field service uniform, khaki breeches, coat, heavy shoes and +puttees, and a large hat of military cut. + +The American Woman's League for Self-Defence and Preparedness was the +first woman's military organization in America, according to its +president, Mrs. Ida Powell Priest, who is descended from an old Long +Island family, Thomas Powell being one of her ancestors. + +The first cavalry troop, of which Ethel M. Scheiss was first senior +captain, drilled regularly. Their first appearance mounted caused a mild +sensation on Broadway. They were most impressively stern soldierettes as +they trotted and galloped their horses. + +Everywhere the girl in America strove with helpful earnestness to do +"her bit." Every strata of society called out its members in a wonderful +plan of feminine preparedness. Besides the thousands of women members of +the Red Cross some of the most prominent organizations officered and +planned by women include The National League for Women's Service, which +has branches in every large city in the United States. They enrolled +women as motor car drivers, telegraphers, wireless operators, +agriculturists and skilled mechanics. + +Miss Anne Morgan, as head of this organization, devoted an enormous +amount of energy to the success of the work. + + +OTHER SOCIETIES ORGANIZED. + +Other societies organized were the National Special Aid Society, Service +of Any Kind, Militia of Mercy, which sends and provides bandages and +other necessities and comforts for the soldiers; Girl Scouts of America, +first aid, signalling and drills; Daughters of the American Revolution; +the Suffrage Party and the Anti-Suffrage Society; the International +Child Welfare League and the Girls' National Honor Guard. The Federation +of Women's Clubs all over the United States also organized for any +patriotic service that women could perform. + +A practical way of doing something to help France and Servia was offered +early in the war by the splendid initiative of Dr. Elsie Inglis and the +Scottish Federation of Women's Suffrage Societies, who organized +hospitals for the wounded, the staffs of which were all women, and +called on other societies for their support. + +The London society responded first by subscriptions from individual +members, then by giving beds, then (in February, 1915) by offering +itself as London agent for the hospitals and undertaking all the +practical work, in the sending out of personnel and equipment, which had +to be transacted in London. + +It is only by carefully systematized organization that great work of +this kind can be carried on. The slapdash, haphazard of hysterical +excitement can have no legitimate place in a movement that provides +stepping stones toward the salvation of the civilized world. + +One of the things which will live long in the history of womankind was +the wonderful work done by the magnificently courageous units of Lady +Paget's nursing force, which went out to Servia, when that country was +laid waste not only by the German beasts, but also by disease. + +It was not the fault of those brave women and men that things happened +at Uskub and in other Servian towns that do not bear repeating. + +It was just the lack of thorough preparedness for a war which was much +worse than humanity had thought possible that deepened the tragedy of +their situation. In Servia, in fact, the career of the hospitals was +quite checkered and the service rendered proportionately more vital. + + +LONDON-WALES UNIT. + +At the time of the Austro-German invasion in the autumn of 1915, the +London-Wales Unit was at Valjevo, one of the five Scottish women's +hospitals working in the country. It was under the command of Dr. Alice +Hutchinson and was very highly organized. Doctor Inglis had herself gone +on to Servia to take general charge of the hospitals there in the spring +of 1915. From the time that a typhus epidemic was overcome by women +doctors early in the year to the time of the invasion all seemed to be +going well. Then came three weeks of great pressure of work and of rapid +moves from place to place as the enemy advanced into the country. +Finally, it became a necessity for the personnel of the different units +either to retreat with the Servian army over the mountains into +Montenegro or to fall in the hands of the enemy. + +The story of the retreat is now very generally known. The journey was +one long series of forced marches. Mountains 7000 feet high had to be +traversed in blinding snow, almost the whole journey had to be made on +foot and it was six weeks before the little band reached the coast. +Doctor Inglis meanwhile, with her group of nurses and orderlies, and +Doctor Hutchinson, with the London-Wales Unit, had gallantly stayed +behind and continued to attend to their Servian wounded and to organize +help for them till the work was forcibly stopped by the advancing +Austrian army. + + +UNIT TAKEN PRISONERS. + +After being ordered out of Valjevo, Doctor Hutchinson made several +attempts to organize hospitals in the line of retreat. She was at +Vrnyachka Banja when the Austrians entered the town on November 10, +1915. She and her unit were taken prisoners and interned, first near the +Servian frontier and then in Hungary for three weary months. The +cheerful courage with which the members of the unit bore hardship and +uncertainty and hope deferred has been related by Doctor Hutchinson in a +memorable narrative. Their conditions would have been still more +intolerable and their release would have been still longer delayed if +Doctor Hutchinson herself had not known a great deal more about the +Geneva Convention than the Austrian authorities had ever dreamed. She +was thus able to assert herself on behalf of those under her in a way +which taught her captors something new about British women. At the +beginning of February the unit was at last allowed to cross the frontier +into Switzerland. It reached England on February 12. It was only the +perfection of its organization that carried this brave body of women +through amazing hardships. + +Abroad women chauffeurs became almost as common in the war as men; the +public in Paris and London refused to regard the appearance of a woman +on the streets in cap, "knickers" and puttees or heavy boots as unusual, +and in need they in many instances not only drove "taxi," but guided +ambulances in the hospital service. + +The Red Cross in America, in the matter of preparedness, organized a +class for women chauffeurs. One of these, started in Philadelphia, had +among its instructors Mrs. Thomas Langdon Elwyn and Miss Letitia McKim, +both of whom drove ambulances for the Allies in England. + +The National League for Woman Service, working in conjunction with the +Council of National Defense, canvassed the country through its Bureau of +Registration and Information to provide statistics for mobilizing the +entire woman-force of the Nation; all of which was done with the +approval of the Secretary of Labor. + +Perhaps the outstanding incident of industrial employment among women +was that of several women in France as locomotive engineers. It is true +that they operated only the shunting engines about the yards at the +military camps, but it was noted in dispatches in every quarter of the +globe that Mesdames Louis Debris and Marie Viard, whose husbands were +killed in the war, were piloting the engines which their husbands had +formerly driven. + + +WOMAN'S INGENUITY. + +And woman has proved her ingenuity. In the damp trenches of the +battlefields abroad the men need protection from the dampness and cold, +which ordinary clothing will not provide. It was found that the +leather-lined huntsmen's coats, and the sort of garments worn by the +chauffeur, the aviator and the mountaineer served the men in the +trenches well, and particularly along the Russian frontier and in the +cold mountainous regions. + +But the price of leather soared, with the demand for millions of pairs +of shoes, saddles, harness, headgear, and whatnot, and leather-lined +coats were at a premium. The women were not to be denied, and through +the Suffrage organizations which turned in to prepare America for the +struggle and to render assistance to the Allies, the unique plan was +adopted of making linings for the airmen and soldier's coats of old kid +gloves. + +One group of women in a single section of Philadelphia gathered a +thousand pairs of old gloves in a canvass. The seams were ripped and the +gloves cut down one side and laid open. The fingers of one glove so +treated were dovetailed between the fingers of another glove so cut, and +stitched together. Thus one glove was sewed to another until a section +of leather was formed sufficient to make a lining for a coat. And many +such were devised and incorporated in the garments sent to the front by +the various agencies dominated by the women of the land. + + +WOMEN AS POLICEMEN. + +While women to a limited degree were rendering service as "policemen" in +certain sections of the United States and on Continental Europe the war +was responsible for the development of an organized force in London, +which will probably remain a permanent organization to the end of time. +Miss Darner Dawson is chief of the London woman "bobbies," and M.S. +Allen is chief superintendent. + +The force was organized in 1914, shortly after the outbreak of the war +and has relieved the men of a large amount of responsibility. The force +is uniformed, the women wearing military costumes with visored caps. +They operate under the supervision, or with the authority of Sir Edward +Henry, Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan police, and serve for duty +at the munition plants where women workers are employed, besides doing +regular patrol duty and welfare work. + +The service in London is in the nature of a training for special service +and the women after sufficient experience are sent to suburbs and small +towns to do police duty. They are highly spoken of and declared to be +very efficient, rendering service in the barrooms and looking after +women in a manner that the regular "bobbies" cannot approximate. + +It was declared in England, by way of closing the comment on this phase +of the war that no one thing so stimulated the enlistments for service +as the execution of Miss Edith Cavell, the English nurse who was shot as +a spy by Germany. That her name will go down in history as a martyr to +the cause of liberty and humanity goes without saying. + +Miss Cavell had been a nurse in Brussels, and after the occupation of +the Belgian capital by the Germans, she remained where she used her +private hospital for the nursing of wounded soldiers; not excluding the +Germans. It had been intimated that she had better cross the border, but +she insisted on remaining at her post. Ultimately she was accused of +being one of the instigators of a plot to smuggle English, French and +Belgian soldiers across the lines, and of serving the enemies of +Germany. + +To the German mind she was more than a spy; Her conduct was +reprehensible, because in the capacity of nurse she had won a degree of +confidence. She was therefore held as a spy and traitor. And though +Brand Whitlock, America's Minister to Belgium, and other diplomats +sought to save her, she was shot by the ruthless Germans. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE TERRIBLE PRICE. + +A NATION OF MEN DESTROYED--MILLIONS IN SHIPPING AND COMMERCE +DESTROYED--WORLD'S MAPS CHANGED--BILLIONS IN MONEY--IMMENSE +DEBTS--NATION'S WEALTH--THE UNITED STATES A GREAT PROVIDER. + + +The human tongue seems almost devoid of power to convey to the human +mind what the war has actually cost the world in lives, money, property, +ideals and all that is dear to humanity. In all the world there is not a +human being who has not contributed something to the awful cost and the +loss due to the destruction of property, the stopping of industry, the +waste of energy and the curtailment of human endeavor in the interest of +civilization, and the effects which the struggle has had upon the world +cannot even be approximated in dollars and cents. + +We have been taught to regard war as a terrible thing and to realize +that thousands must be slain, but in no war in the history of the world +has there been as many troops engaged as have been killed in the +European war on the battlefields of Belgium and France. + +At the beginning of the year 1917 it was estimated that the total +casualties of the war were 22,500,000. In a report based on figures +compiled in Washington it was stated: The human estimated waste and +financial outlay are staggering. The combined casualties of the war, +partly estimated because all belligerents do not publish lists, are +22,500,000. The figures included killed, permanently injured, prisoners +and wounded returned to the front. Of this number the Central Powers +were estimated to have suffered permanent losses in excess of 4,000,000, +and the entente perhaps twice that number, Russia being by far the +heaviest loser. + +The financial outlay, based in part on official reports and statements +and in part on estimates, was placed at approximately $80,000,000,000, +divided $50,000,000,000 to the entente and $30,000,000,000 to the +Central Powers. The entente lost more than 3,500,000 tons of merchant +shipping and approximately 800,000 tons of naval vessels. On the other +side the loss of naval tonnage was approximately 250,000 tons, and +merchant ships aggregating 211,000 tons were reported captured or +destroyed. + + +IMMENSE LOSS TO COMMERCE. + +Of the foreign commerce the Central Powers had lost $10,000,000,000 in +the two and a half years of war, including imports and exports. The loss +of commerce of Great Britain and her allies with the Central Powers +probably was in the neighborhood of $7,000,000. This was largely made up +at least on the import side by increased trade with the United States +and other neutral countries and enlarged trade with the colonies. + +Germany lost virtually all her African colonies and all her possessions +in the Pacific Ocean, an aggregate of more than 1,000,000 square miles. +Turkey also lost a large area of territory held at the outbreak of the +war, while Austria lost most of Bukowina and Galicia. To offset the +territory losses of the Central Powers, the entente have lost in Europe +approximately 300,000 square miles. Of this large area, all of it +thickly populated in normal times, 175,000 square miles were wrested +from Russia on the eastern battlefield. + +The staggering losses in men include the vast number on both sides +wounded in such a way as to permanently cripple them and render them +unfit for military service. The figures are based on official reports +and estimates by military experts. + +Germany's permanent losses were placed at 1,500,000 men, including about +1,000,000 in killed. The permanent losses of Austria-Hungary were placed +at about 1,000,000 more than those of Germany, owing to the fact that so +much of the hard fighting on the eastern front was in the +Austro-Hungarian theater. The losses of the Austro-Hungarians during the +drive of General Brusiloff in 1916 were frightful. Large numbers of +Austrians were taken prisoner by Brusiloff. + +Russia's casualties for the first year of the war were estimated by +military experts at more than 3,500,000 men, and these were doubled in +the succeeding year, according to estimates by American military +experts. Russia returned to the fighting line a smaller percentage of +wounded than any of the other great Powers. + + +GREAT BRITAIN'S CASUALTIES. + +Great Britain's casualties were placed in excess of 1,250,000 despite +the limited front of British operations in France in the early stages. +The aggregate of Italy's casualties was estimated at 1,500,000, while +Belgium's were placed at 200,000, Servians at 400,000, Montenegro's at +150,000 and Rumania's at more than 300,000. + +While the area of the territorial losses of the Central Powers was +nearly four times as great as that of the entente group, with the +exception of the occupied portions of Bukowina and Galicia, the value of +the territory included in them is comparatively small. For example, +Germany's African colonies were sparsely settled, largely by natives, +with virtually all development in the future. Despite this fact, their +loss was a severe blow to Germany. + +The territorial losses of the entente covered all but a small corner of +Belgium, a highly developed, thickly populated industrial country; a +large slice of northern France, virtually all of Servia, all of +Montenegro, more than three-fourths of Rumania and 175,000 square miles +of Russia, the major part of it in the grain-growing section. + +According to military experts on the "war map" of Europe as it stood at +that time, the Central Powers had won the war. But when their enormous +loss of foreign commerce and territory is considered, their "victory" +was shown to have most decided limitations, especially because of their +admission that they eventually would have to give up all occupied +territory in view of the frightful cost in men and money. + + +FIGURES POSITIVELY STAGGERING. + +Supplementing these statements, as showing the progress of the war, it +was stated just before the United States took its memorable step to +break off diplomatic relations with Germany, members of the National War +Council estimated the total casualties of the war at that time as in +excess of the population of the United Kingdom, which in 1911 was more +than 45,000,000. This of course included those maimed, injured or so +stricken that they were unfit for future service. The number actually +killed was estimated at more than 7,000,000. + +Staggering as these figures are they are easily conceivable when it is +remembered that the German front lines covered more than 500 miles with +Allied troops opposing them, and that in a single battle millions of +shells were fired by one side or the other. In one battle it was +officially reported that 4,000,000 shot and shell were used, and in +another the English mined the German trenches for a distance of several +miles and blew out the strongholds, using more than 1,000,000 pounds of +high explosives. + +One of the great 42-centimeter guns of the Germans is said to have used +a charge of guncotton involving the use of a full bale of cotton to make +the explosive--and a bale of cotton contains 500 pounds. The shrapnel of +the heavy field artillery of the United States contains 717 balls or +bullets about the size of a common marble, and the shell, so timed that +it explodes just before it touches the ground, scatters the bullets or +balls over an area estimated at one yard for every bullet, or more than +700 yards. With thousands of such shells being rained over the +entrenchments is it any wonder that the list of wounded and killed was +great? + +Thousands were killed by poisoned gases, and where they were not killed +a very large percentage of those affected suffered consequences which +rendered them unfit for battle--turned them into invalids. The gas bombs +produced hemorrhages of the lungs and bowels in thousands of cases and +left those who inhaled the fumes in an anemic and permanently disabled +condition. And what of the thousands who succumbed to fevers, and who +because of the terrible shock became mental and physical wrecks and were +made unfit for further duty on the actual firing lines? + + +A MATTER OF DOLLARS AND CENTS. + +When it comes to the cost in dollars and cents it is possible to tell +something of what they mean with reference to war construction and +maintenance, although no one can estimate what it represents in +destruction. No one has yet devised an accounting system to determine +the percentage of "depreciation" through wear and tear on guns and +devices that cost thousands of dollars each, but everybody knows that +guns wear out and that some of the larger ones have a very decided limit +on the number of times they can be fired without being rebored or +rifled. + +Railroads which have taken years to build and develop have been +destroyed, telephone and telegraph lines put out of commission, great +castles and temples razed, works of art burned, whole cities devastated, +green fields turned into great craters torn up by bombs and shells, +factories dismantled, herds of cattle fed into the maw of the armies, +and the ruthless Germans even went so far as to wantonly cut down and +destroy whole forests and magnificent shade trees which it took +generations to grow. + +How the indebtedness of the nations grew during the progress of the war +is shown in the following statement issued by some of the financial +institutions of the country in the Spring of 1917: + +"Indebtedness of the seven principal nations engaged in the European war +has crossed $75,000,000,000. In the middle of 1914 the indebtedness of +these seven nations was $27,000,000,000." + +Financing on an extensive scale followed this state of affairs. France +issued a second formal war loan, Germany a fifth loan and Russia a sixth +loan. Great Britain issued temporary securities in enormous sums. + +The war cost $105,000,000 every twenty-four hours, according to the +statistics, expenditures of the Entente Allies being fully double those +of the Central Allies. + + +COMPARATIVE WAR EXPENSES. + +Without for one moment taking into consideration the billions which were +thrown into the war-pot by America the figures are staggering. An +interesting comparison is found in the cost of the previous great world +wars. The American Civil War, the greatest conflict in prior history +cost $8,000,000,000, a sum equalled every three months in the conduct of +the European war. + + Approximate cost. + Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815 $6,250,000,000 + American Civil War, 1861-1864 8,000,000,000 + Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871 3,000,000,000 + South African War, 1900-1902 1,250,000,000 + Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905 2,500,000,000 + European War, 1914-1917 (3 years) 75,000,000,000 + +It was further estimated that after the year 1917, the payment of +$3,800,000,000 a year would be required to pay the interest on the debt, +and that the total Government expenditures in Europe for bond interest +and support of the various branches of the Governments would require in +the neighborhood of 20 per cent of the people's income. + + +POPULATION AND WEALTH OF COUNTRIES. + +Another comparative table that is important to any one desiring to study +the costs and their effects is that relating to population and wealth of +the principal countries. The latest available figures are: + + Population Wealth + United States 101,577,000 $187,739,071,090 + British Empire 394,930,000 130,000,000,000 + Germany 67,810,000 80,000,000,000 + France 39,700,000 50,000,000,000 + Russia 187,379,000 40,000,000,000 + Austria-Hungary 53,000,000 25,000,000,000 + Spain 20,000,000 5,400,000,000 + Belgium 7,500,000 9,000,000,000 + Portugal 5,958,000 2,500,000,000 + Italy 37,048,000 20,000,000,000 + +Taxes have been the main sources for raising money to carry on the war. +In Germany taxes on all incomes from the Kaiser to the ordinary business +man were kept at the highest rate, the Kaiser paying $500,000 on his +fortune of $35,000,000 during the early part of the struggle. This was +in addition to his income tax which amounted to $440,000, making a total +annual tax of nearly $1,000,000. The Krupps are said to have been +assessed at $3,000,000. + +When the new military service laws were approved in Paris, which was +about the middle of July, 1913, the French Cabinet was at its wit's end +to provide the financial end of the tremendous military budget. +Investment markets were sluggish, and there were thousands of notes +whose values were rapidly depreciating. The French Government was unable +to float a loan of $200,000,000 which was necessary for making +preparations. + +Then in her desperation Paris closed her doors to all foreign loans. +The Viviani Ministry practically duplicated the plan of its predecessor +in proposing an issue of $360,000,000 3-1/2 per cent bonds, which were +redeemable in 25 years. + +One year previously to this financial struggle the Belgian Government +had started to raise $62,800,000 in order that the people of this +country might prevent its being used as the battleground for the world +war which they had seen away off in the future. This money was raised +for the purpose of making Antwerp an impregnable fortress. + + +IMMENSE SUM FOR ARMY AND NAVY. + +Russia had taken steps to raise $3,700,000,000 which the Russian +Minister of Finance had informed the Budget Committee must be spent in +the next five years on the army and navy. During the first year of the +war there was $500,000,000 spent by this country in military and naval +defence. This does not include the cost of those strategic railroads of +which so many were constructed by the Russian Government, and which cost +so many hundreds of thousands of dollars. + +Previous to the time Great Britain declared war on Germany the House of +Commons had voted $525,000,000 for Emergency purposes, and within a +couple of days of this appropriation an additional $500,000,000 was +granted by the British Parliament. + +One of the things accomplished by war was to bring out the fact that the +resources of individuals are far greater than is ordinarily suspected. +In 1870 Bismarck imposed an indemnity of $1,000,000,000 on France, never +believing that country could meet the great debt, but with the help of +all the inhabitants the debt was lifted within a few months. + +When countries are at war the cost of continuing fighting does not stop +with those actually engaged. The trade of the world is affected, and +this means loss in all quarters of the globe. Of the import trade of the +United States more than $500,000,000 was directly with those nations +engaged in the war at the opening of hostilities. This was out of a +total of $1,850,000,000. A great part of this commerce is classed as +among that which yields the greatest import tax, which means that +internal taxes must be imposed on the people to make up for the money +necessary to meet with the yearly loss occasioned during the continuance +of the war. + + +ANNUAL NATIONAL INCOME. + +In the United States there is an annual national income of +$50,000,000,000, the total bank resources being $35,000,000,000, the +individual deposits being $24,000,000,000, with cash held by the banks +totaling $2,500,000,000, total gold stock in the country being +$3,000,000,000, and available additional commercial credits on the basis +of cash holdings totaling $6,000,000,000. + +The borrowing power of the American Government does not total less than +$40,000,000,000, from domestic sources, and this does not disturb the +ordinary financial and economical affairs of the nation. + +During the first five months in 1917 the Government of the United States +reached a record for expenditures never before equalled in American +history. The total amount expended was $1,600,000,000. + +The chief item of the increase--$607,500,000--was the purchase of the +obligations of foreign Governments in exchange for loans advanced to the +Allies. The sum did not represent by approximately $140,000,000 the +total amount authorized in loans. An increase of approximately +$245,000,000 in the ordinary disbursements of the Government, chiefly +due to military and naval needs, also was recorded and another item +going to swell the grand total of expenditures was the payment of +$25,000,000 for purchase of the Danish West Indies. + +War loans of the six chief European belligerents, early in 1917, +aggregated approximately $53,113,000,000. + +Loans of the chief Entente nations, Great Britain, France, Russia and +Italy, were placed at about $36,300,000,000; those of Germany and +Austria-Hungary, not including the sixth German loan reported to have +yielded about $3,000,000,000, at $18,800,000,000. + +The amounts of the various loans were placed at: + +Great Britain, to March 31, 1917, $18,805,000,000; France, to February +28, $10,500,000,000; Russia, to December 31, 1916, $7,896,000,000; +Italy, to December 31, 1916, $2,520,000,000; Germany, to December 31, +1916, $11,226,000,000; Austria, to December 31, 1916, $5,880,000,000; +Hungary, $1,730,000,000. + +The total included the advances made by the United Kingdom and France to +the smaller belligerent countries allied with them. + + +SOME IDEA OF NATIONAL FINANCING. + +Some idea of what all this financing means to a country may be judged by +the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who in October, 1916, +replying to questions regarding the English loans in the House of +Commons, declared that England was paying at that time about $10,000,000 +a day in the United States, for every working day in the year. + +When the English mission visited the United States in May, 1917, after +the country had entered the war, there was handed to Arthur James +Balfour, ex-Premier of England, a check for $200,000,000, said to have +been one of the largest single checks ever paid in this country. It was +a loan for war purposes. In the month of June it was stated that the +total advance made to the Allies was $923,000,000, among the loans made +then was one of $75,000,000 to Great Britain, and $3,000,000 to Servia. +The Servian loan, the first made by the United States to that country, +was mainly for the improvement of railway lines. A small portion was +used for the relief of the distressed population, and Red Cross work. + +It was stated that the allied countries would spend in America, in the +neighborhood of $200,000,000 a month for the year; which brings +attention to the resources which America turned in against Germany when +she joined the allied forces. To meet the demands made upon it the +Government borrowed at once $3,000,000,000 by popular subscription--a +matter of history of which the nation is proud. + +From its funds the country loaned Russia $100,000,000, which was the +first loan made by the United States to that Government. A credit of +$45,000,000 to Belgium was also established by the Secretary of the +Treasury. This also was Belgium's first participation in the loan of the +Allies. + + +COUNTRY'S NATURAL RESOURCES. + +Aside from the financial resources of the United States, the country is +undoubtedly the richest in agricultural, mineral and other natural +resources. It annually produces more than 3,500,000,000 bushels of corn, +wheat touching the high point of 1,500,000,000 bushels; 1,600,000,000 +bushels of oats; 250,000,000 bushels of barley; 40,000,000 bushels of +rye; 22,000,000 bushels of buckwheat; 425,000,000 bushels of potatoes; +77,000,000 tons of hay; 30,000,000 bushels of flaxseed; 7,000,000,000 +pounds of cotton; more than 1,000,000,000 pounds of tobacco; 2,000,000 +long tons of sugar and 275,000,000 pounds of wool. + +There are nearly 70,000,000 swine, and as many cattle, more than +25,000,000 head of horses and mules, and 62,000,000 sheep. Coal is mined +at the rate of more than 500,000,000 tons yearly, and the copper mines +yield 1,250,000,000 pounds of metal. Petroleum wells yield 225,500,000 +barrels yearly. There are 270,000 manufacturing plants with a yearly +output of more than $25,000,000,000. The products of the farm total more +than $11,000,000,000 annually. + +As to Germany's position, economists all over the world have considered +her position as not only lacking soundness, but as crazy--crazy in that +no attention whatever has apparently been paid to what are recognized +as firmly fixed economic laws. The world has been at a loss to +understand Germany's attitude, and it can only be explained by assuming +that Germany was perfectly well aware of the entire unsoundness of her +commercial and financial position, and was willing, or, in fact, had to +risk everything with the hope of acquiring sufficient indemnity, +resulting from the war, to bring her financial affairs to a sound basis. +Germany's entire structure from the close of the Franco-Prussian war +evidently was built upon rotten foundations. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE WORLD RULERS AT WAR. + +WOODROW WILSON, THE CHAMPION OF DEMOCRACY--THE EGOTISTICAL KAISER--THE +GERMAN CROWN PRINCE--BRITAIN'S MONARCH--CONSTANTINE WHO QUIT RATHER THAN +FIGHT GERMANY--PRESIDENT POINCAIRE--AND OTHER NATIONAL HEADS. + + +No matter what the human frailties may be there are always men who rise +in the stress of circumstances to unexpected heights. They thrive upon +difficulties and in the emergencies become protectors and saviors of +men. In the world's greatest melting-pot--the burned and blood-stained +battlefields of Europe--there were tried and tested millions of men of +all nationalities and characteristics, and though the experience was one +of bitterness, there was found in it the satisfaction that in their own +way millions of men proved themselves great. + +Out of the hordes that rode over mountains, sailed the seas or picked +their way through trenches and across the scarred surface of the earth +there looms the figures of some whose names will go down in history for +all time. Their names will be written indelibly upon the pages of life +and they will be known for ages after the evidences of the great strife +have been obliterated and the peace for which the world struggled has +been made a permanent thing. + +Among those whose names will be forever linked with the terrible war as +a leader of men--whose figure stands out against the mass of +humanity--is Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America. +Though he neither faced bullets nor tramped the historic byways of +Europe in the terrible struggle, he was to all intents and purposes the +commander-in-chief of all the world forces seeking to break the +autocratic domination of the Hohenzollerns of Germany and give +democracy its place among the nations of the world which its character +justifies. + +President Wilson, when he was elevated to the highest position in +America which the Nation could bestow, was recognized as one of the +greatest essayists and students of history, political economy, +constitutional law and government in the country. And those who made +light of his "book-learning" and referred to him as "the school-master +president," came to know that his training and the very character of his +life's work fitted him better than probably any other man in America to +deal with the great national and international problems which +confronted, which culminated with or grew out of America's entrance into +the great war. + + +WILSON'S MANY HONORS. + +He was born in Staunton, Va., in 1856, the son of Rev. Joseph Woodrow +Wilson, and received his early education at Davidson College, N.C. +Subsequently he received a degree at Princeton University and graduated +in law at the University of Virginia, later practicing law at Atlanta. +After this he received degrees at Johns Hopkins, Rutgers, University of +Pennsylvania, Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale Colleges, and was +professor of history and political economy, first at Bryn Mawr College +and later at Wesleyan University, and finally professor of jurisprudence +and political economy, then jurisprudence and politics and afterward +president at Princeton University, from which post he was elected +Governor of the State of New Jersey in 1913. He resigned from the +Governorship and was elected President of the United States for a term +beginning March, 1913, and was re-elected in November, 1916, for a +second term beginning March, 1917, both times on the Democratic ticket. + +As against the figure of President Wilson there stands that of the +Emperor William of Germany, whose policies indirectly precipitated the +war and impelled the alignment of nations to defend themselves against +his autocratic domination. For years the head of the House of +Hohenzollern, descendant of the ancient margraves of Germany who have +battled with the old Romans, made it manifest in speech and by action +that his ambition was to create a world empire. + + +GERMANY MUST BE RECKONED WITH. + +Once at the launching of one of the great German warships he said: "The +ocean teaches us that on its waves and on its most distant shores no +great decision can any longer be taken without Germany and without the +German Emperor. I do not think that it was in order to allow themselves +to be excluded from big foreign affairs that, thirty years ago, our +people, led by their princes, conquered and shed their blood. Were the +German people to let themselves be treated thus, it would be, and +forever, the end of their world-power; and I do not mean that that shall +ever cease. To employ, in order to prevent it, the suitable means, if +need be extreme means, is my duty and my highest privilege." + +In a famous interview in the London "Daily Mail" in 1908, discussing the +attitude of Germany toward England, the Kaiser was quoted as follows: + +"You English," he said, "are mad, mad, mad as March hares. What has come +over you that you are so completely given over to suspicions quite +unworthy of a great nation? What more can I do than I have done? I +declared with all the emphasis at my command, in my speech at Guildhall, +that my heart is set upon peace, and that it is one of my dearest wishes +to live on the best of terms with England. Have I ever been false to my +word? Falsehood and prevarication are alien to my nature. My actions +ought to speak for themselves, but you listen not to them but to those +who misinterpret and distort them. That is a personal insult which I +feel and resent. To be forever misjudged, to have my repeated offers of +friendship weighed and scrutinized with jealous, mistrustful eyes, +taxes my patience severely. I have said time after time that I am a +friend of England, and your Press--or at least a considerable section of +it--bids the people of England refuse my proffered hand, and insinuates +that the other holds a dagger. How can I convince a nation against its +will?" + +And then as if to impress upon the world the belief that he was chosen +of God, the Kaiser repeatedly gave voice to such bombastic utterances as +when to his son in Brandenburg, he declared: "I look upon the people and +nation handed on to me as a responsibility conferred upon me by God, and +that it is, as is written in the Bible, my duty to increase this +heritage, for which one day I shall be called upon to give an account; +those who try to interfere with my task I shall crush." + + +THE "GOD-APPOINTED" HOHENZOLLERNS. + +Again he expressed the same sentiment when he said: "It is a tradition +of our House, that we, the Hohenzollerns, regard ourselves as appointed +by God to govern and to lead the people, whom it is given us to rule, +for their well-being and the advancement of their material and +intellectual interests." + +And finally in his address to the people in August, 1914, he said at the +beginning of war: "A fateful hour has fallen for Germany. Envious +peoples everywhere are compelling us to our just defence. The sword has +been forced into our hands. I hope that if my efforts at the last hour +do not succeed in bringing our opponents to see eye to eye with us and +in maintaining the peace, we shall, with God's help, so wield the sword +that we shall restore it to its sheath again with honor. + +"War would demand of us an enormous sacrifice in property and life, but +we should show our enemies what it means to provoke Germany. And now I +commend you to God. Go to church and kneel before God, and pray for His +help for our gallant army." + +This is the picture of "Kaiser Bill" whose egotism gave expression to +itself in 1910 when in a speech he said: "Considering myself as the +instrument of the Lord, without heeding the views and opinions of the +day, I go my way." + + +EMPEROR WILLIAM'S CHILDREN. + +William II, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia, was born +January 27, 1859, succeeding his father, Emperor Frederick the +III, in June, 1888. He married the Princess Augusta Victoria, of +Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and had the following +issue: Frederick William, Crown Prince, born May 6, 1882; William +Eitel-Frederick, born 1883; Adalbert, born 1884; August, born 1887; +Oscar, born 1888; Joachim, born 1890, and Victoria Louise, born 1892. + +Crown Prince Frederick William is one of the remarkable figures of the +war. A profound admirer of Napoleon he has always made a close study of +that great French soldier, and has long been one of the leaders of the +war-seeking element in Germany. The Crown Prince, who was born in 1882, +is tall, slim and impulsive. The late Queen Victoria, his great +grandmother, was his godmother. + +After he had completed a military course he attended Bonn University, +and on the completion of his college course he set out on extensive +travels. After his return he was placed in the offices of the Potsdam +provincial government so that he might study local administration. After +completing this study he was given a course in the intricate routine +through which two-thirds of the German people are governed, by being +placed in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior. Naval administration +has also been a part of the studies of the Crown Prince, in fact he was +deeply engrossed in that study when the war was declared. + +The Crown Prince married Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in +1905. + +King George V, of Great Britain, the only surviving son of the late King +Edward, was born in 1865. He was the second son of the king, his brother +Prince Albert, the heir to the throne, dying suddenly in 1892 and +bringing the second son, who had been destined for the navy, into direct +succession. In 1893 Princess Mary of Teck, who was to have married +Prince Albert, was married to Prince George, and there is one daughter, +Princess Mary, and five sons--Edward, Prince of Wales, and Princes +Albert, Henry, George and John. + + +THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT. + +Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, who is now Governor General of +Canada, is an uncle of the King. He was married to Princess +Louise-Margaret of Prussia, the daughter of Prince Frederick-Charles of +Prussia and Princess Marie-Anne of Anhalt. He has three children; +Margaret, the oldest, is the Crown Princess of Sweden; Prince Arthur is +married to his cousin, Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife, and Princess +Victoria-Patricia, who is unmarried. + +King Edward had three brothers and five sisters, two brothers falling +heir in turn to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. + +King George V is uncle by blood to Olaf, Crown Prince of Norway, and by +marriage with Queen Mary, to three Princes and three Princesses of Teck. +He is brother-in-law to King Haakon VII of Norway and Prince of Denmark, +Duke Adolph of Teck, and Prince Alexander of Teck. He is a first cousin +on his father's side to Emperor William II of Germany, and his brothers +and sisters, among whom, principally, is the Queen of Greece; to +Ernst-Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, and his four sisters, one of whom is +the wife of Prince Henry of Prussia, and another is Alice, former +Czarina of Russia. The first and second cousins of the King run well up +into the hundreds. + +The Royal Family of Belgium was founded when, in 1831, the people +elected King Leopold I to rule the destinies of that country. The king +was married to Princess Louise of Orleans, after which practically all +the marriages of the family were with the southern group of royal +houses. + +There were three children born to the couple, the oldest son succeeding +to the throne as King Leopold II. The latter married Archduchess Marie +Henriette of Austria. One son, and three daughters were born, the son +dying when he was 23 years old. The oldest of the daughters became the +wife of Prince Philip of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the second wedding Crown +Prince Rudolph of Austria-Hungary, who died in youth, and the third +becoming the wife of Prince Napoleon Bonaparte. The daughter of Leopold +I is the widow of the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, who was +executed there in 1867. + + +SECOND SON OF LEOPOLD I. + +The second son of Leopold I was Philip, the Count of Flanders, who was +married to Princess Marie of Hohenzollern, sister of the Prince Leopold +of Hohenzollern and King Charles of Roumania. The son to this marriage +is King Albert of Belgium, who succeeded his uncle, Leopold II, in 1909. +The Queen of Belgium is Princess Elizabeth of the Ducal House of +Bavaria. Through her King Albert is allied to the Crown Prince of +Bavaria, the Grand Duchess of Luxemburg, the Duke of Parma, the late +Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and the present heir-apparent, Archduke +Charles Francis Joseph. The King and Queen have two sons, Leopold, born +in 1902, and Charles Theodore, who is two years younger. There is also a +daughter, the Princess Marie-Josephine, born in 1906. + +King Nicholas I, ruler of the picturesque little country of Montenegro, +which was the scene of much bitter fighting, was born October 7, 1841, +and proclaimed Prince of Montenegro, as successor to his uncle Danilo I, +in 1860. He became king in 1910. Nicholas I married Milena Petrovna +Vucotic. The children are Princess Militza, who married the Russian +Grand Duke Peter Nikolaievitch; Princess Stana, who married George, Duke +of Leuchtenberg, but which marriage was dissolved, the Princess +subsequently marrying the Russian Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaievitch. The +other children are Prince Danilo Alexander, heir-apparent; Princess +Helena, who married Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy; Princess Anna, who +married Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg; Prince Mirko, who married +Natalie Constantinovitch; Princess Zenia, Princess Vera and finally +Prince Peter, who was born in 1889. + + +KING OF SERVIA. + +Peter I, King of Servia, one of the figures of the war, is the son of +Alexander Kara-Georgevitch. He was born in Belgrade in 1844, and was +proclaimed King after the murder of King Alexander and Queen Draga. He +ascended the throne on June 2, 1903. He was married in 1883 to Princess +Zorka, of Montenegro, who died in 1890. He has two sons and a daughter; +George, who was born in 1887, and who renounced his right to the throne +in 1909; Alexander, born in 1889, and Helen, who was born in 1884. +Because of his ill health King Peter, for a long time, delegated +authority to his son Alexander for the purpose of government. + +Nicholas II, the last Czar of Russia, who abdicated in June, 1917, was +born May 18, 1868, and succeeded his father, Emperor Alexander III, on +November 1, 1894. He married Princess Alexandra Alice, daughter of +Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and has four daughters and one son: +Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia and Alexis. + +The family is descended in the female line from Michael Romanof, first +elected Czar in 1613, and, in the male line, from Duke Karl Frederick of +Holstein-Gottorp. As the result of intermarriages and connections with +the royal houses of Germany, they are practically Germans by blood. + +It was in fact the German influence, which is said to have been the +immediate cause of the revolt in the great country. + +The revolution may be said to have had its inception when a small group +of men opposed to the German influence at court assassinated the monk +Gregory Rasputin, who had a great influence over the Czar. + + +A REACTIONARY CABINET INSTALLED. + +Czar Nicholas in anger dismissed Premier Trepoff and installed a +thoroughly reactionary Cabinet. Trepoff had been in office only a short +time, having followed M. Sturmer, who had bitterly fought the Duma. It +had been commonly reported that the real power in the Russian Government +after Sturmer went out was in the hands of the Minister of the Interior, +M. Protopopoff. Sturmer had been called to the premiership to succeed M. +Goremykin, who was in office when the war began. + +The fact that Michael Rodzianko, president of the Duma and one of the +leading advocates of liberalization of the Government, was named as the +chief figure in the provisional government, showed that the movement is +in the hands of the same forces which had demanded the overthrow of the +bureaucracy and a more energetic prosecution of the war. + +There were many changes in the Russian Government during the war, +although the censorship was enforced so rigidly that the significance of +the rapid shifts was apparent. Vague reports reached the outside world +of high councilors of State who were obstructing instead of assisting +the work of carrying on the war, and the strength of German influence at +Petrograd. The most conspicuous case of this sort was that of General +Soukhomlinoff, former Minister of War, who was dismissed from office and +imprisoned as a result of charges of criminal negligence and high +treason. + +M. Sazonoff, Russia's Foreign Minister at the beginning of the war and +an ardent believer in the prosecution of the war, was deposed early in +the reactionary regime and sent as envoy to London. It was suggested +that the motive for this was not to honor an anti-German, but to get him +out of Russia. + + +MEMBERS OF THE RUSSIAN CABINET. + +The members of the Russian Cabinet, as announced for the Provisional +Government, were: + +Prince Georges E. Lvov, well known as president of the Zemstvos' Union, +Prime Minister. + +Alexander J. Guchkoff, Minister of the Interior. + +Paul Milukoff, well known as a Constitutional Democrat leader, Minister +of Foreign Affairs. + +M. Pokrovski, Minister of Finance. + +General Manikovski, chief of the Artillery Department, War Minister. + +M. Savitch, Minister of Marine. + +M. Maklakoff, Minister of Justice. + +M. Kovalevski, Minister of Education. + +M. Nekrasoff, Minister of Railways. + +M. Konovaloff, Moscow merchant, Minister of Commerce and Industry. + +M. Rodischneff, Secretary for Finland. + +M. Kerenski, Minister without portfolio. + +The executive committee of the Imperial Duma, as the provisional +Government styles itself, is composed of twelve members, under M. +Rodzianko, including two Socialists, two Conservatives, three Moderates, +five Constitutional Democrats and Progressives. + +Constantine I, King of Greece, who abdicated in favor of his son, Prince +Alexander, on June 11, 1917, under pressure from the Allied countries, +was born in 1868. His father, King George, was assassinated at Salonica +on March 18, 1913. The abdication of King Constantine in June, 1917, was +due to his opposition to the forces in the government which desired to +join the Allies in the war against Germany. The influence in favor of +the Germans in the royal family of Greece was Queen Sophia, a sister of +the Kaiser. + +For a time Constantine was a veritable idol in Greece. In 1896 when his +country was drifting into war with Turkey, he sounded a warning that the +Greek army was unprepared for a campaign. The infantry was armed with +condemned French rifles; the cartridges were 15 years old; there was no +cavalry; the artillery was obsolete, and the officers few. When the +country went to war despite his warning, the result was a disastrous +defeat. A similar situation developed when King George tried to oppose +the popular clamor for the annexation of Crete. The King knew that +Turkey was waiting for another opportunity to crush Greece, and there +was a second uprising. + + +CONSTANTINE BECOMES AN IDOL. + +Constantine had been in command of the military forces, and King George +was obliged to dismiss him as Generalissimo. In the Balkan war of 1912, +however, when he led an army of 10,000 Greeks to the capture of +Salonica, causing 30,000 Turks to lay down arms, he became an idol. On +ascending the throne, it was said that he aimed to restore the grandeur +of the ancient Hellenic Empire, and that he was a firm believer in the +old national prophecy that, under the reign of a "Constantine and a +Sophia," the Eastern Empire would be rejuvenated and the cross restored +on Saint Sophia in Constantinople, supplanting the Crescent of the Turk. +In fact, after the Balkan war, when Greece added a section of Turkish +territory to her domain, and the islands of Crete were annexed, King +Constantine hoisted the ancient Hellenic flag over the fort. + +The climax in Grecian affairs was precipitated when Turkey entered the +great World War on the side of Germany. The question of intervention on +the part of Greece arose, and King Constantine insisted on strict +neutrality being observed. The cabinet, headed by Premier Venizelos, +which was for war on the side of the Allies, tendered its resignation. +When the operations began against the Dardanelles the Government +believed that the time had come for Greece to enter the war. The King +refused to countenance the plan, arguing that the sending of forces to +the Dardanelles would dangerously weaken the Greek defences on the +Bulgarian frontier. Queen Sophia was regarded as bitterly opposed to the +country joining the Allies, and was reported to have threatened several +times to leave the country. + +The criticism directed against Constantine was severe because, under the +terms of the treaty made in the Balkan war, Greece was committed to ally +herself with Servia if that country were attacked by another power. +Austria did invade Servia, but Constantine asserted that the treaty +applied only to an attack by another Balkan nation. + + +ACCUSED OF EVASION. + +The occupation by troops of the Entente Powers of a part of Macedonia, +and the seizure of Salonica as their base, involved the King of Greece +in a long series of clashes with the Entente commanders, and he was +accused of evasion and attempting to gain time in the interests of +Germany. A temporary understanding was obtained, but meantime the +provisional government, headed by Venizelos, had been growing in +strength, and obtained the recognition of the Entente Powers. + +The Allies laid an embargo on the supplies of Greece, and Constantine +was denounced by the people of Crete and other territory, who demanded +his dethronement. This was the situation, in a general way, which led to +his abdication and his retirement to Berlin, with the Queen, in the +summer of 1917. + +Alexander, who succeeded his father, was a second son, born August 1, +1893. He was a captain in the First Regiment, artillery, in the Greek +army. + +Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, who threw the weight of his country with +the Allies, repudiating the treaty with Germany and Austria-Hungary +which established what was known as the Triple Entente, was born in +1869, the only son of King Humbert, second King of United Italy, who was +murdered at Monza, in July, 1900. Victor Emmanuel married Princess +Elena, daughter of Nicholas, King of Montenegro, and has four children: +Princess Yolanda, Princess Mafalda; Prince Humbert, heir-apparent, and +Princess Giovanna. The mother of King Emmanuel--Dowager Queen +Margherita--is a daughter of the later Prince Ferdinand of Savoy. + + +TRAGEDY THE PATHWAY TO THRONE. + +Charles I, the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, was born in 1887 +and succeeded his grand uncle, Francis Joseph I, in November, 1916. His +way to the throne lay through tragedy, for he came into the crown +immediately through the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, +heir-apparent, and his morganatic wife Countess Sophie Chotek, in +Bosnia, and which crime was the signal for the war. Nor would Charles +have been entitled to succeed to the throne but for the fact that the +Archduke Rudolf, heir-apparent to the throne, committed suicide in 1889. + +The right of succession went with his death to the second brother of the +then Emperor Francis Joseph, or Archduke Charles Louis, father of the +assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand. It passed then after the +tragedies to Archduke Otto, brother of Francis Ferdinand, Charles I +being the son of the Archduke Otto. The young Emperor married Princess +Zita of Bourbon Parma in 1911. She is the daughter of Duke Robert of +Parma, and sister of the first wife of Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria. The +Emperor has four children: Francis Joseph Otto, Adelaide Marie, Robert +Charles Ludwig and Felix Frederic August. + +Ferdinand of Bulgaria, Czar, is son of the late Prince Augustus of +Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and late Princess Clementine of Bourbon-Orleans, +daughter of King Louis Philippe. He was born in 1861 and succeeded +Prince Alexander, who abdicated. He married Marie Louise, daughter of +Robert of Parma, and after her death married Princess Eleanore of +Reuss-Kostritz. There are four children by the first marriage: Prince +Boris, heir-apparent; Prince Cyril, Princess Eudoxia, Princess Nadejda. + +Alfonso XIII, King of Spain, was born May 17, 1886, his father, King +Alfonso XII, having died nearly six months previous to his birth. Maria +Christina, mother of the heir to the Spanish throne, was an Austrian +princess. In 1906 King Alfonso XIII married the English Princess +Victoria Eugenie, daughter of the late Henry of Battenberg and Princess +Beatrice, a daughter of the late Queen Victoria. + + +KING ALFONSO'S SONS. + +King Alfonso XIII has four sons: Alfonso, Prince of the Asturias, heir +to the Spanish throne; Prince Jaime, who is deaf and dumb; Prince Juan, +and Prince Gonzalo. There are two daughters, Princess Beatrice, and +Princess Maria Christina. + +The King's sisters were Maria de las Mercedes, who married Prince Carlos +of Bourbon, in February, 1901, and died in 1904, and Infanta Maria +Teresa, who died suddenly from the effects of childbirth. She was the +wife of Prince Ferdinand, who afterward remarried Dona Maria Luisa Pie +de Concha, who was created Duchess of Talavera de la Reina, and given +the courtesy title of Highness by Alfonso. Don Carlos, who was born in +1848, and was the pretender to the Spanish throne, was a second cousin +to the King. He died in 1909, leaving a son, Prince Jamie, born in +1870, and who is the present pretender, and four daughters. + +The Spanish reigning family are the Bourbons, descendants of King Louis +XIV of France. + +Ferdinand, King of Roumania, was born in 1865, and is a nephew of the +late King Carol, who died in 1914. In 1893 he married Princess Marie of +Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and two sons and four daughters were born to the +royal couple as follows: Charles, who was born in 1893, and who is +heir-apparent; Nicholas, Elizabeth, Marie, Ileana and Mircia, the latter +dying when four years old. + + +POINCAIRE'S VERSATILITY. + +President Poincaire, of France, is a bearded, pale-faced, short, and +rather stout man, who leaves upon those who come in contact with him, an +impression of his mental ability. He was born in 1860, and is regarded +as one of the few strong characters who have held the office of +President since the war which brought about the third Republic. He is an +author of widely read books, and has won a place in the French Academy. +As a lawyer he was a leader at the bar, and before being chosen +President, in 1913, he served as Minister of Finance, and as Minister of +Public Instruction. While serving as Minister of Finance he is credited +with having put on the statutes admirable laws regulating and equalizing +the taxations of millions. President Poincaire is a patron of art, and +has been counsel of the Beaux Art, of the National Museum and President +of the Society of Friends of the University of Paris. + +The Sultan of Turkey, the outstanding nation in the conflict, not +Christian, was chosen ruler and took the Osman sword on May 10, 1909, +and was designated Mohammed V. His name is Mohammed Reshad Effendi, and +he succeeded Abd-ul-Hamid, who was deposed. The latter became Sultan in +1876, succeeding Abd-ul-Aziz, who was preceded by Abd-ul-Mejid. + +The history of the Ottoman Empire is filled with mystery, romance and +stories of intrigue, cruelty and barbarities, involving internal wars, +uprisings, almost continuous struggles with practically all of the +European countries and massacres that aroused the whole world. Legend +assigns Oghuz, son of Kara Khan, father of the Ottoman Turks, whose +first appearance in history dates back to 1227 A.D. + +The reign of Abd-ul-Aziz in the latter part of the last century was +marked by many massacres and the extravagant conduct of affairs by the +Sultan, who visited England in 1876 and was honored by Queen Victoria, +who bestowed upon him the Order of the Garter. He was deposed and +Abd-ul-Hamid succeeded. He made feeble attempts to reorganize the +Government, but his efforts were fruitless and following wars and +uprisings and further internal troubles and the loss of territory he was +deposed and the present Sultan was chosen. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE WAR'S WHO'S WHO. + +STRIKING FIGURES IN THE CONFLICT--JOFFRE, THE HERO OF +MARNE--NIVELLE, THE FRENCH COMMANDER--SIR DOUGLAS HAIG--THE +KAISER'S CHANCELLOR--VENIZELOS--"BLACK JACK" PERSHING. + + +One of the most striking figures among those whose names are irrevocably +linked with the history of the world fight for democracy, is that of +Joseph Joffre, Marshal of France, former Commander of the French forces +and victor of the famous battle of the Marne, who led the French Mission +to the United States, after America entered the war. + +The Commander-in-Chief of all the French armies, a man of humble birth, +saw the light of day at Perpignan, near the Pyrenees, in 1852. + +The future General early showed a deep interest in mathematics and +obtained the degree of Bachelor of Science at the College of Perpignan +at the early age of 16. He was a student at the Polytechnic Institute +when the Franco-German War of 1870 broke out. Joffre was placed in +charge of a large part of the defense of Paris and drew the plans of the +fortifications in the direction of Enghein. At the age of 19 he was +promoted to Captaincy in the presence of Marshal MacMahon and his whole +staff. + +Marshal Joffre traveled much and spent a great many years fighting +France's colonial wars. He served in the Formosa campaign of 1885; +constructed a chain of forts at Tonkin, Cochin-China; was decorated for +distinguished bravery in leading his troops in action there in the +eighties; was Chief Engineer of the Engineering Corps at Hanoi, and +undertook the building of a railroad from Senegal to the Niger River in +1892. + +Joffre fought through the Dahomey Campaign in 1893; saved the day for +the French in a brilliant rear-guard action and entered Timbuctoo as a +conqueror. Later he proceeded to Madagascar, where he constructed +fortifications and organized a naval station. + +Recalled to France, General Joffre became a Professor in the War College +and obtained his stars in 1901. He later entered the Engineering +Department of the War Ministry; then became Military Governor of Lille. +Later he was promoted to be a Division Commander in Paris and then +commander of the Second Army Corps at Amiens. He gained the honor in +1911 of a unanimous vote of the Superior Council of War making him +Commander of all the military forces of France. + + +A FAMOUS WAR RECORD. + +His record in the World War is well known. Every one has read of his +masterly conduct of the retreat from the Belgian border; of his work in +regrouping the shattered and retiring French forces; of his ringing +appeal to the men to strike back at the moment he had determined upon. +At the Marne he saved France and perhaps the world. + +Joffre is unsympathetic and grim when at work. He has no patience for +anything but the highest efficiency. At a single stroke he cashiered a +score of Generals who did not measure up to his standards. He is a +master builder, organizer and strategist. Though rather taciturn he is +loved both by the officers and poilus. Among the latter he became known +as "Papa" Joffre. + +He showed by his appointments and acts that a new inspiration--an +inspiration of patriotism--controlled the Republic. Joffre's accession +to supreme command symbolized that France had experienced a new birth, +that the army was well organized and that the man who for three years +had been silently performing the regeneration of the land forces had +rightly been placed over the forces he had reformed. + +Almost unknown to the masses, Joffre was placed at the head of the +French troops in the summer of 1914. Among his associates he was known +as an authority on aeroplanes, automobiles, telegraphs and the other +details of modern warfare. Above everything else he stood for efficiency +and preparedness, and lacked the qualities of the French soldier of +literature. To be prepared for instant war had been his effort for three +years, and when that time came France found herself nearly as well +prepared for the conflict as was Germany, which had prepared for +twenty-five years. + + +ADJURATION TO SCHOOL CHUMS. + +One of his few published speeches, made to his old school chums, is on +this theme. "To be prepared in our days," he said, "has a meaning which +those who prepared for and fought the wars of other days would have +great difficulty in understanding. It would be a sad mistake to depend +upon a sudden burst of popular enthusiasm, even though it should surpass +in intensity that of the volunteers of the Revolution, if we do not +fortify it by complete preparation. + +"To be prepared we must assemble all the resources of the country, all +the intelligence of her children, all their moral energy and direct them +toward a single aim--victory. We must have organized everything, +foreseen everything. Once hostilities have begun no improvisation will +be worth while. Whatever lacks then will be lacking for good and all. +And the slightest lack of preparation will spell disaster." + +What Joffre said to his chums he had done for the French army, and +President Poincare, after the Battle of the Marne, summed up his +qualities which made it a French victory in this message to Joffre: "In +the conduct of our armies you have shown a spirit of organization, order +and of method whose beneficent effects have influenced every phase, from +strategy to tactics; a wisdom cold and cautious, which has always +prepared for the unexpected, a powerful soul which nothing has shaken, +a serenity whose salutary example has everywhere inspired confidence and +hope." + +These words of the President of the French Republic are an epitome of +the character and the military record of Joffre. He is representative of +the real France, not the France of Paris and scandals. He is of the +peasantry, and he and his kind, men of character, brought about the +glorious France of the war. + +Among those who accompanied Joffre on his visit to the United States was +Rene Viviani, ex-Premier of France and Minister of Justice. He was born +in Algeria in 1862, his family being Corsican, and originally of Italian +blood. + + +VIVIANI A SOCIALIST LEADER. + +M. Viviani became a lawyer in Paris and built up a large practice. In +1893 he entered the Chamber of Deputies as a Socialist. Together with +Briand, Jaures and Millerand he was long a leader of the parliamentary +delegation of Socialists. On June 1, 1914, one month before the outbreak +of the war, M. Viviani became Prime Minister. He showed himself a +brilliant leader and tireless worker. His speeches embodying the spirit +of fighting France were read and admired the world over. Many persons +consider Rene Viviani France's greatest orator. Volumes of his speeches +have had a wide sale. + +M. Viviani was succeeded in the Premiership by M. Briand, and recently +he became Minister of Justice in the Ribot Cabinet. He is a man of great +culture. Though an excellent Latin and Greek scholar, he speaks no +English. Rene Viviani has had some experience as a newspaper man, as a +special writer and as managing editor of the Petite Republique. His +younger son, aged 22, was killed in the war. His older son has been +wounded but is back at the front. + +Another member of the French mission was M. de Hovelacque, the French +Inspector General of Public Instruction. He is well known in the United +States because of his marriage to Miss Josephine Higgins, of New York +State. + +The Right Honorable Arthur Balfour, ex-Premier of England, who came to +America to join in the conferences at which the policies for carrying +the war were outlined after America became an Ally, is described as one +of the most intellectual statesmen in England, and one who, although he +won all the honors his country could give him, never realized his own +possibilities. At sixty-nine, at the height of his mental development, +he occupies a place in the English cabinet, a place which was given him +because of his great hold upon the autocracy of England. + + +BALFOUR'S INTELLECTUAL ABILITY. + +As the Premier of England, as Secretary of Ireland and as the leader of +the House of Commons Mr. Balfour displayed great intellectual agility, +but at no time was credited with having displayed the industry which +spurred on such men as Lloyd George to success. He is of the aristocracy +and his position in English politics came to him as the nephew of Lord +Salisbury. + +He was born in 1848 and educated at Eton and Cambridge and entered the +House of Commons at the age of 26. Mr. Balfour was known in his early +years as a philosophically and religiously inclined young man, and it +occasioned some surprise when he followed the traditions of his family +by entering politics. + +Some years after taking his seat he joined what was known as the Fourth +Party, a conservative rebel faction, consisting of three members, Lord +Randolph Churchill, Sir Henry Drummond Wolff and Sir John Gorst. This +group constituted a sort of mugwump element that voted independently on +every party question and that tried to rouse the Conservatives from +their party prejudices and narrow leanings. + +To Mr. Balfour belonged the distinguished honor of attending the Berlin +Conference of 1878 as private secretary to Lord Salisbury. In 1885 he +became President of the Local Government Board. The Conservatives were +thrown out of power for a short time at this juncture, but when they +were restored in 1886 Balfour became Secretary for Scotland. Shortly +after he was promoted to be Chief Secretary for Ireland. + +Despite his gentle manners and quiet ways, the new Chief Secretary ruled +the then disturbed Ireland with an iron hand. He was known as "Bloody +Balfour" by the Irish agitators until he began to show his milder ways +upon the restoration of peace. He remained in Ireland until 1891. He had +endured abuse and faced threats and had come away triumphant. From +Ireland Mr. Balfour went to England as First Lord of the Treasury. + +Arthur James Balfour showed his friendship for the United States when, +in 1897, as Acting Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he refused to give +England's consent to a continental proposal that Spain be permitted to +govern Cuba as she chose. + + +LIBERALS COME INTO POWER. + +When Lord Salisbury died in 1902 Mr. Balfour succeeded him as Prime +Minister. He remained in that office until 1905, when the Liberals came +into power. In the coalition Ministry formed since the outbreak of the +European War, he was nominated First Lord of the Admiralty. He showed +remarkable ability in this office. Upon the resignation of Mr. Asquith's +Cabinet, Mr. Balfour became Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He is an +enthusiastic sportsman and has written a book on golf. + +The other English envoys who accompanied Mr. Balfour to Washington were +Rear Admiral Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair, and Lord Walter +Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England. + +Rear Admiral de Chair was born August 30, 1864. He entered the Royal +Navy at the age of 14, and received his early training aboard His +Majesty's Ship Britannia. He served in the Egyptian war and was naval +attache at Washington in 1902. + +Admiral de Chair commanded the Bacchante, Cochrane and Colossus +successively in the years between 1905 and 1912. From 1912 to 1914 he +acted as Assistant Controller of the Navy and subsequently he was the +Naval Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty. At the outbreak of +the war he became Admiral of the training services and of the Tenth +Cruiser Squadron. Admiral de Chair is a member of the Royal Victorian +Order and a Companion of the Bath. + + +LORD WALTER CUNLIFFE. + +Lord Walter Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England, is 52 years old. +He received his education at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge, +from which he graduated with the degree of Master of Arts. He is a +Lieutenant of the City of London. + +Lord Cunliffe has been active in the banking field for many years and is +a member of the firm of Cunliffe Brothers. He is a Director of the North +Eastern Railway Company and has been a Director of the Bank of England +since 1895. He became Deputy Governor of the bank in 1911 and has been +Governor since 1913. Lord Cunliffe is the first Governor of the Bank of +England to receive the honor of re-election after serving his term of +two years. In 1914 he was created the First Baron of Headley. + +Among the dominating characters of the war and upon whose judgment and +ability the destinies of France and the Allies depended for a long +period is General Robert Nivelle, Commander of the French armies, and +who succeeded General Joffre. General Nivelle is a man of silence; he +speaks little. General Nivelle is four years younger than Joffre. + +As a boy of fourteen he could not take part as did Joffre and Gallieni +and Pau and Kitchener also, in the tragical war of 1870. Joffre studied +at the Ecole Polytechnique, in Paris; Gallieni, at Saint Cyr, without +the walls; Nivelle studied at both; he may claim to belong to all arms, +artillery, infantry--even cavalry. And, in his youth, he was not only a +magnificent all-round athlete, as indeed he still is, but also a +headlong rider of steeplechases, in which, had he been fated to break +his neck, his neck would infallibly have been broken. This is a trait he +shares with General Brussiloff, and, like the great Russian General, he +was famous for the skill with which he tamed and trained cavalry mounts. + + +SERVES AS JUNIOR OFFICER. + +As a junior officer Nivelle saw service in the French General Staff; his +part in the expedition to China we have recorded; he also served in +Northern Africa. So that, like Joffre, Gallieni, Lyantey, Roques and so +many leaders of French armies, Nivelle gained an invaluable element of +his training in the out-of-the-way corners of France's vast colonial +empire, which has outposts in every continent and measures nearly five +million square miles. + +At the outbreak of the World War Nivelle, with the rank of Colonel, +commanded the Fifth Regiment of Artillery, which is the artillery +element of the Seventh Army Corps, the corps of Besancon and the old +Franche-Comte, under the Jura Mountains, at the corner of Switzerland +and Alsace. + +It was, in fact, in the section of Alsace invaded and retaken by the +French army of General Pau--who lost an arm in Alsace in the war of +1870--that Nivelle struck the first of many hard blows which made him +Field Commander of the splendid army of France. He directed the guns of +his Fifth Regiment with such deadly accuracy against a group of German +guns that he first scattered their gunners in flight and put them out of +action, and then led them off in triumph, twenty-four guns in all, the +first great trophy won by the arms of France. + +In the battle of the Ourcq, fought with superb tenacity and dash by +Manoury and his men, the first decisive blow of the great battle, the +first definite victory, was gained; General von Kluck's right wing was +smashed in and out-flanked, with the result that the whole German line +was dislocated and sent hurtling backward. + +In that battle and victory Colonel Nivelle, as he then was, had his +part; but it was on the Aisne, a few days later, that a strikingly +brilliant act brought him into especial prominence. The Seventh Corps +was attacked by exceedingly strong enemy forces and forced backward over +the Aisne. Colonel Nivelle, commanding its artillery, saw his +opportunity, and, himself leading on horseback, brought his batteries +out into the open, right between the retreating Seventh Corps and the +strong German forces that were pursuing them, already sure of victory. + + +VICTORY TURNED TO SLAUGHTER. + +With that calm serenity which is his dominant characteristic in action, +he let the Germans come close up to his guns in serried masses. Then he +opened fire, at short range, with deadly precision, so that the expected +victory was turned into a slaughter. The broken German regiments, +fleeing to the woods beside the Aisne for safety, ran upon the bayonets +of the rallied Seventh Corps, inspired to splendid valor by the +magnificent action of their artillery. Of 6000 Germans who made that +charge few indeed returned to their trenches. + +This was on September 16, 1914. Before the New Year the Artillery +Colonel had been made a General of Brigade, and in January, 1915, the +new General distinguished himself by stopping the tremendous and +unforeseen German drive against Soissons. He was forthwith recommended +for further promotion, and on February 18 was gazetted General of +Division. Shortly after this be gained new laurels by capturing from the +Germans the Quenevieres salient. + +This great commander was the son of Colonel Nivelle--and an English +mother, a former Miss Sparrow, whose family lived at Deal, on the +English Channel. In his married life General Nivelle has been +exceedingly happy. + +The dominating figure in the English army when America entered the fray +was Sir Douglas Haig. He succeeded Sir John French. + +Sir Douglas Haig was born under so favorable a star that he has long +been known as "Lucky" Haig. Not that he has depended upon his luck to +push him ahead in the army, for his record as a student and a worker +wholly disproves this. But nevertheless fortune has showered many favors +upon him. Among these favors the first and by no means the least is his +very aristocratic lineage and the consequent high standing he has had in +royal and influential circles. + + +HAIG'S FAMILY TREE. + +Haig's family tree dates back at least six centuries and he comes of the +very flower of Scotch stock. The virtues of the "Haigs of Bamersyde" +were extolled by the poets of the thirteenth century. And to discuss +this feature of his career without giving due credit to the position and +influence of his wife would be ungallant as well as unfair. She was the +Hon. Dorothy Vivian, daughter of the third Lord Vivian, and +maid-of-honor to Queen Alexandra, and the pair were married in +Buckingham Palace. + +He did not enter the army until after his graduation from Oxford and +then he took service in the cavalry, the usual choice of the English +"gentleman." When twenty-four years old, he received his commission as a +Lieutenant in the Queen's Own Hussars, one of the ultra-fashionable +regiments. Six years later he was made a Captain and then decided to +take a regular military course at the Staff College. + +In 1898 he took part in Kitchener's campaign up the Nile and in the +Soudan as a cavalry officer. He was then thirty-seven years old. He +distinguished himself in several engagements, was "mentioned in the +dispatches," was awarded the British medal and the Khedive's medal and +was promoted to Major. + +His career in the Boer war, which followed that in Egypt, was +characterized by distinguished services and numerous rapid promotions. +It was during this latter war that Haig became attached to the staff of +Sir John French, whom he succeeded in France and Flanders. He came out +of the war in South Africa a full-fledged Colonel, and with a fresh +supply of medals and "mentions." Then he was sent to India as Inspector +General of Cavalry. + + +DIRECTOR OF MILITARY TRAINING. + +He remained in the Indian service three years, and then was given a post +at the war office in London, with the title of "Director of Military +Training." He remained in London three years, when he was sent to India +as Chief of the Staff of the Indian Army. Three years later he returned +to England and was given what was known as the "Aldershot Command," +which, in fact, was the command of the real active British army. He had +this post when the war broke. His assignment as Commander of the First +Army Corps under Sir John French soon followed. + +The man, who next to the Kaiser had more to do with Germany's plans for +world domination, is Dr. Theobold von Bethmann-Hollweg, Imperial +Chancellor of Germany. + +The elevation of Hollweg to the Chancellorship came when Prince Bulow +stood in the way of complete domination of Germany's policies by the +militarists, headed by the Kaiser. Prince Bulow was dismissed and +Bethmann-Hollweg became Chancellor in 1909. From that time on he +dedicated his life to the achievement of a single aim--the completion of +Germany's plans of aggression. + +Bethmann-Hollweg comes from an old Prussian family ennobled in 1840. He +was born about 1855 and was a student with the Kaiser at the University +of Bonn. He studied law at Gottingen, Strassburg and Berlin, and for +several years followed the law and was appointed a judge at Potsdam. + + +APPOINTED PRUSSIAN HOME SECRETARY. + +In 1905 he was appointed Prussian Home Secretary, and it was then that +his name first became familiar to the man in the street in Berlin. +Shortly afterward he was appointed Assistant Chancellor of Prince Bulow, +who was then Chancellor. + +It was during his service as Home Secretary that Bethmann-Hollweg became +largely converted to all that the most advanced Prussian militarism +stood for. Ultimately he became a far more ardent Pan-German even than +Prince Bulow. In a speech at Munich in 1908 he declared that though +Germany was then happily free of all immediate anxiety so far as her +foreign relations were concerned, her present and future position as a +great Power must ultimately rest on her strong arm and though the +strength of her arm was greater than it ever had been it must grow yet +stronger. + +It was a speech after the Kaiser's own heart--provocative and boasting +to a degree. It had, as a matter of fact, it is said, been prepared by +the Emperor, and was delivered by the Kaiser's order for the special +benefit of Prince Bulow, who had at that time fallen out of favor with +the Emperor. + +Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz is said to be the man who made the German +navy. Having won the recognition of the Kaiser in 1894 he was promoted +to Chief of Staff in the German navy, and was placed in command of Kiel. +He was made Secretary of State in 1898 and immediately began the +building up of the navy. New and modern methods of engineering were +developed and finally he made such an impression with the Kaiser that he +was ennobled. Von Tirpitz was the principal advocate of Germany's plans +during a decade for having the navy powerful enough to equal the +combined powers of any three great naval powers. + +Sir John Jellicoe, Vice Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the British +Naval Home Fleet had served more than forty years in the navy when the +war broke out. He was a Lieutenant at the bombardment of Alexandria and +was a member of the Naval Brigade which participated in the battle of +Tel-el-Kebir, for activity in which he was presented with the Khedive's +Bronze Star for gallant service. He was in command of the naval brigade +which went to China in 1898 to help subdue the Boxers and was shot at +Teitsang, where he was decorated by the German Emperor, who conferred +upon him the Order of the Red Eagle. He was Rear-Admiral of the Atlantic +Fleet in 1907-08, and Commander of the Second Home Squadron in 1911-12. +To Admiral Jellicoe is given credit for having developed a high degree +of efficiency among the gunners in the English navy. + + +ADMIRAL HUGO POHL. + +Admiral Hugo Pohl, of the German navy, was born at Breslau in 1855. He +became a Lieutenant in the Imperial German navy when but 21 years of +age. He gained rapid promotion, and within a few years was Commodore in +charge of the scouting ships. He had charge of setting up the now famous +German naval stations from Kiel to Sonderberg in Schleswig in 1908 and +was afterwards made Vice Admiral. He wears the medal of the Order of the +Crown, bestowed upon him by the Kaiser for admirable service. + +One of the men whose names will be forever linked with the war, +particularly with relation to the adoption of new methods of warfare, is +that of Count Zeppelin, who died on March 8, 1917, and who was the +father of the Zeppelin or dirigible balloon. The idea for the big +airship did not originate with Count Zeppelin, but with David Schwartz, +a young Austrian, who built his first dirigible in 1893. He tried to +arouse interest in his aircraft in Russia, but failed and finally went +to Berlin, where he interested the then Baron Zeppelin. A balloon was +made, but Schwartz fell ill and died. Zeppelin was later accused of +attempting to steal the young Austrian's patents, and the courts made an +award to Schwartz's widow of $18,000. + +Count Zeppelin's first airship came out about 1898. It was 300 feet long +and had an aluminum frame. Short cruises were made in 1899 and 1900, and +the craft maintained a speed of about sixteen miles an hour. A second +airship was completed in 1905, and later a third aircraft was finished. +This dirigible made a cruise of 200 miles at an average speed of twenty +miles. The success led Count Zeppelin to make his most ambitious attempt +and he tried to cross the Alps carrying sixteen passengers. + + +IN THE AIR THIRTY-SEVEN HOURS. + +He succeeded and passing through hailstorms, crossing eddies and +encountering cross-currents he traveled 270 miles at an average speed of +twenty-two miles an hour. Subsequently he made a flight to England, +remaining in the air thirty-seven hours. Fate played him false, however, +in many of his ventures and he returned home after making remarkable +voyages, only to have his craft destroyed at its very landing place. + +The German Government and the Kaiser joined in giving him a grant of +money to carry on his work, and a plant was built at Frederichshafen. +But while Count Zeppelin's name will be forever identified with +aeronautics the successes which he attained were not enduring, for the +Zeppelins proved not entirely satisfactory in military warfare in +competition with the aeroplane. + +In the counsels of Greece the outstanding figure from the beginning of +the war was Eleutherois Venizelos. He is credited with being responsible +for the national revival in Greece when the country seemed doomed after +the Turkish war of 1897. He was the leader of the country in the +movement to join the Allies in the fight against German domination and +he swayed the nation and held them as few men have. He was born in the +Island of Crete in 1864, and according to tradition, his family +descended from the medieval Dukes of Athens. He was educated in Greece +and Switzerland and became active in Cretan politics, and won +recognition as the strong man of the "Great Greek Island." + + +TRANSFORMS A NATION. + +In less than three years after the distress in which the country found +itself in 1909 he transformed the nation into one of solidarity. There +had been meaningless squabbles of corrupt politicians and a sordid +struggle for preferment. The army was degenerating and the popular fury +became so great that there was an uprising of the army, which under the +title of the "Military League," ousted the Government and took control +of the country. The heads of the League brought forward Venizelos. The +League dissolved and reforms were instituted which started the country +on a new path, and when the Balkan war broke in 1912 Greece made a +record and emerged in many respects the leader of the Balkan states. + +Sir John French is one of the English commanders who have rendered +yeoman service in the war. He is one of the most striking military +figures in England. He has seen service in India, Africa and Canada, and +was one of the uniformly successful commanders in the Boer war. At the +Siege of Kimberly he was shut up in Ladysmith with the Boer lines +drawing closer. He managed to secrete himself under the seat of a train +on which women were being carried to safety. Outside the lines he made +his way to the Cape, where he was put in charge of cavalry and in a +terrific drive he swept through the Free State and reached Ladysmith in +time to save the day. + +He originally entered the navy, but remained for a short time. He +commanded the 19th Hussars from 1889 to 1903 and then rose steadily in +rank until he was made General Inspector of the Forces and finally Field +Marshal in 1903. + +There should be no discrimination in naming those who have represented +America in the country's activities at war, but because they came into +the world's line of vision by being sent abroad for service there are +some American commanders whose names will ever be remembered. + +Vice-Admiral William S. Sims is one of these. He is a Pennsylvanian who +was born in Canada. His father was A.W. Sims, of Philadelphia, who +married a Canadian and lived at Port Hope, where Admiral Sims first saw +the light of day. He went to Annapolis when he was 17 years of age and +was graduated in 1880. After this he secured a year's leave of absence +and went to France, where he studied French. Subsequently he was +assigned to the Tennessee, the flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron +and passed through all grades of ships. He received promotion to a +Lieutenancy when he was about 30 years of age. For a time he was in +charge of the Schoolship Saratoga, and later was located at Charleston +Navy Yard, and also with the receiving ship at the League Island Navy +Yard, Philadelphia. After this he went to Paris as Naval Attache at the +American Embassy. He was similarly Attache at the American Embassy at +St. Petersburg. + +Admiral Sims was relieved of his European assignment in 1900 and joined +the Asiatic fleet, and while abroad studied the methods of British +gunnery. When he returned to America later he inaugurated reforms which +increased the efficiency of the gunnery in the service 100 per cent. His +successful efforts led to his appointment as Naval Aide to President +Roosevelt. He made a report on the engagement between the British and +German naval fleets at Jutland which was startling, and declared that +the British battle cruisers had protected Great Britain from the +invasion of the enemy. + +When he reached the European waters in command of the United States +naval forces, with a destroyer flotilla, and the British officers who +greeted him asked when the flotilla would be ready to assist in chasing +the submarine and protecting shipping, Admiral Sims created a surprise +by tersely replying: "We can start at once." And he did. Admiral Sims +married Miss Anne Hitchcock, daughter of Former Secretary of the +Interior. The couple have five children. + +Major General John J. Pershing, of the United States Army, Commander of +the forces in France and Belgium, is one of the most picturesque figures +in American military circles. "Black Jack" Pershing is what the officers +call him, because he was for a long time commander of the famous Tenth +Cavalry of Negroes, which he whipped into shape as Drillmaster, and +which saved the Rough Riders from a great deal of difficulty at San Juan +Hill in the Spanish-American War. He was also at the battle of El Caney +where he was given credit for being one of the most composed men in +action that ever graced a battlefield. He served with signal results in +the campaign against the little "brown" men in the Philippines; was in +charge of the expedition which chased Villa into Mexico. + +General Pershing was born in 1864 in Laclede, Missouri, and is tall, +wiry and strong. Every inch of his six feet is of fighting material. He +is a man of action and has a penchant for utilizing the services of +young men rather than staid old officers of experience. Pershing is a +real military man, and has been notably absent from such things as +banquets and other functions where by talking he might get into the lime +light. It is true that he was jumped over the heads of a number of +officers by President Roosevelt, but he has carved his way by his own +efforts, and no man could have more fittingly been sent to take charge +of the American forces abroad than "Jack" Pershing. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +CHEMISTRY IN THE WAR. + +SUBSTITUTES FOR COTTON--NITRATES PRODUCED FROM AIR--YEAST A REAL +SUBSTITUTE FOR BEEF--SEAWEED MADE TO GIVE UP POTASH--A GANGRENE +PREVENTATIVE--SODA MADE OUT OF SALT WATER--AMERICA CHEMICALLY +INDEPENDENT. + + +It is when men are put to the test that they develop initiative and are +inspired to great things. In the stress of circumstances there were +created through and in the great war many unusual devices and much that +will endure for the benefit of mankind in the future. It is probable +that the advancements made in many lines would not have been attained in +years but for the necessity which demanded the exertion of men's +ingenuity, and in no field was this advancement greater than in that of +chemistry. + +Any struggle between men is, in the last analysis, a battle of wits, but +it remained for those planning and scheming to defeat their fellow men +or protect themselves in the world conflict to make for the first time +in history the fullest use of the chemist's knowledge. Largely the +successes of the war have been due to the studies and activities of the +chemists, working in their laboratories far from the actual field of +strife. + +Not only has their knowledge been turned to the creation of tremendously +destructive explosives, the like of which have never before been known +in warfare, but the same brains which have been utilized to assist man +in his death-dealing crusades have been called upon to thwart the +efforts of the warring humans and save the lives of those compelled to +face the withering fire of cannon, the flaming grenade and the +asphyxiating gas bomb. + +In the food crisis which confronted the nations, chemists drew from the +very air and the waters of the river and sea, gases and salts to take +the place of those which became limited in their supply because of the +demands of the belligerents. + +The chemist is one of those who fights the battles at home. The +resisting steel, the penetrating shell, the poisonous gas, the +power-producing oil, the powerful explosive--all these are his +contributions to the war's equipment, but he also is the magician who +waves the wand and out of the apparently useless weeds and vegetable +matter produces edibles. He turns waste products into valuable chemicals +or extracts needed chemicals from by-products. + + +GERMANY'S GREAT PRIVATION. + +Germany, deprived of many imports by the sea power of England, first +transformed herself into a self-supporting nation through the agency of +the chemist. Substitutes had to be provided for food products which the +Germans could not get, and it is said that the ability of the Kaiser and +his henchmen to withstand the attacks of the Allied forces was due as +much to the service rendered by the chemists as by the army and navy. + +Not only were artificial foodstuffs manufactured, but natural food +products previously neglected were prepared for use. What had been +regarded as useless weeds were found to possess food value. A dozen +wild-growing plants were found that might be used as a substitute for +spinach, while half a dozen others were shown to be good substitutes for +salads. Starches were obtained from roots, and cheap grades of oils and +fatty wastes of all sorts were turned into edibles. + +Up until the advent of the present war cotton formed the base of most of +the so-called propellant explosives used in advanced warfare. Such +terrible explosives as trinitrotoluene occasionally mentioned in the +published war reports, as well as many others, have as the principal +agent of destructive force guncotton, which is ordinary raw cotton or +cellulose treated with nitric or sulphuric acid, though there are, of +course, other chemicals used in compounding the various forms of deadly +explosives. + +At the same time there are innumerable explosives which are of a +distinct class. Lyddite, mentioned occasionally as one of the modern +death-dealing explosives, has for a base picric acid. The Lyddite shells +referred to occasionally in various articles about the war are shells in +which Lyddite is used as the explosive. The largest percentage of +explosives used in modern gunnery are those formed of nitrated +cellulose--guncotton. + + +TWO GREAT FACTORS. + +Therefore any shortage in the supply of cotton and cellulose is a +serious matter in war time, for the country which has the most plentiful +supply of ammunition is the one that has the greatest relative +advantage. It was, for instance, stated from Washington several times +after the war started and the United States commercial and industrial +forces were being mobilized, that America could make enough almost +unbelievably powerful explosives to blow Germany off the face of the +European map, were it possible to transport the dangerous materials. +Dozens of new explosive compounds were placed before the Government for +consideration and in application for patents. One of the new ones, it +was said, was so powerful that little more than a pinch of it exploded +beneath such an immense structure as the Woolworth Building, New York, +would destroy the entire edifice. + +The curtailment of the supply of cotton to Germany when the war started, +because of England's blockade, and later when America entered the +conflict, threatened disaster to the "Fatherland." The German chemists +began working immediately to supply substitutes for cotton, to be used +both in the manufacture of explosives and fabrics. They developed the +processes of producing cellulose from wood pulp to take the place of +cotton for making guncotton, and certain forms of wood fiber and paper +were used in the textile trades. Willow bark was one of the substances +utilized to a limited degree in making fabrics. + +Likewise synthetic--or artificial--camphor to take the place of that +secured from nature's own laboratory--the camphor tree--was also +produced of necessity, for camphor is an ingredient largely used in +making smokeless powder. Before the war most of the camphor was obtained +from Japan. + +Compounds--alloyed steel, iron and aluminum--have also been used in the +industrial world to supplant copper. In America we have been educated to +regard copper as the ideal metal for conducting electrical power, but in +Europe aluminum was used successfully in a large way, even before the +war. After the conflict started in all of the countries where there was +a scant supply of copper, substitutes were developed by the +metallurgists and chemists. + + +POTENCY OF MODERN CHEMISTRY. + +The acids and salts used in powder making and the creation of explosives +were also secured from new places. Nitric acid, which is necessary to +the manufacture of guncotton, for many years was made principally with +saltpeter and sulphuric acid. Modern chemists, however, made it from +nitrogen of the very air we breathe, and in Germany it was made during +the war from ammonia and calcium cyanamide, both of which may be +obtained from the air. + +Many such methods of obtaining acids were known and tested before the +war, but the processes had not been perfected to such an extent as to +make them commercially profitable. However, the increased prices of +chemicals, due to the excessive demands of war, and the absolute +necessity for producing them inspired the chemists to get the required +results, and Germany by the development of these sources of supply found +the acids necessary for her own use in war, whether for explosive making +or medical purposes. + +Great quantities of sugar are used in making powder and explosives, too, +and when the supply became limited the German chemists began producing +in larger quantities the chemical substitute--saccharine. Later even +this sweet was denied the population because the chemicals were needed +for war uses. So in every line Germany found use for everything which +its chemists and chemical laboratories could produce. + +The terrible gas and liquid fire bombs which the Germans were first +reported using contained chemical compounds invented for the purpose by +the chemists. Some of the chemicals and the gases produced when the +bombs exploded were so powerful that men and animals in the range of the +fumes were killed instantly. The effect was to paralyze them in some +cases and it was reported that many of the soldiers were found dead +standing upright in the trenches or in the attitudes which they had +assumed at the moment they were overcome. + + +BASIC PRINCIPLE OF BOMBS. + +Nitrous-oxide, or chlorine, in some chemical form is supposed to have +been the base of the bombs, and concerning the liquid fire it was +reported in connection with the dropping of bombs on London from a +Zeppelin, that some of the bombs contained what is chemically known as +Thermit, which is a mixture of aluminum and iron oxide used in brazing +and welding. When ignited the oxygen is freed from the iron and combines +with the aluminum with great rapidity. During the chemical reaction an +intense heat is produced--a heat so great that it almost equals that of +an electric arc. + +So in the world of agriculture and industry the German chemists, +recognized leaders of the world, actually made or produced from the air +and other unsuspected sources things without which they could not have +withstood the siege against them for a single year. In the absence of +concentrated foods for cattle and humans, the chemists produced absolute +substitutes. They took the residue or waste from the breweries and +extracting the bitter hops taste from the dried yeast produced a +substitute for beef extract. + +So also they secured ammonium sulphate by a direct combination of +nitrogen and hydrogen in the air. At the same time they utilized other +minerals than those usually available for the manufacture of sulphuric +acid and placed the country on an independent footing. + +But Germany was not alone in its advancement. The United States, which +found itself without quantities of dye-stuffs and many other chemically +produced things when the war came on, took the lesson unto itself and is +today nearer self-supporting than it ever was in the history of the +nation. The Department of Agriculture has experimented and produced from +yeast, vegetable boullion cubes, which taste like beef extract and +contain greater nutriment. + + +DOMESTIC DYE-STUFFS. + +America, too, has extracted sulphate of ammonium from the air and the +dye-stuffs which we could not get from abroad are being made at home. +Two of the things which America found lacking when war developed were +potash and acetone, both of which are factors in powder and explosive +making. The former is used in the ordinary black gunpowder, but the +latter is necessary in the making of the smokeless powder. England +wanted Cordite, one form of this powder which the British think is the +best propellant in the world. It is made of guncotton and nitroglycerine +and acetone is one of the chemicals required in its manufacture. England +turned to the United States for quantities of this explosive and also +for the acetone, but America did not produce anywhere near enough, and +England wanted this country to make something like 20,000,000 pounds of +the explosive. + +A number of mushroom chemical plants were developed by the powder +company to produce the desired acetone--one very much like a vinegar +plant near Baltimore, and another at San Diego, California, where the +munitions maker's chemists refined acetone and potash extracted from +kelp, or sea weed, and besides supplying the powder and the chemicals +which the English needed America developed a permanent industry. + + +RELIEVED BY AMERICAN INGENUITY. + +Carbolic acid, too, was one of the badly needed chemicals of the war, +not only for medical purposes, but also for explosive making. Again the +ingenuity of America asserted itself and Thomas A. Edison produced the +plans for two benzol-absorbing plants which were erected at great steel +works and within a few months these plants were turning out benzol and +Mr. Edison's carbolic-acid plant was being supplied with the raw +material. + +And then it was believed that America could not make dyes to take the +place of those which came from Germany. All the United States, it was +said, would have to wear white stockings. The country just could not +produce the dyes necessary, and the product of the American plants was +inferior. But America could make the same dyes. She is making them. +Right now she is making practically as great a variety as Germany ever +sent over here. + +A few miles outside of Philadelphia, at Marcus Hook, on the busy +Delaware river where the ships of the world are being made, the Benzol +Products Company turns out large quantities of aniline oil. The aniline +oil, the essential basis of aniline dyes, is made into tints as fair and +perfect as any the wizards of Germany ever conjured out of their test +tubes. + +The tale about America's inability was proved to be a fable. The Marcus +Hook plant is one of three which sprang up when the war began. Others +are the Schoellkopf Aniline and Chemical Works at Buffalo and a third is +the Becker Aniline and Chemical Works at Brooklyn. The three are now +merged into one great operating company and Germany will have some +difficulty in getting back her dye trade when she is ready to again +fight for the world markets. + +Moreover, the world-famous duPont Company, which has made powder and +chemicals for all the nations, turned in and purchased the Harrison +Chemical Works in 1917, and besides making "pigments" has entered the +coal tar dye industry. The company made an intensive study of the dyeing +industries--cotton, calico printing, wool, silk, leather, paper, paints, +printing inks, &c., and made plans to meet the requirements of each. The +Harrison plant is but one of the immense group operated by the duPont +Company and it has been famous for the manufacture of white lead and +acids. + + +A CHEMICAL DISCOVERY. + +There is in fact no line in which the chemists of America did not rise +to the emergency and the "romances of the industrial" world are not more +entrancing than are those of the medical and other fields. Chemistry, +for instance, discovered an antitoxin for the deadly gangrene, or gas +bacillus, poisoning of the battlefields. The discovery was made by +research workers in Rockefeller Institute. + +It is one of the most important discoveries in medical research as +applied to war, having an even greater bearing on the treatment of war +wounds than the Dakin-Carrel treatment of sluicing wounds previously +referred to. The serum works on the same principle as the anti-tetanus +serum used to prevent lockjaw. The gangrene antitoxin is injected to +prevent the development of gangrene poisoning. + +The serum was developed by Dr. Carrel Bull and Miss Ida W. Pritchett, of +the Rockefeller Institute, by immunizing horses by the application of +the bacillus germs, then obtaining the resultant serum from the horses. +The new serum displaces, in a measure, the Dakin-Carrel method of +treating wounds. As soon as a soldier is picked up wounded, the plan is +to give him an injection of the serum so that he can be rushed to the +rear ambulances with no fear that the deadly gas infection will develop. + +The use of the serum means the wiping out of the big death rate from +infection, with death resulting merely from wounds that are in +themselves fatal. The gas bacillus was discovered by Dr. William H. +Welch, of Johns Hopkins University, 25 years ago. The bacillus +frequently is present in soil and when carried to an open wound +germinates quickly, developing into bubbles of gaseous matter, whence +comes the name "gas bacillus." The bubbles multiply rapidly, a few hours +often being sufficient to cause death. + + +A WOUND-FLUSHING SYSTEM. + +Possible gangrene poisoning has been offset by the Dakin-Carrel system +of constantly flushing the open wounds, but patients are frequently too +far off to be given the advantage of the flushing method and this is +where the serum is chiefly valuable. The ambulance or medical corps +"shoots" the serum into the wounded soldier even before they douse his +wound with iodine. + +The progress that has been made along these lines is indicated by the +statement of Lord Northcliffe, who after a visit to the front declared +that the annual death rate in the English army was 3 per cent of 1000 +and that the average illness, including colds and influenza, was less +than in London, despite the discomforts of the trenches. + +In the past disease has been as destructive as battles. Biology and +pathology, to say nothing of surgery and therapeutics, have made such +strides that disease has been virtually eliminated as a factor in +warfare. War takes medical science into the field, where the control of +large masses of men enables it to develop the highest efficiency. + +Even in normal peace conditions biological and pathological science has +been accomplishing results not popularly understood. Individual cures by +surgery and medicine appeal to personal interests, but these are +negligible compared to the prevention of plagues like smallpox, typhus +and tuberculosis. If such diseases had not been successfully combated by +science three out of four of the present civilized population would not +be in existence at all. The organized and intensive application and +developments of science, of preventive medicine, constitute the strictly +neutral work in this war by which all humanity will profit for all time +to come. + +In passing it is interesting to note that the great power supplied by +Niagara Falls is being utilized to produce some of the chemical marvels. +One great industry there is making soda by the electrolytic process. +That is, salt brine is pumped from the saline deposits in western New +York and piped to the works. This is run into electric cells and through +these a current of electricity is led. The salt, which is composed of +chlorine and sodium, decomposes under the electric attack. The sodium +goes to one pole and combines with water to form caustic soda, whereas +the chlorine escapes at the other pole. Let us follow the chlorine, +which is a yellowish-green gas, more than twice as heavy as air, and has +found a new use as poison gas in the great war--for which all the world +should be ashamed. + +It is collected and compressed to a liquid form and shipped in +containers under pressure for use in chemical works and bleacheries and +for the purification of drinking water. It has been found above all +things effective in destroying noxious bacilli. A surprisingly small +amount of the gas dissolved in the water is enough. In New York city the +water has been chlorinated and no single case of typhoid fever has been +traced to the supply. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +OUR NEIGHBORING ALLY. + +CANADA'S RECRUITING--RAISE 33,000 TROOPS IN TWO MONTHS--FIRST +EXPEDITIONARY FORCE TO CROSS ATLANTIC--BRAVERY AT YPRES AND +LENS--MEETING DIFFICULT PROBLEMS--QUEBEC AROUSED BY CONSCRIPTION. + + +The world has marvelled at the achievement of Canada at Valcartier camp +near Quebec and the dispatch across the Atlantic Ocean of a fully +equipped expeditionary force of 33,000 men within two months of the +outbreak of war between Great Britain and Germany. But the magnitude of +that feat cannot be appreciated properly until one considers that on +August 4, 1914, Canada had a permanent force of only about 3500 men. + +These soldiers, who for the most part were instructors and men on guard +duty, provided a nucleus for a training organization. In addition to its +"standing army," the Dominion had an active militia numbering +approximately 60,000 men. Their training consisted of what has been +aptly called "after-supper soldiering." Members of city regiments +drilled for one night each week, participated in an annual church parade +and spent two weeks every year in summer camp. + +The training of the rural regiments consisted almost entirely of the two +weeks in summer camp. Yet from these militia units were drawn a large +proportion of the men in the first Canadian oversea contingent, while +the militia regiments, to a large extent, formed the basis of Canada's +recruiting organization after the outbreak of hostilities. + +Enlistments during the first two years in the expeditionary force +numbered approximately 415,000, while probably 150,000 applicants were +rejected as physically unfit. + +Immediately upon the declaration of war Major General Sir Sam Hughes, +Minister of Militia, telegraphed the officers commanding the militia +regiments to commence recruiting for oversea service. After the +recruits were signed up and accepted, they lived at home and drilled +during the day at the armories throughout the Dominion. + +Meanwhile, Valcartier camp was being prepared for the gathering army. +The building of this great military center almost overnight was an +engineering feat of no mean magnitude. Two weeks after work was started, +troops recruited by the militia regiments began to arrive, and before +the end of a month Valcartier was a tented city of 25,000 soldiers. + +There were some complaints, of course. They were inevitable in an +encampment so hastily prepared. But the essentials were there, and when +the contingent sailed from Gaspe, on the coast of Quebec, on October 3, +it was a well-trained, efficient body of soldiers, besides being the +largest army that ever crossed the Atlantic at one time. + + +AN EFFICIENT COMMANDER. + +The contingent was in command of Lieutenant-General Edwin Alfred Hervey +Alderson. He was born at Ipswich in 1859 and began his military career +with the Militia, going to the regular army in 1878. He joined the Royal +West Kent Regiment as Second Lieutenant and rapidly won promotion. He +served in the Transvaal, later in Egypt and participated in actions at +Kassassin and Tel-el-Kebir, receiving the Khedive's bronze star. Service +in South Africa and in India followed, during which General Alderson +successively became Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel. He became a +Colonel in 1903 and was placed in charge of the Second Infantry Brigade, +and in 1908 commanded the Sixth Division, Southern Army of India, having +meantime been given the rank of Major General. + +After the departure of the first contingent recruiting was continued by +the militia regiments, and during the winter the men were quartered in +exhibition grounds, Y.M.C.As., sheds, etc. In the spring of 1915 +existing camps were enlarged and new ones opened. + +During this period the recruiting machinery developed from the militia +regiments. Through the latter officers were recommended to command new +battalions. These O.Cs. selected most of their subordinate officers from +their own militia regiments and used the parent organization as a +general basis for recruiting operations, headquarters being located at +the regimental armories. + +The keen competition existing between the militia units was maintained +between the new oversea formations, and battalions were raised in a few +weeks. For months enlistments all over Canada averaged more than 1000 +men daily, and with recruits coming forward at this rate, there was no +necessity of protracted delay in bringing battalions up to strength. + + +DIFFICULTY OF RECRUITING. + +There was a disposition, especially in military circles, to attribute +the increasing difficulty of the recruiting situation during the winter +of 1915-16 and since to a change of system and the introduction of the +so-called "political colonels." The change, however, was rather the +result of new conditions than the cause of it. Recruiting had slowed +down--largely from natural causes. + +A new appeal was needed to reach a class of eligible men who had not yet +enlisted. The recruiting problem apparently had outgrown the facilities +of the militia organizations. Rightly or wrongly, the government +commissioned a number of well-known men, without military experience, to +raise battalions. Their popularity and local confidence in them were the +excuses for their appointment--and the experiment was in the main +successful. + +Perhaps there was a suggestion of politics about it, although it may be +stated emphatically that politics had not been a serious influence in +connection with the recruiting, training or leadership of Canada's +oversea forces. That such is the case stands to the enduring credit of +Major General Hughes. + +The attempt to "popularize" recruiting was soon found to entail serious +evils. Competition for recruits in an already well-combed field became +very keen. The new political colonels realized that their reputations +were at stake, and in the effort to fill up their battalions various +undignified and regrettable expedients were employed. Cabarets, +bean-counting contests, lotteries and callithumpian methods generally +marked a period in Canada's recruiting history not pleasant to review, +and which brought discredit upon the entire voluntary enlistment system +as a permanent method of filling up armies. + + +TRAINING SERIOUSLY DELAYED. + +Besides the moral influence of such schemes to get men in khaki, the +recruiting efforts of the political colonels had a serious effect in +delaying the training of new men. With their personal reputations as +organizers involved, the commanding officers were reluctant to admit +inability to fill up the ranks of their units, and repeatedly pleaded +for more time. + +For months partly recruited battalions made little or no progress with +their training, while the officers devised new recruiting "stunts" and +while men were being sought in the highways and byways. + +The situation was complicated by allowing a number of infantry +battalions to recruit in the same area at the same time, with the result +that the new men came in driblets, valuable time was lost and much money +wasted. In some cases it has taken well over a year from the date when +they were authorized before battalions were dispatched oversea--due very +largely to ineffective recruiting methods. Battalions were allowed to +continue the heart-breaking quest for recruits long after they should +have been amalgamated and sent to England. Such amalgamations came +ultimately, battalions retaining their identity when leaving Canada only +when 600 or more strong. + +The high cost of recruits was a direct consequence of competition among +battalions recruiting independently in the same territory at the same +time. The government allowance was not adequate to maintain the pace and +had to be supplemented by private funds. + +There was in Toronto a certain group of fifty recruits referred to as +the "$10,000 squad," because it is estimated that the cost of recruiting +them averaged nearly $200 each, the money coming from private funds of +officers and their friends. Perhaps the estimate involves some +exaggeration, but many units added to their ranks only at a cost of $50 +or more per recruit. + +Some idea of the waste of such a system may be secured when it is stated +that, with men coming forward freely, the cost of recruiting is +considerably less than $10 per man, even after allowing a generous bonus +to the recruiting sergeants. More serious than the cost in money was the +delay in training men needed at the front. + + +A POLITICAL IMPOSSIBILITY. + +Canada's experience constitutes a severe indictment of the voluntary +system of recruiting, although sterner measures at the outset were a +political impossibility. The free-will enlistment plan had to be given a +thorough test, and its inadequacy demonstrated and repeatedly emphasized +before public opinion would support resort to compulsion. + +English-speaking Canada at least learned that lesson, and it is +extremely doubtful whether the United States would have adopted the +selective draft system at the commencement of its participation in the +war, if it had not been that the experience of Canada and the United +Kingdom established the weakness inherent in the voluntary system. + +Besides the camp at Valcartier, a great artillery camp was set up at +Petewawa, where the best facilities existed for long range gun practice. +Ontario saw two camps at Niagara and Camp Borden; Manitoba saw one on +the plains, Alberta another in the picturesque district near Calgary, +while British Columbia had its camp at Vernon. + + +INADEQUATE RECRUITING. + +The volunteer recruiting in Canada, in its incipiency, while resultful, +was soon found to be not adequate. Under it, however, there was a +widespread response that stirs the blood, for men hurried to the lines +from the Yukon and the Peace Rivers; from Hudson's Bay and the farther +hinterlands, from prairie and mountain; white men and the red men; +cowboys and city chaps, harvesters and hunters, mechanics and +mountaineers, backwoodsmen and frontwoodsmen. And also among the +enlisters were thousands of Americans who fought side by side with +Canadian, Briton and Frenchman. + +Canada has large German settlements, including 300,000 German and +Austrian settlers in the western provinces. Prompt action was taken on +the outbreak of the war to deal with the alien element that might prove +dangerous and disloyal. Nearly 10,000 were speedily interned, from Nova +Scotia to British Columbia. A large proportion were Austrian laborers +who had been railway navvies. These were placed in western camps and +used in building trails and roads in national parks, or in clearing the +forest for future settlement in Northern Ontario. + +Many individuals of known pro-German sympathies were also put out of +harm's way, and some famous trials were held which served to give +salutary warnings to all others that freedom of speech has its +limitations in times of war, and that the rumors that the sinking of the +Lusitania was being celebrated behind closed doors was hardly palatable. + +Others, again, were caught in attempts to destroy property and it is to +the credit of police and military vigilance that few succeeded in their +nefarious designs. The internment camp proved a wholesome example, and +the pro-German in Canada took the advice of the United States Government +to its German subjects "to keep their mouths shut." It is also a fact +that the occupants of the detention camps in the Dominion were well fed +and treated, in striking contrast to the disturbing reports that leaked +through as to the way Canadian war prisoners in Germany fared. + + +CANADA'S WAR FINANCIERING. + +Next, the story of how Canada is financing her share of the war, for it +is a costly business. Three domestic war loans, totaling $450,000,000, +were voluntarily subscribed, each in fact being doubly underwritten, and +yet the savings of the people in the banks is (1917) the highest on +record--over a billion and a quarter. Part of the war revenue is being +raised by war taxes on letters, checks, legal documents and some +articles of import. Happily the normal revenue of the country was never +so large nor the trade of the Dominion so buoyant. All these factors are +helping to carry the war burden. + +The generosity of the people, under the heavy strain, was most marked. +Many millions were given to the various war help funds, chiefly to the +Red Cross and the Canadian Patriotic Fund, of 700 branches, which +supplements the Government separation allowance to soldiers' dependents +by other grants. Canada had, up to that time, by the way, the highest +paid soldiery in the world, privates getting $33 a month. + +It is interesting to note that there are several branches of the +Canadian Patriotic Fund in the United States, which looked after the +families and dependents of Americans who enlisted in the Canadian ranks. + +Canadian total givings in cash and kind to their own, as well as to the +Belgians, French, Servian, Armenian and other funds and Governmental +grants of grain and provision, would represent a very much larger figure +than that here mentioned. + +The orders placed in Canada averaged $1,500,000 worth for every day in +the year. + +The women of Canada in every way render practical patriotic service. +Hundreds of nurses were placed in overseas and home hospitals. The +farmers' wives raised large sums of money as did the school children. +Organizations of all kinds came into existence, not alone collecting +money, but contributing vast quantities of war material and soldiers' +comforts, and sending packages of food and clothing regularly to +Canadian prisoners in German camps. + +Still another war problem was the care of the returned wounded soldiers, +and a serious problem it was. The procession of the disabled was a +pathetic one. Military convalescent hospitals were set up in many +centres, in addition to the opening of private homes for the same +beneficent purpose. + + +CANADA PART OF AMERICA. + +Canada may be an English possession, but to us it is part of America, +and certainly no two countries have rested side by side in greater +friendship than the "Dominion" and the United States. You can find no +great fortifications along the 3000 odd miles of border between Canada +and the United States. The countries have lived in peace and harmony and +together, or side by side they have battled for peace on the fields of +Flanders. + +All the world knows what Canada has done on the battlefields abroad, +fighting with those troops from Australia, New Zealand, India and lesser +English territory, to drive the ruthless Germans back and crush the +Empire to which they swear allegiance. + +The Canadian troops were taken after landing in France to a point within +the country between St. Omer and Ypres, where they served with honor to +themselves, their presence having a salutary effect on the British +soldiery, who had been facing the German forces. At the battle of Neuve +Chapelle the Canadians held part of the line allotted to the first army, +and while not engaged in the main attack, rendered valuable help, their +artillery being very active, and at the battle of Ypres in April, 1915, +they took a notable part. + +In the latter part of April, the Canadian division held a line of about +5000 yards, connecting with that of the French troops, and faced the +memorable gas attack of the Germans, which was the first noted in the +war. The asphyxiating gas was projected into the trenches by means of +force pumps and pipes laid under the parapets, the German sappers having +carefully placed these conductors. The bulk of the gas was directed +against the French, largely made up of Turcos and Zouaves, who were +driven back, suffering agonies. + + +POSITION BRAVELY HELD. + +The Canadians suffered to some extent from the poison, and though there +were in the commands lawyers, college professors, business men, clerks +and workers of all sorts, who had been turned into soldiers within a few +months, and without previous military experience, they held their +position bravely. The Canadians were, of course, compelled to change +their position after the French fell back, and the Allied troops were, +to all effects and purposes, routed. But when the Germans, recognizing +the weakened position of the Canadians, attempted to force a series of +attacks, the Canadian division, as a matter of record, fought through +the day and through the night, for forty-eight consecutive hours, and +finally, in a counter-attack, drove the Germans back and regained a +position which had been lost by the British troops in the earlier +conflict. + +Later, in the face of a devastating fire, in which many officers were +killed, battalions of the Canadians carried warfare to the first line of +German trenches, and in a desperate hand-to-hand struggle won the +trench. This attack, it is said, secured and maintained during the most +critical moment of the campaign the integrity of the Allied line. + +In connection with the experience of the Canadians with the gas fumes, +it is necessary to note that at that time they were unprovided with gas +masks, or means of protecting themselves against the fumes, and the best +they could do was to stuff wet handkerchiefs in their mouths. The fumes, +although extremely poisonous, were not so effective with the Canadians +as on the French lines, largely because of the position of the +Canadians, and the direction of the wind, but in the several attacks a +number of the Canadians were asphyxiated. + + +HEROES WIN RECOGNITION. + +So, all through the Ypres campaign, the Canadians faced the shot, shell +and poisonous gases of the Germans, and won recognition for their heroic +conduct which will stand to the credit of Canada for all time. At +Festubert, Givenchy, and, last but not least, Lens, the Canadians, step +by step, kept pace with the Allied advances. + +In their general advance on Lens the Canadians occupied the strongest +outpost in the defense of that place, and pushing their troops on toward +La Coulotte, entered that village. The Germans withdrew in this +neighborhood from a line about one and three-quarters miles long. + +The task of the Canadians was to capture German outposts southwest of +Reservoir Hill. The attack was evidently expected. The Germans scuttled, +abandoning ground upon which machine gun fire was immediately turned by +Germans located on the hill. This was speedily followed by heavy +artillery fire, which continued during the night in the vicinity of the +Lens electric station. + +The enemy's dugouts were searched, found to be empty, and wrecked. + +The German retirement ceased during the night. Patrols sent out opposite +Mericourt and to the south found the enemy's front line strongly held. +The Germans made huge craters at all cross roads in Avion and leading +towards Lens. + +Patrols which were sent out reached the summit of Reservoir Hill without +opposition and pushed on down the eastern slope and the strong Lens +outpost was effectively occupied. Meanwhile, south of the Souchez River +the Canadians drove forward on the heels of the retiring Germans. +Railway embankments east of Lens electric station were occupied. The +advance was then continued toward La Coulotte. As night fell strong +parties were sent out to consolidate the positions occupied, while +patrols were sent forward to keep in touch with the Germans. + + +WANTON DESTRUCTION. + +Several days previous the Germans were known to be destroying houses in +the western part of Lens, with the object of giving a wider area of fire +for their guns. It was their intention of clinging to the eastern side +of the city and prolonging the struggle by house-to-house fighting. + +Under a protecting concentration of artillery fire, Canadian troops +successfully stormed and captured the German front line before Avion, a +suburb of Lens. By the advance the British line was carried forward to +within one mile of the centre of Lens. + +The Canadians, heartened by successes gained in a few days at a +relatively small cost, decided to attack across the open ground sloping +upwards to Avion and the village of Leauvette, near the Souchez River. +They met with opposition of a serious character at only one point, where +a combination of machine gun fire and uncut wires delayed the advance. +The attack was not intended to be pressed home at this particular spot, +as the ground specially favored the Germans, so that the delay did no +harm. The assaulting troops comprised men from British Columbia, +Manitoba, Central Ontario and Nova Scotia. + +The attack was made along a two-mile front. On the extreme left, Nova +Scotians pushed their way up the Lens-Arras road to the village of +Leauvette. Here they took a number of prisoners. At the other end of the +line, east of the railway tracks, enemy dugouts were bombed. Their +occupants belonged to the crack Prussian Guards Corps, the Fifth Guard +Grenadiers, who refused in most cases to come out and surrender. + +At daybreak, Canadian airplanes, flying low over Avion, saw few Germans +there. Craters which had been made by mine explosions at the crossroads, +seriously hindered them in bringing up troops from Lens for +counter-attacks. + + +GERMAN AVIATIK DEFEATED. + +In an air duel fought at probably the highest altitude at which +aviators, up until that time, had met in combat, nearly four miles, a +Canadian triplane pursued and defeated a German two-seated Aviatik. The +German machine had sought safety by climbing upward and the triplane +pursued. At a height of 20,000 feet the pilot of the German craft either +fell or jumped from it and disappeared at the moment of the first burst +of fire from the gun on the Canadian. The German observer then was seen +to climb out upon the tail of the machine, where he lost his hold and +plunged headlong. The Aviatik turned its nose down and fell. + +It is meet that some note be taken of the fact that while the Canadian +soldiers were battling for humanity and the preservation of the British +Empire in Flanders there was being celebrated in their native land the +fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Dominion. All Canada took +part in the celebration on June 1, 1917, as did large numbers of men +from the United States officers' training camp at Niagara, where +recruits were preparing to receive Commissions in Uncle Sam's Army. + +Up until 1867 Canada had been the scene of bitter strife between the +French and British. At that time the provinces were brought quite +closely together, and commenced a new era of prosperity. The foundation +was then laid for a wonderfully prosperous country, one filled with +almost limitless possibilities. + +The confederation of Canada had its birth in a meeting of delegates +from all over British North America, which was held in 1864, and these +delegates, after deliberating for nearly three weeks, passed a large +number of resolutions which formed the basis of what eventually became +the Act of Union. In the following January these resolutions were +submitted to the Legislature of Canada and after due debate there was +passed in both chambers of Parliament a measure for the purpose of +uniting the provinces in accordance with the provisions of the Quebec +resolutions. The meeting was in Quebec. + + +PLAN OF UNION PASSED. + +A number of difficulties were encountered, so that it was 1867 before +the plan of union was submitted to the Imperial Parliament, where it was +warmly received and passed without alteration of any description within +a few days. The royal assent was given on March 29, and the act +constituting the new Canada went into effect on July 1, which day has +since become known as Dominion Day, and is the chief of all Canadian +holidays. + +The federal Constitution of Canada is contained in an Imperial Act of +Parliament, known as the British North America Act, and it is based very +largely upon that of the mother country. The ministry of the day holds +office at the pleasure of the House of Commons, the members of which are +elected by the people. At the head of the affairs is a Governor-General, +who is appointed by the Crown and paid by the people of Canada. As is +the case with the British sovereigns, he acts with and on the advice of +the ministers for the time being, and also like the King, he can +dissolve the Parliament. + +The number of members of the House of Commons is regulated by the +following clauses of the act: "On the completion of the census in the +year 1871, and of each subsequent decennial census, the representation +of the four provinces shall be readjusted by such authority in such a +manner, and from such time as the Parliament of Canada from time to +time provides." + +Previous to the passing of the British North America Act, the great +Dominion had consisted of a conglomeration of provinces, some of them of +almost fabulous extent, into which the white man from the West had +penetrated. Tradition has it that some thousand years ago a Norseman, by +name Leif Ericson, coming in his great beaked galley, through the +northern seas, from Greenland, was the first white man to stand on +Canadian soil. + +Another five centuries were, however, to pass before John Cabot, sailing +from Bristol, in the days of Henry Bolingbroke, brought the first +British ship into a Canadian port. After him the fishermen of Europe +came in increasing numbers to the great banks, with the result that +little by little, as their tiny vessels touched the American shores, the +great continent began to be known to the people of Europe. + + +DOMINION'S FOUNDATIONS LAID. + +It was not really, however, until the year 1534 that the foundations of +the Dominion may be said to have been sunk. In that year Jacques Cartier +sailed from the port of St. Malo, with two little ships, intending to +attempt the northwest passage to Japan. Francis the First was then +ruling in Paris, and there was great adventure in the air of France. +Cartier did not make the northwest passage, but he did touch the coast +of Canada, or, to be more exact, the coasts of Labrador and +Newfoundland. It was then the 10th of May, and having sailed around the +island, he steered south, and crossing the gulf entered the bay which, +by reason of the great heats of midsummer, he named Des Chaleurs. +Holding along the coast, he came to the little inlet of Gaspe, and here, +at the entrance to the harbor, he erected a huge cross surmounted by the +arms and lilies of France. He could find no passage, however, to the +northwest, and so he turned his ship, and sailed back to St. Malo. + +The Court in Paris heard his story with interest. His cause was taken up +by the King; and, as a result, in the succeeding May, he sailed again to +the new world with three well found ships. On the day of Saint Lawrence +he entered the great bay, to which he at once gave the name of the +Saint, and passing on came, in September, to anchor in the Isle of +Orleans. + + +REAL FOUNDER OF CANADA. + +The man, however, with whose name the early history of Canada is most +fully connected, had not as yet been born. Nor was it until the year +1567 that, at Brouage in Saintonge, Samuel de Champlain came upon the +scene. In the year 1603, when Elizabeth was ruling in England, and Henry +of Navarre in France, Champlain came to Canada. He had been a soldier of +le Bearnais, in the great wars with the League, an officer of marine, +and a man with no little knowledge of natural science, as knowledge was +then accounted. He came now in command of an expedition, fitted out by +the merchants of Rouen, with the idea of forming a Canada company, as +England had her Barbary Company, her Eastland Company, her Muscovie +Company, or her Turkey Company. And in this way the French came into +Canada. + +Thus there began those American wars between the two countries, divided +at home only by the English Channel, which went on century by century, +largely through the employment of the Indian tribes, until that +September night when Wolfe's boats drifted in, from the fleet to the +shore, and the battle on the Plains of Abraham permanently settled the +question of domination in favor of the British. + +The British conquest of Canada did not, however, mean the cessation of +fighting. There came, presently, the war between Great Britain and the +American colonies, one of the most amazing exploits of which was the +marvelous march of Arnold and Montgomery through the forests of Maine +to the St. Lawrence, ending in the wonderful siege, of the year 1775, +and the heroic failure to storm the defenses by scaling the rocks from +the river bed. Eventually the boundary between the United States and the +British possessions was settled by the Treaty of Paris, in 1783, just +twenty years after an earlier Treaty of Paris had recorded the surrender +of Canada by France to Great Britain. + + +CANADA, FROM COLONY TO DOMINION. + +For the last century and a half the story of Canada has been the story +first of a British colony and then of a British Dominion. A great flood +of new colonists had come into the country after the victory of the +States in the War of Independence, when many of the royalists of New +England crossed the border. As a result, there had grown up the two new +provinces of Upper Canada, now known as Ontario, and New Brunswick. The +relations between all the provinces were, however, far from harmonious, +with the result that what between quarrels among themselves and risings +against the British authority, the condition of Canada was anything but +promising, when, after the Rebellion of 1837, Lord Durham was sent over +to try to evolve order out of chaos. + +He found the "habitant" still unreconciled to the British rule; he found +a condition of many little Pontiacs, all very much as was that famous +village on the summer evening when Valmond threw the hot pennies to the +children, as the auctioneer and monsieur le cure came down the street; +he found another Canada of British colonists with so little sympathy for +the habitant, that, he declared, the two never met save in the jury box, +and there only to obstruct justice. + +It was then that Lord Durham, by a great stroke of statesmanship, +brought peace to Canada. A democratic form of representative government +was bestowed on the people. The division of Quebec into two provinces, +which the habitant had desired when they were one, and resented when +they were two, was annulled, with the result that the ground was +prepared for the union which was to come just thirty years later. + +Lord Durham made history and made a nation, for the confederation, when +it came, was the inevitable superstructure built upon the foundations of +his laying, but he ruined a reputation. His contempt for the conventions +of politics, the radicalism of his methods, his failure to make any +obeisance to the governmental deities, official or ex-official, combined +with his almost superhuman tactlessness, gave his enemies every +opportunity they could desire. + +He was viciously attacked, and finally throwing up his mission, returned +to England and gave up politics. + + +REPORT NOT TO BE DISPOSED OF. + +The good, however, men do lives after them. Lord Durham's report, +drafted for him by two master hands, those of Charles Buller and Edward +Wakefield, could not be disposed of by perfervid orators or ill-informed +editors. It passes into the category of historic and illuminating state +papers. And, though Lord Durham fell, when, on the first of July, 1867, +the British North America Act became operative, it was the handle of his +trowel that struck that great cornerstone of liberty and empire, and +declared it well and truly laid: the first of the Dominions, now having +a population of approximately 8,000,000. + +Thrown upon their own resources, when Great Britain began to draw in its +loans of 1911-12, the people of Canada were temporarily at a loss as to +how to meet the situation; the hardships which followed, however, +prepared them to meet, with resolute determination, the greater problems +that crowded upon them in 1915-16. Canada, through all the past, had +been a dependent and a debtor nation; the war made it self-reliant, +spurred its people on to the development of natural resources, and +assured them, not only that the Dominion could stand alone, but that, +throughout all the future, it can be a pillar of strength to the Empire +and to democracy. + +There were times when she was threatened by more than the ordinary +difficulties which come to a nation, as when it became necessary in 1917 +to pass a Conscription Act, the Province of Quebec threatened to secede. +Quebec is a French territory, and it was a matter of world-wide comment +that the volunteer enlistments for the Canadian army from the province +were insignificant. + +While the French Canadians were proud of France and their cousins across +the seas, they were opposed to being compelled to fight for England, and +the proposal to secede was largely advocated by the French-Canadian +clergy. + + +RECIPIENTS OF UNSTINTED HONORS. + +Among the heroic troops that faced the Germans in Flanders none was more +honored in all Canada and England than the Princess Patricia's Light +Infantry. Out of this battalion, which sailed away from Canada's shores +with the first expeditionary force, scarcely one-fourth of the proud +number lived through the terrible campaigns of Flanders, in which the +Dominion forces participated. + +The battalion constituted what was regarded as one of the most efficient +military units in Canada, and in August, 1914, had been presented with +colors wrought by the hand of Princess Patricia, daughter of the +Governor General of Canada, the Duke of Connaught. The Princess, +standing beside her mother, the Duchess of Connaught, in Lansdowne Park, +Ottawa, presented the colors to the little force, wishing them a safe +return, while thousands applauded and the spirit of patriotism ran high. + +The "Princess Pats," as they came to be known, had within the +organization a large portion of men of military experience who had seen +service in South Africa and elsewhere, and consequently when they landed +in France they were the first to be sent into the trenches and to +action. In the winter and spring of 1914-15 they had some bitter +experiences and participated in several desperate attacks and defenses, +but it was not until the campaign at Ypres that the organization was +almost annihilated, when it faced one of the most terrific bombardments +of the war, and fought in a section largely cut off from the main line. +Here Lieutenant-Colonel Farquhar, commander of the battalion, lost his +life and nearly all of the officers were wounded. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE HEROIC ANZAC. + +FORCES THAT STIRRED THE WORLD IN THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGNS--FAMOUS AS +SAPPERS--THE BLASTING OF MESSINES RIDGE--TWO YEARS TUNNELING--30,000 +GERMANS BLOWN TO ATOMS--1,000,000 POUNDS OF EXPLOSIVES USED--TROOPS THAT +WERE TRANSPORTED 11,000 MILES. + + +When the final history of the war is written, and the years have passed +into ages, the story of the Anzac will form a brilliant passage in the +book of nations. The Anzac in the campaigns at Gallipoli, the +Dardanelles, and in Flanders served England with a loyalty and heroism +not excelled by any other force. And what were the Anzacs? They were the +soldiers of Australia and New Zealand. Let A represent Australia, N.Z., +New Zealand, and A.C., army corps, and you have the basis of the word +Anzac. + +Generally in the news dispatches, the Anzacs have been referred to as +Australians. They are described as fearless, daring and fierce fighters, +whose presence added pep to every engagement in which they participated. +No more picturesque group has ever been written into the history of +armies. Composed of men who were bushrangers, cattlemen, miners and +hardy outdoor workers, many of whom served in Egypt, India and wherever +the British flag floats, their character is indicated by the fact that +they have been at times called the "Ragtime Army." + +The description of the landing of these troops at the Dardanelles, where +in a rain of artillery fire, they dashed into the Turkish trenches, is +one of the most thrilling of the war. With the shells from the ships +falling upon the Turkish forces the Anzacs chased the Turks step by step +inland, engaging in the most desperate hand-to-hand encounters. + +Perhaps the story of that first battle might have been different had not +Turkish reinforcements appeared upon the scene. As it was the British +men of Anzac were temporarily driven back, retiring with terrible loss. +For hours the Australians engaged in solid fighting through a broken and +hilly country, digging at night to establish entrenchments, with a +renewal of the defense at daybreak, and then repeating the program. This +is what the Australians and New Zealanders did, living upon short +rations the while. + +In all of the campaigns in which the Anzacs have participated their work +as sappers has been a feature. Sappers, by the way, are those men who, +in modern warfare, burrow in the earth, planting mines, digging +trenches, dugouts and fortifications. The Australians are fitted for +this work for a large percentage of them had civil experience in the +mines, and on extensive contract and excavation work. + + +AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND SAPPERS. + +Probably one of the most effective attacks of the English against a +German stronghold in Belgium was made possible through the work of the +Australian and New Zealand sappers. That was the blowing up of the +Messines Ridge in June, 1917. In this action the Anzac shone in a manner +that can never be forgotten. + +On June 7, 1917, the British, with one terrible stroke, tore asunder the +strong German position south of Ypres. This stroke was in a little +corner of Belgium, where the armies of the Allies had successfully +outgeneralled the enemy for two and a half years. + +During almost two years of this time several companies of Australian, +New Zealand and British sappers were busily but silently engaged in +mining the hills of the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge, on which were the +guns of the Germans which had been raking the troops of the Allies all +this time. Nineteen great mines which contained a total of 1,000,000 +pounds of ammonite upon their completion, had been dug into the vitals +of these hills. Great charges of this new and powerful explosive had +been placed in the mines nearly one year before their completion, yet no +one except those actually engaged in the work knew of it. The secret was +kept and the troops of Australia and New Zealand worked directly beneath +the great German fortifications. + +Then came the crucial moment. At exactly 3.10 o'clock in the morning of +June 7, the whole series of mines were discharged by electrical contact, +and the hilltops were blown high in the air in one terrific burst of +flame, which poured forth as from craters of volcanoes. The ground for +miles around was rocked as in an earthquake, and the roar emitted was +distinctly heard in England by Lloyd George, the Prime Minister, +listening for it at his country home 140 miles away. + + +A PRE-ARRANGED SIGNAL. + +The explosion of the mines was a pre-arranged signal for the beginning +of a heavy shell fire by the artillery. The whole section affected by +the mines was subjected to a most intense shellfire, and following up +this death-dealing storm came the troops of General Haig, under Sir +Herbert Plumer, who finished the work of the great mines and big guns +with a brilliant charge of men, who used rifle and bayonet most +effectively. Within a few hours the whole of the Messines Ridge was +securely in the hands of the British, and they had captured 7000 +prisoners and many guns. The German casualties were estimated at 30,000, +those of the British being about 10,000. + +Rushing the whole sector south of Ypres, from Observation Ridge to +Ploegsteert Wood, north of Armentieres, the British forces succeeded in +capturing that position with little loss. Then came the assault of the +rear defenses, which were formed by the ridge itself. The natural +formation of the land greatly helped the Germans in arranging their +defenses, and the fighting was very fierce. The work of British troops, +in which were many Australians and New Zealanders, together with English +and Irish, all under the command of General Sir Herbert C.O. Plumer, +was given great credit in the reports of the commander to the War +Office. + +The British War Office summarized the attack as follows in its report of +June 8: + +"The position captured by us yesterday was one of the enemy's most +important strongholds on the western front. Dominating as it did the +Ypres salient and giving the enemy complete observation over it, he +neglected no precautions to render the position impregnable. These +conditions enabled the enemy to overlook all our preparations for +attack, and he had moved up reinforcements to meet us. The battle, +therefore, became a gauge of the ability of the German troops to stop +our advance under conditions as favorable to them as an army can ever +hope for, with every advantage of ground and preparation and with the +knowledge that an attack was impending. + + +GERMAN FORWARD DEFENSE. + +"The German forward defenses consisted of an elaborate and intricate +system of well-wired trenches and strong points forming a defensive belt +over a mile in depth. Numerous farms and woods were thoroughly prepared +for the defense, and there were large numbers of machine guns in the +German garrisons. Guns of all calibers, recently increased in numbers, +were placed to bear not only on the front but on the flanks of an +attack. Numerous communicating trenches and switch lines, radiating in +all directions, were amply provided with strongly constructed concrete +dugouts and machine-gun emplacements designed to protect the enemy +garrison and machine gunners from the effect of our bombardment. In +short, no precaution was omitted that could be provided by the incessant +labor of years, guided by the experience gained by the enemy in his +previous defeats on the Somme, at Arras, and on Vimy Ridge. + +"Despite the difficulties and disadvantages which our troops had to +overcome, further details of yesterday's fighting show that our first +assault and the subsequent attacks were carried out in almost exact +accordance with the timetable previously arranged. * * * + +"Following on the great care and thoroughness in preparations made under +the orders of General Sir Herbert Plumer, the complete success gained +may be ascribed chiefly to the destruction caused by our mines, to the +violence and accuracy of our bombardment, to the very fine work of the +Royal Flying Corps, and to the incomparable dash and courage of the +infantry. The whole force acted in perfect combination. Excellent work +was done by the tanks, and every means of offense at our disposal was +made use of, so that every arm of the service had a share in the +victory." + +A good description of the Australian soldier, as he follows up his +victory, was given in a story of an American war correspondent, who +wrote concerning Flanders: + + +NEW LAND OF WARFARE. + +"After these many months of trench warfare there is keen delight for the +Australian soldier in this new land of warfare which the German +retirement has opened up. The fighting is in open country now, over +gently rolling downs of what looks like grass land. It is really most of +it wheat or turnip land which has not been cultivated for a year or two. +The country is as open as the Australian central plains. + +"It is quite a new sort of battlefield for the Australians. They march +down to it through valleys almost exactly like the valleys in the +peaceful parts of France. There are whole acres in which one cannot see +a single shell hole. Back across the green country or down the open +roads come men in twos or threes occasionally, sauntering as one might +find them on a country road. They are the wounded helping one another +back to the dressing station. The walking wounded have to help each +other back in these modern battles. It is no longer looked upon as +meritorious for an unwounded combatant to leave the field and help a +wounded comrade to the rear. + +"Nearest the front the country becomes more feverish. Angry bursts of +tawny color are seen in a haphazard sort of way dotting the horizon and +the countryside. Here and there are Australians standing behind mounds +of earth with their rifles pointed over the top, bayonets always fixed. +Frequently, when there is no other shelter there are hastily scooped +trenches. A quarter of a mile away another party is lining a roadside, +flat on their stomachs in the ditch, bayonets peeping over the top. +Shells are whizzing by at the rate of two or three a minute, high +explosives bursting on contact behind their backs about as far away as +the other side of a cottage parlor. + + +PRISONER AND ESCORT. + +"Frequently one meets a prisoner being escorted to the rear. There is +something very impressive about these little processions of two men, +prisoner and escort. The prisoner, usually a young German private in +neat gray uniform and steel helmet, walks in front. After him, grasping +his rifle with both hands across his chest, his weatherbeaten brows +puckered as he picks his way over the tumbled stones, comes the living +embodiment of the Australian back country. Nine cases out of ten, +somehow, the soldier who escorts a prisoner seems to be that bit of pure +Australian, either Western Australia or South Australia, the Warrego or +the Burdskin. + +"He is an earnest man, intent on executing his errand with dispatch and +exactitude. 'Can you tell me the way to headquarters?' he asks as he +passes. Then he disappears slowly up the street on the heels of his +silent companion. + +"These Australians are just as good fighters in this new warfare as they +were at Gallipoli or in the trenches, perhaps even better. They had +their first encounter with German cavalry the other day, but it was only +a feint at a flank and lasted but a few minutes." + +Australia is ambitious, some might even say self-centered, and Germany +undoubtedly made the mistake of considering that Australia was awaiting +a chance to become unfriendly to Great Britain when she started to +fight. But no nation ever made a greater mistake. As soon as the House +of Hohenzollern placed the mother country in a perilous position +Australia was at the command of Great Britain. Notwithstanding the fact +that the Australians are primarily peace-loving, most intent on +attending to their own affairs, the response to the call was immediate +and whole-hearted. + + +AUSTRALIA'S COMMENDABLE PROMPTNESS. + +The Australian centers buzzed with activity, and within two months after +war was declared the Australian fleet, which consisted of five unarmored +cruisers, three torpedo-boat destroyers, and three light gunboats, which +had been built and manned at the expense of the Australians, were in +possession of the German Pacific Islands--Samoa, Marshall, Carolines, +Pelew, Ladrones, New Guinea, New Britain--had broken the wireless system +of the Germans, and had captured eleven of the vessels of Germany. She +also forced twenty-five other ships to intern, and prevented the +destruction of a British ship in Australian waters. + +Then came the scouring of the seas by the German ship Emden, and her +trip to Australian waters, with the object of carrying on the work of +destruction which had marked her career in South American waters. She +lay in wait for Australian transports, with the result that the +Australian warship Sydney sent her to the bottom but three months after +war had been declared. Shortly after this the Australian fleet drove von +Spree's squadron from the Pacific directly into the trap set by Admiral +Sturdee at the Falkland Islands. + +The fact that all the troops of Australia must be transported to +London--a distance via the Suez route of approximately 11,000 miles, and +through the Panama Canal of 12,734 miles--did not keep back these brave +men from quickly enlisting. The great distance made fighting extremely +expensive, but the task was loyally assumed by the military of the far +continent. Universal military service was inaugurated for the first time +by an English-speaking community, and war loans were offered and quickly +accepted. Transports were immediately constructed out of seventy +steamers which were requisitioned. + +At the declaration of war in November, 1914, the entire Australian army, +which consisted of 20,000 men, left Australia for Egypt, and at the end +of the first year of the conflict there were 76,000 men in the field. By +July, 1916, nearly 300,000 volunteers had been recruited and had crossed +the seas. The creation, equipment, and supplying of this army by the +people of Australia, a task involving enormous cost and personal +sacrifice, constitutes a thrilling chapter in the history of loyalty. + + +GEOGRAPHICALLY ALIKE. + +To those who think that Australia is a little island situated in the +Pacific ocean it might be interesting to know that this continent, in +size and shape, is almost the exact duplicate of the United States. +There are also outlying provinces, that of Papua, a tropical land, +offsetting Alaska. Then there is the rich little Lord Howe Island, and +Norfolk Island. The surface of Australia is the most level in surface +and regular in outline of all the continents, and is the lowest +continent, with an average elevation of Ohio. + +There are 2,974,581 square miles in Australia, while the land area of +the United States is 2,973,890 square miles, a difference of 691 square +miles. This, of course, is only the continental United States. Only +about one-twentieth of the total area of Australia lies in a latitude +farther removed from the Equator than Chattanooga, Tennessee; Clarendon, +Texas; and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and there is less than one-third of +the area of this unique continent which lies in a cooler latitude than +the sugar-cane lands of Louisiana. + +The streams of Australia are fewer and carry less water than those of +any other continent. The heart of this great island is dry and barren +and thinly populated. Most of the inhabitants are found within easy +reach of the coastline. The population of this great land, at the census +of 1911, was 4,568,707 persons. + +New Zealand is situated a little more than 1200 miles to the east of +Sydney, which is in the southeastern section of Australia. It consists +of three fairly large islands, together with a number of small adjacent +islands. The area is 105,340 square miles, the population being, in +1911, 815,862. The surface of the principal islands is diversified, +being mountainous in some parts, and undulating in others. The best +harbors are in the northern district. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +AMERICA STEPS IN. + +PRESIDENT WILSON'S FAMOUS MESSAGE TO CONGRESS--THE WAR RESOLUTION--APRIL +6, 1917 SEES THE UNITED STATES AT WAR--REVIEW OF THE NEGOTIATIONS +BETWEEN GERMANY AND AMERICA--THE U-BOAT RESTRICTED ZONE ANNOUNCEMENT OF +GERMANY--PREMIER LLOYD GEORGE ON AMERICA IN THE CONFLICT. + + +The hoisting of the American flag to the top of the staff as the emblem +of world-wide Liberty followed the action of Congress in authorizing +President Wilson to declare a state of war existed between Germany and +the United States. What the conditions were which developed during the +months in which Germany to all intents and purposes "laughed up her +sleeve" at the United States, ignored our protests against her wanton +disregard of human rights on land and sea, can no better be told than in +the words of President Wilson himself in his message stating the +position which the Government took. + +His message to Congress will go down in history, not only as an +instrument of world-wide importance, but as a classic in literature. Its +effect on the Nations was greater than that of any other message issued +by any one country, probably in the history of the world, and while +there were critics who regarded some of President Wilson's utterances as +too idealistic, time proved that his vision was greater than that of +those who criticised him, and within a short time the eyes of the entire +world were turned toward Washington, which became the active centre from +which the campaign for world-wide democracy was waged. + +The hands of Liberty stretched out to Russia, Serbia, Italy, France, +Belgium, England, little Montenegro, and they were given help in the +most critical periods of their careers. The President's message was +presented to Congress on April 3, 1917, as follows: + +"I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there +are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made +immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally permissible +that I should assume the responsibility of making. + +"On the third of February last I officially laid before you the +extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and +after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all +restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every +vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and +Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled +by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. + + +COMMANDERS UNDER RESTRAINT. + +"That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare +earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Government +had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in +conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger boats should +not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels +which its submarines might seek to destroy when no resistance was +offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given +at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats. + +"The precautions taken were meager and haphazard enough, as was proved +in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and +unmanly business; but a certain degree of restraint was observed. + +"The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every +kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their +destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom +without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, +the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. + +"Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved +and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with +safe-conduct through the prescribed areas by the German Government +itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have +been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle. + +"I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would in +fact be done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to the +humane practices of civilized nations. International law had its origin +in the attempt to set up some law which would be respected and observed +upon the seas, where no nation had the right of domination and where lay +the free highways of the world. + +"By painful stage after stage has that law been built up, with meager +enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be +accomplished, but always with a clear view, at least, of what the heart +and conscience of mankind demanded. + + +SWEEPS RIGHT ASIDE. + +"This minimum of right the German Government has swept aside under the +plea of retaliation and necessity and because it had no weapons which it +could use at sea except those which it is impossible to employ as it is +employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity or +of respect for the understandings that were supposed to underlie the +intercourse of the world. + +"I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and +serious as this is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of +the lives of non-combatants, men, women and children, engaged in +pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern +history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for; +the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be. + +"The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare +against mankind. It is a war against all nations. American ships have +been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very +deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and +friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the +same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all +mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. + +"The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of +counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our +motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will +not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the +nation, but only the vindication of human right, of which we are only a +single champion. + + +ARMED NEUTRALITY IMPRACTICABLE. + +"When I addressed the Congress on the twenty-sixth of February last I +thought it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with arms, our +right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to keep +our people safe against unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, it now +appears, is impracticable. + +"Because submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German +submarines have been used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to +defend ships against their attacks as the law of nations has assumed +that merchantmen would defend themselves against privateers or cruisers, +visible craft giving chase upon the open sea. It is common prudence in +such circumstances, grim necessity, indeed, to endeavor to destroy them +before they have shown their own intention. They must be dealt with upon +sight, if dealt with at all. + +"The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all +within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the defense +of rights which no modern publicist has ever questioned their right to +defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed guards which we have +placed on our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of law +and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. + +"Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best; in such circumstances +and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual; it is +likely once to produce what it was meant to prevent; it is virtually +certain to draw us into the war without either the rights or the +effectiveness of belligerents. + +"There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making; we will +not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of +our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. The wrongs against +which we now array ourselves are not common wrongs; they cut to the very +roots of human life. + + +A CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY. + +"With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the +step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, +but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I +advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial +German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the +Government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the +status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it and that it +take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough +state of defense, but also to exert all its power and employ all its +resources to bring the Government of the German Empire to terms and end +the war. + +"What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable +co-operation in counsel and action with the Governments now at war with +Germany, and as incident to that, the extension to those Governments of +the most liberal financial credits, in order that our resources may, so +far as possible, be added to theirs. It will involve the organization +and mobilization of all the material resources of the country to supply +the material of war and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the +most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way possible. + +"It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in all +respects, but particularly in supplying it with the best means of +dealing with the enemy's submarines. It will involve the immediate +addition to the armed forces of the United States already provided for +by law in case of war at least 500,000 men, who should, in my opinion, +be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service, and also +the authorization of subsequent additional increments of equal force so +soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training. + + +WELL-CONCEIVED TAXATION. + +"It will involve, also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to +the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be +sustained by the present generation, by well-conceived taxation. I say +sustained so far as may be equitably by taxation because it seems to me +that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now be +necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most +respectfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may against the +very serious hardships and evils which would be likely to arise out of +the inflation which would be produced by vast loans. + +"In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be +accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of interfering +as little as possible in our own preparation and in the equipment of our +own military forces with the duty--for it will be a very practical +duty--of supplying the nations already at war with Germany with the +materials which they can obtain only from us by our assistance. They are +in the field and we should help them in every way to be effective there. + +"I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several executive +departments of the Government, for the consideration of your committees +measures for the accomplishment of the several objects I have mentioned. +I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as having been +framed after very careful thought by the branch of the Government upon +which the responsibility of conducting the war and safeguarding the +nation will most directly fall. + +"While we do these things--these deeply momentous things--let us be very +clear, and make very clear to all the world, what our motives and our +objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its habitual and +normal course by the unhappy events of the last two months, and I do not +believe that the thought of the nation has been altered or clouded by +them. + + +FIRM STAND FOR VINDICATION. + +"I have exactly the same things in mind now that I had in mind when I +addressed the Senate on the twenty-second of January last; the same that +I had in mind when I addressed the Congress on the third of February and +on the twenty-sixth of February. Our object now, as then, is to +vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world +against selfish and autocratic power and to set up among the really free +and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and +action as will henceforth insure the observance of those principles. + +"Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the +world is involved and the freedom of its peoples and the menace to that +peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments backed +by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the +will of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality in such +circumstances. + +"We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the +same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrongdoing shall be +observed among nations and their Governments that are observed among the +individual citizens of civilized States. + +"We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling toward +them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse +that their Government acted in entering this war. It was not with their +previous knowledge or approval. + +"It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined upon in the +old, unhappy days when peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers +and wars were provoked and waged in the interest of dynasties or of +little groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to use their +fellow-men as pawns and tools. + +"Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor States with spies, or +set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of +affairs which will give them an opportunity to strike and make conquest. +Such designs can be successfully worked out only under cover and where +no one has the right to ask questions. + + +PRECONCEIVED DECEPTION. + +"Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression carried it may be +from generation to generation, can be worked out and kept from the light +only within the privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded +confidences of a narrow, privileged class. They are happily impossible +where public opinion commands and insists upon full information +concerning all the nation's affairs. + +"A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a +partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic Government could be +trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. It must be a +league of honor, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals +away; the plotting of inner circles who could plan what they would and +render account to no one would be a corruption seated at its very heart. +Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady to a +common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest of +their own. + +"Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope +for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening +things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia? +Russia was known by those who know it best to have been always in fact +democratic at heart in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the +intimate relationships of her people that spoke their natural instinct, +their habitual attitude toward life. + + +POLITICAL AUTOCRACY. + +"The autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long +as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not, +in fact, Russian in origin, character or purpose; and now it has been +shaken off and the great, generous Russian people have been added in all +their native majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for +freedom in the world, for justice and for peace. Here is a fit partner +for a league of honor. + +"One of the things that have served to convince us that the Prussian +autocracy was not and could never be our friend, is that from the very +outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and +even our offices of Government with spies and set criminal intrigues +everywhere afoot against our national unity and counsel, our peace +within and without our industries and our commerce. + +"Indeed, it is now evident that its spies were here even before the war +began; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture, but a fact proved +in our courts of justice, that the intrigues which have more than once +come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the +industries of the country have been carried on at the instigation, with +the support, and even under the personal direction of official agents of +the Imperial Government accredited to the Government of the United +States. + +"Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them, we have +sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them +because we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or +purpose of the German people toward us (who were, no doubt, as ignorant +of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish designs of a +Government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. But +they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that that +Government entertains no real friendship for us and means to act against +our peace and security at its convenience. That it means to stir up +enemies against us at our very doors the intercepted note to the German +Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence. + +"We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that +in such a Government, following such methods, we can never have a +friend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying in +wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured +security of the democratic Governments of the world. + + +NATURAL FOE TO LIBERTY. + +"We are now about to accept gage of battle with this natural foe to +liberty, and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to +check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that +we see the facts with no veil of false pretense about them, to fight +thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its +peoples, the German peoples included; for the rights of nations great +and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of +life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its +peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. + +"We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. +We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the +sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the +rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been as +secure as the faith and the freedom of the nations can make them. + +"Just because we fight without rancour and without selfish object, +seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all +free people, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as +belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio +the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for. + + +UNDISGUISED WARFARE. + +"I have said nothing of the Governments allied with the Imperial +Government of Germany because they have not made war upon us or +challenged us to defend our right and our honor. The Austro-Hungarian +Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified indorsement and +acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now +without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has, +therefore, not been possible for this Government to receive Count +Tarnowski, the Ambassador recently accredited to this Government by the +Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; but that Government +has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United +States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of +postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. +We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there +are no other means of defending our rights. + +"It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents +in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, +not in enmity toward a people or with the desire to bring any injury or +disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible +Government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of +right and is running amuck. + +"We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and +shall desire nothing so much as the early re-establishment of intimate +relations of mutual advantage between us, however hard it may be for +them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our +hearts. + +"We have borne with their present Government through all these bitter +months because of that friendship, exercising a patience and forbearance +which would otherwise have been impossible. We shall, happily, still +have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and +actions toward the millions of men and women of German birth and native +sympathy who live among us and share our life, and we shall be proud to +prove it toward all who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the +Government in the hour of test. + + +TRUE AND LOYAL AMERICANS. + +"They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had +never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand +with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different +mind and purpose. + +"If there should be disloyalty it will be dealt with with a firm hand of +stern repression; but if it lifts its head at all it will lift it only +here and there, and without countenance except from a lawless and +malignant few. + +"It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the Congress, +which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, +many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful +thing to lead this great, peaceful people into war--into the most +terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be +in the balance. + +"But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the +things which we have always carried nearest our hearts--for democracy, +for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their +own government, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a +universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall +bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last +free. + +"To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything +that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who +know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood +and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and +the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no +other." + +While all the world knew that an actual state of war had existed between +the two countries for months, the resolution declaring war as adopted by +Congress on the plea of President Wilson and signed by the President +shortly after 1 o'clock on the afternoon of April 6, 1917--Good +Friday--was as follows: + +"Whereas, The Imperial German Government has committed repeated acts of +war against the government and the people of the United States of +America; therefore, be it + + +A WAR RESOLUTION. + +"Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States of America, in Congress assembled, that the state of war between +the United States and the Imperial German Government which has thus been +thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and that the +President be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to employ the +entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources +of the government to carry on war against the Imperial German +Government; and to bring the conflict to a successful termination all of +the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the +United States." + +Immediately President Wilson issued a proclamation in which he called +upon the people of the country to co-operate and give their support, +pointing out the necessity for doing things other than putting men upon +the firing line. And in his brief proclamation he outlined the entire +comprehensive plan which, within a few months, was well under way. + +The placing of the navy upon a war footing; the creating and equipping +of an adequate army; the supplying of ships; creating of loans; the +financing of the Allies; the conservation of food products; the +development of food and material resources; the providing of munitions +and supplies for the fighting forces abroad--all of these things were +pointed to as necessary in the President's proclamation. + +Thus America, which had endeavored to remain neutral during months when +Germany was arrogant and insulting, became aligned with the Allies in +the struggle which for nearly three years had been waged in Europe. + + +NEGOTIATIONS CARRIED ON. + +The negotiations between this country and Germany over the question of +submarine warfare as affecting the lives of non-combatants and the +rights of neutrals on the high seas in time of war had been carried on +for two years. They had their origin on February 10, 1915, when, +following the German announcement of February 4 that "the waters around +Great Britain and Ireland, including the whole English Channel, are +declared a war zone on and after February 18, 1915," William J. Bryan, +then Secretary of State, sent the "strict accountability" note to +Berlin. + +Through successive stages the exchange of diplomatic papers continued, +with growing feeling on both sides, because of the acts of German +submarines, until the torpedoing of the cross-Channel steamer Sussex, on +March 24, 1916, when the lives of twenty-five American citizens were +imperiled and several suffered bodily injuries or shock. This attack +resulted in the "Sussex note," or so-called "ultimatum" to Germany. + +The Sussex note, signed by Secretary Lansing, and sent to Germany April +19, 1916, concluded with the following declaration: + +"Unless the Imperial Government should now immediately declare and +effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare +against passenger and freight-carrying vessels, the Government of the +United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with +the German Empire altogether." + + +QUESTIONS GERMANY'S RIGHT. + +The first American note to the Imperial Government, of February 10, +1915, disputed the right of Germany to declare such a war zone as it had +announced the week before, and contended for the international procedure +of "visit and search" before attack on or capture of a neutral vessel. +It embodied this phrase: + +"If such a deplorable situation should arise (wanton destruction of an +American ship) the Imperial German Government can readily appreciate +that the Government of the United States would be constrained to hold +the Imperial German Government to a strict accountability for such acts +of their naval authorities and to take any steps it might be necessary +to take to safeguard American lives and property and to secure to +Americans the full enjoyment of their acknowledged rights on the high +seas." + +In reply the German Government sent a note under date of February 16, +1915, setting forth that the war zone proclamation was in reprisal for +the "blockade" of Great Britain and that if "at the eleventh hour" the +United States should prevail upon Germany's enemies to abandon their +methods of maritime warfare, Germany would modify its order. It charged +misuse of neutral flags and the arming of merchant ships by Great +Britain. + +On February 20, in an identic note to Germany and Great Britain, the +American Government suggested that both Powers cease their illegal +activities. Such an agreement this Government proposed as a "modus +vivendi" giving opportunity for further discussion of the points in +controversy. Berlin accepted this note as "new evidence of the friendly +feelings of the American Government," but reserved a "definite +statement" of the position of the Imperial Government until it learned +"what obligations the British Government are on their part willing to +assume." + +Subsequently, on March 28, the British steamship Falaba was sunk, with +the loss of 163 lives, including one American. On April 28 the American +steamship Cushing was attacked by an aeroplane, and on May 1 the +American tanker Gulflight was attacked by a submarine and three United +States citizens were lost. + +On May 1, also, the German Embassy at Washington caused to be inserted +in many of the leading American newspapers the now famous advertisement +warning Americans and others from taking passage on the Cunard liner +Lusitania, intimating that it would be attacked. This was the day the +Lusitania sailed on her ill-fated voyage. A number of the prominent +passengers received personal notes when they reached the pier, advising +them not to go, but most of them scouted the thought of danger. + + +SUBMARINE ISSUE AND DIPLOMACY. + +After the sinking of the Lusitania, on May 7, off Fastnet, Ireland, with +the loss of more than 1100 persons, among them 115 Americans, the +submarine issue assumed a large and gravely important place in the realm +of diplomacy. + +The accumulation of cases affecting Americans was taken up in the first +"Lusitania note" to Germany, which was dispatched May 15, 1915. It +characterized the attacks on the Falaba, Cushing, Gulflight and +Lusitania as "a series of events which the United States has observed +with growing concern, distress and amazement." It pointed to Germany's +hitherto expressed "humane and enlightened attitude" in matters of +international right, and expressed the hope that submarine commanders +engaged in torpedoing peaceful ships without warning were in such +practice operating without the sanction of their Government. The note +closed with these words: + +"The Imperial German Government will not expect the Government of the +United States to omit any word or act necessary to the performance of +its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its +citizens and of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment." + +On May 28, 1915, Germany replied with a note which covered a wide range +of argument and was in every respect unsatisfactory. It alleged that the +Lusitania had masked guns aboard; that she in effect was a British +auxiliary cruiser; that she carried munitions of war; that her owning +company, aware of the damages she risked in the submarine war zone, was +in reality responsible for the loss of American lives, and referred to +the fact that the British Admiralty had offered large rewards to ship +captains who rammed or destroyed submarines. + + +PROMISED TO PAY DAMAGES. + +The note met none of the contentions of the United States so far as the +Lusitania and Falaba incidents were concerned, although a supplementary +note did acknowledge that Germany was wrong in the attacks on the +Cushing and the Gulflight, expressed regret for these two cases and +promised to pay damages. While the American reply to the note was being +framed dissension in the Cabinet resulted in the resignation of +Secretary Bryan, who contended for a policy of warning Americans off +belligerent ships. He resigned because he thought he could not sign the +next note to Germany, which he feared would lead the United States into +war. + +Meanwhile several sensational incidents cropped up in connection with +the negotiations, chief of which was the sending of a message to the +Berlin Foreign Office by Doctor Dumba, the Austrian Ambassador, +afterward recalled at the request of President Wilson, which was +represented as stating substantially that Mr. Bryan had intimated to the +Ambassador that the vigorous tone of the American notes should not be +regarded in Berlin as too warlike. + +Secretary Lansing took office as Mr. Bryan's successor, and his reply to +the German note took issue with every contention Germany had set up in +the Falaba and Lusitania cases, denied flatly the contention that the +Lusitania was armed or was to be treated as other than a peaceful +merchant ship. + +The note averred that the declaration of a submarine war zone could not +abbreviate the rights of Americans on lawful journeys, and added: "The +Government of the United States therefore very earnestly and solemnly +renews the representations of its note transmitted to the Imperial +German Government on May 15, and relies in these representations upon +the principles of humanity, the universally recognized understandings of +international law and the ancient friendship of the German nation." + + +JAGOW'S EVASIVE ANSWER. + +To that note Germany did not reply until July 8, and the German +rejoinder was preponderately characterized by American newspapers not as +a note, but as an address by Foreign Minister von Jagow to the American +people. In official circles it was said to come no nearer to meeting the +American contentions than did the former German note. + +The nature of the reply was regarded officially as convincing evidence +that Germany was holding the submarine warfare negotiations as a club +over the United States to force this Government into some action to +compel Great Britain to relax the food blockade. President Wilson +steadfastly refused to permit the diplomatic negotiations of the United +States with one belligerent to become entangled with the relations with +another. + +To that the United States replied on July 21 that the German note was +"very unsatisfactory," because it failed to meet "the real differences +between the two Governments." The United States, it declared, was keenly +disappointed with Germany's attitude. Submarine attacks without warning, +endangering Americans and other neutrals, were characterized as illegal +and inhuman and manifestly indefensible. The German retaliation against +the British blockade, it maintained, must not interfere with the rights +of neutrals, which the note declared were "based upon principles, not +expediency, and the principles are immutable." It declared that the +United States would continue to contend for the freedom of the seas +"from whatever quarter violated, without compromise and at any cost." +The American note concluded with these words of warning: + +"Friendship itself prompts it (the United States Government) to say to +the Imperial Government that repetition by the commanders of German +naval vessels of acts in contravention of those rights must be regarded +by the Government of the United States, when they affect American +citizens, as deliberately unfriendly." + + +"INFORMAL CONVERSATIONS." + +The negotiations at this point seemed to have come to such an impasse +that the exchanges of notes between Washington and Berlin were stopped +and the controversy was brought into the realm of "informal +conversations" between Secretary Lansing and Count von Bernstorff, the +German Ambassador. It was thought that much could be accomplished by +personal contact which was lost in a cold exchange of documents. + +Meanwhile the Arabic was sunk on August 19. Coming close on the +unsuccessful Lusitania negotiations and a continuation of submarine +attacks in which Americans had suffered, it seemed that the United +States and Germany had at last reached the point of a break. Then, on +September 1, came the first rift in the threatening situation. Count von +Bernstorff presented this written assurance to Secretary Lansing: + +"Liners will not be sunk by our submarines without warning and without +safety of non-combatants, provided that the liners do not try to escape +or offer resistance." + +The United States had agreed all along that ships hailed for visit and +search by a war vessel took a risk if they attempted to flee, but it +contended not for the safety of "liners" alone, but for the immunity of +all peaceful merchant vessels. The word "liners" was the perplexing +point in Germany's assurances and a complete agreement on what it +actually meant never was finally reached. + +More hopefulness was added to the situation when, on October 5, the +Arabic case was disposed of by Germany disavowing the sinking and giving +renewed assurances that submarine commanders had been again instructed +to avoid repetition of the acts which provoked American condemnation. +Count von Bernstorff delivered to Secretary Lansing this communication: + + +BERNSTORFF'S COMMUNICATION. + +"The orders issued by his Majesty the Emperor to the commanders of +submarines--of which I notified you on a previous occasion--have been +made so stringent that the recurrence of incidents similar to the Arabic +case is considered out of the question. The Imperial Government regrets +and disavows this act and has notified Commander Schneider accordingly." + +With that the negotiations reverted to the Lusitania case. Germany +already had agreed to pay indemnity for American lives lost, but the +negotiations were delayed by a seeming deadlock over the words in which +Germany should acknowledge the illegality of the destruction of the +liner. Germany, unwilling to use the word "illegal," substituted a +declaration that "reprisals must not be directed at others than enemy +subjects." A formal communication, including such a declaration and +expressing regret for loss of American lives, assuming liability and +offering reparation in the form of indemnity, was submitted to Secretary +Lansing. + +A favorable settlement of the long and threatened controversy seemed to +be in sight when all the progress that had been made was reduced to +nothing by Germany's declaration of a new submarine policy of sinking +without warning all armed merchant ships. That precipitated a new +situation so vitally interwoven with the whole structure of the +Lusitania case that President Wilson declined to close the Lusitania +settlement while the other issue was pending, and there the whole matter +rested while German submarine warfare was contained and new cases +involving loss of American lives piled up. + +Finally the accumulation of evidence reached such proportions with the +torpedoing of the Sussex that President Wilson, convinced that +assurances given in the Lusitania and Arabic cases were being violated, +dispatched another note to Germany, and went before Congress, reviewed +the entire situation from the beginning, and made this declaration: + + +PRESIDENT'S DECLARATION. + +"I have deemed it my duty to say to the Imperial German Government that +if it is still its purpose to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate +warfare the Government of the United States is at last forced to the +conclusion that there is only one course it can pursue; and that, unless +the Imperial German Government should now, immediately, declare and +effect an abandonment of its present methods of warfare against +passenger and freight-carrying vessels this Government can have no +choice but to sever diplomatic relations altogether." + +It will be noted that the President went further than "liners," and said +"passenger and freight-carrying vessels." + +In the note sent at this time the President said: + +"No limit of any kind has in fact been set to the indiscriminate pursuit +and destruction of merchantmen of all kinds and nationalities within the +waters constantly extending in area where these operations have been +carried on, and the roll of Americans who have lost their lives on ships +thus attacked and destroyed has grown month by month until the ominous +toll has mounted into the hundreds. Again and again the Imperial German +Government has given this Government its solemn assurances that at least +passenger ships would not be thus dealt with, and yet it has again and +again permitted its undersea commanders to disregard those assurances +with entire impunity." + + +OPPOSED TO SUBMARINE WARFARE. + +During all the negotiations the Berlin Foreign Office looked to Count +von Bernstorff to prevent a break. His attitude was represented as +propitiatory from the viewpoint of the United States and opposed to the +submarine warfare of Von Tirpitz. On several occasions he is said to +have warned his Emperor personally that a continuance of the warfare +against which the United States protested would surely lead to a break. +Meanwhile the Ambassador's own position was embarrassed by the +operations of German sympathizers in the United States plotting against +American neutrality. Some of these operations were traced directly to +the military and naval attaches of the embassy, who were withdrawn. + +Germany's final note in the Sussex case, received in Washington on May +5, said that "the German naval forces have received the following +order": + +"In accordance with the general principles of visit and search and the +destruction of merchant vessels recognized by international law, such +vessels, both within and without the area declared a naval war zone, +shall not be sunk without warning and without saving human lives, unless +the ship attempts to escape or offers resistance." + +Contending that the Imperial Government was unwilling to restrict an +effective weapon if "the enemy is permitted to apply at will methods of +warfare violating the rules of international law," the note expressed +the hope that the United States would "demand and insist that the +British Government shall observe forthwith the rules of international +law." The communication added: + +"Should the steps taken by the Government of the United States not +attain the object it (the German Government) desires, to have the laws +of humanity followed by all belligerent nations, the German Government +would then be facing a new situation in which it must reserve to itself +complete liberty of decision." + +To any such reservations the United States demurred in no uncertain +terms. + + +PRESIDENT WILSON'S REPLY. + +"The United States feels it necessary to state," said President Wilson's +reply, "that it takes it for granted that the Imperial German Government +does not intend to imply that the maintenance of its newly announced +policy is any way contingent upon the course or result of diplomatic +negotiations between the Government of the United States and any other +belligerent Government, notwithstanding the fact that certain passages +in the Imperial Government's note might appear to be susceptible of that +construction." + +In completing the declaration that there must be no misunderstanding +that rights of American citizens must not be made subject to the conduct +of some other Government, the note concluded by saying: "Responsibility +in such matters is single, not joint; absolute, not relative." + +The climax came on February 1, 1917, when Count von Bernstorff, German +Ambassador at Washington, handed to Secretary Lansing a note from +Germany on the U-boat policy, supplemented by the "order" and +declaration that the Imperial Government proposed to stop sea traffic in +the "zones" which it marked as prohibited, by every means at its +command. This is the restricted zone order: + +"From February 1, 1917, sea traffic will be stopped with every available +weapon and without further notice in the following blockade zones +around Great Britain, France, Italy and in the Eastern Mediterranean. + +[Illustration: THE BLOCKADE ZONES.] + +"In the North: The zone is confined by a line at a distance of twenty +sea miles along the Dutch coast to Terschelling fireship, the degree of +longitude from Terschelling fireship to Udsire (Norway), a line from +there across, the point 62 degrees north 0 degrees longitude to 62 +degrees north 5 degrees west, further to a point three sea miles south +of the southern point of the Farve (Faroe?) Islands, from there across a +point 62 degrees north 10 degrees west to 61 degrees north 15 degrees +west, then 57 degrees north 20 degrees west to 47 degrees north 20 +degrees west, further to 43 degrees north, 15 degrees west, then along +the degree of latitude 43 degrees north to 20 sea miles from Cape +Finisterre and at a distance of 20 sea miles along the north coast of +Spain to the French boundary. + +"In the south (Mediterranean): + +"For neutral ships remains open: The sea west of the line Pt des' +Espiquette to 38 degrees 20 minutes north and 6 degrees east, also north +and west of a zone 61 sea miles wide along the North African coast, +beginning at 2 degrees longitude west. For the connection of this sea +zone with Greece there is provided a zone of a width of 20 sea miles +north and east of the following line: 38 degrees north and 6 degrees +east to 38 degrees north and 10 degrees west to 37 degrees north and 11 +degrees 30 minutes east to 34 degrees north and 22 degrees 30 minutes +east. From there leads a zone 20 sea miles wide west of 22 degrees 30 +minutes eastern longitude into Greek territorial waters. + + +NEUTRAL SHIPS' RISK. + +"Neutral ships navigating these blockade zones do so at their own risk. +Although care has been taken that neutral ships which are on their way +toward ports of the blockade zones on February 1, 1917, and which have +come in the vicinity of the latter, will be spared during a sufficiently +long period, it is strongly advised to warn them with all available +means in order to cause their return. + +"Neutral ships which on February 1 are in ports of the blockade zones +can with the same safety leave them. + +"The instructions given to the commanders of German submarines provide +for a sufficiently long period during which the safety of passengers on +unarmed enemy passenger ships is guaranteed. + +"Americans en route to the blockade zone on enemy freight steamships are +not endangered, as the enemy shipping firms can prevent such ships in +time from entering the zone. + +"Sailing of regular American passenger steamships may continue +undisturbed after February 1, 1917, if + +"(a) The port of destination is Falmouth. + +"(b) Sailing to or coming from that port course is taken via the Scilly +Islands and a point 50 degrees north, 20 degrees west. + +"(c) The steamships are marked in the following way, which must not be +allowed to other vessels in American ports: On ship's hull and +superstructure three vertical stripes one meter wide each to be painted +alternately white and red. Each mast should show a large flag checkered +white and red and the stern the American national flag. Care should be +taken that during dark national flag and painted marks are easily +recognizable from a distance, and that the boats are well lighted +throughout. + +"(d) One steamship a week sails in each direction, with arrival at +Falmouth on Sunday and departure from Falmouth on Wednesday. + +"(e) United States Government guarantees that no contraband (according +to German contraband list) is carried by those steamships." + +Immediately after the signing of the Congressional resolution declaring +America at war, President Wilson ordered the mobilization of the United +States Navy, and the Senate voted an emergency war fund of $100,000,000 +for the use of the President. The forces of the United States on land +and sea and in every country under the sun were notified that a state of +war existed. + +The entrance of America was regarded throughout the world as one of the +most significant moves in the history of nations, and it filled the +Allied forces with enthusiasm. Typical of the expressions on the part of +the representatives of the Governments at war with Germany was that of +Lloyd George, Premier of England, who said: + +"America has at one bound become a world power in a sense she never was +before. She waited until she found a cause worthy of her traditions. The +American people held back until they were fully convinced that the fight +was not a sordid scrimmage for power and possessions, but an unselfish +struggle to overthrow a sinister conspiracy against human liberty and +human rights. + +"Once that conviction was reached, the great Republic of the West has +leaped into the arena, and she stands now side by side with the European +democracies, who, bruised and bleeding after three years of grim +conflict, are still fighting the most savage foe that ever menaced the +freedom of the world. + +"The glowing phrases of the President's noble deliverance illumine the +horizon and make clearer than ever the goal we are striving to reach. + + +DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM AND PEACE. + +"There are three phrases which will stand out forever in the story of +this crusade. The first is that 'the world must be made safe for +democracy,' the next, 'the menace to peace and freedom lies in the +existence of autocratic governments backed by organized force, which is +controlled wholly by their will and not by the will of their people,' +and the crowning phrase is that in which he declares that 'a steadfast +concert for peace can never be maintained except by the partnership of +democratic nations.' + +"These words represent the faith which inspires and sustains our people +in the tremendous sacrifices they have made and are still making. They +also believe that the unity and peace of mankind can only rest upon +democracy, upon the right to have a voice in their own Government; upon +respect for the right and liberties of nations both great and small, and +upon the universal dominion of public right. + +"To all of these the Prussian military autocracy is an implacable foe. + +"The Imperial War Cabinet, representative of all the peoples of the +British Empire, wish me on their behalf to recognize the chivalry and +courage which call the people of the United States to dedicate the whole +of their resources to the greatest cause that ever engaged human +endeavor." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +UNCLE SAM TAKES HOLD. + +MAKES WORLD'S BIGGEST WAR LOAN--SEIZE GERMAN SHIPS--INTRIGUE +EXPOSED--GENERAL PERSHING AND STAFF IN EUROPE--THE NAVY ON DUTY IN NORTH +SEA--FIRST UNITED STATES TROOPS REACH FRANCE--GERMANY'S ATTEMPTS TO SINK +TROOP SHIPS THWARTED BY NAVY'S GUNS. + + +Scarcely had the ink had time to dry on the Nation's command to begin +war than Congress voted an appropriation of $7,000,000,000 for war +purposes. This, the largest single appropriation ever made by a +government in the world, was passed without a dissenting vote. Still +later, a deficiency bill of $2,827,000,000 for war expenses was passed. +Other legislative measures provided for the increase of the army and +navy and for "selective conscription," although the latter was passed in +the face of considerable opposition on the part of many who believed +that in a democracy armies should be raised by volunteer recruiting. +Many felt that compulsory service was not in accordance with the ideals +of liberty. + +The Conscription Act provided for the registration of every male citizen +or resident in the United States between the ages of 21 and 31 years, +and was enacted on May 19, 1917. Registration of these military +available was made on June 5, when 10,000,000 names were entered on the +rolls as subject to draft by the Government. The principle of "selective +conscription" is that the authorities shall have the right to exempt +from military duty among those registered such persons whose employment +in civil life is necessary to the maintenance of the industries and +business of the country, as well as those who, though physically fit, +have others dependent upon them for support. + +One of the first acts of the Government after the declaration of war was +the seizure of the German merchant vessels interned in United States +ports. These vessels had a tonnage of upward of 629,000 tons and were +estimated as being worth in the neighborhood of $100,000,000. The +seizure was notable in that it was the largest ever made by a country at +war. + +When the Government went to take charge of the vessels it was found that +the German officers had destroyed parts of the machinery in many of them +in an attempt to put them out of commission. The condition of the boats +was such that all of them had to be put in drydock, and it was several +months before some of them could be put in condition for use. + + +SIXTY RINGLEADERS ARRESTED. + +Immediately the ships had been seized an order was issued by Attorney +General Gregory for the arrest of sixty alleged ringleaders in German +plots, conspiracies and machinations throughout the United States. The +Department of Justice, which had long been gathering evidence in +connection with the suspects, had complete reports about their +activities. They were all German citizens, had participated in German +intrigues, and all were regarded as dangerous persons to be at large. + +They were all arrested, bail was refused them, and they were locked up +for safekeeping. This was the first step in the general rounding up of +the conspirators throughout the country. The men were placed in three +groups: Those having previously been arrested charged with violation of +American neutrality in furthering German plots of various sorts and who +were at liberty under bond awaiting the action of higher courts; those +who had been indicted by Federal Grand Juries for similar offenses and +were at liberty under bond awaiting the action of the higher courts, and +persons who, although they had never been indicted or convicted, had +long been under surveillance by the Secret Service, or the investigators +of the Department of Justice. + +These arrests were the first of alien enemies made in this country in +more than a century, under the direct order of the Attorney General +without reference to the courts or obtaining warrants. Under an act of +Congress passed in 1798 the President is empowered to adopt this course. +The right had not been invoked, however, since the war with Great +Britain in 1812. + + +ARREST OF GERMAN PLOTTERS. + +The arrests were only the beginning of the work of the Secret Service +Department in a complete investigation of the activities of the +thousands of German reservists, stationed in the United States, and +suspected of being connected with plots which daily were cropping out. +These plots were being exposed constantly. Some were abandoned before +being completely worked out, owing to the fact that the Germans +suspected they were being shadowed. It was estimated that there were in +the United States at the time of the discoveries of conspiracies between +15,000 and 18,000 German reservists in the prime of life, whose energies +were undoubtedly being employed in the spreading of the German +propaganda. It was upon this army that the Secret Service men kept a +close watch, and who were generally found to have within their ranks the +men wanted at various times in connection with the advancement of German +plans. + +Many of the Germans arrested were quasi-officials of the German +government. Some of them, it is alleged, were the instrumentalities +through which Captain Boy-Ed and Captain von Papen had carried out their +activities in this country against the Allies. A number of those +arrested were properly classed as spies. Camps were established for the +sailors taken from the interned German vessels, and many of them were +sent to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, where they were held. + +The far-reaching influence of the German spy system was at this time +laid before the American public, with all of its startling +ramifications. For months there had been stories of German intrigue and +conspiracies, and the Secret Service had unearthed innumerable plots to +destroy ammunition plants and industrial establishments, which would +have the effect of making it difficult for America to supply ammunition +to the Allies. + +The most insidious scheme unearthed by the government was that which had +to do with the attempt of Germany to secure the alliance of Mexico and +Japan to make war on the United States. + +Japan, through Mexican mediation, was to be urged to abandon her allies +and join in the attack on the United States. + +Mexico, for her reward, was to receive general financial support from +Germany, reconquer Texas, New Mexico and Arizona--lost provinces--and +share in the victorious peace terms Germany contemplated. + + +MACHINATIONS OF GERMAN MINISTER. + +Details were left to German Minister von Eckhardt in Mexico City, who by +instructions signed by German Foreign Minister Zimmerman, at Berlin, +January 19, 1917, was directed to propose the alliance with Mexico, to +General Carranza, and suggest that Mexico seek to bring Japan into the +plot. + +These instructions were transmitted to von Eckhardt through Count von +Bernstorff, former German Ambassador. + +Germany pictured to Mexico, by broad intimation, England and the entente +allies defeated, Germany and her allies triumphant and in world +domination by the instrument of unrestricted submarine warfare. + +A copy of Zimmerman's instructions to von Eckhardt, sent through von +Bernstorff, is in possession of the United States government. It is as +follows: + + "Berlin, January 19, 1917. + + "On the first of February we intend to begin submarine warfare + unrestricted. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor to + keep neutral the United States of America. + + "If this attempt is not successful we propose an alliance on the + following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and + together make peace. We shall give general financial support, and + it is understood that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in + New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. The details are left to you for + settlement. + + "You are instructed to inform the President of Mexico of the above, + in the greatest confidence, as soon as it is certain that there + will be an outbreak of war with the United States, and suggest that + the President of Mexico, on his own initiative, should communicate + with Japan, suggesting adherence at once to this plan; at the same + time, offer to mediate between Germany and Japan. + + "Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the + employment of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel + England to make peace in a few months. + + "ZIMMERMAN." + + +BETHMANN-HOLLWEG'S FALSE STATEMENT. + +This document was in the possession of the government at the very time +Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg was declaring that the United States had +placed an interpretation on the submarine declaration "never intended by +Germany," and that Germany had promoted and honored friendly relations +with the United States "as an heirloom from Frederick the Great." + +Of itself, if there were no other, it is considered a sufficient answer +to the German Chancellor's plaint that the United States "brusquely" +broke off relations without giving "authentic" reasons for its action. + +The document supplies the missing link to many separate chains of +circumstances, which until then had seemed to lead to no definite point. +It shed new light upon the frequently reported but indefinable +movements of the Mexican government to couple its situation with the +friction between the United States and Japan. + +It added another chapter to the celebrated report of Jules Cambon, +French Ambassador in Berlin before the war, of Germany's world-wide +plans for stirring strife on every continent where they might aid her in +the struggle for world domination, which she dreamed was close at hand. +It added a climax to the operations of Count von Bernstorff and the +German Embassy in this country, which had been colored with passport +frauds, charges of dynamite plots and intrigue, the full extent of which +never had been published. + +And last but not least, it explained in a very large degree the attitude +of the Mexican government toward the United States on many points. + + +UNCLE SAM NOT BOTHERED. + +But the efforts of the German enthusiasts, which carried them beyond the +bounds of reasonable safety in the United States, did not bother Uncle +Sam much in the prosecution of his war plans. Within a short period +after the declaration of war the country had written a chapter in +national achievement unrivalled in the history of the world. + +American destroyers were mobilized, outfitted and sent to the North Sea +within a few days after the nation entered the conflict. With them went +their own supply vessels and numerous converted craft adapted to naval +use. Their number and the exact duty they have assumed never have been +revealed, but that they have been recognized as a formidable part of the +grand allied fleet was evidenced by the designation of American Vice +Admiral Sims to command all the forces in the important zone off +Ireland. + +The fleet began actual duty in the European waters on May 4, and the +presence of the vessels and the American sailors was the subject of +official correspondence. The British admiralty announced the arrival of +the American destroyers as follows: + +"The British Admiralty states that a flotilla of United States +destroyers recently arrived in this country to co-operate with our naval +forces in the prosecution of the war. + +"The services which the American vessels are rendering to the allied +cause are of the greatest value and are deeply appreciated." + +Vice Admiral Sir David Beatty, commander of the British Grand Fleet, +sent the following message to Admiral Henry T. Mayo, commander of the +United States Atlantic Fleet: + +"The Grand Fleet rejoices that the Atlantic Fleet will now share in +preserving the liberties of the world and maintaining the chivalry of +the sea." + +Admiral Mayo replied: + +"The United States Atlantic Fleet appreciates the message from the +British Fleet and welcomes opportunities for work with the British Fleet +for the freedom of the seas." + + +GENERAL PERSHING IN ENGLAND. + +Less than a month later Major General John J. Pershing, with his staff, +were safely in England ready to take command of the first expeditionary +force that ever set foot on the European shores to make war. General +Pershing's personal staff and the members of the General Staff who went +to perform the preliminary work for the first fighting force, numbered +57 officers and about 50 enlisted men, together with a civilian clerical +force. + +The party landed at Liverpool on June 8, after an uneventful trip on the +White Star liner Baltic. The party was received with full military +honors and immediately entrained for London, where it was welcomed by +Lord Derby, the Minister of War; Viscount French, commander of the +British home forces, and a large body of American officials. + +In London General Pershing was later received at Buckingham Palace by +King George. + +He was presented to the King by Lord Brooke, commander of the Twelfth +Canadian Infantry Brigade. General Pershing was accompanied to the +palace by his personal staff of twelve officers. After the audience the +officers paid a formal call at the United States embassy. + + +PERSHING RECEIVES ROYAL GREETING. + +After the formal reception the King shook hands with General Pershing +and the members of his staff, and expressed pleasure at welcoming the +advance guard of the American army. King George chatted for a few +moments with each member of General Pershing's staff. In addressing +General Pershing the King said: + +"It has been the dream of my life to see the two great English-speaking +nations more closely united. My dreams have been realized. It is with +the utmost pleasure that I welcome you, at the head of the American +contingent, to our shores." + +Major General Pershing's staff has been characterized as "one of live +wires." Most of the officers are West Pointers, but there are among them +some who rose from the ranks, including Major James G. Harbord, chief of +staff. + +General Pershing reached France on June 13, where he was given a +tumultuous welcome. He landed at Boulogne in the morning and was met by +General Pelletier, representing the French government and General +Headquarters of the French army; Commandant Hue, representing the +Minister of War; General Lucas, commanding the northern region; Colonel +Daru, Governor of Lille; the Prefect of the Somme and other officials. + +Among the latter were Rene Besnard, Under Secretary of War, representing +the Cabinet; Commandant Thouzellier, representing Marshal Joffre, and +Vice-Admiral Ronarch, representing the navy. + +The scene in the harbor as General Pershing set foot on French soil was +one of striking beauty and animation. The day was bright and sunny. The +quays were crowded with townspeople and soldiers from all Entente +armies, with French and British troops predominating. + +The shipping was gay with flags and bunting, many merchant craft +hoisting American flags, while along the crowded quays the American +colors were everywhere shown as a token of the French welcome. + + +PERSHING RECEIVES AN OVATION. + +A great wave of enthusiasm came from the crowds as General Pershing +stepped upon the quay and as the band played the "Marseillaise" he and +the members of his staff stood uncovered. M. Besnard, in greeting the +American commander in behalf of the government, said the Americans had +come to France to combat with the Allies for the same cause of right and +civilization. General Pelletier extended a greeting to the Americans in +behalf of the army. + +General Dumas, commandant of the region in which Boulogne is located, +said: + +"Your coming opens a new era in the history of the world. The United +States of America is now taking its part with the United States of +Europe. Together they are about to found the United States of the World, +which will definitely and finally end the war and give a peace which +will be enduring and suitable for humanity." + +General Pershing stood at parade as the various addresses were delivered +and acknowledged each with a salute. + +British soldiers and marines lined up along the quays had rendered +military honors as the vessel flying the Stars and Stripes, preceded by +destroyers and accompanied by hydroplanes and dirigible balloons, +steamed up the channel. Military bands played "The Star-Spangled +Banner" and the "Marseillaise" as General Pelletier and his party +boarded the boat to welcome General Pershing. + +After the representatives of the French authorities had been presented +to the American officers, the party landed and reviewed the French +territorials. The Americans then entered motor cars for a ride around +the city. All along the route they were followed by crowds of people who +greeted General Pershing with the greatest enthusiasm. + + +PERSHING IN PARIS. + +The General and his staff were taken in a special train to Paris, where +General Pershing was received by Marshal Joffre, Ambassador Sharp and +Paul Painleve, French Minister of War. In the French capital General +Pershing and staff were received by the populace with wild enthusiasm, +and for several days they were feted and entertained. + +There were, during the short period of entertainment, several incidents +which will long be noted in history, as when General Pershing visited +the Tomb of Napoleon and when he took from its case the sword of the +world conqueror and kissed it, and again when he placed a wreath on the +grave of Lafayette. + +Within a few days General Pershing had established the army headquarters +in the Rue De Constantine and began the work preliminary to the campaign +on the firing line. + +Second only to the enthusiastic reception tendered General Pershing and +his staff was that accorded the first United States Medical Unit, which +reached London in June. The vanguard of the American army, composed of +26 surgeons and 60 nurses, in command of Major Harry L. Gilchrist, was +received by King George and Queen Mary, the Prince of Wales and Princess +Mary, at Buckingham Palace. + +The reception to General Pershing and the Medical branch was, however, +nothing as compared to the popular demonstration which marked the +arrival of the first of the American armed forces on European shores to +participate in war. The vanguard of the army reached France on June 27. +No official announcement was ever made of the number of men in the first +expeditionary force, but it is an incident of modern history that the +United States made a record for the transportation of troops across the +seas scarcely equalled by that of any other country. + + +ABSOLUTE SECRECY OBSERVED. + +All America knew that troops were being sent to France, but no +information had been given as to the time of departure or as to their +destination. The world was, therefore, fairly electrified when the +announcement was made that in defiance of the German submarines, +thousands of seasoned regulars and marines, trained fighting men, with +the tan of long service on the Mexican border, in Haiti, or Santo +Domingo still on their faces, had arrived in France to fight beside the +French, the British, the Belgians, the Russians, the Portuguese and the +Italian troops on the Western front. + +Despite the enormous difficulties of unpreparedness and the submarine +dangers that faced them, the plans of the army and navy were carried +through with clock-like precision. + +When the order came to prepare immediately an expeditionary force to go +to France, virtually all of the men who first crossed the seas were on +the Mexican border. General Pershing himself was at his headquarters in +San Antonio. There were no army transports available in the Atlantic. +The vessels that carried the troops were scattered on their usual +routes. Army reserve stores were still depleted from the border +mobilization. Regiments were below war strength. That was the condition +when President Wilson decided that the plea of the French high +commission should be answered and a force of regulars sent at once to +France. + +At his word the War Department began to move. General Pershing was +summoned quietly to Washington. His arrival created some speculation in +the press, but at the request of Secretary Baker the newspapers +generally refrained from discussion of this point. + +There were a thousand other activities afoot in the department at the +time. All the business of preparing for the military registration of +10,000,000 men, of providing quarters and instructors for nearly 50,000 +prospective officers, for finding arms and equipment for millions of +troops yet to be organized, of expanding the regular army to full war +strength, of preparing and recruiting the National Guard for war was at +hand. + + +PERSHING SETS UP HEADQUARTERS. + +General Pershing dropped quietly into the department and set up the +first headquarters of the American expeditionary forces in a little +office, hardly large enough to hold himself and his personal staff. +There, with the aid of the general staff, of Secretary Baker and of the +chiefs of the War Department bureaus, the plans were worked out. + +Announcement of the sending of the force under General Pershing was made +May 18. The press gave the news to the country and there were daily +stories. + +There came a day when General Pershing no longer was in the department. +Officers of the general staff suddenly were missing from their desks. No +word of this was reported. Then came word from England that Pershing and +his officers were there. All was carried through without publicity. + +Other matters relating to the expedition were carried out without a word +of publicity. The regiments that were to go with General Pershing were +all selected before he left and moving toward the seacoast from the +border. Other regiments also were moving north, east and west to the +points where they were to be expanded, and the movements of the troops +who were to be first in France were obscured in all this hurrying of +troop trains over the land. + +Great shipments of war supplies began to assemble at the embarkation +ports. Liners suddenly were taken off their regular runs with no +announcement. A great armada was made ready, supplied, equipped as +transports, loaded with men and guns and sent to sea, and all with +virtually no mention from the press. + +The navy bore its full share in the achievement. From the time the troop +ships left their docks and headed toward sea, responsibility for the +lives of their thousands of men rested upon the officers and crews of +the fighting ships that moved beside them or swept free the sea lanes +before them. As they pushed on through the days and nights toward the +danger zone, where German submarines lay in wait, every precaution that +trained minds of the navy could devise was taken. + + +A BRILLIANT CLIMAX. + +The brilliant climax to the achievement was made public when it was +announced that not only had the last units of the expeditionary force +been landed on July 3, but that the American navy had driven off two +German submarines, probably sinking one of them, when the transport +ships and convoys had been attacked. + +The last units of the American expeditionary force, comprising vessels +loaded with supplies and horses, reached France amid the screeching of +whistles and moaning of sirens. Their arrival, one week after the first +troops landed, was greeted almost as warmly as the arrival of the troops +themselves. + +Many of the American soldiers crowded down to the wharf to greet the +last ships of the expedition and the American vessels in the harbor, +which had made up previous contingents of the force, joined in the +welcome. The late arrival of the supply ships was due not only to later +departure from America, but also to the fact that the vessels were +slower than those which had come before. The delay caused little +anxiety, although it worked temporary inconvenience to the troops, who +had been waiting for materials with which to work. + +Probably the happiest man in port was Rear Admiral Gleaves, commander of +the convoy. From the bridge of his flagship he watched the successful +conclusion of his plans with characteristic modesty and insisted upon +bestowing the lion's share of credit for the crossing on the navigating +officers of his command. + + +ADVANCE PLANS BRIEFLY SKETCHED. + +Sketching briefly the advance plans whereby all units of the contingent +had to keep a daily rendezvous with accompanying warships, he said, +that, thanks to his navigating officers and despite overcast skies, +which made astronomical observations impossible, each rendezvous had +been minutely and accurately kept by each unit. The orders he issued at +the outset, which comprised scores of details, were observed, the +Admiral declared, with such exactness that the contingent units and +convoying warships invariably met each other within half an hour of the +appointed time. + +A big contributing factor in the crossing, according to officers of both +branches of the service, was the hearty co-operation between the army +and navy. From the time of the departure until the landing there was not +the slightest suggestion of friction, and co-ordination played its part +distinctively in the success of the expedition. + +The startling fact of the entire journey across the sea was that the +Navy had won its first victory in driving off attacking submarines. The +news of the fight was given out by the Navy Department and the Committee +on Public Information, with the announcement of the final landing of the +troops and the safe arrival of the supply ships. + +The announcement, sponsored by Secretary Daniels, of the Navy, shows +beyond the shadow of doubt that the Berlin Admiralty had been "tipped +off" that the American expeditionary force was on its way, and had +carefully planned to send the transports to the bottom of the Atlantic. + +Realizing that an attack might be expected in the war zone, and that +every precaution would be taken to ward it off, the Germans moved far +out from land, in the hope of catching the American gunners napping. +They were fooled. Uncle Sam's jackies were at the guns when the fleet of +submarines stuck their periscopes above the waves and trained their +torpedo tubes on the lines of transports. + + +WAVES COVERED WITH SHELLS. + +The torpedo boats and other craft opened up and covered the waves with +shells. The Germans soon lost at least one submarine and, having had +enough of the fight, they disappeared. As the little destroyers dashed +straight at the submarines and shot under water explosives in their wake +as they submerged, the transports dashed through the night at top speed +without having been scratched. + +The extreme degree to which the Germans had prepared to destroy the +American force is shown by the second part of the official announcement, +which tells how another section of the transport fleet was waylaid under +cover of darkness, but how the American gunners were too quick for the +Germans. + +The text of Secretary Daniels' announcement was: + +"It is with the joy of a great relief that I announce to the people of +the United States the safe arrival in France of every fighting man and +every fighting ship. Now that the last vessel has reached port, it is +safe to disclose the dangers that were encountered and to tell the +complete story of peril and courage. + +"The transports bearing our troops were twice attacked by German +submarines on the way across. On both occasions the U-boats were beaten +off with every appearance of loss. One was certainly sunk, and there is +reason to believe that the accurate fire of our gunners sent others to +the bottom. + +"For purposes of convenience, the expedition was divided into +contingents, each contingent including troopships and a naval escort +designed to keep off such German raiders as might be met. + +"An ocean rendezvous had also been arranged with the American destroyers +now operating in European waters in order that the passage of the danger +zone might be attended by every possible protection. + +"The first attack took place at 10.30 on the night of June 22. What +gives it peculiar and disturbing significance is that our ships were set +upon at a point well this side of the rendezvous, and in that part of +the Atlantic presumably free from submarines. The attack was made in +force, although the night made impossible any exact count of the U-boats +gathered for what they deemed a slaughter. + + +HIGH SEAS CONVOY. + +"The high seas convoy, circling with their searchlights, answered with +heavy gunfire, and its accuracy stands proved by the fact that the +torpedo discharge became increasingly scattered and inaccurate. It is +not known how many torpedoes were launched, but five were counted as +they sped by bow and stern. + +"A second attack was launched a few days later against another +contingent. The point of assault was beyond the rendezvous and our +destroyers were sailing as a screen between the transports and all harm. +The results of the battle were in favor of American gunnery. + +"Not alone did the destroyers hold the U-boats at a safe distance, but +their speed also resulted in the sinking of one submarine at least. +Grenades were used in firing, a depth charge explosive timed to go off +at a certain distance under water. In one instance, oil and wreckage +covered the surface of the sea after a shot from a destroyer at a +periscope, and the reports make claim of sinking. + +"Protected by our high seas convoy, by our destroyers and by French war +vessels, the contingent proceeded and joined the others in a French +port. + +"The whole nation will rejoice that so great a peril is passed for the +vanguard of the men who will fight our battles in France. No more +thrilling Fourth of July celebration could have been arranged than this +glad news that lifts the shadow of dread from the heart of America." + +Upon receipt of the announcement, Secretary Baker wrote the following +letter to Secretary Daniels, conveying the army's thanks to the navy: + +"Word has just come to the War Department that the last ships conveying +General Pershing's expeditionary force to France arrived safe today. As +you know, the navy assumed the responsibility for the safety of these +ships on the sea and through the danger zone. The ships themselves and +their convoys were in the hands of the navy, and now that they have +arrived, and carried, without the loss of a man, our soldiers who are +the first to represent America in the battle for democracy, I beg leave +to tender to you, to the Admiral and to the navy, the hearty thanks of +the War Department and of the army. This splendid achievement is an +auspicious beginning and it has been characterized throughout by the +most cordial and effective co-operation between the two military +services." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +A GERMAN CRISIS. + +THE DOWNFALL OF BETHMANN-HOLLWEG--THE CROWN PRINCE IN THE LIME +LIGHT--HOLLWEG'S UNIQUE CAREER--DR. GEORG MICHAELIS APPOINTED +CHANCELLOR--THE KAISER AND HOW HE GETS HIS IMMENSE POWER. + + +The active participation of the United States in the war, as distinctly +marked by the sending of troops to France, aside from giving needed +inspiration to the Allied forces, may be said to have had a decided +effect in Germany. While the German subjects are loyal, there has +developed in the country, as in every other country, a large element of +Socialists and progressives. + +Something of a climax was reached in the affairs of the Hohenzollern +dynasty just when the United States troops were preparing to take their +places on the battle line in France and when the first of the +conscripted forces of the country were being summoned to the colors. + +With a suddenness that startled the entire world, Dr. von +Bethmann-Hollweg, the German Imperial Chancellor, resigned on July 14, +thus ending his career as the spokesman of the Kaiser, which he had +maintained for a surprisingly long period. At the same time Dr. Alfred +Zimmermann, Foreign Minister, who was responsible for the correspondence +which revealed the fact that Germany was trying to induce Mexico and +Japan to form an alliance against the United States, also quit his post. + +The resignation of the Chancellor came quite unexpectedly, for von +Hollweg, in the prolonged party discussion and heated debates of the +main committee of the Reichstag which had been in progress, seemed to +have triumphed over his opponents. + +His opponents had been clamoring for his head, but he made concessions, +and by the declaration that Germany was fighting defensively for her +territorial possessions evolved a formula which for a time seemed +satisfactory to both those who clamored for peace by agreement and those +who demanded repudiation of the formula, "no annexation and no +indemnities." In this position Dr. von Hollweg was backed by the +Emperor. + +The advent of the Crown Prince upon the scene--summoned by his imperial +father to share the deliberations affecting the future of the +dynasty--seems to have changed entirely the position with regard to the +Imperial Chancellor. The Crown Prince at once took a leading part in the +discussions with the party leaders, and his ancient hostility toward Dr. +von Bethmann-Hollweg, coupled with his notorious dislike for political +reform, undoubtedly precipitated the Chancellor's resignation. + + +APPOINTMENT OF DR. GEORG MICHAELIS. + +The resignation of Dr. von Hollweg was followed by the appointment of +Dr. Georg Michaelis, Prussian Under Secretary of Finance and Food +Commissioner. + +The fall of Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg removed the last of the +statesmen who were in charge of the great Powers of Europe at the +beginning of the war, and brought to an end a career which in successful +playing of both ends against the middle was almost without parallel in +recent history. + +Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, an aristocrat and personal friend of +the Emperor, stood out strongly against democratic agitation before the +war, and at times was sharply outspoken in his defiance of socialism and +his rejection of any move toward making the Chancellor and his +subordinates, the other Ministers, responsible to the Reichstag. Yet in +the early stages of the war he became known as a moderate, and it has +been generally accepted that his influence was usually employed against +the breaking of relations with America and ruthless submarine warfare. + + +PRESERVES A JUDICIOUS BALANCE. + +When the opposition of the parties favoring the most desperate measures +became too strong for him, he conceded a little ground, taking up a +middle position in which he balanced himself for a long time against +both the Conservative Junkers and the National Liberal trust magnates on +the one side and the radical Socialists on the other. Neither side could +claim him; neither could interpret his ambiguous utterances as support +of its policies, and between the antagonisms of the two he maintained +his position until at last he was overthrown by the attack of Erzberger, +leader of the more liberal wing of the Catholic party, the traditional +holders of the middle ground. + +Bethmann-Hollweg's agility was demonstrated by the fact that he survived +Asquith and Grey, Viviani, Sazonoff, Berchtold, Salandra, Jagow, and all +the rest of the statesmen who were in power in Europe in August, 1914. + +In personality the Chancellor was studious, scholarly and pleasant, +lacking the brilliance of his predecessor, Von Buelow, but generally +regarded as one who was if anything too mild rather than too severe. + +Dr. Georg Michaelis, the successor to Hollweg, was the first commoner to +be appointed to that high office, without even a "von" before his name. + +The son of a Prussian official, he was born on September 8, 1857, in +Haynan, Silesia. He received a university education, making the law his +profession. In 1879 he became a court referee in Berlin, and in 1884 was +attached to the District Attorney's office in that city. Several years +later he went as professor of law and political economy to the +University of Tokio. + +Returning to Germany in 1889, he was chosen District Attorney for +Berlin. His services won much praise and he was afterward sent by the +government as an official in the provisional government at Trevas, +Germany. In 1897 he was transferred to Westphalia, where he was Chief +Councilor for the government there. + +In 1900 he was made Provisional President of Liebnitz and in 1902 First +Privy Councilor in Breslau. His work there won him an appointment as +Under Secretary of State in the Department of Finance, which post he +held in connection with his work as Food Commissioner. + +Doctor Michaelis was selected for the post of Prussian Food Commissioner +in February, 1917, after all efforts of Adolph von Batocki's +organization--the food regulation board--had failed to lay hands on +large supplies of grain, potatoes and other produce which the Prussian +landlords were holding for the fattening of cattle and swine instead of +making them available for general consumption. + + +GOVERNMENT ORDERS DISREGARDED. + +The orders of Herr Batocki and the Central Government for the surrender +of these supplies were disregarded or evaded at least, if not, as +charged in Germany, with the actual assistance and support of the +reactionary Prussian Minister of Agriculture, Baron von Schorlemer. + +Doctor Michaelis was eventually selected as Food Controller as the +result of an agreement between von Bethmann-Hollweg and the military +authorities as a fearless, determined official, who would execute his +mission without fear or favor and produce results if such were possible. +The selection was justified. + +The conditions in Germany which marked the ascendancy of the Crown +Prince in the deliberations of the Imperial Government and brought about +the upheaval in the Ministry are the logical result of the system under +which the country is ruled. + +There is, in the mind of the public generally, a theory that Germany +with its Bundesrath and Reichstag has a government akin to that of +England and even the United States, but the impression is an erroneous +one. It is true that Germany has a dual system of government and +independent state sovereignties. There is, however, nothing democratic +about the system. + +To begin with, the Kaiser is a constitutional monarch in his capacity as +German Emperor, but as King of Prussia he is a self-appointed and +arrogant ruler--all that he advertises himself to be in the way of a +God-chosen ruler. + + +STATUS OF GERMAN SOVEREIGNTY. + +To understand the difference in relationship between the King of Prussia +and the German Emperor it is necessary to realize that the German +constitution describes the Emperor thus: "The presidency of the Union +belongs to the King of Prussia, who bears the title of German Emperor." +On the other hand the King of Prussia, who happens to be the Kaiser, has +his right to rule by birth. When the first king was crowned, about 1701, +he placed the crown upon his own head, and that right has descended to +King William. But as German Emperor the duties of the Kaiser are as +clearly defined as those of the ruler of a modern democracy. + +The difference between the Kingdom and the Empire is that the German +Empire is a creation of sovereign states, ruled over by German Grand +Dukes, Princes, and whatnot, who trace their lineage back to the days +when might was right, and who won their power to rule by defeating their +fellow men. At one time there were several hundred of these ruling +princes. When Napoleon got through in Germany there were about +twenty-two left. The German Empire today consists of these twenty-two +states, and three free cities, comprising in all a group of twenty-five +communities. It is a bond or association. It consists, in fact, of the +twenty-five communities, of which it is composed, and represented by +twenty-five kings, dukes, princes, etc., and not by the 65,000,000 +population of the communities themselves. The sovereignty rests with +the princes of the several states, who have bestowed a fixed power upon +the Kaiser. As Emperor his office dates back to 1871. + +The legislative machinery which has been devised for the use of these +German sovereigns consists of the Bundesrath and the Reichstag. +Sometimes the Bundesrath is likened to our Senate, or to the hereditary +English House of Lords, while the Reichstag is compared to the House of +Representatives or the House of Commons. But comparisons are odious. + + +THE BUNDESRATH. + +The Bundesrath is an assembly in which the German kings, grand dukes, +dukes, princes, etc., come together (by proxy) to direct the affairs of +the Empire. Each of these sovereigns sends a specified number of +delegates, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. Thus +the Kaiser, as the King of Prussia, sends seventeen delegates, while the +King of Bavaria sends six. The total number of delegates is fifty-eight, +so right in the beginning the Kaiser has a pretty good representation. + +The delegations in the Bundesrath vote en masse--that is the "unit rule" +prevails. The seventeen delegates from Prussia must vote as instructed +by the Kaiser, and if there chanced to be but one member present he +still would cast seventeen votes for the delegation. The members of the +Bundesrath are referred to quite frequently as ambassadors. There is no +need for discussion in the body since the delegations vote, in any +event, as a unit. + +The power of the German Bundesrath is, however, astonishing. Usually the +lower house is supposed to be the one in which originates legislation, +such as finance, affecting the people. But in Germany it is the +Bundesrath which has the power to tax, and the lower chamber, the +Reichstag, merely has the vetoing power. + +This makes the taxing power in Germany primarily the privilege of the +crown. + +The financial program is prepared by the Chancellor, who is the direct +representative of the Kaiser, and responsible only to him. In other +governments members of the ministry are appointed by the legislative +bodies, but the Chancellor is personally named by the Kaiser, and is not +even a member of the Reichstag. He has the right, however, to address +this body, as the privilege of a member of the Bundesrath of which, as +the personal representative of the Kaiser, he is the presiding officer. + +Since the Bundesrath, as already shown, practically controls the German +Empire, and the King of Prussia, with his seventeen votes in the +Bundesrath holds sway in that body, it is easy to see how the Kaiser is +the dominating figure in the German Empire. + + +THE KAISER'S DUAL PREROGATIVE. + +A unique provision of the German constitution is that fourteen votes in +the Bundesrath can defeat any proposed amendment, and since the Kaiser +controls seventeen votes, as King of Prussia, besides several others, he +has a voting strength which can block any attempt to change the regime. +Also, as King of Prussia, he can instruct his Chancellor to prepare laws +to be introduced in the Bundesrath. + +It is the power which the Kaiser possesses, as the King of Prussia, +which gives him his control as the German Emperor. Prussia is the +largest of the German states, and when the Kaiser, as King of Prussia, +says that he is master in Prussia, he speaks the truth. + +There is a ministry in Prussia, and the head of this body is usually the +same person who occupies the position of Imperial Chancellor, and the +Kaiser appoints this Minister as well as his associates, whom he can +remove without reference to the Ministry as a body. There are two +chambers in Prussian Ministry commonly known as the House of Peers, and +the House of Representatives. + +Just to give the King of Prussia a little more control, he has the right +to appoint all the members of the House of Peers, and also to designate +the number. The House of Representatives, on the face of it, is a +popular body, because the members are supposed to be elected by +universal suffrage. The taxpayers vote for representation in this +chamber, but they do not vote directly nor on equal terms. + +Members of the House of Representatives are chosen by an electoral +college, and several hundred of these colleges are selected at each +election. Though taxpayers vote for the electors, all the votes do not +have the same relative value. The taxpayers whose combined taxes +represent one-third of the whole amount of taxes in an electoral +district choose one-third of the members from that district to the +House. Those who pay the next one-third of the taxes choose another +third of the electors, and the remaining body of voters choose the last +third. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +UNCLE SAM AND THE NEUTRALS. + +PRESIDENT WILSON PUTS EMBARGO ON FOOD SHIPMENTS--SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES +FURNISHING SUPPLIES TO GERMANY INSPIRES ORDER--THE DIFFICULT POSITION OF +NORWAY, DENMARK, HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND. + + +When America first declared its intentions there were in the United +States thousands who held to the theory that "America in War" simply +meant that we should shut ourselves within our borders, perhaps furnish +supplies to the Allied forces, lend money to England, France, Belgium +and Russia, use our navy to protect our merchant shipping and go about +our business, leaving the fighting to the forces joined in conflict +against Germany. + +They were disabused when the English and French Commission and the +representatives of Belgium and Russia made it apparent that it would be +necessary for America to actually raise a fighting army and General +Pershing was sent to France. But they learned, too, that mobilizing the +forces of the country and waging warfare were not simple matters. The +truth was brought home that the whole nation must fight; that it must +use its brains, its money, its resources of every sort, its whole power, +both in an offensive and in a defensive way. + +Not only must its soldiers and sailors face the guns of the Teutons, but +the machinery of government must be used to bring the arrogant +Hohenzollerns to their knees. Some startling things were discovered, and +the brains of the diplomatic force of the government were put to the +test. International problems arose which were never before encountered +in the history of nations. + +England, with its blockade against Germany, and Germany with its +submarine warfare against British and neutral shipping, developed +problems which had to be solved relative to keeping Germany from +getting supplies which would enable her to withstand the siege, and also +as to the sending of supplies to England, Belgium, France and Russia, +and particularly to our own forces fighting with the Allies in France. + + +A BIG FACTOR IN WAR. + +Unfortunate as it may seem, one of the biggest factors in waging +successful war is to prevent the enemy from getting food supplies. It is +a frequently repeated truism that "an army travels on its stomach," and +in the pleas for conservation and efficient management the leaders in +every country declared frequently that "the war would be won by the last +loaf of bread," or that it was not a question of ammunition, but of +wheat. + +One of the serious problems which the government was therefore called to +face within a very short period after the American troops were first +landed in France was that of dealing with the food situation, both at +home and abroad. At that time the German U-boats had sunk merchant ships +having a total of more than 5,000,000 tonnage, and the food situation +was precarious in the Allied countries. Germany, on the other hand, +because of long preparation for the struggle, coupled with efficient +management and practices, was more largely independent of other +countries. + +At this time it was learned that Germany was securing large quantities +of foodstuffs through the medium of some of the neutral countries. +America was, therefore, called upon to take steps to prevent the Germans +getting supplies from this country, through the intermediary of Holland +and the Scandinavian countries. As a result the government placed an +embargo on a long list of articles including fuel, oils, grains, meats +and fodder. The embargo, which was made effective by a proclamation of +President Wilson, forbade the carrying of such supplies as were +mentioned from the United States or its territorial possessions to +neutral countries. + +The purpose of the embargo was not to prevent the neutral countries from +securing foodstuffs from America for their own consumption, but to +prevent their reselling such supplies at a profit to Germany. The +position of the government was made plain in the statement of President +Wilson, who said: + + +DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN NEEDS. + +"It is obviously the duty of the United States in liberating any surplus +products over and above our own domestic needs to consider first the +necessities of all the nations engaged in war against the central +empires. As to neutral nations, however, we also recognize our duty. The +government does not wish to hamper them. On the contrary, it wishes and +intends, by all fair and equitable means, to co-operate with them in +their difficult task of adding from our available surpluses to their own +domestic supply and of meeting their pressing necessities or deficits. +In considering the deficits of food supplies, the government means only +to fulfill its obvious obligation to assure itself that neutrals are +husbanding their own resources, and that our supplies will not become +available, either directly or indirectly, to feed the enemy." + +While the conservation of our resources had a great deal to do with the +issuing of the embargo, the action was partly taken as the result of +information lodged by England that Holland, Sweden and Norway had been +supplying Germany and her allies with food, despite the latter's hostile +action in sinking ships owned by the neutrals. The government made an +investigation and discovered that the shipment to these neutral +countries had become abnormally large. It was reported, particularly, +that many Holland business men had become fabulously wealthy by trading +in the supplies which came from America, and which they resold to +Germany. + +The embargo became operative under a method of license procedure, so +that all shipments could be watched by the government authorities. The +order compelled all persons seeking to export goods to make application +for a license to the Secretary of Commerce, or bureaus designated in +various parts of the country. + +In support of the contentions that the neutral countries were supplying +Germany, Great Britain furnished the Government with the following table +as representing the minimum of food exports from Scandinavia and Holland +to Germany in 1916: Butter, 82,600 metric tons; meat, 115,800 tons; pork +products, 68,800 tons; condensed milk, 70,000 tons; fish, 407 tons; +cheese, 80,500 tons; eggs, 46,400 tons; potato meal, 179,500 tons; +coffee, 58,500 tons; fruit, 74,000 tons; sugar, 12,000 tons; vegetables, +215,000. + +These figures are most impressive, it is asserted, in relation to fats, +the scarcest thing in Germany. Fat, it is claimed, is the only food +seriously lacking now in the diet of the German people. Imports of this +food, the British declare, furnish one-fourth of the daily German fat +ration. + + +NATIONS WHO SUFFER FROM EMBARGO. + +There are five neutral countries whose positions were anything but +enviable during the war, and it is perhaps worth interpolating a little +something about them at this particular point. Norway, Sweden, Holland, +Denmark and Switzerland were the neutrals at the time the embargo was +placed on foodstuffs. + +Switzerland, as all the world knows, is one of the most picturesque +countries in Europe, and is a republic in the west central part of the +continent, bounded on the north by Baden, Wurtemburg and Bavaria; on the +east by the Tyrol, on the south by Italy and on the west by France. +There is no national tongue, three languages being spoken within the +boundaries of the republic. Where it comes in contact with the French +frontier, the French language is largely spoken; while Italian is the +language spoken in the southern part, where it is bounded by Italy. In +the northern section the German language is spoken. The country has an +area of 15,992 square miles. + +In the main, Switzerland is mountainous, the chief valley being that of +the Rhone, in the southern part. The most level tracts are in the +northwestern section, where there are a number of mountain-locked +valleys. Mountain slopes comprise about two-fifths of the area of the +country, and practically all of the rivers are rapid and unnavigable. +The forests are extensive and consist of large trees. Cereals, along +with hemp, flax and tobacco, are raised, and the pasture lands are +fertile and abundant. Hence, the dairy products, as well as hides and +tallow, are produced in profusion. Fruits of the hardier varieties grow +well and profitably. + + +A FEDERAL UNION. + +The republic consists of twenty-two States or Cantons which form a +Federal Union, although each is virtually independent in matters of +politics. The Swiss Constitution, remodelled in 1848, vests the ruling +executive and legislative authority in a Diet of two houses--a State +Council and a National Council. The former consists of 44 members--two +from each Canton--and corresponds in its functional action with the +United States Senate. The National Council is the more purely +representative body, and is composed of 128 members elected triennially +by popular suffrage. Both chambers combine and form what is called the +Federal Assembly. + +The chief executive power is exercised by the so-called Federal Council, +or Bundesgericht, which is elected triennially. Its governing officers +are the President and Vice President of the republic. International and +inter-cantonal questions are discussed before and adjudicated by the +Bundesgericht, which serves as a high court of appeal. The army consists +of 142,999 regulars and 91,809 landwehr; total, 231,808 men of all arms. +Every adult citizen is de facto liable to military service, and +military drill and discipline are taught in all the schools. The +Protestant faith forms the ruling form of religion in 15 of the cantons, +Roman Catholicism prevailing in the rest. Education is well diffused by +numerous colleges and schools of a high grade; and its upper branches +are cared for at the three universities of Berne, Basle and Zurich. + +Denmark, whose home possessions comprise 14,789 square miles, is, by the +way, barely one-half the size of Scotland. It consists of a peninsular +portion called Jutland, and an extensive archipelago lying east of it. +It has a number of territorial possessions in the Atlantic ocean, among +them the islands of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe islands in the +north. + + +GERMAN AMBITION FRUSTRATED. + +One of its possessions in the West Indies was purchased by the United +States almost at the time America entered the war, and created a +situation which was not calculated to inspire the friendship of Germany +for the little country, since it was intimated that Germany would liked +to have had the island for a base. The islands cost the United States +about $25,000,000. Including the colonial possessions, the total area of +the Danish possessions is 80,000 square miles, the population being +2,726,000 persons. + +Copenhagen is the capital, the other chief cities being Odense, Aarhuus, +Aalborg, Randers and Horsens. For administrative purposes Denmark is +divided into 18 provinces or districts, besides the capital, nine of +these making up Jutland and the other nine comprising the island +possessions. On the south Denmark is bounded by Germany and the Baltic, +on the west it is washed by the North Sea; while to the north lies +Norway, separated by the Skagerrack, and on the east lies Sweden, +separated by the Cattegat and the Sound. + +The line of seaboard is irregular and broken, and the low, flat nature +of the country necessitates the construction of dykes, in many places, +in order to prevent the ocean from making inroads. There are few +rivers, and these are small and not of value commercially. Timber is not +abundant, and minerals are scarce and of little value. The climate is +generally moist and cold, fogs are frequent and the winters generally +severe. Cereals, potatoes, wool and dairy products are the principal +products. Cattle raising is carried on extensively, much of the beef +being exported. + +The Danes, physically, are sturdy, and represent the truest physical +characteristics of Scandinavian types. The people are brave, sober and +industrious, and the sailors from this country are among the leading +navigators of the world. The government is a constitutional monarchy, +with the executive power vested in a king and a ministry, who are held +responsible to the Rigsdag, which is the parliament. + + +LANDSTHING AND FOLKSTHING. + +This parliament consists of a Senate, or Landsthing, and a lower house, +or Folksthing. The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the State religion, +but all other persuasions are fully and freely tolerated. Education is +compulsory, and is largely disseminated. The army consists of 60,000 +men, while the navy is quite small, having a personnel of about 4000 +officers and men. + +The authentic history dates from 1385, the year of the accession of +Margaret, the "Semiramis of the North," and wearer of the triple +Scandinavian crowns. The latest monarch, Frederick VIII, came to the +throne in 1906. + +Holland, the most picturesque of the neutral countries, aside from +Switzerland with its wonderful scenery, is credited with having profited +very largely by the war. It rests along the North Sea and adjoins the +German Empire on the east and borders Belgium on the South. It contains +about 11 provinces, with a total area of 12,582 square miles and a +population of about 6,000,000. + +Always one thinks of windmills, dykes, fat cattle, butter, eggs, ducks +and green farms when Holland is mentioned, and it is in many respects +one of the most highly developed commercial countries in the world. The +country manufactures many articles of world-wide distribution, including +chocolate, linens, fine damasks, pottery, chemical and pharmaceutical +products, and Amsterdam is a center of diamond-cutting. + +It has a large mercantile marine and was at one time a tremendous +maritime power, doing an immense trading business in many waters. It +still has rich and extensive colonies, including the Dutch possessions +in the East Indies, comprising the Sunda Islands, except a portion of +Borneo and Eastern Timor, and New Guinea. Java and Madura are two of the +richest of the group and have a population of more than 30,000,000. +There are also possessions in the West Indies and in South America. + + +A SMALL BUT EFFICIENT ARMY. + +The Dutch army has approximately 40,000 officers and men and is regarded +as one of the most efficient armies in the world of its size. There is +also a colonial army in the East Indies with 1300 officers and 35,183 +men. Its navy has 4000 officers and men and has about 200 vessels of all +sorts, none of them of the modern dreadnought or super-dreadnought type. + +The history of the rich little country is one of the most interesting in +literature. It was originally part of the Empire of Charlemagne. +Subsequently, it became divided into a number of petty principalities, +and by heritage became a possession of the Austrian monarchy. In the +long struggle against the Spanish power it became one of the Seven +United Provinces. The country made rapid progress, and during the 17th +century withstood the power of Louis the XIV of France, but later was +overrun by the French, and finally in 1806 was made a kingdom by +Napoleon, in favor of his brother Louis. Under the Treaty of Paris +Belgium and Holland were united to form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, +and this arrangement remained until 1830, when Belgium broke away. +Holland attempted to reduce the revolting province by force, but the +powers intervened and an adjustment was made. The last King was William, +III, who died in 1890, leaving his daughter Wilhelmina, then but 10 +years old, Queen. + +Of the neutral countries none endured more than heroic Norway. With a +long coast line practically undefended and with the full force of the +German navy anchored but a few hours away, and a none too friendly +country on her land border, possessing an army greater than her own, +Norway's position was extremely difficult. + +Had she flung herself into the war with the Allies when the breach came +she would have been of little help to them, for she would have placed +them in the position of being called upon to help defend her long coast +line. It is probable also that a break with Germany would have let loose +the Swedish army on the side of the Teutons. + + +BETWEEN TWO FIRES. + +The little country was between two fires, and she suffered great strain. +In the first place, while Norway attempted to maintain her export trade +and her shipping, the Allies inspected her import invoices and subjected +her to much annoyance, while Germany, without provocation, ruthlessly +attacked her merchant ships and sent many of them to the bottom of the +ocean. + +There were intimations that Germany's real intent was to precipitate a +rupture which would justify her attack on the little country, which she +would be able to subdue with ease and seize the rugged coast and ports +of vantage. But Norway remained neutral, and was not at all pleased with +the embargo placed upon shipments by the United States, though it +developed that the restrictions would not prevent the country from +getting its share of grain and other supplies from America. + +Norway is the western portion of the Scandinavian peninsula, and has an +area of about 125,000 square miles. Its northern coast is washed by the +cold waters of the Arctic Ocean, and against the northeast is Lapland, +while Sweden bounds it on the east and the famed North Sea on the south +and the broad Atlantic on the west. + +The rugged country is separated from Sweden by the Kiolen, or the Great +Scandinavian chain of mountains, and in the hills and mountains are +found the wonderful Norway spruce and fir trees familiar in commerce. +Its fisheries and shipbuilding industry are also of great importance in +the world of business. + + +DEMOCRACY OF NORWAY. + +The constitution of Norway is one of the most Democratic in all Europe. +Although a monarchy, its executive and legislative power is vested in +the parliament, called the Storthing, and the King has merely a nominal +command over the army and navy, with power to appoint the +governor-general only. The latter has a limited right to veto acts of +the parliament. Hereditary nobility was abolished in 1821. + +Under the treaty of Vienna in 1814, and following the defeat of +Napoleon, it was arranged that Denmark must give up Norway, and the two +countries were united under the Swedish Crown. Norway demanded a +separate consular service in 1905, and the Storthing declared the union +with Sweden at an end. Prince Charles of Denmark then became King, +reigning as Haakon VII. + +The country has a population of 2,340,000, and her full military force +mobilized for war is only 110,000 men. + +Sweden, Norway's next-door neighbor on the Scandinavian peninsula, in +contradistinction to the latter, is a constitutional monarchy, with +extraordinary powers vested in the King, who is assisted in the +administration of affairs by a council of ministers. The Diet, or +legislature, consists of two chambers, or estates, both elected by the +people. + +Like Norway, the country is very rugged. Lapland and Finland are at the +northeast, and on the east is the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic, and on +the south the Baltic, the Sound and the Cattegat. It joins Norway on the +west. Its area is 172,875 square miles, and its coast line is more than +1400 miles long. + +Sweden, while it does not have a first-class navy, possesses a score of +armored vessels of small displacement, besides torpedo boats, +destroyers, etc., and has an army of 40,000 at peace strength. The +country is particularly rich in minerals, and some of the finest iron +ore in the world comes from its mines. Nickel, lead, cobalt, alum and +sulphur are also produced in large quantities; while it gives to the +world, too, immense quantities of lumber and larger quantities of hemp, +flax and hops. + +The reigning monarch is King Gustavus V, who succeeded his father, Oscar +II, who died in 1907. The population of the country is about 5,000,000. + +Of these neutrals, both Holland and Switzerland did a great deal for the +suffering Belgians when Germany pounded through the country of King +Albert, sending money for the relief of the sufferers and offering +refugees shelter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE ACTIONS OF THE WAR. + +FROM BOSNIA TO FLANDERS--MARNE THE TURNING POINT OF THE CONFLICT--THE +CONQUESTS OF SERVIA AND RUMANIA--THE FALL OF BAGDAD--RUSSIA'S WOMEN +SOLDIERS--AMERICA'S CONSCRIPTS. + + +The end of August, 1917, found twenty-one nations in a state of war and +five in what might be termed a condition of modified neutrality, with +nearly 40,000,000 summoned to arms and 5,000,000 killed in bitter +warfare. + +This was the fiery reflection of the shots which caused the death of the +Archduke Francis Ferdinand, of Austria, in the quiet little town of +Serajevo, the capital of Bosnia, in June, 1914. And so, with their backs +to the wall, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Turkey and Bulgaria faced Servia, +Russia, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Montenegro, Japan, Italy, +Portugal, Rumania, the United States, Cuba, Brazil, Greece, Siam, China +and little Liberia, while Guatemala, Panama, Haiti, Uruguay and Bolivia +stood by in a position of neutrality, but for the most part indicating a +willingness to help the Allies. + +And in those elapsed three years after the Bosnia tragedy an Emperor of +Austria had died; a Czar had stepped from his throne, and a King had +been compelled to toss aside his crown. Prime Ministers and Ministers of +War in all of the principal countries, who held the confidence of their +peoples when the war started, were no more. + +Cabinets had been dissolved and new ones set up, statesmen brushed aside +and commanders of the war forces compelled to step out that others might +carry on the battles. + +Though it was Austria's ultimatum to Servia which precipitated the +world-wide struggle, it was Germany that took the first step and crossed +the French frontier with its armed forces. After Servia refused to +accede to all of the demands of Austria-Hungary and war had formally +been declared by the latter country, Russia began a partial mobilization +of her armed forces, since she had given warning that she would extend +protection to Servia. Germany retaliated by calling together her warring +forces and declaring war on the Czar; France came to Russia's aid. Then +when Belgium refused to permit the German army to pass through the +country and Germany disregarded international treaties and invaded the +territory, Great Britain declared war upon the Kaiser, and Montenegro +aligned itself with the Allies. + + +GERMANY'S DESIGNS ON PARIS. + +Germany's action and subsequent events prove that the war lords had +planned to capture Paris by a swift attack from the north, before France +could gather her forces to resist and before Russia was prepared to +assist. Belgium, however, proved a stumbling block. The natives, +battling like demons for the protection of their homes and honor, held +the Teuton hordes at Liege for several weeks, or until the famous +fortifications there were reduced, and then the terrible machine of the +Germans swept forward until the soldiers were within fifteen miles of +the French capital. + +It was here, within a few hours' march of Paris, that the French and +Allied troops showed their real metal. General Joffre met the German +hordes beside the River Marne and with his troops began the battle which +was to guarantee the security of the French capital and result in the +routing of the army of Von Kluck, regarded as the pick of the Prussian +forces. In the famed battle of the Marne there were fought a number of +separate engagements, which have been termed the battles of Meaux, +Sezanne, Vitry and Argonne. + +The German forces were driven back step by step to the north bank of the +Aisne, where the army was able to entrench itself and the Germans and +the Allied forces began digging themselves into the ground in a manner +that had never before been practised in warfare. + +While Germany was striking at France, the Russians had invaded Austria, +capturing Tarnapol and Lemberg and investing the great fortress of +Prezemsyl. Austria was compelled to call upon Germany for assistance and +four German army corps, under Von Hindenburg, were drawn from East +Prussia and went to the rescue. Instead of trying to stem the progress +of the Russians, he made a counter offensive with Warsaw as the +objective. Russia was compelled for a time to abandon its positions and +retreat, and Von Hindenburg got within seven miles of Warsaw before the +Russians rode down upon his forces with 100,000 horsemen and compelled +retreat. Von Hindenburg's strategy had, however, been successful, and +his action on the Eastern front at this time marked the first step +toward his pre-eminence as a military commander. + + +BRITISH AND GERMAN FORCES COMPARED. + +During 1915 the Allied forces were able to do little more than hold +their positions. Lord Kitchener had builded up a British volunteer army +in which great hopes were placed, but in the matter of offensive +military tactics they could not cope with the formidable German forces, +nor had the Allies developed an offensive which would win without +terrible sacrifice, and in the encounters the very flower of Great +Britain's manhood, as well as thousands of the best fighting men of +France, were lost to the world forever. It was in this year, when +Germany made use of asphyxiating gas for the first time, that Canada +received its most stinging blow. The famous Princess Pats, the finest +military body of the Dominion, was practically annihilated, and in the +final formidable attack of the year made by the French against the +Germans in September, the latter were driven back several miles, but at +a cost of more than 100,000 French lives. + +In this year, too, the Germans succeeded in capturing much territory and +a number of valuable positions which had been taken by the Russians, and +the combined forces of Von Hindenburg and Von Mackensen finally +conquered Poland. Warsaw was evacuated in July, and in August Prince +Leopold led the Bavarian into the Polish capital. On August 19 the great +stronghold of Kovno fell, and the conquest was made complete with the +surrender of Brest-Litovsk. + + +CONQUEST OF SERVIA. + +The conquest of Servia by the Teutons also marked the year 1915. Among +the first shots of the war were those fired by the Austrians when they +bombarded Belgrade, the capital of Servia, and made an attempt to invade +the country. The Servians and Montenegrins almost annihilated Austrian +troops which attempted to cross the Danube into Servia, and the Austrian +invasion fell. But the combined Austro-German forces invaded the country +later as part of the Prussian program to conquer all the territory from +the Baltic to the Bosporus. The Entente Allies made an effort to save +the little country by landing troops at Salonica, but it was too late. +Just before winter set in, the Austro-German forces and the Bulgarian +forces, invading from opposite sides, met, and the conquest of the +country was complete. + +It was in 1915, too, that what is conceded to have been one of the most +disastrous and futile campaigns of the war was attempted by England. +Constantinople was to be captured and the Turks crushed, with a view of +opening communication with Russia by way of the Black Sea. The British +fleet was sent out to bombard the Dardanelles, and the now famous +Anzacs--Australian and New Zealand troops--were landed on the peninsula +of Gallipoli to strike at the Turkish capital from behind. The campaign +was waged through the summer, but with little hope of success, and +finally abandoned after the British had lost more than 100,000 of its +most daring, hard-fighting and loyal Colonial soldiers. + +After this came "Verdun"--that conflict in which France won immortal +glory and the German's attack upon the French fortress town of Verdun +was successfully repulsed. The battle raged for four months, beginning +in February, 1916. The German troops, with the German Crown Prince in +command, captured two forts close to Verdun, but little by little the +French troops drove them back, and finally, in command of General +Nivelle, with General Petain looking after the defense of Verdun, the +French, co-operating with the British, made an attack on the Somme, and +the Germans were compelled to abandon the Verdun offensive. In the +Verdun campaign the Germans lost more than 500,000 men, while the French +lost not half the number. + + +RUSSIA'S CONQUEST OF ARMENIA. + +Russia's conquest of Armenia was one of the features of 1916. The troops +under General Brussiloff renewed their endeavors in Galicia and for +several months made great progress; then Rumania entered the war and the +Russian forces in Galicia slowed down. In Caucasus, however, Russian +troops gained Erzerum, one of the Turk fortresses, and captured the +seaport of Trebizond, practically gaining Armenia. Like the Germans in +retreat from Flanders, the Turks practiced unspeakable horrors. Their +cruelties were such as to almost exterminate the race. + +The tragedy of the Balkans in 1916 was Rumania. With an army of more +than half a million men, she entered the war with the approval of the +Entente and entered Transylvania. But the Germans began a counter-attack +in Dobrudja, and the Rumanians were compelled to withdraw some of their +forces from Transylvania. The German commander then threw his forces +across the remaining Rumanians and drove them across the border, after +which he swung his own troops through the mountain passes into Rumania. +The two German forces invading Rumania met at Bucharest, and the +Rumanian capital was occupied. + +Another fiasco was that of the British expeditionary force which was +sent from India by way of the Persian Gulf and up the Tigris river to +Bagdad. General Townsend succeeded in getting within 15 miles of Bagdad, +but he was defeated by a superior Turkish force and compelled to fall +back to Kut-el-Amara. Here his inadequate force, lacking medical and +transport facilities, was fairly starved out before he was relieved. He +was finally compelled to surrender the last week in April, 1916. + +Little more than a year after the collapse of this expedition, however, +the famous old city of Bagdad was captured by the English after a +well-directed campaign under General Maude. + + +ITALY'S HELP TO THE ALLIES. + +Italy, having begun active warfare with the Allies in 1915, waged war +along the Austrian border, compelling the Austro-German forces to +concentrate a larger body of troops for duty on the Italian frontier, +and to that extent materially assisted the Allies. At the same time the +Italians fought their way up over the mountains and won more than 500 +square miles of territory and took nearly 90,000 prisoners. + +The final alignment of the Greeks with the Allies marked the progress of +affairs in the middle of 1917, when Constantine was forced from his +throne in favor of his second son, and Venizelos was returned as +Premier. But the entrance of the Greeks did not materially alter the +situation. + +The two most important events of 1917 were the entrance of America into +the conflict and the revolt in Russia, which caused the abdication of +the Czar and turned the great country into a republic. The ultimate in +Russia's history is still to be written, but the change was fraught with +disaster. The people let free, and unaccustomed to self-government, +could not be controlled, and the army became demoralized. + +The element which had been loyal to the Romanoffs refused to fight for +liberty, and the Germans, taking advantage of the situation, drove the +Russian troops back over the frontiers and gained all that the Russians +had once taken in conflict. And out of this grew one of the most +picturesque incidents of the entire war. Russian women and girls, filled +with ideals and with a deep sense of the responsibilities which rested +upon the nation, formed a corps, and, dressed in full military costume, +went to the front and attacked the German troops. No soldiers of any +nation have shown more heroism, or more capability, for the women faced +the bullets, and, while they were being mowed down by the German guns, +they urged their men to face the enemy and fight--fight--fight. + + +BRITISH NAVY AN EFFECTIVE ASSET. + +While there have been few of the picturesque battles on the seas, which +the world has long regarded as a necessary adjunct to a successful war, +the work of the British Navy has proved through the period of the +conflict to be one of the most powerful and effective assets of the +Allied forces. Through the operation of the British fleet, later +augmented by an American war fleet, the German ships have been corked up +in their home ports and chased from the seas. + +The first naval battle of the war was an engagement between portions of +the British squadron in the Pacific and a superior German force. The +engagement occurred off the coast of Chili in November, 1915. Two +British vessels were lost and a third badly damaged. However, a few +months later, the German squadron, in command of Admiral von Spee, was +met off the Falkland Islands by a second British squadron, and in the +engagement four of the German vessels were sunk and a fifth damaged. +This vessel was later sunk. + +The most important naval engagement was the battle of Jutland in May, +1916, when Admiral Beatty met a German fleet in the North Sea. The +German boats made a dash from the Kiel canal and engaged the British off +the coast of Denmark. Both England and Germany claimed victory, the +former declaring that Germany lost eighteen ships, while the German +Government claimed that the British lost fifteen vessels. Berlin +admitted a loss of 60,720 tons and 3966 men, while England conceded a +loss of more than 114,000 tons and 5613 men. But the English fleet which +engaged the German fighting ships was but a small portion of the force +on guard outside of Helgoland and the Kiel Canal, and the effect was to +keep the German navy from venturing forth again. + +These are the main events which had punctuated the action of the world's +fighting machines at the close of August, 1917, when America was +preparing to thwart the German U-boats in their destruction of the +world's shipping, and had under actual call to arms more than 1,000,000 +men, a minor part of which had been safely landed in France. + + +WORLD'S AWFUL MARITIME LOSS. + +In the three months prior to August the German underseas boats had sunk +464 vessels, or an average of 426,000 tons of shipping a month, while +America, working with her fleets in conjunction with the British Navy to +foil the submarine in its endeavors, was also building more than 12,000 +cargo-carrying craft and submarine chasers with which to flood the +traffic lanes of the sea. + +Likewise, contracts had been awarded for 10,000 flying machines with +which to drive the "eyes of the German army," as the air machines are +called, from the heavens. Finally, as the Allies in the closing days of +August were driving the German hordes back under avalanches of shells, +629,000 of the youth of America, called to fight under the conscript +act, were preparing to move to camps in a dozen different sections of +the country to train themselves for invading foreign countries and +facing the brutal Teutons. Likewise, some 20,000 picked men were +training to officer these civilian forces, and half a million men of the +National Guards of the various States, formally mustered into the +service of the country, were moving by orders of the Government to +points whence they would find their way to the side of the loyal French +soldiers and the sturdy English, Scotch, Canadian, Australian and virile +Italian fighters. + +The records of three years show that the American ambulance drivers; +daring thousands of our countrymen who fought with the French and +English because they believed the war was a just one, and without +compulsion; scores of Red Cross nurses, and aviators who hunted the +Teutons in the air, all Americans, have had their names written high in +the roster of heroes. Americans have always been pioneers and history +makers, and they are making history now. + +With the approach of cold weather, and following months of intensive +training under the direction of French and English soldiers, the +American expeditionary forces began actual participation in the great +world war as a unit. Previously their achievements were principally in +connection with the French aviation corps and ambulance sections. + + +SINKING OF FIRST AMERICAN WAR BOAT. + +The first untoward incident involving America's forces on land or sea +was the sinking of the transport Antilles on October 27, 1917, by a +German submarine, when 67 men--officers, seamen and soldiers--were lost. +The vessel was returning from a French port after having landed troops +and supplies. This was the first loss sustained by the United States, +and the event brought home the seriousness of the country's +participation in the war as no previous event had done. + +Almost immediately following this the world awoke one morning to learn +that silently and unheralded the American soldiers had marched from +their quarters in a French village to the "front" and in a slough of mud +had entered the trenches, and for the first time in history United +States troops launched shells against the forces of Germany. + +The initial shot was fired by artillerists at the break of day on +October 24, and America was formally made an active agent in the horrors +of warfare on "No Man's Land." Ten days later the brave Americans, +occupying a position in the trenches for instruction, early on the +morning of Saturday, November 3, received their baptism of fire, and in +the cause of Democracy 3 soldiers were killed, 5 wounded and 12 captured +by the Boche forces. + +Cut off from the main line of the Allied forces, the Americans were +stormed under the protection of a heavy barrage fire by a German raiding +party and engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand encounter. The 20 +Americans, with several French instructors, according to official +report, were pitted against 210 picked Germans. A rain of shells from +Boche guns was laid back of the American section so that there was no +retreat. The lieutenant in command made a heroic attempt to reach the +main fighting line, but was caught in the barrage fire and rendered +unconscious from shell-shock. + +Previously American scouts had captured a German prisoner--a mail +runner; Lieutenant de Vere H. Harden, of the Signal Corps had been +wounded by a bursting German shell, and a German gunner was reported +killed by an American sharpshooter, as opening incidents of the +skirmish. + +And so at the beginning of November, 1917, with the whole United States +giving support to the Government in subscribing upwards of five billions +of dollars to the second Liberty Loan, and all forces working to +conserve food, furnish men, ships, ammunition, clothing and supplies to +her own troops and to her Allies, the world found America true to +traditions, battling for the right and giving her best that liberty +might endure and the burden of Prussianism be lifted from humanity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +AMERICAN FORCES BECOME FACTOR. + +UNITED STATES SOLDIERS INSPIRED ALLIED TROOPS--RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT +COLLAPSES--ITALIAN ARMY FAILS--ALLIED WAR COUNCIL FORMED--FOCH COMMANDS +ALLIED ARMIES--PERSHING OFFERS AMERICAN TROOPS--UNDER FIRE--U-BOAT BASES +RAIDED BY BRITISH. + + +The influence exerted by the actual presence of the American troops on +the western front was soon apparent. The spirits of the English, French +and Canadian troops were raised and the presence of the Americans was +heralded to the world as an evidence of complete unity on the part of +the Allies that meant ultimate death to Kaiserism. + +The advent of Uncle Sam's fighting men on the firing line had, however, +one serious effect, viewed from the Allied standpoint. Germany realized +that every day she delayed in making attack meant the strengthening of +the Allied forces by the arrival of additional United States troops, and +it was seen by the English and French leaders that the Kaiser would make +an early drive to annihilate, if possible, the stubbornly resisting, +though somewhat tired and weakened, lines opposing his brutal soldiery. +Not for months, therefore, was it permitted the world to know anything +about the numerical strength of the American troops sent into France. + +Simultaneously with the action of American troops in entering the +resisting line of Allied troops on the western front the Austro-German +troops had swept into the Italian plains, capturing 100,000 prisoners +and upward of 1,000 guns, taking several towns and compelling the +retreat of the Second and Third Italian armies. The Italian forces were +opposed by four times their number, but it was also said that the unity +of the Italian forces was broken by the spreading of German propaganda. + +The failure of some of the troops was shown in an official dispatch from +Rome, in which it was stated: + +"The failure to resist on the part of some units forming our second +army, which in cowardice retired without fighting or surrendered to the +enemy, allowed the Austro-German forces to break into our left wing on +the Julian front. The valiant efforts of other troops did not enable +them to prevent the enemy from advancing into the sacred soil of our +fatherland. We now are withdrawing our line according to the plan +prepared. All stores and depots in the evacuated places were destroyed." + + +ITALIAN HEADQUARTERS CAPTURED. + +These troops were compelled to fall back along a front almost 125 miles +long and Undine, the Italian headquarters, was captured. Germany had +found the weakest spot in the Italian line and occupied about 1,000 +square miles of territory before General Cadorna's forces were able to +establish a line of strong defense. + +The retirement of the Italian troops was one of the most picturesque in +the history of the war, and Germany made her gains at terrible cost. + +The retirement was accompanied by shielding operations of the rear +guard, which poured a deadly fire into the advancing columns and at the +same time destroyed powder depots, arsenals and bridges with the double +purpose of giving time for the withdrawal of the Italian heavy guns and +of preventing military stores falling into the hands of the enemy. + +The Germans encountered stubborn resistance on the Bainsizza plateau, +and heaps of enemy dead marked the lines of their advance. Around Globo +ridge a bersaglieri brigade, outnumbered five to one, held back the +enemy while the main line had an opportunity to get its retreat in +motion. In one of the mountain passes a small village commanding the +pass was taken and retaken eight times during desperate artillery, +infantry and hand-to-hand fighting. + +Before the Italians were able to establish a line of resistance they +were compelled to fall back to the Piave, and at some points to a much +greater distance. Meantime the Allies rushed assistance to the retiring +forces, and while the collapse of Cadorna's line was unfortunate, it had +the effect of making it more obvious that there should be more unity of +operation between the Allied forces. + +Russia's republic, under the leadership of Premier Kerensky, collapsing +at the same moment, intensified the seriousness of the Allied situation, +and largely at the suggestion of America an Inter-Allied War Council was +formed. + + +REVOLT IN PETROGRAD. + +Premier Kerensky called upon the United States to help Russia bear the +burdens of conflict until the forces could be reorganized by the new +government. Almost immediately there was revolt in Petrograd, and the +radicals under the leadership of Leon Trotsky, president of the +Executive Committee of the Petrograd Council of Soldiers' and Workmen's +Delegates, seized the telegraph wires, the State bank and Marie Palace, +where the preliminary parliament had suspended proceedings in view of +the situation. + +The Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates assumed control of the City of +Petrograd and Kerensky was compelled to flee. The Winter Palace was +bombarded. A General Council of the Soldiers' and Workmen's Delegates +announced the taking over of government authority: + +"We plan to offer an immediate armistice of three months, during which +elected representatives from all nations and not the diplomats are to +settle the questions of peace," said Nikolai Lenine, the Maximalist +leader, in a speech before the Workmen's and Soldiers' Congress today. + +"We offer these terms," M. Lenine added, "but we are willing to +consider any proposals for peace, no matter from which side. We offer a +just peace, but will not accept unjust terms." + +Meantime General Cadorna was relieved of command of the Italian armies +and General Diaz put at the head of the Italian forces, while General +Foch, chief of staff of the French War Ministry, and General Wilson, +sub-chief of the British Staff, were made members of an Inter-Allied +Military Committee serving with General Cadorna to straighten out the +Italian situation. This was the first step looking to the unifying of +the Allied forces which was brought about shortly thereafter by the +formation of the Inter-Allied War Council at Versailles. It was chiefly +at the suggestion of President Wilson that the War Council was called, +the President issuing a stirring appeal in which he pointed out the +necessity of unity of control, if the resources of the United States +were to be of the greatest value to the Allied interests. + + +SUPREME WAR COUNCIL. + +The Supreme War Council, which was made a permanent body, was composed +of the Prime Minister and a member of the Government of each of the +Great Powers whose armies were fighting at the front. Each Power +delegated to the Supreme Council a permanent military representative +whose function was to act as adviser to the Council. As the result of +the deliberations of the War Council, and following the suggestion of +General Pershing, General Foch was made Commander-in-Chief of the Allied +Armies. General Foch was Commander of the French troops at Verdun and a +recognized authority on military strategy. + +While the problem of solving the military phases of the situation was +being considered by the Allied War Council the Russian forces under +Kerensky and those under Trotzky, known as the Bolsheviki, clashed again +and again at Petrograd, Moscow and other points, and the hope of the +Allies as to any help from Russia sank. Germany entered into a peace +compact with Ukrainia, and the hand of the Kaiser was seen in the +Russian situation when officers of the German Army were reported in +Petrograd in conference with the representatives of the various Russian +factions. Russia suggested a separate armistice, or a separate peace, +against which both the U.S. and France protested. + +The failure of the Russian Government to assume any degree of stability +made it possible for the Germans to withdraw many troops and transfer +them to the Italian and Western Fronts. + +One result of the Allied War Council deliberations was to show the +necessity of rapid action on the part of the United States and get +troops into France so that they might take over a definite sector. While +it was estimated that several hundred thousand Americans were in France, +the necessity for a larger force was made apparent by the statement that +90 reserves are required for every 400 fighters on the line. + + +DROPPED THEIR TOOLS FOR RIFLES. + +The first bitter attack in which American troops figured was when a +company of United States engineers, caught between cross-fires, dropped +their tools for rifles and joined the English troops in helping to +repulse the Germans near Cambrai. + +A notable event in the progress of the war was the declaration of war +upon Austria by the U.S. on Dec. 8, 1917, Congress adopting a resolution +of war with but one dissenting vote. + +Events which brought the seriousness of the war home to America began at +this point to occur rapidly. First the Torpedo Boat Destroyer Jacob +Jones was sunk in the war zone when nearly 30 men were reported lost. +This was followed shortly by a report to the War Department that 17 +Americans caught in the cross-fire by the Germans at Cambrai were +missing or killed. The report of the sinking of the Alcedo, a patrol +boat, with the loss of several officers, was also received, as was that +of the sinking of the U.S. Destroyer "Chauncey" rammed in a collision, +when two officers and eighteen men were lost. + +One of the high spots of the war and one of the notable events in the +history of the world, was the surrender of the City of Jerusalem to the +British on Saturday, December 8, 1917. Gen. Allenby entered the famed +city and established his troops on the ancient Jerico Road. + +The capture of Jerusalem by the British forces marked the end, with two +brief interludes, of more than 1200 years' possession of the seat of the +Christian religion by the Mohammedans. For 673 years the Holy City had +been in disputed ownership of the Turks, the last Christian ruler of +Jerusalem being the German Emperor, Frederick, whose short-lived +domination lasted from 1229 to 1244. + + +THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. + +Apart from its connection with the campaign being waged against Turkey +by the British in Mesopotamia, the fall of Jerusalem marked the definite +collapse of the long-protracted efforts of the Turks to capture the Suez +Canal and invade Egypt. Almost the first move made by Turkey after her +entrance into the war was a campaign against Egypt across the great +desert of the Sinai Peninsula. In November, 1914, a Turkish army, +variously estimated at from 75,000 to 250,000 men, marched on the Suez +Canal and succeeded in reaching within striking distance of the great +artificial waterway at several points. For several months bitter +fighting took place, the canal being defended by an Anglo-Egyptian army +aided by Australians and New Zealanders and French and British forces. + +For the greater part of 1915 conflicting reports of the situation were +received from the belligerents, but in December of that year definite +information showed that the Turks had been driven back as far as El +Arish, about eighty-five miles east of the canal. A lull occurred then +which lasted for six months, and in June, 1916, the Turks again advanced +as far at Katieh, about fifteen miles east of the canal. Here they were +decisively defeated, losing more than 3000 prisoners and a great +quantity of equipment. + +Another period followed in which the situation was greatly confused +through the vagueness and contradictory character of the official +statements, but in December, 1916, the British stormed El Arish and a +few days later severely defeated the Turks at Maghdabah, about sixty +miles to the south on the same front. Two weeks later the invaders had +been driven out of Egypt and the British forces crossed the border into +Palestine. On March 7 they captured El Khulil, southeast of Gaza. + +By November 22 the British had pushed within five miles of Jerusalem, on +the northwest, and on December 7 General Allenby announced that he had +taken Hebron. Jerusalem thus was virtually cut off on all sides but the +east. + + +HISTORICAL INTEREST TO CHRISTIANS. + +In sentimental and romantic aspect the capture of Jerusalem far exceeds +even the fall of fable-crowned Bagdad. The modern City of Jerusalem +contains about 60,000 inhabitants, and is the home of pestilence, filth +and fevers, but in historic interest it naturally surpasses, to the +Christian world, all other places in the world. Since the days when +David wrested it from the hands of the Jebusites to make it the capital +of the Jewish race Jerusalem has been the prize and prey of half the +races of the world. It has passed successively into the hands of the +Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Arabs, Turks, the +Crusaders, finally to fall before the descendants of that Richard the +Lion-hearted who strove in vain for its possession more than 700 years +ago. + +Early in January, 1918, evidence was forthcoming that Germany was +preparing to make a final drive on the Western Front to break through +and capture some English and French channel ports before America could +be of any great assistance to the Allied forces. As a result Great +Britain determined to call 500,000 more men to hold the Huns, and +Premier Lloyd George issued a stirring appeal to Labor affected by the +Manpower Bill, which provided for the increase taken largely from the +labor forces. + +The German intent to launch an offensive was indicated by the withdrawal +of German lines north of Italy when important defensive positions were +abandoned, and dummy soldiers were left in trench to conceal movement to +the rear. Warnings of a great submarine offensive on American boatlines +to France, to be joined with a big drive on land, were received by +Secretary of War Baker, and on February 2, the American troops occupying +a sector of the Lorraine front in France faced the first big bombardment +in what was preliminary to the most bitter drive Germany had attempted +in four years of warfare. + + +SINKING OF THE TUSCANIA. + +True to their promise the German submarines started their portion of the +offensive and sunk the U.S. troopship "Tuscania" a few days later off +the coast of Ireland. The liner carried 2,179 U.S. troops of various +divisions besides a crew of 200. The total number of persons lost was +113. The troops included engineers, members of the aero-squadron, and +regulars. + +The Tuscania was the first troopship to be sunk en route to France, +though the Antilles was sunk in October, 1917. This boat, however, it +must be noted, was returning from France. At this time 70 lives were +lost. The comparatively small loss of life on the "Tuscania" was +accepted as evidence of the efficient training and bravery of American +troops under all conditions. + +The Tuscania was torpedoed when entering what until that time were +considered comparatively safe waters. The ships were within sight of +land, which was just distinguishable in the dusk of evening when the +torpedo hit the Tuscania amidships. This was at about 7 o'clock. + +When the crash came the khaki-clad young heroes of the American army +lined up as though on parade, and sang the "Star Spangled Banner" at the +top of their voices as the Tuscania sank by inches under them. Across +from them their British cousins of the crew came back with the echoing +"God Save the King," which too cool-headed exponents of what occurred in +a crisis of a sea disaster say accounts for the fact the Germans took +only a toll of 113 lives out of the 2,397 souls on board the Cunarder +when she met her fate. + + +AMERICAN COURAGE PRAISED. + +If the singing man is a fighting man, he also is hopeful, and in the +combination of fight and hope there came the baffling of the German +attempt to reduce the American war forces by almost a full regiment. +Taking stock after the disaster, the officers of both the army and navy +praised the courage of the Americans as the chief reason for the saving +of more than 90 per cent of the men on board. + +No submarine was seen until the torpedo struck the Tuscania fairly +amidships. A moment later another torpedo passed astern of the vessel. +There was a terrific explosion, and it is believed most of the +casualties were caused by this and by subsequent difficulties in +lowering the boats. + +The vessel immediately took a heavy list and the men were called to +their lifeboat stations, but the list prevented the boats from being +properly lowered, some of the upper-deck boats falling to the lower +deck. Many of the men jumped into the water, and the difficulty in +lowering the boats was responsible for many casualties. + +The survivors of the Tuscania landed at points in Ireland were received +with great honor in the various communities, and great tribute was paid +to the surviving soldiers by the Mayor of Dublin. + +The American troops on the Tuscania were part of the forces being +hurried to France to hold the Germans in check, and at the time American +troops were holding a sector with the French in Lorraine, northwest of +Toul, while American artillery were supporting the French in Champagne. +The date set for the big German drive was announced as January 28, and +the fact that Germany made an open proclamation of the fact that they +proposed to wage offensive warfare was somewhat puzzling to the minds of +those studying the situation. Making her position more impregnable, +Germany halted her armies in Russia upon the acceptance of peace terms +by the Russian delegation at Brest-Litovsk, which were concluded on +March 1, 1918, and daily the activities of the German forces on the +Western Front grew in intensity. On March 6, in anticipation of the +drive, it was for the first time publicly stated that 81,000 troops of +American soldiers were holding an eight mile line on the Lorraine front, +with three full divisions in the trenches. The gathering together of +this force and other American troops in France drew Secretary of War +Baker to the scene of activities. He was the first American Cabinet +officer to cross the ocean after America entered the war. + + +SEIZURE OF ALL DUTCH VESSELS. + +Holland having proved herself unwilling to come to a satisfactory +agreement at this time on the British-American demand regarding the use +of ships, President Wilson ordered the seizure of all Dutch vessels +within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States; the Allies +ordered a similar seizure abroad. The President's proclamation +authorized the navy to take over the vessels to be equipped and operated +by the Navy Department and the Shipping Board. A total of 77 ships were +added to the American Merchant Marine. + +Holland's failure to act was on the propositions that the United States +and the Allies should facilitate the importation into Holland of +foodstuffs, and other commodities required to maintain her economic +life, and that Holland should restore her Merchant Marine to a normal +condition of activity. + +On March 21 the greatest German offensive of the war actually began on a +front 50 miles long, running west and southwest of Cambrai. The +preliminary German bombardment covered a front from the River Serre +below St. Quentin, and the River Scarpe east of Arras. + + +FIERCEST BATTLE IN WORLD'S HISTORY. + +Field Marshal Haig's report from British headquarters in France +described the German offensive as comprising an intense bombardment by +the artillery and a powerful infantry attack on a front of more than +fifty miles. Some of the British positions were penetrated, but the +German losses were exceptionally heavy. + +It was reported at the end of the first day that the fiercest battle of +the world's history was in progress, and that 80,000 Germans were lost +in battle; while Berlin reported the capture of 16,000 Allied prisoners +and 200 guns. + +The Associated Press correspondent reported that at least forty +divisions of German soldiers were identified as actively participating +in the attack. No such concentration of artillery had been seen since +the war began. The enemy had 1,000 guns in one small sector--one for +every twelve yards. The Germans in many sections attacked in three waves +of infantry, followed up by shock troops. As a result they suffered very +heavy casualties. + +The German massed artillery was badly hammered by the British guns. + +In the first stage of their offensive the Germans failed badly in the +execution of their program, as was attested by captured documents +showing what they planned to do in the early hours of their offensive. + +By March 24 the attacks of the Germans had been redoubled, and it was +estimated that more than 1,000,000 Huns had been thrown into the +struggle against the British forces on which the attack was +concentrated. + +The most notable feature of the attack from the spectacular viewpoint +was the bombardment of Paris by monster German cannon, located in the +forest of St. Gobain, west of Laon, and approximately 76 miles away from +Paris. + + +BIG GUN ONE HUNDRED FEET LONG. + +Though no official description of the big gun was ever given, it was +stated by military authorities that it was approximately 100 feet in +length, and that several were in use, and more being built by the +Germans. At first the statement that a gun could shoot such a distance +was doubted, but when 75 persons were killed in Paris and one of the +shells hit a church doubt no longer existed. It also developed that the +gun was originally an American invention, and that similar weapons were +being built by the United States. + +The use of the big gun was in the nature of a "side-issue" to bring +terror to the French, and in line with the policy of frightfulness +instituted by the German militarists. Its use was continued daily. +Meantime the German hordes swept on marching in close formation into the +very mouths of the rapid-fire guns and against the strongly fixed +British lines. + +For ten days the hostilities continued, without cessation, with fighting +along a whole front such as had never been known before. + +The Germans continued to hurl great forces of infantry into the +conflict, depending largely on weight of numbers to overcome the +increasing opposition offered by the heroically resisting British. + +The battle on the historic ground about Longueval was perhaps the most +spectacular of any along the front. It was a battle of machine gunners +and infantry. The Germans were pursuing their tactics of working forward +in massed formation, and the British rapid-firers' squads and riflemen +reaped a horrid harvest from their positions on the high ground. +Notwithstanding their terrible losses, the Germans kept coming on, +filling in the places of those who had fallen and pressing their attack. +The British artillery in the meantime poured in a perfect rain of shells +on the enemy, carrying havoc into their ranks. In this section the +Germans operated without the full support of their guns, because of +their rapid advance. + + +ENEMY LOSES HEAVILY. + +A fierce engagement was also waged about Le Verguier, which the Germans +captured, but not until the British infantry holding the place had +fought to the last man and inflicted extremely heavy losses on the +enemy. The British again fell back, this time to a line through +Hervilly, just east of Roisel and Vermand. + +The work of the British airmen during the battle was one of the +brightest pages. Bitter battles in the air were fought by scores of +aviators and the service proved fully its ability to smother the German +airmen at a crucial time. + +Within a few days it was stated that at least 130 German airplanes were +brought down. This compilation of losses has reference to only one +section of the battle front, comprising perhaps two-thirds of the line +affected. + +An official statement regarding British aerial operations said their +airplanes were employed in bombing the enemy's troops and transport +massed in the areas behind the battlefront, and in attacking them with +machine-gun fire from low heights. Twenty-two tons of bombs were dropped +in this work, and more than 100,000 rounds were fired from the machine +guns. + +By March 28 the German losses were estimated at 400,000. The forces of +the Germans were almost overwhelming, the Kaiser sacrificing the +manpower of his nation in a last desperate attack. + +In consequence no greater stories of heroism have ever been told than +are related of the English, French and American troops. The Germans were +set for a drive against the English and French channel points with +Amiens as an objective, with the idea of breaking through the British +lines where they join the French. + + +AMERICAN FORCES OFFERED TO FRANCE. + +The earnestness of the Americans in the situation was proclaimed to the +world by the English and French, and General Pershing placed his name +and that of his country and men high on the wall of fame by unselfishly +offering to France at the most critical period the use of his entire +force, to be disposed of and assigned wherever General Foch and his +staff decided to use them. Within a few days thereafter the American +troops which had been in training were marched in to relieve the +stressed English and French. + +Everywhere the raging battle was marked by spectacular features not the +least of which were provided by a corps of thirty tanks, which waded +into the German hordes near Ephey and other points, recovering positions +which had been lost by the British. + +Canadian armored motorcars also played an important part in checking the +Huns, the cars armed with rapid-fire guns being rushed up to support +weakening troops. + +The progress of the Germans was halted on April 3, and in the following +days the British regained several lost positions and the French made +gains. But after a pause, during which several hundred thousand new +troops were brought in, the Huns renewed the offensive, delivering an +attack against the French near Montdidier on a front about 15 miles +long. An attack along a front of similar length was made against the +British on the Somme. + +The first battalion of American troops answering to the call of the +French for support reached the British front-line in France, on April +10, on the very anniversary of the entrance of the United States into +the war, and within a few days the Americans began to bear the brunt of +battle, holding the Germans like veterans. + +The first big attack of the Germans launched directly against an +American line occurred on April 30, in the vicinity of Villers-Bretonneaux, +below the Somme, where the Huns were repulsed with heavy losses. The German +preliminary bombardment lasted two hours and then the infantry rushed +forward, only to be driven back, leaving large numbers of dead on the +ground in front of the American lines. + + +AMERICANS BOMBARDED. + +The German bombardment opened at 5 o'clock in the afternoon and was +directed especially against the Americans, who were supported on the +north and south by the French. The fire was intense and at the end of +two hours the German commander sent forward three battalions of +infantry. There was hand-to-hand fighting all along the line, as a +result of which the enemy was thrust back, his dead and wounded lying on +the ground in all directions. Five prisoners remained in American hands. + +"Tell them back home that we are just beginning," said an American lad +who was in the thick of the fight and severely wounded with shrapnel. +"It was fine to see our men go at the Huns. All of us, who thought +baseball was the great American game, have changed our minds. There is +only one game to keep the American flag flying--that is, kill the Huns. +I got several before they got me." + +Details of the engagement show the Americans stuck to their guns while +the Germans were placing liquid fire, gas and almost every other +conceivable device of frightfulness on them. One of them, who lay +wounded in an American hospital, had kept his machine gun going after +the chief gunners had been killed two feet away and he himself had been +wounded, thus protecting a turn in the road known as Dead Man's curve, +over which some of the American couriers passed in the face of a +concentrated enemy fire. + +As indicating the violence of the offensive, French ambulance men who +went through the famous battle of Verdun declared today that, +comparatively speaking, the German artillery fire against the Americans +was heavier than in any single engagement on the Verdun front at any +time. + +The German barrage began just before sunrise. In an attempt to put the +American batteries out of action the Germans used an unusually large +number of gas shells, but the American artillery replied vigorously, +hurling hundreds of shells across the Teuton lines. Though successful in +resisting the German attack, the Americans lost 183 men captured by the +Huns, according to the British report. + +Nothing in the history of naval warfare is more picturesque than the +story of the raid made by English ships on the German submarine bases at +Ostend and Zeebrugge, on the Belgian coast, on April 22. Obsolete +cruisers filled with concrete were run aground and blown up in the +harbors. An old submarine filled with explosives was used to blow up the +piling beside the Mole at Zeebrugge. + +One German destroyer was torpedoed, and the British lost a destroyer, +two coastal motorboats and two launches. + +A fortnight later the old cruiser Vindictive was taken into the +submarine base at Ostend and sent to the bottom, blocking the channel, +making the attack thoroughly effective. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +AMERICANS TURN WAR'S TIDE + +BRILLIANT AMERICAN FIGHTING STOPS HUN ADVANCE--FRENCH AND BRITISH +INSPIRED--FAMOUS MARINES LEAD IN PICTURESQUE ATTACK--HALT GERMANS AT +CHATEAU-THIERRY--USED OPEN STYLE FIGHTING--THOUSANDS OF GERMANS +SLAIN--UNITED STATES TROOPS IN SIBERIA--NEW CONSCRIPTION BILL +PASSED--ALLIED SUCCESSES ON ALL FRONTS. + + +All history contains no greater story of bravery and heroism than that +which echoed around the world concerning the exploits of the American +soldiery in France as the war entered its fifth year. + +Casting aside all precedent, ignoring the practices which had been +developed by the English, French and German commands during four years +of stubborn fighting, a little force of Americans--barely a handful, led +by the picturesque Marines--brought the Huns to a standstill in their +drive upon Paris and turned the tide of war. + +Once again history repeated itself, for the Germans were turned back at +the beautiful river Marne, where the brave Americans and heroic French +smashed their lines. The spectacular event in which the Americans +participated was a mere incident of the great conflict raging across +France, but the story must ever be one of the outstanding features of +the war because of the effect it produced upon the whole situation. + +In the struggle against the Huns the Belgian army had been reduced to +its lowest ebb; the manpower of France and England had been sapped by +constant call for reserves, and the Allied forces, while resisting and +fighting heroically, were without reserves to draw upon to effect a +decisive blow when the opportunity presented. + +The German hordes had swept forward with hammer-like blows toward Paris +in what was a continuation of the giant offensive started in March. The +second movement was launched under the personal command of the German +Crown Prince on May 27, and was directed against four divisions of the +British troops and the Sixth French Army. Concentration was on a front +stretching from Soissons to Rheims, a distance of about 30 miles. + +The Huns were driving on the entire front, but the Crown Prince with +crack troops was to have the honor for which he had long been +striving--that of crossing the famous Marne and taking Paris. His troops +had reached the river between Dormans and Chateau-Thierry at the very +spot where the Third German Army had swept across the stream on August +25, 1914. Paris was less than 50 miles away. + +Here and there at other points the Germans had been held by the French +and English, but as part of the strategy of the French command the enemy +had been permitted to advance at this point through lines which would +cost him a terrible toll of lives. The French meantime were +concentrating on the enemy's flank with the hope of breaking through and +pocketing part of the Crown Prince's advancing forces. + +Whatever the intent, the Germans were resisting the efforts to stop +them. The question was, where would the advance end? The answer was +furnished by America. + +The enemy had attempted to broaden his Marne salient and had stretched +as far south as Chateau-Thierry. It is supposed his purpose was to +compel General Foch to meet shock with shock by throwing in his reserve +forces, since the German advance had then almost reached shelling +distance of Paris. + +But the German command had not taken the Americans into their +calculations, for here the Prussians met Uncle Sam's fighting men and +their French supports and were smashed and thrown back. + +Fighting in their own way, in the open, against superior forces, the +Marines and troops of the National American Army fought their way to +victory, routing the enemy and wresting from them positions absolutely +necessary to their further advance. + +Immense forces of Germans had been thrown into the fray when the +American division, to which the Marines were attached, was ordered into +the breach. The bulk of the forces, called to help halt the Huns, were +hours away from the fighting front and were being brought up for the +purpose of holding a secondary position where they would take up the +fighting when the French fell back. + +They had captured Cantigny after elaborate preparations under the +direction of the French, but here there were no preparations. The +American commanders wanted to attack the advancing enemy. The Allied +leaders doubted the ability of the Americans to stop the Boche in open +combat. + +The American commanders pleaded to make war in their own way. Doubting, +yet hopeful, the Allied commanders gave consent. The Americans were +moved into position. There was no time for rest and they came forward +under forced draft, so to speak. Infantry, machine gun companies and +artillery swung into position and faced the enemy which aimed a blow at +the line where it was supported by the French on the left. + +The Boche hordes swarmed across fields. The American gunners raked them +with hell's fire. The reputation of the Americans as sharpshooters and +marksmen was sustained. Under the most stressful circumstances and while +the French observers stood amazed, the Americans took careful aim and +shot as though at rifle practice. Every possible shot was made to tell. + +The Germans wavered, then halted under the withering fire of machine +guns and rifle. On again they came, only to again be repulsed. The +ground was strewn with their dead and wounded. Then they began to break +and to crawl back to safer positions. + +The enemy had been stopped but not driven. They had fallen back to +strong positions, the names of which must go down in history as scenes +of terrific fighting--Bouresches and Bois de Belleau--the latter a +wooded, rocky parcel of land on which German machine guns were +hidden--hundreds of them--while more than a thousand of the enemy's best +men were concealed in the thicket and underbrush and in the rocky +fissures. + +The Americans drove into the wood and charged the stronghold. Sacrifice! +Yes, hundreds of brave young Americans died fighting, but not in vain. +American artillery swept the woods; little companies of men charged the +enemy machine-gun nests, silencing the guns and killing the operators or +taking them prisoners. There was no going forward in mass formation +under barrage or protecting curtain of fire, but out in the open the +Marines and infantrymen rushed on facing terrific fire. + +Bois de Belleau was cleared of the Boche. Bouresches fell to the +Americans. The capture of the town was a repetition of the taking of the +first position. Machine guns protected the town everywhere. In cellar +windows, doorways and on roofs the Germans had set up their weapons. But +it was the old story--no hail of shot could stop the Americans. Almost +without sleep, unable to bring up supplies, the Americans had fought +four days with only canned foodstuffs to sustain them. + +Stories of the fights are reminiscent of those in which American troops +engaged the Indians on the plains in the frontier days. Indeed American +Indians--children of the famous old Sioux and Chippewa tribes of Red +Men--acted as scouts for Uncle Sam in many of his troops' activities in +France, and the methods of the old Indian fighters proved too much for +the Germans. + +It is estimated that 7000 were killed or wounded by the Americans in +this action, and that their prisoners numbered more than 1000. How +privates took command of squads and continued to outbattle the enemy +when officers were killed; how lone Americans or small groups of them +captured squads of Huns or annihilated them, are common stories of +heroism written into the official war records of the American +Expeditionary Forces in France, and sealed by medals of honor presented +to young Americans or confirmed by official words of commendation. + +Let the words of General Pershing in an official order to his troops on +August 27, stand as part of the record: + +"It fills me with pride to record in General Orders a tribute to the +service achievements of the First and Third Corps, comprising the First, +Second, Third, Fourth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-second and +Forty-second Divisions of the American Expeditionary Forces. + +"You came to the battlefield at a crucial hour for the Allied cause. For +almost four years the most formidable army the world has yet seen had +pressed its invasion of France and stood threatening its capital. At no +time has that army been more powerful and menacing than when, on July +15, it struck again to destroy in one great battle the brave men opposed +to it and to enforce its brutal will upon the world and civilization. + +"Three days later, in conjunction with our Allies, you counter-attacked. +The Allied armies gained a brilliant victory that marks the turning +point of the war. You did more than to give the Allies the support to +which as a nation our faith was pledged. + +"You proved that our altruism, our pacific spirit and our sense of +justice have not blunted our virility or our courage. + +"You have shown that American initiative and energy are as fit for the +tasks of war as for the pursuits of peace. You have justly won unstinted +praise from our Allies and the eternal gratitude of our countrymen. + +"We have paid for successes with the lives of many of our brave +comrades. We shall cherish their memory always and claim for our +history and literature their bravery, achievement and sacrifice. + +"This order will be read to all organizations at the first assembly +formations following its receipt." + +Aside from being largely responsible for stopping the Huns once again at +the Marne, the exploits of the Americans filled the French and English +with confidence, aroused their spirits and gave them renewed hope. +Incidentally their efforts and methods made apparent the value of +surprise attacks and quick blows in dealing with the stolid Huns. + +The Allied commanders, quick to take advantage of the situation, gave +the enemy no chance to consolidate their positions. The unified forces +of Allies attacked with renewed energy all along the line, and the Huns +were forced back with a sweep that astonished the world. + +By September 1, the Germans had lost practically all that they had +gained in their drive from March 21, and in many places they had been +driven back across the famous Hindenburg line, the furthest point of +retreat of the Germans in 1914, when they were forced back by General +Joffre from the Marne, and dug themselves into pit and trench. Dozens of +towns were taken and more than 120,000 prisoners were bagged. + +Almost as spectacular in its effect on the minds of the French and +English, as was the demonstration of American fighting, was the work +accomplished in France in providing for the transportation and care of +the incoming troops. Here great docks, storage plants, training camps, +aviation schools, motor assembling plants, base hospitals and +reclamation establishments and railroads, built in less than a year and +still growing, represented an investment of $35,000,000 on the part of +the United States Government in August, 1918. + +Early in May the number of Americans in France was about 500,000. That +this number should have been sent across the ocean within the space of +one year after America entered the war was regarded as a distinct +achievement, but by September it was officially announced that the +number had increased to 1,500,000. + +Some of these were sent to the Italian front to help in the drive +against the Austrians, and about 15,000 troops from the Philippines were +sent by the United States into Siberia to give moral support to the +Czecho-Slovaks. + +The decision to send troops to Siberia was by agreement with the +Japanese, and followed a statement issued by the United States on August +4, in which it was stated that "military action was admissable in Russia +only to render such protection and help as possible to the +Czecho-Slovaks against armed Austrian and German prisoners who were +attacking them, and to steady any efforts at self-government or +self-defense in which the Russians themselves may be willing to accept +assistance." It was stated that the troops were for guard duty, and +under the agreement with Japan, the only other country in a position to +act in Siberia, each nation sent a small force to Vladivostok. + +The British, French and United States Governments gave recognition to +the Czecho-Slovaks as an Allied nation--a geographical, political and +military entity--with three armies, one in Siberia, one in Italy and one +in France, where they had been fighting with the Allies to crush the +Huns. The territory which the Czecho-Slovaks claim as their own to +govern independently comprises Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Slavonika, +which lie between and are part of Austria-Hungary and Germany. + +With the facilities for handling the troops abroad thoroughly organized +and the obvious necessity for furnishing greater manpower to bring about +an early defeat of Germany, the United States decided to increase the +scope of its conscription and to raise an army of 3,000,000 for +immediate service and adopted a new manpower bill which was passed by +Congress the last week in August and signed by President Wilson on +August 30. + +The measure provided for the registration and drafting of all male +citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 years, allowing for deferred +classification of those engaged in essential work or having obligations +which made it impossible for them to render active military service. + +Not only the Allied successes on the western front, but also those on +the Italian front and in the Balkans, where the French, Italians and +Greeks in Albania, with a million troops, advanced against the Germans, +Austrians and Turks, made apparent the necessity for further +concentration of manpower. + +While losing ground on the western front and rapidly being forced to the +wall, Germany gave another spectacular twist to her military program by +carrying the war to America's doors. With her submarines she sank nearly +two score of ships, schooners, barges, tugs, and even a lightship, +within a few miles of New York, Boston, Norfolk, Charleston and the +Delaware Capes. + +But while the U-boats were harassing, no effective assaults were made +against the ships which carried American troops abroad. In this +connection it should never be forgotten in the glamour of war that while +America performed wonders in getting her soldiers overseas, England +provided most of the ships, and that it was England's Navy which kept +the German Navy in check while America's war vessels and destroyers +convoyed the troopships and protected them from the submarines. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +VICTORY--PEACE. + +THE GERMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSES--FOCH'S STRATEGY WINS--AMERICAN INSPIRATION +A BIG FACTOR--BULGARIA, TURKEY AND AUSTRIA QUIT WAR--MONARCHS FALL--- +KAISER ABDICATES AND FLEES GERMANY--ARMISTICE SIGNED--NOVEMBER 11, +PEACE. + + +Then came the fall of autocracy-- + +Victory! Peace! + +With a crash that echoed around the world the autocratic governmental +structure builded by the Kaiser and his forebears gave way and came +tumbling to the earth in ruins on Monday, November 11, 1918. + +The most momentous event in ages had come to pass and victory was +perched upon the banner of democracy. + +Out of the sacrifice of millions of lives, the desolation of homes and +countries, the expenditure of untold energy and incomprehensible +billions of dollars in money, there came everlasting, glorious peace. + +The great German Empire lay a wreck, given into the hands of the people +for remaking, and the arrogant Emperor William Hohenzollern had fled +into Holland, and his example was imitated by the Crown Prince. + + +THE COMING OF THE END. + +The end came swiftly and with dramatic action. Beaten back by the Allied +forces, which gathered strength and inspiration from the irresistible +American troops, the German army weakened all along the line from +Holland to the Swiss border. The press of power exerted against the +German strongholds on every side was felt within the domains and +produced internal strife and dissension which undermined and weakened +the military organization. Taking full advantage of this situation, the +Allied forces on every side quickened and intensified their blows. + +The brilliant strategy of Marshal Foch, generalissimo of the Allied +armies, brought defeat to the Germans in less than four months. After +bringing to an end the German advance of March 21 to July 18 with the +second battle of the Marne, he compelled a hurried retirement to the +Hindenburg line with the evacuation of practically all the territory +conquered by the Huns. + +Finally, in what may be termed the last phase of the war, he absolutely +demoralized the German forces. The thrust in this phase was started by +the Anglo-Belgian forces in Flanders and the Franco-American armies in +Lorraine on September 26. + +The British also made a gigantic and brilliant drive between Cambrai and +St. Quentin. The whole colossal defense system of the Germans was +shattered and in less than three months more than 100,000 German +prisoners and 5,000 guns were taken and 8,000 square miles of French and +Belgian territory liberated. + + +VICTORIES ON OTHER FRONTS. + +Not only was there great victory on the west, but in Syria the British +army broke the power of Turkey and liberated Syria, Mesopotamia and +Arabia. In Macedonia, too, an army made up of soldiers of many nations +under a French command compelled the surrender of Bulgaria and her +withdrawal, and swept the last vestige of German control from the +Balkans. + +On the Austrian front likewise the Italian army, strengthened and +heartened by the presence of American and Allied forces, swept the +Austrians before them in one of the most picturesque offensives of the +war, capturing more than 300,000 prisoners and great quantities of guns +and supplies. + +This in brief is the way the German command was driven to a point of +seeking peace to prevent the invasion of their territory. + +The brilliant assaults of the various units and commands of the Allies +at points along the entire 200 miles of western front will go down in +history a wonderful military achievement. + + +AMERICAN VICTORIES ON THE EAST FRONT. + +One of the wonderful attacks was that of the American First Army under +General Pershing, when St. Mihiel salient was annihilated. This salient +for four years resisted all efforts to penetrate it and stood a guardian +to great iron fields running through the Basin de Briey to the +Belgian-Luxemburg frontier. It formed a strong outpost to the fortified +city of Metz, with its twenty-eight forts, and made impossible the +invasion of German Lorraine from the west. + +The offensive of General Pershing was one of the most carefully planned +of the war. More than 1,000 tanks were operated to open the way for the +infantry and cavalry. A greater force of airplanes than were ever +concentrated in a single attack menaced the Germans overhead and in a +week the Americans encompassed a territory of 200 square miles and +threatened the mining center and the forts of Metz, capturing 20,000 +prisoners and hundreds of guns and great quantities of ammunition. +Moreover, the Verdun-Nancy railway was released. + +Support was brought to the Germans and they stubbornly resisted, but +many points were gained and held by the Americans. + + +AMERICAN VICTORIES ALONG THE MEUSE-AISNE RIVERS. + +Another corps of the First American Army, in command of General Hunter +Liggett, also made a brilliant attack between the Meuse and Aisne +rivers east of Rheims on a front twenty miles long, where the crack +Prussian Guards were routed. Here in one of the most bitterly contested +battles of the closing days the Americans made an important advance, +capturing half a dozen villages. + +As at Chateau-Thierry, the Americans in the face of withering fire and +against all the instruments of modern warfare handled by the best +soldiers in Germany, fought their way through with a bravery that won +for them the praises of the highest commands in the French and British +armies, as well as from General Pershing. + +At the very close of the struggle the Americans arose to the heights of +sublime heroism in crossing the river Meuse, capturing the town of Dun +and later the town of Sedan, famous as one of the scenes of bitter +fighting in the Franco-Prussian War. + + +GREAT VICTORY AT SEDAN. + +The Americans forced their way across a 160-foot river, a stretch of mud +flats and a 60-foot canal in the face of terrible fire. Men who could +swim breasted the stream carrying ropes, which were stretched from bank +to bank and along which those who could not swim made their way over the +river. Some crossed in collapsible boats, others on rafts and finally on +pontoon and foot bridges, which were constructed under the enemy fire. + +This difficult feat accomplished, the men waded through mud to the +canal, fighting as they went, and again plunged into the water, swimming +the canal, at the far side of which they were compelled to use grappling +hooks and scaling irons to mount the perpendicular banks of the canal, +along which were the resisting Germans. And finally, when the German +Empire fell, famed Sedan was in the hands of the Americans. With the +last forward movement they took possession of Stenay when hostilities +ceased. + +The part the American soldiers played in winning the war, merely as a +matter of increased man power, is indicated by the fact that when the +end came there were 2,900,000 men in the forces abroad. + + +COLLAPSE OF THE TEUTONIC ALLIES. + +The failure of the German submarine warfare and the ability of the +British, French and American naval forces to protect troop ships and +permit the landing of as high as 200,000 soldiers in France in a single +month, had much to do with discouraging the German command. + +The withdrawal of Bulgaria on September 27 and her unconditional +surrender to the Allies was a distinct blow to Germany. The abdication +of King Ferdinand in favor of Crown Prince Boris was shortly followed by +the surrender and withdrawal of Turkey, which further weakened Germany's +position, and peace offers were made by both Austria and by Germany. + +Austria sought a separate peace, but Germany, seeing the handwriting on +the wall, asked for an armistice through Prince Maximilian of Baden, who +had succeeded Count Von Hertling as Chancellor. But while agreeing to +accept as a basis of peace the points established by President Wilson as +necessary to an agreement, Germany's military forces continued their +ruthless and barbaric warfare. + +President Wilson submitted a set of questions to the German Government +to ascertain the sincerity and purpose of the request and finally +brought the matter to an issue by declaring that nothing short of a +complete surrender would suffice and that further negotiations must be +taken up with the Allied command. + +Meantime King Boris of Bulgaria abdicated and the Government was taken +over by the people. This was followed by the surrender of Austria on +November 8 and the abdication of the Emperor Charles. + + +THE END. + +Austria in her surrender agreed to the immediate suspension of +hostilities, the demobilization of the army of Austro-Hungary and the +withdrawal of all forces from the North Sea to Switzerland, the +evacuation of all territories invaded, the evacuation of all German +troops from Austro-Hungarian territory and the Italian and Balkan +fronts, as well as the surrender of fifteen submarines and all German +submarines in Austro-Hungarian territorial waters, together with +thirty-four warships, and also the repatriation of all prisoners of war. + +With her forces demoralized and Bulgaria, Turkey and Austria out of the +war and her power broken in Russia, Germany was driven to the necessity +of accepting terms submitted by the Allies as the basis of peace as +outlined by President Wilson. + + +SUMMARY. + +Thus came peace after fifty-two continuous months of fighting, in which +it is estimated that nearly 10,000,000 were killed and that there were +about 27,000,000 casualties, while $200,000,000 were expended by the +combined nations. + +America's casualties were 236,117, divided as follows: Killed and died +of wounds, 36,154; died of disease, 14,811; died from unassigned causes, +2,204; wounded, 179,625; missing, 1,160, and prisoners, 2,163. + +England by contrast had 658,665 killed, 2,032,122 wounded and 359,145 +missing and prisoners during the four years, while Italy had about +1,600,000 casualties; France, 3,500,000; Belgium, 400,000; Rumania, +200,000, and Russia, 6,000,000. All told, twenty-eight nations, with a +total population of approximately 1,600,000,000, or nearly +eleven-twelfths of the human race, were involved in the world struggle +at the close. + + +TERMS OF THE ARMISTICE ACCEPTED BY GERMANY. + + I. MILITARY CLAUSES ON WESTERN FRONT: + + One--Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after + the signature of the armistice. + + Two--Immediate evacuation of invaded countries: Belgium, France, + Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed within + fourteen days from the signature of the armistice. German troops + which have not left the above-mentioned territories within the + period fixed will become prisoners of war. Occupation by the Allied + and United States forces jointly will keep pace with evacuation in + these areas. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be + regulated in accordance with a note annexed to the stated terms. + + Three--Repatriation beginning at once and to be completed within + fourteen days of all inhabitants of the countries above mentioned, + including hostages and persons under trial or convicted. + + Four--Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the + following equipment: Five thousand guns (two thousand five hundred + heavy, two thousand five hundred field) thirty thousand machine + guns. Three thousand minenwerfers. Two thousand airplanes + (fighters, bombers--firstly D. Seventy-three's and night bombing + machines). The above to be delivered in situ to the allies and the + United States troops in accordance with the detailed conditions + laid down in the annexed note. + + Five--Evacuation by the German armies of the countries on the left + bank of the Rhine. These countries on the left bank of the Rhine + shall be administered by the local authorities under the control of + the Allied and United States armies of occupation. The occupation + of these territories will be determined by Allied and United States + garrisons holding the principal crossings of the Rhine, Mayence, + Coblenz, Cologne, together with bridgeheads at these points in + thirty kilometre radius on the right bank and by garrisons + similarly holding the strategic points of the regions. + + A neutral zone shall be reserved on the right of the Rhine between + the stream and a line drawn parallel to it forty kilometres + (twenty-six miles) to the east from the frontier of Holland to the + parallel of Gernsheim and as far as practicable a distance of + thirty kilometres (twenty miles) from the east of stream from this + parallel upon Swiss frontier. Evacuation by the enemy of the Rhine + lands shall be so ordered as to be completed within a further + period of eleven days, in all nineteen days after the signature of + the armistice. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be + regulated according to the note annexed. + + Six--In all territory evacuated by the enemy there shall be no + evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm shall be done to the + persons or property of the inhabitants. No destruction of any kind + to be committed. Military establishments of all kinds shall be + delivered intact as well as military stores of food, munitions, + equipment not removed during the periods fixed for evacuation. + Stores of food of all kinds for the civil population, cattle, etc., + shall be left in situ. Industrial establishments shall not be + impaired in any way and their personnel shall not be moved. Roads + and means of communication of every kind, railroad, waterways, main + roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones, shall be in no manner + impaired. + + Seven--All civil and military personnel at present employed on them + shall remain. Five thousand locomotives, fifty thousand wagons and + ten thousand motor lorries in good working order with all necessary + spare parts and fittings shall be delivered to the associated + powers within the period fixed for the evacuation of Belgium and + Luxemburg. The railways of Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed over + within the same period, together with all pre-war personnel and + material. Further material necessary for the working of railways in + the country on the left bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ. + All stores of coal and material for the upkeep of permanent ways, + signals and repair shops left entire in situ and kept in an + efficient state by Germany during the whole period of armistice. + All barges taken from the Allies shall be restored to them. A note + appended regulates the details of these measures. + + Eight--The German command shall be responsible for revealing all + mines or other acting fuses disposed on territory evacuated by the + German troops and shall assist in their discovery and destruction. + The German command shall also reveal all destructive measures that + may have been taken (such as poisoning or polluting of springs, + wells, etc.) under penalty of reprisals. + + Nine--The right of requisition shall be exercised by the Allied and + the United States armies in all occupied territory. The upkeep of + the troops of occupation in the Rhine land (excluding + Alsace-Lorraine), shall be charged to the German Government. + + Ten--An immediate repatriation without reciprocity according to + detailed conditions which shall be fixed, of all Allied and United + States prisoners of war. The Allied powers and the United States + shall be able to dispose of these prisoners as they wish. + + Eleven--Sick and wounded, who can not be removed from evacuated + territory will be cared for by German personnel who will be left on + the spot with the medical material required. + + + II. DISPOSITION RELATIVE TO THE EASTERN FRONTIERS OF GERMANY: + + Twelve--All German troops at present in any territory which before + the war belonged to Russia, Rumania or Turkey shall withdraw within + the frontiers of Germany as they existed on August 1, 1914. + + Thirteen--Evacuation by German troops to begin at once and all + German instructors, prisoners and civilian as well as military + agents, now on the territory of Russia (as defined before 1914) to + be recalled. + + Fourteen--German troops to cease at once all requisitions and + seizures and any other undertaking with a view to obtaining + supplies intended for Germany in Rumania and Russia (as defined on + August 1, 1914). + + Fifteen--Abandonment of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk + and of the supplementary treaties. + + Sixteen--The Allies shall have free access to the territories + evacuated by the Germans on their eastern frontier either through + Danzig or by the Vistula in order to convey supplies to the + population of those territories or for any other purpose. + + + III. CLAUSE CONCERNING EAST AFRICA: + + Seventeen--Unconditional capitulation of all German forces + operating in East Africa within one month. + + + IV. GENERAL CLAUSES: + + Eighteen--Repatriation, without reciprocity, within maximum period + of one month, in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter to + be fixed, of all civilians interned or deported who may be citizens + of other Allied or associated states than those mentioned in clause + three, paragraph nineteen, with the reservation that any future + claims and demands of the Allies and the United States of America + remain unaffected. + + Nineteen--The following financial conditions are required: + Reparation for damage done. While such armistice lasts no public + securities shall be removed by the enemy which can serve as a + pledge to the Allies for the recovery or repatriation for war + losses. Immediate restitution of the cash deposit, in the National + Bank of Belgium, and in general immediate return of all documents, + specie, stocks, shares, paper money, together with plant for the + issue thereof, touching public or private interests in the invaded + countries. Restitution of the Russian and Rumanian gold yielded to + Germany or taken by that power. This gold to be delivered in trust + to the Allies until the signature of peace. + + + V. NAVAL CONDITIONS: + + Twenty--Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite + information to be given as to the location and movements of all + German ships. Notification to be given to neutrals that freedom of + navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and + mercantile marines of the allied and associated powers, all + questions of neutrality being waived. + + Twenty-one--All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of war of the + Allied and associated powers in German hands to be returned without + reciprocity. + + Twenty-two--Surrender to the Allies and the United States of + America of one hundred and sixty German submarines (including all + submarine cruisers and mine laying submarines) with their complete + armament and equipment in ports which will be specified by the + Allies and the United States of America. All other submarines to be + paid off and completely disarmed and placed under the supervision + of the Allied Powers and the United States of America. + + Twenty-three--The following German surface warships which shall be + designated by the Allies and the United States of America shall + forthwith be disarmed and thereafter interned in neutral ports to + be designated by the Allies and the United States of America and + placed under the surveillance of the Allies and the United States + of America, only caretakers being left on board, namely: + + Six battle cruisers, ten battleships, eight light cruisers, + including two mine layers, fifty destroyers of the most modern + type. All other surface warships (including river craft) are to be + concentrated in naval bases to be designated by the Allies and the + United States of America, and are to be paid off and completely + disarmed and placed under the supervision of the Allies and the + United States of America. All vessels of auxiliary fleet (trawlers, + motor vessels, etc.), are to be disarmed. + + Twenty-four--The Allies and the United States of America shall have + the right to sweep all mine fields and obstructions laid by Germany + outside German territorial waters, and the positions of these are + to be indicated. + + Twenty-five--Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to be given + to the naval and mercantile marine of the Allied and associated + powers. To secure this the Allies and the United States of America + shall be empowered to occupy all German forts, fortifications, + batteries and defense works of all kinds in all the entrances from + the Cattegat into the Baltic, and to sweep up all mines and + obstructions within and without German territorial waters without + any question of neutrality being raised, and the positions of all + such mines and obstructions are to be indicated. + + Twenty-six--The existing blockade conditions set up by the Allies + and associated powers are to remain unchanged, and all German + merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture. + + Twenty-seven--All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and + immobilized in German bases to be specified by the Allies and the + United States of America. + + Twenty-eight--In evacuating the Belgian coasts and ports, Germany + shall abandon all merchant ships, tugs, lighters, cranes and all + other harbor materials, all materials for inland navigation, all + aircraft and all materials and stores, all arms and armaments, and + all stores and apparatus of all kinds. + + Twenty-nine--All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Germany, + all Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany in + the Black Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United + States of America; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be + released; all warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in + those parts are to be returned and German materials as specified in + clause twenty-eight are to be abandoned. + + Thirty--All merchant vessels in German hands belonging to the + Allied and associated powers are to be restored in ports to be + specified by the Allies and the United States of America without + reciprocity. + + Thirty-one--No destruction of ships or of materials to be permitted + before evacuation, surrender or restoration. + + Thirty-two--The German Government will notify neutral Governments + of the world, and particularly the Governments of Norway, Sweden, + Denmark, and Holland, that all restrictions placed on the trading + of their vessels with the Allied and associated countries, whether + by the German Government or by private German interests, and + whether in return for specific concessions such as the export of + shipbuilding materials or not, are immediately cancelled. + + Thirty-three--No transfers of German merchant shipping of any + description to any neutral flag are to take place after signature + of the armistice. + + + VI. DURATION OF ARMISTICE: + + Thirty-four--The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days, + with option to extend. During this period, on failure of execution + of any of the above clauses, the armistice may be denounced by one + of the contracting parties on forty-eight hours' previous notice. + + + VII. TIME LIMIT FOR REPLY: + + Thirty-five--This armistice to be accepted or refused by Germany + within seventy-two hours of notification. + + + + +THE NEGRO IN THE WORLD WAR. + +BEFORE THE WAR. + + +Civilization evolves destructive forces of change. War is change in +explosive form. World notions, points of view, and general ideas of 1914 +have spun the cycle of years with accelerated speed. At that time the +public mind gained its concept of the Negro from encyclopaedic +information. He was regarded as a "sub-species of mankind, dark of skin, +wooly of hair, long of head, with dilated nostrils, thick lips, thicker +cranium, flat foot, prehensile great toe and larkheel." + +He was described as a creature with "mental constitution very similar to +that of the child, on a lower evolutionary plane than the white man, and +more closely related to the highest anthropoids." His brain weight, we +were told, was 35 ounces as compared with the gorilla's 20 ounces and +the Caucasian's 45. + +In America, conception of the Negro has ever fluctuated in direct ratio +to the rise and fall of military domination of the affairs of the +republic. Whenever the military agencies of the government have been +exalted, the Negro has been benefited by reaction of the public mind. +From 1865 to 1870 exaltation of the military element of American life +brought along not only emancipation of the black man, but that +conception of him which resulted in the conferring of manhood rights and +privileges. In this short space of five years, so highly had the Negro +come into public estimation that, with the protection of the military +arm of the government, there were actively engaged in his interest an +Emancipation League, a Freedmen's Pension Society, a Freedmen and +Soldiers' Relief, a Freedmen's Aid Society of the M.E. Church, a Society +of Friends of Great Britain and Ireland for the Relief of Emancipated +Slaves of America, an American Missionary Association, a Freedmen's +Bureau, a Freedmen's Bank, a British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, +an American Negro Aid Commission, and other organizations, too numerous +for mention. So important, however, was military organization and +predominance to the success of any one of these organizations, that Carl +Schurz, reporting to Congress the condition of the South, declared: "If +the national government firmly and unequivocally announces its policy +not to give up the control of free labor reform until it is firmly +accomplished, the progress of the reform will be far more rapid and far +less difficult than it will be if the attitude of the government is such +as to permit contrary hopes to be indulged in." + +In 1870, as the military power of the United States weakened its control +over the nation, forces of opposition arose to pull down to the depths +the black man, who had been exalted by the agencies of military +government. The Ku Klux Klan, headed by the Grand Wizard of the +Invisible Empire, and the Grand Dragon of the Realm, with malignant +fanaticism worshipped the lost cause. Hatred of white man for Negro, +accentuated and embittered by hatred for the Yankee carpet-bagger and +the southern scalawag, resulted in the rise of a powerful southern +partisanship, stunned only so long as military power held sway. Peonage +took place of colored free labor. Disproportionate appropriation of +taxes between blacks and whites lowered the Negro measurably year by +year. With the complete removal of military supremacy, the Ku Klux +courted publicity which it had hitherto shunned. A leader, the statesman +of the new era, in the person of the late Benjamin R. Tillman, of South +Carolina, appeared. He split the loose organization of southern +aristocracy with the blacks with lily white wedge, and trampled into +dust every agency which favored the black man. He deprived the black of +all weapons of offence or defence, disfranchised him, shunted him off +into the ghetto, and called the world to mock him in his lowly position. +This southern statesman lived to see the Solid South come into national +power in 1912. From that time, until the beginning of the world war in +1914, the American negro reached the lowest point of his political and +social status. + +Compared with Anglo-Saxon, Frenchman, Italian, Austrian, German or +Russian, he was of an order and degree reputed farthest down. No +celebrity attached to his menial state. No distinction might be his as +an award from the courts of nations. Dignity, grandeur and majesty +applied to Guelphs, Hapsburgs and Hohenzollerns. Theirs was all +arrogation of supereminence. And to them all, the Negro, throughout the +world, was, if a man at all, pre-eminently the mere Man Friday. + +From such a status of debasement, existing in an intolerable atmosphere +of derogation and disrepute, the humble and humiliated American Negro +sought the exaltation of international honor. Denied and disavowed at +home, through vicissitude of international war, he hoped for affirmation +of a new world dictum in acknowledgment of his human qualities and +worth. He did not, like Toussaint, long for the high honors of the +continental emperor. He sought democratic equality, and he would as lief +think of bringing the Kaiser to his level as exalting himself to the +plane of that immortal celebrity. + +He wanted to make good in public. He wanted to demonstrate both +efficiency and initiative. He desired that popular belief conceive him +as a man, not a monkey. He wished the Caucasian world to take into its +head that he might function as a valuable and serviceable element of +twentieth century civilization. He yearned to reveal his powers in +every field of endeavor. And he expected that when the Caucasian had +arrived at a fair judgment in his behalf, he would issue to him the +warrant certifying that he was four-square with the dominant opinion of +mankind, and, therefore, entitled to the honors of superior status. + +He aimed to compensate the world by presenting a concept of beauty in +place of a general notion of repellent ugliness. Instead of being +regarded as a "Hottentot with clicking palate, whom the meanest of the +rest look down upon for all his glimmering language and spirituality," +he wished the world to find in him fitness for survival, conformity with +civilization's ideal, example of the world philosophy of forbearance, +human relationships, symmetry and poise in adaptation to the world's +tasks, and moderation in respect of the higher laws, whose harmonies +order and rectify all creation. + +He sought to neutralize the misteachings of Adam Smith, of Darwin and +Defoe. Smith's "Wealth of Nations" presumed the material debasement of +darker peoples of colonial populations, or, in lieu thereof, such +debasement of Slav, Serf or Serbian as would compensate the vanity of +the superior people. Indirectly, Darwin taught, that the Negro closely +approached the missing link between the savage beast and the human. +Defoe delighted the world with a picture of the ideal economic status +for the maintenance of white superiority over black man. These ideas the +Negro wished to topple over. + +He felt it necessary to repudiate the indoctrination of racial hatred +proclaimed throughout the world by "The Birth of a Nation." He set over +against it the reception by all civilization of the Booker T. Washington +life story. He wished to substitute recognition of worth in place of the +things that debase and make ashamed. + +His great puzzle was the Anglo-Saxon, cold, austere and uncomplaisant. +This Caucasian, fair of skin, with smooth and wavy hair, small +cheekbones and elevated forehead, appeared a worshipful master whose +station, under God, was of preordained and predestined eminence. +Occupying Eurasia from the Channel to the Ganges, together with the most +favored portions of Africa and America, he was the author and agency for +law and order for the world. St. Augustine, first archbishop and +lawgiver of Canterbury, himself of African descent, the son of Monica +and Patricius of Carthage, had left the Anglo-Saxon from semi-barbarism +to his position of world renown. Would this Anglo-Saxon ever degrade the +sons of women of Africa? + +The Negro's next puzzle was the French, urbane, amenable and suave. +Negro emotions and French sensibilities mingled even without recourse to +the vehicle of language. Imbued with all the finer Latin qualities and +characteristics, the French ever invited the black man to a social world +which the Anglo-Saxon denied him. E.W. Lightner, writing as a war +correspondent, says: + + "Long previous to the war thousands of blacks from various States + of Africa were in France, most especially Paris, at the + universities, in business and in the better ranges of service. + Everywhere and by all sorts and conditions of whites, they were + treated as equals. During several visits to the French capital I, + an American, knowing full well the prejudices of whites of this + country against the race, was amazed to see the cordial mingling of + all phases of the cosmopolitan population of the French capital. + Refined white men promenaded the streets with refined black women, + and the two races mingled cordially in studies, industries and + athletic sports. White and black artists had ateliers in common in + the Latin quarter...." + +Thus, at hob and nob with the civilities and honors and embraces of this +social life, the Negro felt an unaccustomed giddiness seize him. This +giddiness was not caused by lack of social poise, nor incited by the +French, but it arose from the dilemma, or rather peril, in which the +French intercourse placed him with relation to the adjustment of darker +races to Anglo-Saxon civilization. + +Nevertheless in 1914, the approach to this court of honour and equality +must be made by the Negro--and made under restraint sufficient to assure +Anglo-Saxon approval. This was, indeed, a complex problem. Traducers +proclaimed his undeveloped capacities; he answered with a claim of long +repressed aptitudes. They spoke of intolerable coalescence; he claimed +that the times demanded imperative coexistence. They said he had no +soul; he claimed the over-soul. They asserted his lecherous character; +he referred to statistics. But when they claimed he was pro-German, he +stripped for action. World war, and France, prostrate amid its terrors, +offered the Negro the great opportunity of the centuries to refute the +broadcast propaganda of his enemies. + +Beyond the French appeared the German, ungainly, acrimonious and +obdurate. Part Saxon, part Hun, part Vandal and Visigoth, a creature of +blood and iron, he utilized every force of nature to exterminate his +enemies. The Negro knew how to exploit none of nature's elemental +energies. But he did know that he could learn how by seizing and +mastering the weapons of the enemy. + +Of the energies of earth he lacked both scientific mastery and the +weapons which give them offensive power and direction. Of the air he +lacked all control. Fire he utilized only for purposes of cooking food, +but not for the development of machinery of warfare. He has no vessel +upon all the seven seas. To seize and master and utilize these energies +appeared a thankless job, albeit a necessary one. He voted a grim +"Aye." + +[Illustration: This is the wreath presented by the Ford-Darney Orchestra +in memory of Lieutenant Jimmy Europe, leader of the famous Jazz band +which won its laurels with the 369th Infantry in France. His funeral +took place from St. Mark's Church in West 53rd St.] + +[Illustration: The body of Lieutenant Jimmy Europe who died suddenly +this week is here seen being carried from St. Mark's Church. Europe was +the leader of the famous Jazz band which won its laurels with the 369th +Infantry in France.] + +[Illustration: NEGRO NURSES MARCH IN GREAT RED CROSS PARADE ON FIFTH +AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY.] + +[Illustration: THE ARREST OF THE ASSASSIN. + +Scene immediately after the murder of the Archduke and Archduchess of +Austria in the streets of Sarajevo, Bosnia. The arrest of Gavrio +Princip, the murderer.] + +[Illustration: NATIONAL GUARDSMAN WEARING COMPLETE EQUIPMENT, READY FOR +WAR. + +A soldier's equipment consists of a great number of articles, skillfully +packed so that they make a small bundle, considering the number of +articles. The kit includes a blanket, rifle, bayonet, kit bag, cartridge +belt, canteen, pan, plate, knife, fork, spoon, tent spikes, rubber +blanket and other miscellaneous articles. The photo shows three +views--side, front and back, with equipment attached.] + +[Illustration: THE PEACE CONFERENCE AT PARIS + +This remarkable photograph taken during the Peace Conference at Paris +shows President Wilson and President Poincare in the center background +(directly underneath the clock). Seated next to Mr. Wilson is Secretary +of State Lansing. Next to President Poincare at the right are seated +Lloyd George, Balfour and Bonar Law. At the long table to the left of +the photo we see seated Clemenceau, Pichon and Marshal Foch.] + +[Illustration: CARRYING OLD GLORY THROUGH LONDON. + +United States soldiers, carrying the Stars and Stripes and Regimental +Standard, passed cheering crowds at the head of a National army command +that marched through London on May 11th, 1918.] + +[Illustration: MARSHAL J. JOFFRE AND PARTY IN WASHINGTON, D.C. + +This photograph was taken at the State, War and Navy Building, just +after they had called on Secretary of War Baker. Joffre stands on the +lower step in the centre of the picture.] + +[Illustration: SIR DOUGLAS HAIG. + +This is a late photograph of the commander of the British armies in +France.] + +[Illustration: SOLDIERS OF THE DIFFERENT NATIONS ENGAGED IN THE WORLD +WAR. + +This picture shows the portraits and headdress of reprsentative fighters +now engaged in the European war.] + +[Illustration: CAPTURE OF BAPAUME BY BRITISH. + +Scene on the day British troops entered Bapaume, a French city evacuated +by the Germans in their retreat to the Hindenburg line. Cheerful British +soldiers are seen in a street.] + +[Illustration: FRENCH PASSING THROUGH RECAPTURED NOYON. + +They are on the heels of the Germans. The photograph shows how the town +was wrecked by the Germans before they evacuated.] + +[Illustration: HORSE AND MAN ALIKE PROTECTED FROM GAS ATTACK. + +French army horses wearing gas masks, which look at first sight like oat +bags. They are used when the animals have to cross a gas zone in drawing +the shell wagons to the batteries.] + +[Illustration: ONE OF THE METHODS OF TRANSPORTING WOUNDED. + +This man is being taken over mountainous regions, and the method of +transportation has been devised in order to minimize the shock.] + +[Illustration: "V-I-C-T-O-R-Y." + +Sailors spelling the word "VICTORY" with flags.] + +[Illustration: Sighting through the 40 power telescope on the U.S.S. +Pennsylvania. Objects at great distances are clearly distinguished +through this telescope.] + +[Illustration: BRITISH SAILORS IN NEW YORK. + +They are from the H.M.S. Roxburgh, and took part in welcoming the +arrival of Gen. Joffre in New York City] + +[Illustration: THE GREAT AMERICAN HABIT. + +French Jackies, for the first time in the United States, learn all the +delights of the great American drink, the Ice Cream Soda.] + +[Illustration: BENJAMIN BAYLOR. + +Wardroom Steward, U.S.N. Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was torpedoed +and sunk September 30, 1918.] + +[Illustration: WILLIAM GARFIELD MARSHALL. + +Wardroom Officer's Steward, U.S.N. Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was +torpedoed and sunk September 30, 1918.] + +[Illustration: SURVIAN AUSTIN WILLIAMS. + +Mess Attendant U.S.N. Lost on U.S.S. CYCLOPS, June 14, 1918.] + +[Illustration: T.A. LOUNDEO. + +Water Tender, U.S.N. 909 N. 5th St., Richmond, Va.] + +[Illustration: WM. M.T. BECKLEY. + +Mess Attendant, 1c, U.S.N. Fell overboard and drowned, U.S.S. OZARK, +July 25, 1918.] + +[Illustration: GEORGE FOWLER. + +Cabin Steward U.S.N. Lost when Liberty Boat capsized, U.S.S. LANSDALE. +December 6, 1918.] + +In doing so, he accepted the challenge of no mere enigma. Of his own +volition, he entered upon the path that led through untrod and dangerous +ground. It was his problem to cut the Gordian knot of Anglo-Saxon icy +reserve that in the end fair England might assume as a policy of world +administration the award of citizenship rights to the darker races in +the sphere of influence of the league of civilized nations. It was a +part of this problem to enter the equation with such deliberate caution +as to upset no part of the nicely calculated adjustments of white to +darker peoples. And it was also a part of his problem that he should not +relinquish his grasp upon the factors that led to honor, recognition and +equality. + +Germany was indignant as the Negro sought entry to the war. The South +was sensitive. The North was quizzical. The whole world was hesitant. +The too ardent favor which the Negro found in France gave offence to +both America and England. Indeed, for the Negro to lift himself too +rapidly by his own bootstraps would have offended England, whose law +prohibited emigration of foreign Negroes to South Africa. And it would +also offend America, strangely jealous of any sign of unwanted +assertiveness the Negro might display. The Negro accepted the challenge +to penetrate this maze and labyrinth, with no surety, save God's good +grace, of the fate that lay beyond. + +To attain the goal of Recognition, it was necessary for him to demand of +the people of England, France and Italy, that he be made subject to +every test calculated to reveal his worth or inferiority as an +individual, business, political or social equal of the allied peoples. +The goal of Honor, he had attained in every war waged by America. He was +with Jackson at New Orleans, a pioneer in the Mexican struggle, 200,000 +strong in the great civil crisis, the acme of terror to Geronimo in the +later Indian wars, the hero of San Juan in the Spanish-American combat, +and at Carrizal in the latest Mexican imbroglio. By 1914, however, he +had lost all rewards of honor which he had previously won. As for +Equality, since the Civil War, he had been guaranteed this goal by +three amendments to the Constitution of the United States. These +forgotten amendments read in part: + + "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment + for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall + exist within the United States, or any place subject to their + jurisdiction.... + + "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject + to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and + of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce + any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of + citizens of the United States; nor shall deprive any person of + life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to + any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the + laws.... + + "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States + according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of + persons in each State.... + + "The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not + be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account + of race, color or previous condition of servitude." + +America of 1914 was prone to look upon this part of the Constitution as +a mere scrap of paper. From what point of vantage might the Negro hope +for Honor, Recognition and Equality at the hands of the allied +governments? + +Land of the free and home of the brave, America is assumed to be so +openhearted, munificent and princely, so liberal and so generous that +could she but behold a man, of whatever hue, trampled in the mire, or +hear his piteous cry, she would hasten to his aid and deliver him. So +much does she admire genuine human worth that a man of heart and spirit +and fortitude cannot perish while she is nigh at hand. Such, at least, +is the assumption. + +From the debasement of industrial serfdom, the black workman wished the +American people of 1914 to stop the trend of their strenuous existence +and behold him ... and test him ... and proclaim him. He not only wished +to be given a free field and a fair chance to work at the same job, for +the same wage, during the same hours, and under the same conditions as +the white workman, but he was ready to contend for all of the industrial +privileges. + +The black man of business not only wished to enter into business +competition with members of the Caucasian race under the same conditions +as customarily pertain to such arrangements, but he was eagerly hoping +to insure adjustment of this situation. The black social outcast wished +"jim-crow" railway accommodations and signs proclaiming inequality of +race to disappear. He wished sufficient education to enable him to +develop his own society. He, too, was willing for a world war, for he +had come to the point where he desired immediate and explosive change. +Looked down upon because of his despised blood, the black American +wished to elevate the status of his womankind, too long disproved and +betrayed, to the level of free and brave womanhood of all the civilized +world. Concerning this situation he was grim. It required but a spark +applied here to explode with terrific outburst the sinister silence of +the volcano. + +But in India, in South Africa, in Nigeria, and in all countries where +English rule held sway, England was committed to the policy of the white +overseer or foreman for the black exponent of industry. Nor could she, +save through war, adopt a policy of employing either Indians or Africans +at the same job and for the same wage as that received by members of the +British Labor Party. On the other hand, France, whose political life was +convulsed from 1894 to 1899 by principles of racial prejudice exhibited +in the Dreyfus case, offered every form of equality to the darker races +under her dominion. However, such equality offered by France was not +equal in the sum total of advantage to the partial equality which the +Negro received in America. The French workman gave more hours of toil +for less monetary reward. The Negro wanted to bring the French principle +of equality to apply in American industry. But the British in 1914 could +not agree to industrial equality for black men. Such agreement would +upset the nicely calculated economic adjustments of the English system. +America would take no step until forced to do so. + +It was the problem of the Negro, alone and single-handed, to grasp the +opportunity afforded by world war to bring America to this point of +recognition and democratic equality. The Negro, hitherto regarded as the +monkey-man, the baby race, the black brute, trained by such ruthless +propaganda to disrespect himself, hesitated. + +There was no leadership. No ringleader arrayed the mob. No chief +appeared. No captain called the hosts. No generalissimo marshalled the +black phalanx. No statesman sought entanglement in the meshes of the +negro labyrinth. But the Negro proposition for a test of Negro fitness, +like Topsy, "just growed." The young Negro possessed the clear eye to +see the situation. College trained, his vision was not blinded by +proximity to issues of the Civil War, nor by financial dependence, nor +by excessive spirituality. The elder Negro possessed the oratorical and +linguistic powers to state the case. Also college trained, of long +experience, possessing a widespread oratorical clientele, he spoke with +a voice that stirred and played upon the heartstrings of all America. +Never was such a proposition advanced where men, old and young, despised +and rejected, penniless and without credit, without acclaimed leadership +or champion, sought position of honor and recognition and equality +beside the best fighting forces of the world to help defeat the greatest +military machine that hell had ever invented. + +Capital and labor, in previous years, had found the Negro wanting. State +governments had utilized him for the purpose of increasing taxes and +court fees. The national government always handled him in accordance +with political expediency, despite his unswerving loyalty. Capital, +labor, State government and national government had brought the Negro so +low that he was ready in 1914 for any form of relief. + +The Negro was ready for change, for one reason, because he had lost the +honor of ministership to Haiti, Henry W. Furniss being succeeded by a +white man. He was ready for change because, as the continental war +proceeded, it became evident that though America might participate, her +black colonel, Charles Denton Young, a graduate of West Point, and a +distinguished soldier, might receive recognition as the leader of black +forces on foreign soil. He was ready for change because it appeared that +there had been agreement that no American Negro should participate in a +test of world equality upon the field of world honor and renown. + +In the American Navy Department, in 1914, time had destroyed the wake of +Negro tradition, and the log had been deleted. The Negro has rendered +honorable service in the navy. He was with Perry on Lake Erie. During +the Civil War, Robert Smalls, a Negro, single-handed, stole the Union +cruiser "Planter" from Charleston harbor and brought her into a Union +port. Half the men who accompanied Hobson into Santiago harbor were +Negroes. Matt Henson was the only man with Peary at the Pole. John +Jordan fired the first shot from Dewey's flagship "Olympia," opening the +battle of Manila. The Negro wanted change because in 1914 the naval +administration reluctantly offered Negroes positions as messmen and +cooks. No seamen, no members of the merchant marine, no petty officers, +no lieutenants, might apply. + +In the American Treasury Department, an ex-Senator of the United States, +a colored man, Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi, was honored by having +created for him the office of register of the treasury. Subsequently the +honor was conferred as a political favor upon Judson W. Lyons, of +Georgia; William T. Vernon, of Kansas, and J.C. Napier, of Tennessee. +The democratic executive was good enough to offer this position, created +as a direct result of the Negro's activities during and after the Civil +War, to Adam E. Patterson, of Oklahoma. But so great was the pressure +from opposing political forces that the name was withdrawn and another +position of honor lost to the race. Ralph W. Tyler, auditor of the navy, +resigned his position in 1912. A white man was appointed in his place. +Screens were erected in this department, shutting the Negro from the +view of his erstwhile fellow-clerk. He was sent down in the cellar to +emphasize his degradation as he attended to his physical wants. The +Negro cried aloud for change, and in his heart he cared not how soon +this change should come, nor what form it should take. + +The American Post-office Department, by 1914, had taken over the bulk of +the express service of the United States. The Negro was found available +as a clerk, but seldom, if ever, as a foreman. The appointment of large +numbers of Negroes to mere clerical positions did not mean to the Negro +recognition of merit. The Negro postmaster had disappeared. + +The American Department of the Interior is engaged with domestic affairs +of the nation. The Negro constitutes one-tenth of the population and +requires one-tenth of the necessities of American life. In 1914, a +definite attempt was made in a bureau of this department to give the +Negro recognition, honor and near-equality by the policy of segregating +him into a Negro bureau. This policy had previously been worked out in +Negro school systems and in the army. But the Negro clerks of the +Interior Department, by unanimous vote, rejected the proposition for +this sort of change. The kind of recognition, the kind of honor and the +kind of equality which they desired had taken definite shape in their +minds. + +The American Agricultural Department, it would appear, should be made up +of a large percentage of Negroes. The Negro was essentially an +agriculturist before he came to America. He was brought to Virginia for +the specific purpose of engaging in agriculture. His development of +agricultural conferences in the South in recent years has been a great +source of production. The Negro wanted change because this department +employed messengers and clerks, but demonstrators seldom, if ever, of +his color. Agricultural strategy in 1914 might well have been exonerated +if it had employed Negro chief demonstrators and engaged them in +interstate contest for quantity production. In one Southern State the +Negro operates the greater agricultural area. In another he will operate +the greater portion of such districts at an early date. In still another +many of the communities of large Negro population have hardly had a +white foot set upon them in two decades. The Negroes of these three +states could have furnished surplus food for any nation of the allies, +but a Negro might receive honor if put in charge of their development at +the proper salary and with full authority to act. In 1914, this honor +must not be. + +In the American Department of Commerce the masters of barter and +exchange are exhibited. America seeks to develop the man who can strike +a bargain and outbid his competitors. The Negro wanted change because, +since the invention of salesmanship he has been declared out of the +scope of this department. His social status prevents him from making the +proper sales approach. The Negro of 1914 came to this department only as +a depositor of funds, or as a beggar for charity. He was not seriously +regarded. + +Lastly, in the American Department of Labor, the Negro wanted change +because he was regarded in 1914 as the man requiring a boss of another +color. He was not regarded as a master mechanic, manufacturer, artist or +journeyman, unless the labor union, to which he was ineligible, so +regarded him. + +In these many ways, by capital and labor, by state and national +government, in every department, had the Negro of 1914 been reduced to +the state of man without honor in his own country. If war be change, +however explosive in form, in 1914 the Negro wanted the world war to +come to America from whatever angle that promised him the greatest +advantage. + +Equality in citizenship, for which the Negro yearned, meant parity of +adjustment to conditions of life. Equality may be considered under three +forms, industrial, business and political. As the terms are understood +in America, the Negro was unanimous in 1914 in desiring industrial, +business and political equality. He eagerly watched the fuse of war if +perchance he might foresee from the consequent explosion the termination +of Anglo-Saxon prejudice. It is but fair to say that he was not the only +victim of discrimination at that time. The sub-dominant nations, +including the Jugo-Slavs, the Czecho-Slavs, the Serbs and the Serfs of +Russia, were subject to discrimination and deprived of the higher places +of honor in the world's society. + +But the Negro was not immediately concerned with any one's status save +his own. He was not concerned that Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese, +Filipinos, Porto Ricans or South Africans did not enjoy the advantage of +living on American soil. He was only concerned with the fact that, +living in America, performing the full duties of American citizenship, +he was denied the advantages and privileges of its possession, while +Slavs and Serbs of Europe, with white skins, were accorded the fullest +measure of democratic opportunity whenever and wherever they set foot on +American soil. The Negro wanted the world war to prove that he, too, +was a coalescent element in the civilization of the world. + +To summarize the burden of the Negro in 1914 we may include Caucasian +arrogance, hatred and prejudice of race, injustice of attitude and +treatment, personal fear for life and property, improperly requited +toil, unrewarded ambition, unmerited disfavor and debased self-respect. +What profound pathos in the love which he bore Old Glory! + + +THE WAR FOR DEMOCRATIZATION. + +Germany of 1914 aimed to throw off the yoke which she claimed England +wished to fasten on her world relationships. She aimed to dominate the +world with German efficiency. She aimed to demonstrate German +superiority and expose what she called Anglo-Saxon hypocrisy and cant. +Already possessing the world's supply of potash, she struck directly at +the coal and iron region of Belgium and Northern France. And she took +them on the initial advance. With potash, coal and iron, this was a +Teutonic coup for industrial and commercial supremacy indeed. Now well +might she dictate who should boycott English goods. Now well might she +point to the political and military dishonor of the easy defeat of +Belgium and France. Now well might she proceed to the disintegration of +these countries by the weapons of poverty, disease, hunger and bitter +cold. Little did Germany dream what moral advantage she gave these +overrun lands in the hearts of the millions of Negroes of the world. +Germany felt assured that Negroes from all Africa would gloat over the +assassination of Belgium. She was positive that American Negroes would +rejoice. She expected the blacks of the world would rise up and hail her +as the champion of a new day. + +In the twinkling of an eye she reduced Belgium to industrial serfdom. +She made the Belgian merchant a business pariah. She reduced the +Belgian citizen to a political Helot, and imprisoned the burgomaster of +Brussels, who refused to yield his citizenship honors. She made of +Belgium a desert. The Belgian woman she whistled at and made a bye-word +and reproach. And she called her treaty of Belgian neutrality a mere +scrap of paper. Namur fell, and Charleroi and lovely Louvain. Liege +succumbed in those hot August days, and Malines and Tournai and Antwerp. +Poor Belgian refugees, starved and naked, fled westward. In remembrance +of barbarities in the Congo under the international commission which +placed Belgium in control, the American Negro quoted the poet: "The sins +we borrow two by two we pay for one by one." But there was no +disposition to gloat. The American Negro, be it said, came to the +Belgian relief with money and goods and prayers and tears, and forgot +the sins of the fathers of the suffering little kingdom. The secret of +this reaction is revealed in the sympathy which the Negro bore toward +another people reduced to his American status, without honor, +recognition or equality. + +On, on, precipitate, headlong came Germany with diabolic efficiency, +thrusting viciously at the heart of France. Running amuck through St. +Quentin and Arras, Soissons fell and Laon. Rheims surrounded, astride +the Marne, France awaited her invader. Joffre at the gate! Foch in +charge of the defence! On came the Germans! They crushed his left! They +pulverized his right! He dispatched his courier to headquarters with the +famous message: "I shall attack with my centre. Send up the Moroccans!" +These black troops, thrown in at the first Marne, with the British to +their left, pushed the German right over the stream. Continuing their +action, the colonials won on the Ourcq, and the Germans evacuated Upper +Alsace. Before their terrific attack, with the British steadily pressing +beside them, General Von Stein admitted his defeat by the white and +black allies. Paris was saved and Foch discovered to the allied world. +How the hearts of black Americans thrilled as slowly the news filtered +through to them of what the black colonials had done to hold the field +for France! It was then that they took it into their hearts that if the +United States were ever called upon to participate in this struggle, +they would not be denied a place of glory equal to that which their +African brethren had achieved. + +But there was no time for resolve. The cataclysm involved in the +threatened overthrow of English law and orderly procedure throughout the +world caused the American Negro to tremble. Always conservative, if +there be anything to conserve, the Negro appreciated that English law, +when properly interpreted, meant freedom and life and hope eternal to +him. He was unwilling to take any chances with a German substitute. The +overthrow of English law he looked upon as the impending crack of doom. +On came the Germans toward Calais and the Straits of Dover! On to +Zeebrugge! On to Ostend! To Ypres! In her supreme desperation, England +looked about the world for a force to stay the invader until she could +prepare to meet the full force of the attack. She cared not whether aid +be white or black, or brown or yellow. She called for help, or else +Ypres should fall. Black men of Africa, brown men of India, white and +red men of Canada, and yellow men of the Far East heard her call. And +while America lifted not a finger, the American Negro lifted up his +heart to God and prayed that Anglo-Saxon justice, rigid and cold, so +often denied him, should not perish in triumph of the Hun, who knew no +law save his own lust and super-arrogation. + +Aboard the "Lusitania" there were no known men of color. But there were +Caucasian women and children aboard. At what moral disadvantage did +Germany put herself with the black millions of America when she +riotously celebrated the horrible death her submarines had meted out to +these weak and helpless mortals. The "Belgian Prince," first of the +vessels torpedoed without warning after President Wilson's manifesto on +the subject, had one lone black survivor to tell the tale of horror. He +told it to his black brethren and they chafed under the diplomatic +restraint, which relieved itself by polite letter writing. + +Germany threatened the Panama Canal by disruption in Mexico and Haiti. +The Mole St. Nicholas gave command of the canal to anyone of the great +powers who might seize it. German influence was at work in Port au +Prince. There occurred a riot involving both French and German +Legations. The President of Haiti was assassinated. The United States +marines stepped in and took over the situation. The American Negro heart +went out to little Haiti. Hoping for the best, he feared the worst. + +In the midst of this situation, Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New +Mexico. Overnight Negro regiments of regular army and of national guard +received word to go to the border. Black troopers of the 10th Cavalry +were reported near Casas Grandes on March 17. The 24th Infantry, +colored, set out for Mexico, and another Negro command was sent to +Columbus on March 22. Through storm and dust and desert of alkali and +cacti, the Negro troopers, led by Colonel Brown, came to Aguascalientes. +They had passed through a terrible experience that must have daunted all +save those who refuse to accept defeat. Hunger and thirst and mirage and +exposure must all be overcome. Because of hardships many cavalrymen +deserted on May 1, after three months' service in action. But every +Negro trooper with Colonel Brown held on and defeated the Villistas in +every skirmish. + +On a day in June, 1916, a troop from the 10th Cavalry approached the +Mexican town of Carrizal. They were forbidden to enter the town for +purposes of refreshment. Captain Boyd resolved to make the entry +regardless of any regulations the Mexicans might seek to enforce. He +was called upon by General Gomez to advance for a parley. As he advanced +with his troopers, Mexicans spread out in a wide circle around them. +Gomez, himself, trained the machine gun which opened fire. The parley +was a mere sham and decoy. Captain Boyd with Lieutenant Adair and eleven +soldiers were killed. The rest of the troopers fell on the Mexicans, +seized their gun, turned it upon them, and brought to death scores of +their number, including Gomez himself. Seventeen black Americans were +interned in Chihuahua, but were released eight days after upon demand by +the American government. Captain Morey reported that his men faced death +with a song on their lips. The lesson which the Mexicans learned by +turning a machine gun on Negro troopers was of such force that no +trouble has arisen since in this section of the southern republic. The +Negro fell face forward in the scorching sand for his honor's sake, and +for the honor of all America. He knew that his real enemy was not the +Mexican, but the German who had furnished Mexico the means and the will +to create disturbance on this side of the Atlantic. + +It was not until April, 1917, that President Wilson proclaimed in +Congress a state of war existing between the United States of America +and the Imperial German Government. At the call for volunteers, Negro +regiments of guard, who had served in Mexico, were found at war strength +and ready to double themselves overnight. These guard regiments +represented the cosmopolitan Negro populations of New York, Chicago, +Washington, Baltimore and the State of Ohio. Everywhere the Negro +dropped the mattock, left the ploughshare, poised himself at erect +stature, passionately saluted Old Glory, answered "Here am I!"--counted +fours, and away! Pro-German cried: "White man's war!" Propagandist +yelled: "Cannon fodder!" Reactionary declared: "It must not be." The +Negro burst the gate and entered the arena of combat in spite of all +opposition to his service in honorable capacity under the United States +government. + +The honesty of his purpose was discredited. The Anglo-Saxon mind could +not conceive any more than could the German why a man downtrodden as the +Negro should rush to arms, save as a baser means of eking out a +livelihood better than his civilian state. The Anglo-Saxon little +dreamed that the Negro approached the war not only to uphold his +cherished tradition, but also with definite ideas of honor, recognition +and equality as its outcome. Or rather the Anglo-Saxon was too busy with +his own affairs to ascertain the reason why. + +His loyalty impugned by those who did not wish to see him uniformed, his +fidelity the subject of bitter sarcasm, his trustworthiness disputed, +the Negro for once kept his own counsel. German agents were in his +midst. They came to his table. They mingled with him in all social +intercourse. They brought forward business propositions to seek to make +the interests of Negro and German one. Southerners, noting this +unaccustomed intimacy of black and white, announced that the Negro had +gone over to the enemy. But the Negro kept his own counsel. He called +upon the nation to investigate him. And when his loyalty was found +untarnished, he called upon the nation to investigate itself. It was +through the influence of Robert R. Moton, of Tuskegee, that, after +careful investigation, President Wilson put the stain of pro-Germanism +where it properly belonged. Said the President: + + MY FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN: + + I take the liberty of addressing you upon a subject which so + vitally affects the honour of the nation and the very character and + integrity of our institutions that I trust you will think me + justified in speaking very plainly about it. + + I allude to the mob spirit which has recently here and there very + frequently shown its head amongst us, not in any single region, but + in many and widely separated parts of the country. There have been + many lynchings, and every one of them has been a blow at the heart + of ordered law and humane justice. No man who loves America, no man + who really cares for her fame and honour and character, or who is + truly loyal to her institutions, can justify mob actions while the + courts of justice are open and the governments of the states and + the nation are ready and able to do their duty. We are at this very + moment fighting lawless passion. Germany has outlawed herself among + the nations because she has disregarded the sacred obligations of + law and has made lynchers of her armies. Lynchers emulate her + disgraceful example. I, for my part, am anxious to see every + community in America rise above that level, with pride and fixed + resolution which no man or act of men can afford to despise. + + We proudly claim to be the champions of democracy. If we really + are, in deed and in truth, let us see to it that we do not + discredit our own. I say plainly that every American who takes part + in the action of a mob or gives it any sort of countenance is no + true son of this great democracy, but its betrayer, and does more + to discredit her by that single disloyalty to her standards of law + and of right than the words of her statesmen or the sacrifices of + her heroic boys in the trenches can do to make suffering peoples + believe her to be their saviour. How shall we commend democracy to + the acceptance of other peoples, if we disgrace our own by proving + that it is, after all, no protection to the weak? Every mob + contributes to German lies about the United States what her most + gifted liars cannot improve upon by way of calumny. They can at + least say that such things cannot happen in Germany, except in + times of revolution, when law is swept away. + + I, therefore, very earnestly and solemnly beg that the Governors of + all the States, the law officers of every community, and, above + all, the men and women of every community in the United States, all + who revere America and wish to keep her name without stain or + reproach, will co-operate--not passively merely, but actively and + watchfully,--to make an end of this disgraceful evil. It cannot + live where the community does not countenance it. + + I have called upon the nation to put its great energy into this + war, and it has responded--responded with a spirit and a genius for + action that has thrilled the world. I now call upon it, upon its + men and women everywhere, to see that its laws are kept inviolate, + its fame untarnished. Let us show our utter contempt for the things + that have made this war hideous among the wars of history by + showing how those who love liberty and right and justice and are + willing to lay down their lives for them upon foreign fields, stand + ready also to illustrate to all mankind their loyalty to the things + at home which they wish to see established everywhere as a blessing + and protection to the peoples who have never known the privileges + of liberty and self-government. I can never accept any man as a + champion of liberty, either for ourselves or for the world, who + does not reverence and obey the laws of our own beloved land, whose + laws we ourselves have made. He has adopted the standard of the + enemies of his country, whom he affects to despise. + + WOODROW WILSON. + +The Negro braced himself, dismissed the German coldly from his household +and forbade the pro-German enter. From afar off the enemy propagandist +could resort but to derision and ridicule. What an attempt at laughter +he made when Haiti entered the side of the Allies! How he pretended to +be choking with the ridiculousness of the thing when Liberia offered her +services! He flouted the idea of Negro expertness in handling weapons of +modern warfare. He ridiculed the idea of Negro discretion in ideas of +likely foreign origin. He questioned the potency of the Negro's native +talent to meet the European situation. It was the black man's patriotic +fervor, ardent in response to the call of Old Glory, zealous with +passionate love of fireside and homeland, poignant with the throbbing +and thrilling reaction of public-spirited emotion toward France--which +overcame all. + +The South asked three questions: + +First--Shall Negroes and whites of the South both remain in America +while the North conducts the war? Second--Shall Negroes of the South +remain at home while the flower of southern chivalry, drafted for +service, is far away across the sea, annihilated in battle? Third--Shall +white men of the South be left at home while southern Negroes are +drafted and go abroad to do distinguished service? These questions were +resolved into the conclusion that southern Negroes and southern whites +both must be drafted and sent against the German foe. There was no +alternative. + +It was altogether becoming and proper that a man whose race has suffered +as the American Negro suffers today, should point the way to this goal +of recognition, honor and equality which the Negro knew but as a +tradition of those days following the Civil War when Grant administered +the affairs of the triumphant party of freedom. + +One of those New Yorkers of Hebraic origin, whose Semitic qualities are +of the highest ethical type, made the play for partial equality, for +partial recognition, for partial honor for the Negro. Joel Spingarn +suggested and propagated the idea of a military training camp for +Negroes, where they might receive instruction in all branches of +military service, be commissioned up to the grade of captain and receive +the recognition, honor and equality due to such military rank as they +might qualify for. In addressing Negro America, he said: + + "It is of highest importance that the educated colored men of this + country should be given opportunities for leadership. You must + cease to remain in the background in every field of national + activity, and must come forward to assume your right places as + leaders of American life. All of you cannot be leaders, but those + who have the capacity for leadership must be given the opportunity + to test and display it." + +Mr. Spingarn never realized what forces he would set in motion by mere +presentation of this proposition. He merely pointed out the gate. The +young Negro brushed aside the opponents among his own race of this +policy of segregation. He disregarded the moral principle which had +actuated the older Negroes of the Interior Department in refusing to +accept segregation, and seized the opportunity to produce some sort of +change and readjustment. He must go up. He could go no lower than the +policies of previous generations had brought him. + +Directly to the President of all the United States he went. "Give us a +lift!" he cried, "We want to fight!" To the Secretary of War he shouted +most unceremoniously: "Give us place!" "But," was the indirect reply, +"we have not the facilities at present. For instance, we have no bedding +for the men whom you might muster." It was a young Negro Harvard +graduate, Thomas Montgomery Gregory, of New Jersey, who advanced before +Secretary Baker. "No bedding, Mr. Secretary? We will sleep on the +floor--on the ground--anywhere--give us a lift!" + +The Anglo-Saxon mind is subject to orderly reactions. The Secretary of +War was taken aback. He realized that the young Negroes had not +approached him to sell their labor. He gleaned that it was not for the +purpose of barter and exchange they had come forward. Nor had they come +with dreams of political advantage and social eclat, nor with vague +glimmerings of spirituality. He was not ready to answer. He dismissed +the audience with a little more than the usual ceremony. One of the +older Negroes of the group, whose uncanny insight had often appeared +beyond the orbit of average intelligence, ventured this suggestion: "He +will put it up to Pershing." + +And so the word got abroad that it would be left to Pershing as to how +the Negro should be disposed of. It would be left to John J. Pershing, +who in his earlier days had been instructor in a Negro college under +the American Missionary Association. It would be left to the man who in +1892 had been a First Lieutenant in the 10th Cavalry in connection with +the Sioux campaign in the Dakotas; who had been with the 10th Cavalry in +the Santiago campaign in 1898; who had led Negro troops in the +Philippines in 1899 till 1903, commanding operations in Mindanao against +the Moros; and who had been in command of the Negro troops sent into +Mexico in pursuit of Villa in March, 1916. It would be left to the man +whose whole life had been spent in close contact with darker races. + +To this day the Negro does not know who was directly responsible for the +organization of the camp such as Spingarn proposed. It is probable that +the honor belongs as much to Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts as to any +one else. These black soldiers of Colonel Hayward's 15th New York +Regiment, already in France with other regiments of Negro troopers of +the national guard, were thrown across No Man's Land on a cold and foggy +night as a lookout, far in advance of the sleeping command of thousands +of white and colored American troops. The Hun planned their capture for +the purpose of psycho-analytic research. It was Roberts who detected +their stealthy approach. He called to Johnson. In the twinkling of an +eye, the two were surrounded by German troopers. The Negroes faced +certain death, but they had lost all claim to honor, recognition or +equality, if they did not take with them to eternity at least one German +each. Surrounded they resolved to fight it out with shot and gun. Too, +too slow! Around them the Germans swarmed like bees. Bayonets then! Too, +too close! Aye, butts! Wounded and winded, with knives, skulls, feet, +teeth and nails, prehensile toe and larkheel, Henry Johnson and Needham +Roberts defeated ten times their number of Germans and held the field of +honor. This was a great self-revelation to the Negro of his powers of +more than rudimentary culture, and a mighty incentive from the guard to +the soldiery of the 92nd Division. + +It settled forever, in the mind of the Negro, what Pershing would say as +to the advisability of training Negroes to deliver their best service +for their country. That general's report electrified the entire nation. +Said Pershing: + +"Reports in hand show a notable instance of bravery and devotion shown +by two soldiers of an American colored regiment operating in a French +sector. Before daylight on May 15, Private Henry Johnson and Private +Roberts, while on sentry duty at some distance from one another, were +attacked by a German raiding party, estimated at twenty men, who +advanced in two groups, attacking at once flank and rear. + +"Both men fought bravely hand-to-hand encounters, one resorting to the +use of a bolo knife after his rifle jammed and further fighting with +bayonet and butt became impossible. There is evidence that at least one, +and probably a second, German was severely cut. A third is known to have +been shot. + +"Attention is drawn to the fact that the colored sentries were first +attacked and continued fighting after receiving wounds, and despite the +use of grenades by a superior force. They should be given credit for +preventing, by their bravery, the capture of any of our men." + +Whether this citation arrived May 19, 1917, by design or by accident, it +served the purpose of dissolving completely all opposition to the idea +of training Negroes to halt the Hun. Immediately thereafter the War +Department created a training camp for educated Negroes at Fort Des +Moines, Iowa. + + +THE CRISIS OF THE WORLD. + +Des Moines Camp was organized in June, 1917, to train Negroes to the +military point where other military men must recognize them, honor them +and receive them on the plane of equality due their rank. The camp was +designed to develop Negroid snap and vigor to the maximum of military +efficiency. For this purpose, as at all other camps, there was created +the background of the mother's urge, and the sister's urge, and the +sweetheart's urge, the Y.M.C.A. spirit, the college fraternity spirit, +and, in addition, the spirit of the elevation of a Negroid order. + +The change which came over the men was indicated by their music. Their +first group singing of a Sunday consisted of Negro spirituals in +spondaic and trochaic verse, and phrased in many minors. The vigor of +blood produced by methodical training soon permitted of vocalization +only in iambics. "Over There," "The Long, Long Trail," "Sons of +America," were songs they sung of hope and not of sorrow. They connoted +the Negro's reaction to the cosmic urge. + +Over 1200 men took advantage of the experience of the trip to Fort Des +Moines for training. Theirs was the 17th Provisional R.O.T.C., but the +first of national proportions. Its quota was drawn from every section of +the United States. The immediate destiny of the men selected for +commission from this camp would be the training of colored draftees of +African descent. + +Mr. Baker, the Secretary of War, in late summer, referring to the Des +Moines Camp, said: + + "The work at Des Moines is progressing remarkably well, and the + reports I have from it are very good. The spirit of the men is + fine, and apparently this camp is going to do a great deal of good, + both to the country and to the men involved." + +Colonel C.C. Ballou, of the War College, in charge of the work at Des +Moines, said on August 19, in a Sunday interview: + + "The colored race constitutes more than ten per cent. of our + population, and has, since the Civil War, furnished more than its + quota of fighting men of the regular army. At home or on foreign + soil the ranks of colored regiments are always full, while the + white regiments have with difficulty been maintained at peace + strength. To question the valor of the colored soldier is to betray + ignorance of history. This is the first opportunity in his history + to prove on an adequate scale his fitness or unfitness for command + and leadership. At Fort Des Moines, Iowa, on June 16, 1917, there + assembled the largest body of educated Negroes ever brought + together for a single purpose. The candidates who survive are men + of marked intelligence and ability. Let any man who doubts the + colored men's patriotism go to Fort Des Moines and see men who have + given up professions, business and homes in order to learn to + defend their country and merit a more considerate judgment of their + race. Let any man who doubts the colored man's fidelity and loyalty + come to Fort Des Moines and revise his opinions on what he will + there learn of the spirit that has stood unswervingly behind the + commanding officer in every decision that he has been called upon + to make, even though that decision involved sore disappointment and + shattering of hopes. These men have been started out on correct + lines and will have no false ideas to unlearn." + +Hardly any one in America, black or white, believed that 700 Negroes +would be commissioned in the army of the United States to receive +positions of honor not only beside her other troops, but on the field of +battle with the flower of French and English between veteran soldiery. +Everything possible to prevent, somehow or other, seemed to arise. The +men were put through the bitterest drill in the hottest sun, under the +most scorching orders the English language might devise. They +represented every section of the United States. Not once did they +break. The acid test came, when, already pricked by the numerous +situations which arose to flout them, East St. Louis broke forth in the +most savage pogrom Anglo-Saxon culture has ever revealed. + +While 1200 Negroes, training for leadership, were undergoing the +terrific process of forced attrition, their nerves turned raw by army +usage, East St. Louis burst forth. Tidings reached Des Moines that the +Illinois militia, called in to break up a race riot at East St. Louis, +had joined the rioters and slaughtered the Negro population of the +community. White women had joined in these attacks, dragging out of +their houses colored women, girls and children, stoning and clubbing +them to death. Aged Negro mammies, afraid to come out of their homes, +had been burned to death by the mob which set fire to them. Black men +had been thrown into Cahokia Creek and stormed with bricks each time +they rose to the surface until drowned. A crowd of whites had torn a +colored woman's baby from her arms, thrown it into the fire of a blazing +dwelling, held the mother from its rescue until she, herself, was shot +nigh unto death, and then allowed her to plunge into the fire to rescue +her little one. Nor was this all. + +But out there in camp, isolated from the usual social life, July 2 and 3 +and 4, Independence Day, was indeed a test of nerve, already tried and +sore and raw, for the young Negroes in training. Why should men train to +fight for a country that permitted such barbarous atrocities against +their race with impunity. In savage Memphis charred remains of Negroes +burned at the stake before a gala mob of 15,000, were thrown from an +automobile in the Negro quarter of that city! And the Negroes at Des +Moines held on. It has not been recorded in history that there was here +proposed any hostile demonstration, or that vengeance and ruthless +retaliation was planned. Wise counsel prevailed, and the Negroes at Des +Moines held on. + +For three months they held on without audible murmur. Negroes from +civilian life, from the national guard, from the regular army, destined +for every branch of the military service, defied any propaganda, by +whomever invented, to break their morale. For three months they held on. +And then word came they would not be graduated. A number, in disgust, +left the camp. But the great bulk of them, although at the last moment +learning that they could be assigned to no military branch save +infantry, remained in camp for another month and were finally +commissioned as officers in the national army. It was the eleventh hour +of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1917 that they received +their commissions forwarded from the President of the United States. The +hour and day and month a year later became famous not only in their +history, but in the history of the civilized world. + +They were given a grade neither high nor low. The rank of captain was +granted to men who were to serve in France and England. The former +country proudly made the Negro a general when he merited promotion; the +latter was committed to the policy of white officers for colonial +troops. In assigning rank as high as the grade of captain, America took +the middle ground. In view of the international situation, she could +hardly be expected to do more. She had granted partial recognition, +partial honor, partial equality. It was for the Negro to gain the rest. + +Seven hundred American Negroes commissioned! A baker's dozen of +captains, six hundred odd lieutenants, and five hundred who dropped by +the way. German propaganda had taken contrary suggestion and forced the +Negro to this point of moral advantage. Plunder, arson, lynching and +burning at the stake were employed against him to break his morale or +incite him against America. But he held on. Seven hundred of the +"sub-species, dark of skin, wooly of hair, long of head, with dilated +nostrils, thick lips, thicker cranium, flat feet, prehensile great toe +and larkheel" had passed every physical, mental, moral and social test +and were commissioned in the American army. Doubt existed in the minds +of every American citizen, including the Negro officers themselves, that +they would ever see service overseas. + +Assigned to various camps, the problem of recognition by white soldiers +of colored officers immediately was raised, and promptly settled. In +only a few cases did open clashes occur. In far more cases was the Negro +received with full merited honors of his status, and in some sections on +the basis of complete equality. The Negro of a northern locality, +accustomed to all immunities and privileges of his home, experienced +great difficulty when first assigned to camps near Baltimore, +Washington, Houston or Norfolk. He would have passed through this state +of his development well enough, settling his difficulties himself as +they arose, had not some evil genius prompted the commanding officer of +the division in which he was finally to be assembled to issue Bulletin +35, which follows: + + "It should be well known to all colored officers and men that no + useful purpose is served by such acts as will cause the 'color + question' to be raised. It is not a question of legal rights, but a + question of policy, and any policy that tends to bring about a + conflict of the races, with its resulting animosities, is + prejudicial to the military interest of the colored race. + + "To avoid such conflicts the Division Commander has repeatedly + urged that all colored members of his command and especially the + officers and non-commissioned officers, should refrain from going + where their presence will be resented. In spite of this injunction, + one of the Sergeants of the Medical Department has recently + precipitated the precise trouble that should be avoided, and then + called on the Division Commander to take sides in a row that should + never have occurred had the Sergeant placed the general good above + his personal pleasure and convenience. The Sergeant entered a + theater, as he undoubtedly has a legal right to do, and + precipitated trouble by making it possible to allege race + discrimination in the seat which he was given. He is strictly + within his legal rights in this matter, and the theater manager is + legally wrong. Nevertheless, the Sergeant is guilty of the greater + wrong in doing ANYTHING, no matter how legally correct, that will + provoke race animosity. + + "The Division Commander repeats that the success of the Division, + with all that success implies, is dependent upon the good will of + the public. That public is nine-tenths white. White men made the + Division, and they can break it just as easily if it becomes a + trouble maker. + + "All concerned are again enjoined to place the general interest of + the Division above personal pride and gratification. Avoid every + situation that can give rise to racial ill-will. Attend quietly and + faithfully to your duties, and don't go where your presence is not + desired. + + "This will be read to all organizations of the 92nd Division. + + "By command of Major-General Ballou: + + "ALLEN J. GREER, + "Lieutenant-Colonel, General Staff, + "Chief of Staff. + + "Official: + "EDW. J. TURGEON, + "Captain, Assistant Adjutant, + "Acting Adjutant." + + +It was an altogether modern type of Negro that informed the commanding +general quietly, but firmly, that he had seriously impaired his +usefulness by the tone of his bulletin; that he had proposed a principle +which did not bode good for the future of white people of the world when +seven-tenths of the world's population was of darker hue. It is to +General Ballou's credit that he admitted the question to debate, +listened to reason, and capitulated. + +But a certain type of southern statesmanship was not amenable to reason. +Despite the wishes of the President of the United States, there were +published in the "Congressional Record" articles describing the peril +involved in arming and training any black peoples for modern warfare. +What measure of offense these articles gave to Morocco, to India, to +Latin America, to Japan, to China, to Africa, loyally supporting all the +cause of France and England, can only be judged by the rebuke which +President Wilson gave when his chance came. + +It was in the Spring of 1918 when Germany struck through the British +forces in Picardy. Then came the allies' "Hurry up!" call. The enemy +opened a tremendous drive against the British front, bombarding, +storming and attacking along fifty miles from Croiselles to La Fere. On +the first day, 16,000 British prisoners were taken. The shelling might +be heard across the Channel in Dover. The German penetrated to the third +British line, taking 25,000 more prisoners. William Hohenzollern, +himself, directed the drive from his headquarters at Spa. Peronne, Ham +and Chauny fell. Vast stores and war material was lost, including tanks. +At the Lotos club dinner, Lord Reading gave voice to a message from +Lloyd George urging the United States to rush men to fill the gap. +Albert fell. The real need of England and France became a question of +reserves. John J. Pershing, drawing no color line, offered the whole +American army. + +Germany separated France from her ally. Apprized of America's +preparations, she sought to destroy both France and England before the +new enemy might hold place. Acceleration of all fighting forces to +overseas service became the imperative duty. Not a moment was to be +lost. The American Expeditionary Force must be expeditious. Casting +about to find those ready to answer the call, America could not deny the +preparedness of her 92nd Division of colored troopers. + +On Germany came! On to Montdidier! To Amiens! To Hazebrouck! To Paris! +Montdidier gone! "Hurry! Hurry!" cried Clemenceau. "Hurry! Hurry!" +pleaded the aged Premier. He could no longer study the possible effects +of any action of his office upon the future. His concern was the very +present need. He wanted men, regardless of what adjustments their +presence might upset in future world relationships. + +So came a day when the Negro troopers could no longer be gainsaid. "Give +me these men!" cried Joffre. "I am ready for the 92nd," announced +Pershing. "We submit that they are men without honor, and of inferior +American status," warned some Americans. "We shall test them," was +Foch's laconic reply. "But they are black men with but 35 ounces of +brain--a sub-species of mankind," America warned again. + +And all France cried: "Send us men--men without fear of mortal +danger--men of intrepid heart--men of audacity--men of fortitude--men of +resolution--men of unquestioning, unreasoning, undying courage--men of +elan--men of morale! Send Jew or Gentile--white men, yellow men, brown +men, black men--it matters not! Send us men who can halt the Hun!" + +So early in May of 1918 went up to sea, partly under their own officers, +90,000 and more American Negroes, registered as of African descent, and +drafted to do battle in France. It was sub-species against super-man, +broad head against long head, flat nose against sharp nose, thick +cranium against Hun helmet. It was this unprecedented synthetic group of +black men sailing the sea of darkness on a mission concerning the vital +interests of Englishmen and Americans who had misused them for +centuries, and concerning beloved France, which laid the real claim for +honor and recognition and equality for the American Negro. + +The American Negro, as he bade his black comrades "Good-bye! Good luck! +God bless you! Take keer o' yo' self!" felt in his heart that all +America ought to forget her prejudices. He felt that if she did not do +so, she was indeed only fit to be characterized as narrow-minded, +mean-spirited, illiberal and warped--entirely unfit for the position of +leadership in democratization of the world. + +So taken up with this idea was the entire Negro race that an editorial +appearing in the "Crisis," the leading Negro magazine, from the pen of +the Negro scholar, W.E.B. Dubois, came as a dash of cold water from an +upper window. This article set the whole race agog. There was nothing in +it about America's forgetting her prejudices, the idea which filled the +Negro heart and soul and mind. It was entitled "Close Ranks!" and read +as follows: + + "This is the crisis of the world. For all the long years to come + men will point to the year 1918 as the great Day of Decision, the + day when the world decided whether it would submit to military + despotism and an endless armed peace--if peace it could be + called--or whether they would put down the menace of German + militarism and inaugurate the United States of the World. + + "We of the colored race have no ordinary interest in the outcome. + That which the German power represents today spells death to the + aspirations of Negroes and all darker races for equality, freedom + and democracy. Let us not hesitate. Let us, while this war lasts, + forget our special grievances and close our ranks shoulder to + shoulder with our own white fellow-citizens and the allied nations + that are fighting for democracy. We make no ordinary sacrifice, but + we make it gladly and willingly with our eyes lifted to the hills." + While many questioned his motive, all accepted his advice. + +While the grievance was not forgotten, it was not allowed to jeopardize +the success of the issue to weaken the black man's allegiance. Every +mother's son and father's daughter remained loyal under stress and +strain which would have caused the white man to curse and die. + + +THE FIELD OF ACTION. + +Regiments of Negro stevedores, earlier in the year, had been drafted and +sent overseas. These men were drawn from a specific locality, and did +not represent the entire nation. They were in command of white officers. +They had been destined for the Service of Supply, a service which +America performed so marvelously well that it is difficult to tell, if +not here, where her chief glory lies. + +Black stevedores from Alabama, and Louisiana, and Mississippi, Virginia +and the Carolinas, numbering far more than the entire black forces of +the 92nd Division, packed and unpacked the American Expeditionary Force +in a manner never attempted since Noah loaded the Ark. Rear Admiral +Wilson and General McClure cited several regiments for exceptionally +efficient work. The "Leviathan," formerly the German steamship +"Vaterland," was unloaded and coaled, in competition with other white +and black stevedore regiments, by Company A, 301st Stevedores, young +American Negroes, in fifty-six hours, a world record. + +What a cheer went up from the black stevedores of the far South when +there landed in their midst a mighty band of black infantry, nearly +100,000 strong who, in a few short months had learned the use of powder +and shot, of sword and broadsword, of bayonet and bludgeon, of trench +knife and battle-ax. Cold steel or blackjack, smooth bore or sawed-off, +machine gun or automatic, were all the same to them. It was a great +experience for stevedore and infantryman. And the stevedore's heart +leaped to his throat as he saw the black officers of the 92nd Division +maneuver and march away the men under their command. + +The black stevedore wondered why America had brought him so far under +white officers to behold such a sight. He beheld black quartermasters, +ranking and outranking captains, furnishing their men with provision +and supply. The handling of purveyance and cutlery on a huge scale by +black commissioned officers was a revelation to the black stevedore of +the far South who had never seen such a sight in all his days. + +The stevedore beheld arrive Negro signal men, monitors of their troops +and of a million whites behind them, death watch to the German enemy, +destined to be sentinels and patrolmen of No Man's Land. He saw pass by +black American scouts and spies and lookouts and pioneers headed for the +frontiers of France to gain an immortal halo of glory. + +The stevedore found in his midst elegantly groomed, but speechless +Negroes whom, his friends whispered to him, belonged to the United +States Intelligence Department. They had come, so the wide-mouthed +stevedore was told, to pit their 35 ounces of brain against the German's +45 ounces, and to prove that the Hun back brain is surplus overweight +and should be reduced to Negro proportions. They had come to furnish +General Pershing information, news, tidings and dispatch, embassy and +bulletin, report and rumor. And the stevedore wondered if General +Pershing would expect these Negro men to report to him information with +precision and correctitude. + +It was the Negro band, fresh from America, which gave the stevedore his +greatest delight. Preceding the black troops everywhere, it produced a +potpourri of full and semi-scores, melodies and plantation arias, that +came as a refreshing novelty to weary English hearts and to the souls of +jaded France. + +But there were no Negro "big gun" men. The stevedore wondered if the +black boys of the 92nd Division would have to get into the fight with +Germany, depending upon the kind of barrage which some of the men whom +he knew in America might lay down for him. True, the Negro artilleryman +had been left behind in America. At Camp Taylor he was spurned and +rejected. But he refused to accept rebuff. He won his way into the +heart of commanding officer and subaltern, gained his training, made a +superior record, witnessed the outpouring of the entire white soldiery +of the camp to present arms and salute him as he went away to service, +and arrived in France in breathless haste in time to lay down a perfect +barrage for his black comrades as they advanced through the terrific +fighting in the Argonne and the Marbache. Long will stevedore tradition +recite the story of how these black "big gun men" came by. + +The black stevedore represented a section of the United States. That +section was thoroughly well represented. There was work done better than +it ever had been done before. But, on the other hand, the 92nd Division +had been drawn from every possible corner of the United States where a +quota might be raised. It was the 92nd Division especially, however +great might be the deeds of local regiments of guard, that would decide +the great ultimate question. Regiments of Negro guard troops from New +York, Chicago, Washington, Baltimore, and the State of Ohio, and Negro +pioneers from the mountain regions of the Carolinas, might cover their +respective localities with the surpassing glory of their achievements. +And every regiment of them did. But the real issue was wrapped up in the +great 92nd Division, the Negro national army commanded in large measure +by Negro officers, which stepped into the international arena on that +fateful day in June, 1918. + +They landed when the German had spent his third offensive and was at the +gates of Paris. Almost the first news which they received after they had +settled on foreign soil was that Paris, the magic city which they had +come so far to see, was destined to fall into the hands of the German. +Albeit Chateau Thierry, the turning point of the decisive struggle of +1918, was only achieved when, for the war, a total of more than a +million black men of four continents had been annihilated, the 92nd +Division was eager for the fray--was anxious to tread the field of +action for the sake of honor, and recognition and equality. It was at +Chateau Thierry, on a day soon after the arrival of the 92nd Division in +France, that Foch, the eminent generalissimo, but then an almost unknown +quantity, again gave voice to laconicism: "The offensive shall begin and +shall continue. Bring up the colonials!" America was thrown into battle +holding honored position beside Gouraud's invincible Africanders. The +Hun was halted in his tracks, thrown back across the second Marne, and +hunted like a wolf over the Hindenburg line and into his native lair. + +Soissons, Rheims, Verdun, St. Dizier and Chemin des Dames, all saw Negro +troops of the United States in violent action. In the Marbache, at Belie +Farm, and in the Bois de Tege d'Or, the Negro guard regiments and the +Negro 92nd Division went over and at the Hun. + +At Voivrette Farm and in the Bois de Frehaut, other troops of this same +division smote German super-man hip and thigh. In Voivrette Woods and in +the Bois de Cheminot, at Moulon Brook and Seilie Bridge and Epley the +92nd Division again victoriously contested the field of honor, against +the best soldiers Prussia might afford. From July until November, their +brothers of the Negro guard regiments, of Negro pioneers and Negro +casuals were within earshot of the murderous rumble of contending +artillery. By November 8 every command in the Negro American division, +including the units of guard, had more than once or twice been at the +front or over the top and at them. + +Ralph W. Tyler, of Ohio, a Negro on the staff of General Pershing, +representing the Bureau of Public Information, says of Hill 304: + + "I have learned that Hill 304, which the French so valiantly held, + and which suffered such a fierce bombardment from the Germans that + there is not a single foot of it but what is plowed up by shells, + and whose sides, even today, are literally covered with the corpses + of French soldiers who still lie where they fell, was later as + valiantly held by the colored soldiers from the United States, who + fought with all the heroism and endurance the best tradition of the + army had chronicled. The colored soldiers who held that bloody and + ever historical Hill 304 had the odds against them, but like + Tennyson's immortal 'Six Hundred,' they fought bravely and well, + firm in the belief 'it was not theirs to reason why--it was theirs + to do and die.' And like the patriots they were, they did DO, and + this war's history will so record." + +The Prussian, at last, sought safety in flight. Britisher, Frenchman, +Italian, Portuguese, Canadian, black and white American were at his +heels. Italy created a debacle in Austria. And then, wonderful news came +through of what was happening in the Near East. + +It had been impossible for the Negroes of America to come to France and +preserve the nicely calculated adjustments which England had set up +through the years. The East Indian, the Arabian, the Egyptian could not +but observe, and observing, fail to understand why American Negroes +could be entrusted in command of troops, if they were not given the same +recognition and honor and equality. Quietly England prepared them all. +Under General Allenby and dark-skinned officers of the East, the black +Caucasians and the brown Caucasians and the yellow Caucasians fell upon +the Turk, until, regardless of his German master, he cried aloud for +terms. The horde of dark-skinned captors of Turkey, under the British +supreme command, threatened and attacked Bulgaria, who quickly +succumbed. So came the Turkish armistice, and the Bulgarian armistice +and the Austrian armistice. + +The Prussian fled from the field of battle. He was not swift enough. +Brought to bay, he cried for mercy. All of the Negro American force was +to be hurled at him in the greatest stronghold of the world, Metz. He +pleaded with the American President for armistice, and was referred to +Marshal Foch. It was the great war hero, with the Hohenzollern house of +cards tumbled about him, who decided that for three days, until November +11, fighting must continue, and that in those last hours the Germans +must feel at the hands of all the allies the severest punishment that +could be meted within a limited time. Britishers, Frenchmen, men of all +allied nations sought the honor. The American Negro could not be denied. +Although regiments of Negro guard and of the 92nd Division had but +recently been in action for a period of from three to five weeks, they +craved the honor of being out in front at the stern and bitter end. It +was practically the entire Negro fighting force of America which, under +its own officers, went over the top at daybreak on the final morning of +the great four years' struggle, side by side with white men of various +nationalities, who, like them, were ready and most fit for sacrifice or +service. In the last hours, when life seemed sweeter than all creation, +there thousands of black men of all regiments overseas fell in search of +the coveted honor of being nearest Berlin as the thunderous crash and +din ceased, to roll no more. Hours before the order came for the supreme +and final sacrifice, Negro signal men had caught from the air the +message which indicated what was to be their special honor. There was +not a man to desert or seek asylum elsewhere. All went over the top +together! + +At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, +the order came to cease firing. The 92nd Division of Negro troops stood +at Thann and before Metz, in advance of the progress of troops of all +America. The ground which they trod had not been occupied by other than +German troops in 40 years. It was the field of honor, and recognition +and equality, and must be theirs of necessity. Nature had ruthlessly +perfected this type of black native-born American for the high duties +of a soldier. The war was over. Allies and Americans said to him: + + "As brothers we moved together--as brothers--to the dawn that + advanced--to the stars that fled--rendering thanks to God in the + highest, that He, having hid His face through one long night behind + thick clouds of war, once again will ascend above us in the vision + of perpetual peace." + +The Negro felt that, as the ancient Romans were too faithful to the +ideal of grandeur in themselves not to relent, after a generation or +two, before the grandeur of Hannibal, so he will not ever be the mere +son of a peri. + +The Negro knew that he could do one thing as well as the best of men--a +greater thing than Milton or Marlowe or Charlemagne ever did--he could +die grandly the death. Face forward on the flats of Flanders, in Picardy +and Lorraine he died grandly, to make the world safe for democracy. For +we of America must remember, in all our getting on and up in the world, +that, as a psychological weapon, the bristling bayonet was incomplete +until a stalwart, desperate black Negro American citizen got behind it +to fight, not for his gain, but for the uplift of the masses of +humanity. + +The war was over. It was still a small voice within that told the Negro +hosts: "As this hath been no white man's war, neither shall it be a +white man's peace." + + +THE AFTERMATH. + +But yesterday the nation tried to think of the Negro as a southern +problem, the solution of which belonged to statesmanship of the South. +Often we have endeavored to think of him as a national problem, and have +tried to persuade the national government to take in hand matters of +widespread national interest wherein he was involved. But now we must of +necessity think of the Negro as an international problem, ramifications +of which are bound up in the roots of aspiration and kindred feeling and +powerful potentiality of Frenchman and Britisher, of Asiatic and Slav, +and of the great bodies of darker peoples of all the world. + +As the Negro becomes an international problem, no single section of a +country can be entrusted with the administration of matters pertaining +to him. Such administration may be assigned by international conclave to +a particular country as its national problem, but the proper channels of +administration of international policy will be up from sectional caucus, +through national agency to the international parliament, and down from +such parliament or league, through national agencies to the section +involved. And, furthermore, sectional caucus, unless it would fail in +policies of its advocacy, and suffer modification by the Congress or +parliament of its central governmental administration, must henceforth +regard the Negro not as an aggregate all in a mass, but as a synthesis, +composed of gradations from lowest to superior. This is the new concept +which the war of 1918 has forced upon America, in spite of the bias of +1914. + +Civilization left the parting of the ways when Woodrow Wilson's rallying +cry for world democratization led America into the war. It decided to +seek the path of Peace not along the lines of permitted autocracy, but +of firmly and thoroughly well administered democracy. In administering +democratic government, Negro regiments, graded from private to superior +officer, came first as an academic proposition, and, finally, as an +actuality. They came four hundred thousand strong. No group of that +number can longer be considered as a mere accumulation of black men. One +hundred thousand Negroes of the 92nd Division and regiments of guard +have been commanded on the field of action by black headmen, with white +headlight. They have taken their objectives with speed and control and +the management of both of these elements of transfused morale has been +in the hands of colored college men or their military equals. + +The hour of decision to make the world safe for democracy was the crisis +of civilization. Victory on the fields of France has been the +satisfactory denouement. The question naturally arises: Shall there be a +happy ending of the great drama for the white American and a tragic +ending for the Negro? Or, rather, as the American brotherhood gathers +about the charmed circle and smokes the pipe of peace, shall the Negro +report: "I see and am satisfied?" + +In other words, shall the 92nd Division of Negro fighters and the +greater hosts of black war workers overseas, return to America with +honor in theory, but not pursued in fact to its logical finality? Shall +these black bulwarks of the business of world war find the door of the +business world of peace slammed in their faces? Shall these black +survivors of terrific struggle for world democracy return home only to +be declared unfit to vote an American ballot? Shall the black soldier +hero be allowed to take his croix de guerre into a jim-crow car? Shall +the black Red Cross nurse, rushing to the aid of benighted humanity +regardless of color, be refused accommodation at places of public +proprietorship whither she may seek rest or refreshment? Tragedy begets +tragedy. Seventeen seventy-six begot 1861, and 1861 begot 1914. + +The times demand decisive action. Sociological error, committed today, +will cause malformation of an important member of the American body +politic. It will cause the ship of state to ride an uneven keel. This +ship of state must be brought to her ancient moorings, the Declaration +of Independence, the Gettysburg Address of Lincoln, and the Farewell of +Old John Brown on the scaffold. + +The tumult has died. Revelry and shouting fill every program. Is the +Negro to return unheralded to homeland, and with his eyes to the hills, +undergo patting and pitying and be given a place in the corner? Or are +the colored boys in khaki to announce their return by a vigorous +knocking at the gate? Shall they have cause to cry to America: "A house +divided against itself cannot stand!" And shall they knock and knock and +knock until America sets herself to wonder what has this army Negro to +do that he becomes so unceremonious? Or shall they find the gate wide +open and triumphal arches erected in every section of the country in +their honor to signify that defeat of German autocracy means +democratization of every section of the entire world? An international +conscience demands for the Negro hero a happy ending of it all. + +The Negro looks to the military agencies of America to produce a genuine +peace wherein he may live happy ever after. Regarded in America as the +most alien of aliens before the war, he demands recognition today as the +most loyal of loyalists. But yesterday Anglo-Saxon prejudice persisted +in viewing him as a physical alien, a mental alien, a moral alien and a +social alien. The Negro is willing to discuss no further this +prejudicial conception of himself forced home by libelous propaganda and +by governmental administration for hundreds of years, if the agencies of +reconstruction will perfect and put in operation a vigorous +Americanization policy in his behalf. + +Military life has taught the Negro the advantage derived from the use of +pure food and balanced ration. It has taken him from the ghetto into the +pure air of the open country, and filled his lungs with deep draughts of +the free breezes of France. It has removed him from the temptation to +imbibe the beverage that destroys human faculties and has accustomed him +in a measure to the beneficial use of purified water. It has undertaken +through carefully selected work, exercise and recreation to perfect the +habits of digestion, assimilation and elimination. The result has been +indeed marvelous. No America Negro who went to fight for humanity will +return to America as the same physical being. No American will dare +stand before the returned Negro trooper and say: "Behold a sub-species +of mankind, wooly of hair, long of head, with dilated nostrils, thick +lips, thicker cranium, flat foot, prehensile great toe and larkheel. +Yea, behold him, dark of skin, whose mentality is like unto a child, and +closely related to the anthropoid ape; whose weight of brain is only +comparable to that of the gorilla." Where is the American who will dare +stand before any Negro trooper returned from France and thus mock and +deride him? Military agency has completely destroyed the physical +concept which the white world had of the Negro in 1914, by placing him +in the focus of Caucasian binocular vision, wherein his better +attributes become visible in their synthetic relation. + +In addition, military life has sharpened the mental powers of the Negro +in command to meet the highest exactions of modern warfare. Colonel +Charles Denton Young, Negro graduate of West Point, if we may trust the +record, is capable of the same high character of mental processes as +John J. Pershing. Military test has proven before the world that the +Negro is no mental alien, but heir to all the ages of Anglo-Saxon, +Roman, Greek and Egyptian culture. + +In France the American Negro has produced no notorious offenders against +civil or military usage. He has arisen to the moral concept of high +responsibility for the future of his race in the estimation of all +mankind. There is no story of moral degeneracy which has yet come from +abroad concerning him. Pitfall, temptation and opportunity for vice and +crime have all been shunned in light of preparation for the higher +service. The Negro has proven his power of moral restraint while guided +by leadership of his own color. As a social being he has sacrificed his +life for the highest form of social existence, democracy. Who, then, is +there to call him alien? Today he is no longer Negro, nor Afro-American, +nor colored American, nor American of African descent, but he is +American--simply this, and nothing more. + +He has been raised to erect stature and made a man by the military +branch of the United States Government, because of signal service to the +American peoples. His prayer is that this military government long may +live as such to train the great mass which he calls kin into a synthetic +whole. + +As he evolved from a student in a military training camp to military +leadership, so he desires the great military organization of America to +continue to exist, that through its agency he may attend the training +camps which lead to industrial, business, political and social success. +Universal military education for me and mine and all other Americans is +his slogan, and his aim is to recreate the America of the early +Seventies, which became hardened and callous through the years by reason +of resistance to the German menace of autocracy, but now removed. + +This American has made good in public. He has demonstrated both +efficiency and initiative. He has compelled popular belief to conceive +him as a man. The Caucasian world he has caused to perceive that he +might function as a valuable and serviceable element of twentieth +century civilization. Will the Anglo-Saxon issue to him the warrant of +immunities and privileges certifying that he is four-square with the +dominant opinion of mankind, and, therefore, entitled to superior +status? + +To this dark-skinned American are attributed all elements of beauty and +racial grandeur. Forever in survival of the world's most fit, he goes +on, blending readily with civilization's high ideal, philosophically +tolerating abuse offered by the less refined, effecting a racial +consciousness of purity in inter-social relationships, adapting himself +with symmetry and poise to the tasks of the world, and bowing in humble +respect before the higher laws whose harmonies order and rectify all +creation. + +What will the black Rip Van Winkle behold as he walks through the +corridors of the American Department of State twenty years hence? Will +he behold a great black mass still at the veriest bottom of our +governmental organization, or will he be caused to marvel at the +synthetic gradations of black American from lowest to superior? As he +views progress in all departments of the government, will he see this +real American organized synthetically in all branches of the service, or +will he behold him still employed as the boy or the mere high private? +Time and the great heart of America will tell. + +The center of gravity of world interest of 1914 has shifted and come to +rest at a spot most significant for darker peoples. Victory to all +participants in its glorious achievement must be less disastrous than +defeat. In order to satisfy the liberal opinion of the world, some form +of autonomy must be devised for the newly organized man in America. +Durable peace requires that American prejudice be utterly and forever +stamped out; first by the reconstructed organization of the American +Expeditionary Force, which beheld its organizations of every race and +creed under fire and in action; second, by the American people of every +locality, who have had forced upon them by world war the new concept of +a branch of the species once considered inferior; and, third, by the +powers of the world, who must prevent the upgrowths in America from +offering malignant germs of unrest to their own systems of national +government. + +After the Negro has proved his value and worth in all of these trying +ways, when after this he asks for a full measure of equal rights, what +American will have the heart or the hardihood to say him nay? + + + + +THE NEGRO IN THE NAVY. + +ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE NEGRO IN THE AMERICAN NAVY--GUARDING THE +TRANS-ATLANTIC ROUTE TO FRANCE--BATTLING THE SUBMARINE PERIL--THE BEST +SAILORS IN ANY NAVY IN THE WORLD--MAKING A NAVY IN THREE MONTHS FROM +NEGRO STEVEDORES AND LABORERS--WONDERFUL ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF OUR NEGRO +YEOMEN AND YEOWOMEN. + + +Stranger than fiction, the story of the organization, development and +expansion of the United States navy from a mere atom, as it were, to the +present time, when her electrically propelled men-of-war, equipped with +the most luxurious compartments and modern mechanism for despatch and +communication as well as her great merchant marine, floating the emblem +of freedom and democracy in every civilized port of the world, is one of +the most fascinating pages in the history of human achievement. + +And, as it were, the very culmination of wonder and admiration, the +chain of events reciting the deeds of valor and unselfish devotion to +duty upon the part of her black sons, constitutes an illustrious record +easily marking its participants as conspicuous representatives of a +people, who have won their tardily conceded recognition in every phase +of American public life. + +The services of the Negro in the American navy very properly begin with +the stirring and thrilling events of the American Revolution, which +terminated in the independence of the colonies and the establishment of +the United States. + + +THE NEGRO IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. + +The Negro in the navy was then and has been ever since no less devoted +to duty and as fearless of death as Crispus Attucks, when he fell on +Boston Commons, the first martyr of American independence. + +In speaking of colored seamen, who showed great heroism, Nathaniel +Shaler, commander of the private armed schooner _General Thompson_, said +of an engagement between his vessel and a British frigate: "The name of +one of my poor fellows, who was killed, ought to be registered in the +book of fame, and remembered with reverence as long as bravery is +considered a virtue. He was a black man by the name of John Johnson. A +twenty-four pound shot struck him in his hip, and took away all the +lower part of his body. In this state, the poor brave fellow lay on the +deck, and several times exclaimed to his shipmates, 'Fire away, my boy! +No haul color down!' Another black by the name of John Davis was wounded +in much the same way. He fell near me, and several times requested to be +thrown overboard, saying he was only in the way of others. When America +can boast of such tars she has little fear from the tyrants of the +ocean." + +British gold and promises of personal freedom served as futile +incentives among the Negroes of the American navy; for them, the proud +consciousness of duty well done served as a constant monitor and nerved +their strong black arms when thundering shot and shell menaced the +future of the country; and, although African slavery was still a +recognized legal institution and constituted the basic fabric of the +great food productive industry of the nation, it was the Negro's trusted +devotion to duty which ever guided him in the nation's darkest hours of +peril and menace. + + +NEGROES IN THE WAR OF 1812. + +In the second period, the War of 1812, a second fight with Great +Britain, again made it necessary to call upon the Negro for his +assistance. Whether with Perry on Lake Erie, Commodore MacDonough, +Lawrence or Chauncey, the black man played his heroic and sacrificing +role, struggling and dying that American arms and valor, the security of +American lives and property, would suffer no destruction at the hands of +the enemy. The fine words of Commodore Chauncey, commending their +dauntless intrepidity and unswerving obedience and loyalty to the +rigorous demands of duty, should be read and carefully studied by all +men friendly to human excellence and courage. + + +COMMODORE CHAUNCEY'S TRIBUTE. + +The following is a statement of Commodore Perry, expressing +dissatisfaction at the troops sent him on Lake Erie: "I have this moment +received by express the enclosed letter of General Harrison. If I had +officers and men,--and I have no doubt that you will send them,--I could +fight the enemy and proceed up the lake; but, having no one to command +the _Majestic_ and only one commissioned officer and two acting +lieutenants, whatever my wishes may be, getting out is out of the +question. The men that came by Mr. Champlin are a motley set,--blacks, +soldiers, and boys. I can not think that you saw them after they were +selected. I am, however, pleased to see anything in shape of a man." + +The following is the reply from Commodore Chauncey to Commodore Perry in +answer to the above letter: "Sir, I have been duly honored with your +letters of the 23d and 26th ultimo and notice your anxiety for men and +officers. I am equally anxious to furnish you; and no time shall be lost +in sending officers and men to you as soon as the public service will +allow me to send them from this lake. I regret that you are not pleased +with the men sent you by Messrs. Champlin and Forest; for, to my +knowledge, a part of them are not surpassed by any seamen we have in the +fleet; and I have yet to learn that the color of skin, or the cut and +trimmings of the coat, can affect a man's qualifications and usefulness. + +"I have nearly fifty blacks on board this ship, and many of them are +among my best men, and I presume that you will find them as good and +useful as any on board your vessel; at least if you can judge by +comparison; for those which we have on board this ship are attentive and +obedient, and, as far as I can judge, are excellent seamen. At any rate, +the men sent to Lake Erie have been selected with the view of sending a +proportion of petty officers and seamen and I presume upon examination, +it will be found that they are equal to those upon this lake." + + +THE COLORED MAN IN THE MEXICAN WAR. + +In the Mexican War (1845-1848) we find him, in his humble positions of +service and usefulness, a positive factor in the final success and +triumph of American ideals. No insidious treacheries, no dark plots of +poison, arson and unfaithfulness characterized his conduct, and, in the +final and complete blockade of the Mexican ports, his contribution of +faithful and loyal service made effective the terms by which Generals +Scott and Taylor taught the ever-observed lesson of American dominance +upon the Western Hemisphere and thereby preserved the Monroe Doctrine. + + +IN THE DAYS OF THE CIVIL WAR. + +In the Civil War--when the violence of domestic strife menaced the +continuance of the National Union; when the preservation of slavery +constituted the subject of angry and stormy debate in every section of +the country, it was in the navy, no less than in the army, that the +Negro evinced that dauntless fidelity to duty which aided in stabilizing +the discipline of the field forces, thereby effectively contributing to +the success not alone of forcing the Mississippi, and intersecting the +Confederacy, but also in hermetically sealing all Southern ports and +reducing to imperceptible insignificance the possibility of foreign +trade with the South,--a factor which made it doubly sure that Northern +arms would ultimately triumph and the Union be saved. It was a colored +man, Robert Small, who single handed, stole the Union cruiser _Panther_ +from Charleston harbor, foiled the Confederate fleet, and navigated her +safely to a Union port. In all the annals of courage and dazzling +gallantry, this incident has been recited; and it constitutes a +commendable example, with many others, however, of devotion to duty and +undying love for freedom. Mr. Small became a successful business man, +and was one of the few Negroes who served in the Congress of the United +States. + + +THE NEGRO IN THE SPANISH WAR. + +The Spanish-American War (1898-1900) also has its roll of honorable dead +and surviving heroes--it was a Negro who fired the first shot at Manila +Bay, from the cruiser _Olympia_, flag ship of the late Admiral Dewey, +commanding the American forces on the Asiatic station. He was John +Christopher Jordan, chief gunner's mate (retired) U.S.N. His career is a +fair example of the Negro's ability. He was first enlisted in the United +States navy on June 17, 1877, as an apprentice of the third class, the +very lowest rating in which he could have entered. He advanced, despite +opposition, through the different grades in direct competition with his +white shipmates to the grade of chief gunner's mate, the highest rating +that could be reached in the enlisted status. + +It was not because of his lack of desire for further advancement that he +did not go higher, nor was it due to his not being qualified, for it was +conceded by all officers under whom he served that he was thoroughly +competent and highly qualified for advancement. He was finally +recommended by his superior officer for the position of warrant gunner, +and the papers passed up for final approval by the commander-in-chief of +the fleet, before being sent to the secretary of the navy. There he +encountered the Negro's most formidable foe--prejudice. That official +very unceremoniously forwarded the papers to the navy department with +the following endorsement: "Respectfully forwarded to the secretary of +the navy--disapproved. The explanation of disapproval will be found in +the applicant's descriptive list." + +However, this slur did not deter Jordan in his determination to go +higher, for at the battle of Manila he was a gunner's mate of the first +class, and his record was so conspicuous that it could not go unnoticed +by the officials in Washington. + + +FINAL RECOGNITION. + +The following letter was then addressed to Jordan's commanding officer +by the bureau of navigation: "The Bureau notes that John C. Jordan, +gunner's mate first class, has served as such with a creditable service +since August 6, 1899. The chief of bureau directs me to request an +expression of opinion from the commanding officer as to whether Jordan +possesses that superior intelligence, force of character and ability to +command, necessary for a chief petty officer and particularly as to +whether he is in all respects qualified for the position of chief +gunner's mate of a first-class modern battleship." + +[Illustration: COLORED YEOWOMEN. + +Employees of Navy Department, Washington, D.C.] + +[Illustration: ROBERT McCRAY. + +Seaman. Lost on the U.S.S. ALCEDO, November 5, 1917.] + +[Illustration: LEWIS H. HARDWICK. + +Mess Attendant, 3c, U.S.N. Lost on U.S.S. CYCLOPS, June 14, 1918.] + +[Illustration: ERCELL WILLIAM MARTIN. + +Mess Attendant, 3c, U.S.N. Killed when shell exploded on board U.S. Von +STEUBEN, March 5, 1918.] + +[Illustration: PRINCE A. JOHNSON. + +Mess Attendant, 2c, U.S.N.R.F. Died from exposure after Lake Moor was +sunk, April 11, 1918.] + +[Illustration: HUBERT ALFRED JOHNSON. + +Mess Attendant, 2c, U.S.N. + +Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was torpedoed and sunk, September 30, +1918.] + +[Illustration: LYNN COCHRANE. + +Ship's Cook, 1c, U.S.N.R.F. Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was +torpedoed and sunk September 30, 1918.] + +[Illustration: E. HARRISON. + +Mess Attendant. Lost on the U.S.S. ALCEDO, November 5, 1917.] + +[Illustration: HERMAN STALLINGS. + +Ship's Cook, 2c, U.S.N.R.F. Accidentally drowned while in swimming, May +19, 1918.] + +[Illustration: WILSON C. SAMPSON. + +Fireman 1st Class, U.S.N. Commended for seamanlike conduct and services +rendered when boiler was disabled. S.S. MacDONOUGH, Oct. 27, 1916.] + +[Illustration: ANDREW THEODORE ASKIN. + +Mess Attendant 3c, U.S.N. Lost on U.S.S. CYCLOPS, June 14, 1918.] + +[Illustration: EARLE B. WHITESELL. + +Fireman, 3c, U.S.N. Lost on U.S.S. CYCLOPS, June 14, 1918.] + +[Illustration: HENRY McCORKLE. + +Mess Attendant, 3c, U.S.N. Killed on U.S.S. Von STEUBEN, April 10, +1918.] + +[Illustration: WALLACE SIMPSON. + +Employee U.S. Navy.] + +[Illustration: HE WAS PATRIOTIC, TOO.] + +The reply to this letter was to the effect that Jordan was in all +respects qualified, and by order of the secretary of the navy, he was +advanced to the grade of chief petty officer, filling this position with +efficiency to the service and with credit to his race, until December 1, +1916, at which time he was retired, after serving thirty years in the +navy of the United States. The following letter was addressed to him by +the secretary of the navy upon this occasion: + +"The department desires to congratulate you upon the completion of +thirty years' service in the navy. The fact that you started as an +apprentice and now retire as a chief petty officer, your several +honorable discharges and good conduct medals, show that you were a +valuable man in the upbuilding of the navy, and while the department is +glad to know that you will now enjoy the benefits of the retirement law, +yet it regrets very much to see you retire from active life in the navy. +The department hopes that you will always take a lively interest in +naval affairs, and wishes you many years of good health and usefulness." + + +OTHER INSTANCES. + +Another very interesting character of the navy during this period was +Mr. C.D. Tippett of Washington D.C., who enlisted in the navy in 1875, +and who served honorably and faithfully, until recently, when he was +retired for honorable service. Mr. Tippett enjoys the distinction of +having crossed the equator on two different occasions, and holds a +certificate from Neptune, a relic highly treasured by all naval men +fortunate enough to hold one. + +It has been the object of the preceding paragraphs to briefly recite +some few instances of the Negro's activity in the American navy from its +beginning up to the present struggle. Space and time will not permit a +more detailed and accurate exposition of the many other cases equally as +interesting, instructive, and illustrative of the superb discipline and +devotion to duty of this race whenever and wherever called upon to +serve. + + +THE NEGRO SEAMAN IN THE WORLD WAR. + +The extent of the Negro's work in the army and the record of its +brilliant achievements may in some degree obscure the service rendered +our country and its Allies by the Negro in the navy, but the Negro was +represented in this branch of the military service almost in the same +proportion, and, just as with Perry on Lake Erie, Farragut on the +Mississippi, Dewey at Manila Bay, Hobson at Santiago, and Peary at the +North Pole, he rendered efficient heroic and honorable service during +the World War. It must be remembered that our ships were a part of the +great war forces which kept open the highways of the deep and made +possible the final triumph of the Allied armies, for, had the command of +the ocean slipped from our hands those armies would have languished and +been beaten back for lack of support in men and material. Had the +sceptre of the seas passed to our foes, our own black boys would never +have inscribed on their banner the imperishable name of Chateau-Thierry, +The Argonne, and Hill 304. The one essential and indisputable element of +victory was the supremacy of the Allied fleet. + + +NEGROES IN THE GRAND FLEET. + +The Negro's part in the organization of the Grand Fleet is far from +being inconsiderable, his services were utilized in the complement of +every vessel and shore station and at this time as in the past, black +blood was among the very first to be gloriously shed in the American +navy, that free government should live imperishably among the sons of +men. + +On November 4, 1917, the _U.S.S. Alcedo_ proceeded to sea from Quiberon +Bay on escort duty to take convoy through the war zone; she had as +members of her crew two young Negroes, just in the prime of life and +patriotic to the core. It was the crew of this vessel that was first +called upon to make the supreme sacrifice. Robert McCray and Earnest +Harrison were their names, and the following report fully indicates the +manner in which they gave their lives in order that democracy might not +perish from the earth: "At or about 1:45 A.M., November 5th, while +sleeping in emergency cabin, immediately under upper bridge, I was +awakened by a commotion and immediately received a report from some man +unknown, 'Submarine, Captain.' + +"I jumped out of bed and went to the upper bridge, and the officer of +the deck, Lieutenant Paul, stated he had sounded 'General quarters,' had +seen submarine on surface about three hundred yards on port bow, and +submarine had fired a torpedo, which was approaching. I took station on +port wing of upper bridge and saw torpedo approaching about two hundred +yards distant. Lieutenant Paul had put the rudder full right before I +arrived on bridge, hoping to avoid the torpedo. The ship answered slowly +to her helm however, and before any other action could be taken the +torpedo I saw struck the ship's side immediately under the port forward +chain plates, the detonation occurring instantly. + +"I was thrown down and for a few seconds dazed by falling debris and +water. Upon regaining my feet I sounded the submarine alarm on the +siren, to call all hands if they had not heard the general alarm gong, +and to direct their attention of the convoy and other escorting vessels. +Called to the forward gun's crew to see if at stations, but by this time +realized that the forecastle was practically awash. The foremast had +fallen, carrying away radio aerial. I called out to abandon ship. + + +THE SINKING SHIP. + +"I then left the upper bridge and went into the chart house to obtain +ship's position from the chart, but, as there was no light, could not +see. I then went out of the chart house and met the navigator, +Lieutenant Leonard, and asked him if he had sent any radio; he replied +'No.' I then directed him and accompanied him to the main deck and told +him to take charge of cutting away forward dories and life rafts. I then +proceeded along starboard gangway and found a man lying face down in +gangway. I stooped and rolled him over and spoke to him, but received no +reply and was unable to learn his identity, owing to the darkness. It is +my opinion that this man was dead. I then continued to the after end of +ship, took station on after gun platform. + +"I then realized that the ship was filling rapidly and her bulwarks +amidships were level with the water. I directed the after dories and +life rafts to be cut away and thrown overboard and ordered the men in +the immediate vicinity to jump over the side, intending to follow them. +Before I could jump, however, the ship listed heavily to port, plunging +by the head and sunk, carrying me down with the suction. + + +STRUGGLE IN THE WATER. + +"I experienced no difficulty, however, in getting clear and when I came +to the surface I swam a few yards to a life raft, to which were clinging +three men. We climbed on board this raft and upon looking around +observed Doyle, chief boatswain's mate, and one other man in the whale +boat. We paddled to the whale boat and embarked from the life raft. The +whale boat was about half full of water and we immediately started +bailing and then to rescue men from the wreckage, and quickly filled the +whale boat to more than its maximum capacity, so that no others could +be taken aboard. We then picked up two overturned dories which were +nested together, separated them and righted them, only to find that +their sterns had been broken. + +"We then located another nest of dories, which were found to be +seaworthy. Transferred some men from the whale boat into these dories +and proceeded to pick up other men from wreckage. During this time cries +were heard from two men in the water some distance away who were holding +on to wreckage and calling for assistance. It is believed that these men +were Earnest M. Harrison and John Winne, Jr. As soon as the dories were +available, we proceeded to where they were last seen but could find no +trace of them. + +"About this time, which was probably an hour after the ship sank, a +German submarine approached the scene of torpedoing and lay to, near +some of the dories and life rafts. She was in the light condition, and +from my observation of her I am of the opinion that she was of the +U-27-31 type. This has been confirmed by having a number of men and +officers check the silhouette book. The submarine was probably one +hundred yards distant from my whale boat, and I heard no remarks from +anyone on the submarine, although I observed three persons standing on +top of conning tower. After laying on surface about half an hour the +submarine steered off and submerged. I then proceeded with the whale +boat and two dories searching through the wreckage to make sure that no +survivors were left in the water. No other people being seen, at 4:30 +A.M. we steered away from the scene of disaster. The _Alcedo_ was sunk, +near as I can estimate, seventy-five miles west true of north end of +Belle Ile. The torpedo struck ship at 1:46 by the officer of the deck's +watch and the same watch stopped at 1:54 A.M. November 5th, this +showing that the ship remained afloat eight minutes. The flare of +Penmark Light was visible, and I headed for it and ascertained the +course by Polaris to be approximately northeast We rowed until 1:15, +when Penmark Lighthouse was sighted. Continued rowing until 5:15 P.M., +when Penmark Lighthouse was distant about two and one-half miles. We +were then picked up by French torpedo boat number 257, and upon going on +board I requested the commanding officer to radio immediately to Brest +reporting the fact of torpedoing and that three officers and forty men +were proceeding to Brest. The French gave all assistance possible for +the comfort of the survivors. We arrived at Brest about 11 P.M. Those +requiring medical attention were sent to the hospital and the others +were sent off to the _Panther_ to be quartered. Upon arrival at Brest I +was informed that two other dories containing Lieut. H.R. Leonard, +Lieut. H.A. Peterson, P.A. Aurgeon, Paul O.M. Andreae, and twenty-five +men had landed at Pen March Point. This is my first intimation that +these officers and men had been saved, as they had not been seen by any +of my party at the scene of torpedoing." + + +DISAPPEARANCE OF THE CYCLOPS. + +The next contribution of life on the part of the Negro in the American +navy was made when the U.S.S. war vessel _Cyclops_ so mysteriously +disappeared. Loaded with a cargo of manganese, with fifty-seven +passengers, twenty officers, and a crew of two hundred and thirteen +enlisted men (twenty-three of whom were Negroes). The vessel was due in +port March 13, 1918. On March 4, the _Cyclops_ reported at Barbadoes, +British West Indies, where she put in for bunker coal. Since her +departure from that port there has not been the slightest trace of the +vessel, and long continued and vigilant search of the entire region +proved utterly futile, as not a vestige of wreckage has been discovered. +No responsible explanation of the strange and mysterious disappearance +of this vessel has ever been given by the officials of the Navy +Department. It was known that one of her two engines was damaged, and +that she was proceeding at reduced speed; but, even if the other engine +had become disabled, it would not have had any effect on her ability to +communicate by radio. + +Many theories have been advanced, but none seems to account +satisfactorily for the ship's complete vanishment. After months of +search and waiting, the _Cyclops_ was finally given up as lost and her +crew officially declared dead. This vessel was under the command of a +German-born officer, who, prior to his connection with the Navy +Department, was an officer of the merchant marine. Many accusations were +made reflecting upon his loyalty. Some even going as far as suggesting +that he had intimidated the crew and delivered the vessel into the hands +of the enemy; but, it is strange to note that none of these insinuations +was directed to the loyal and ever true Negroes who formed a part of its +crew and presumably went to their watery graves in order that German +militarism might be crushed. + +What a strange episode if, indeed, these are the facts in this most +unfortunate incident. In intelligent circles, it should and will mark +the beginning of a period of racial justice and equity. When one's deeds +and character will invariably constitute the exponent of one's +appreciation. + + +THE NEGRO TRUE AND LOYAL. + +Caucasian treachery in some of our national perils presented no charms +for the Negro whose proven fidelity everywhere and on every occasion +marks him the great American advocate in fact as well as in profession. + +If these accusations should in the end prove true, which is highly +possible, would it not have been wiser on the part of the directors of +our naval policy, when the urgent pressure for manpower to officer the +expanding navy of the United States asserted itself, to have recognized +the ability and merit of scores of black men, whose years of faithful +and efficient service in the navy of the United States and unquestioned +fidelity to duty justly entitle them to the command of a vessel of this +character, instead of utilizing the services of men of questioned +loyalty and doubtful allegiance to command our naval vessels? For such +an act of base and unpardonable treachery is unthinkable to a Negro. +Rather would he most willingly have seen his last drop of rich loyal +blood flow in torrents of effusion than to leave to his progeny such a +record of shame and infamy. + + +THE JACOB JONES. + +Another incident in which the Negro displayed his constant willingness +to die for the cause of America and its ideals was when the United +States torpedo boat destroyer _Jacob Jones_ was destroyed by a torpedo +fired from a German submarine. This ship was one of six of an escorting +group which was returning independently from Brest, France, to +Queensland, Ireland. The following extract from the report of its +commanding officer gives in brief detail the manner in which the +majority of its crew met their death in an effort to uphold the +principles of democracy. On this vessel, as well as all others that were +lost, the Negro served, bled, and died, side by side with white men in a +desperate struggle to subdue the German U-boat. + +"I was in the chart house and heard some one cry out, 'Torpedo.' I +jumped at once to the bridge and on the way up saw the torpedo about +eight hundred yards from the ship approaching from about one point abaft +the starboard beam headed for a point about amidships, making a +perfectly straight surface run (alternately broaching and submerging to +approximately four or five feet), at an estimated speed of at least +forty knots. No periscope was sighted. When I reached the bridge, I +found that the officer of the deck had already put the rudder hard left +and rung up the emergency speed on the engine room telegraph. The ship +had already begun to swing to the left. I personally rang up the +emergency speed again and then turned to watch the torpedo. The +executive officer left the chart house just ahead of me, saw the torpedo +immediately on getting outside the door, and estimates that the torpedo +when he sighted it was one thousand yards away, approaching from one +point, or slightly less, abaft the beam and making exceedingly high +speed. + +"After seeing the torpedo and realizing the straight run, line of +approach, and high speed it was making, I was convinced that it was +impossible to maneuver to avoid it. The officer of the deck took prompt +measures in maneuvering to avoid the torpedo. The torpedo broached and +jumped clear of the water at a short distance from the ship, submerged +about fifty or sixty feet from the ship and struck approximately three +feet below the water-line in the fuel oil tank between the auxiliary +room and the after crew space. + + +THE SLOWLY SINKING SHIP. + +"The ship settled aft immediately after being torpedoed to a point at +which the deck just forward of the after deck house was awash, and then, +more gradually, until the deck abreast the engine room hatch was awash. +A man on watch in the engine room attempted to close the water-tight +door between the auxiliary room and the engine room, but was unable to +do so against the pressure of water from the auxiliary room. The deck +over the forward part of the after crew space and over the fuel oil +tanks just forward of it was blown clear for a space athwartships of +about twenty feet from starboard to port, and the auxiliary room was +wrecked. The starboard after torpedo tube was blown into the air. No +fuel oil ignited and apparently no ammunition exploded. + +"The depth charges in the chutes aft were set on ready and exploded +after the stern sank. It was impossible to get to them to set on safe as +they were under the water. + +"As soon as the torpedo struck, it was attempted to send out an S.O.S. +message by radio, but the mainmast was carried away and antennae falling +and all electric power had failed. I then tried to have the gun sight +lighting batteries connected up in an effort to send out a low power +message with them, but it was at once evident that this would not be +practicable before the ship sank. There was no other vessel in sight, +and it was therefore impossible to get through a distress signal of any +kind. Immediately after the ship was torpedoed every effort was made to +get rafts and boats launched. Also, the circular life belts from the +bridge and several splinter mats from the outside of the bridge were cut +adrift and afterwards proved very useful in holding men up until they +could be got to the raft. + + +STRUGGLING MEN IN THE WATER. + +"The ship sank about 4:29 P.M. (about eight minutes after being +torpedoed). As I saw her settling rapidly, I ran along the deck and +ordered everybody I saw to jump overboard. At this time, most of those +not killed by the explosion had got clear of the ship and were on rafts +or wreckage. Some, however, were swimming and a few appeared to be about +a ship's length astern of the ship, at some distance from the rafts, +probably having jumped overboard very soon after the ship was torpedoed. + +"Before the ship sank, two shots were fired from No. 4 gun with the hope +of attracting the attention of some nearby ship. As the ship began +sinking I jumped overboard. The ship sank stern first and twisted slowly +through nearly one hundred and eighty degrees as she swung upright. From +this nearly vertical position, bow in the air, to about the forward +point, she went straight down. Before the ship reached the vertical +position the depth charges exploded, and I believe them to have caused +the death of a number of men. They also partially paralyzed, stunned, or +dazed a number of others, some of whom are still disabled. + + +SAFEGUARDING THE SURVIVORS. + +"Immediate efforts were made to get all survivors on the rafts and then +get the rafts and boats together. Three rafts were launched before the +ship sank and one floated off when she sank. The motor dory, hull +undamaged but engine out of commission, also floated off and the punt +and wherry also floated clear. The punt was wrecked beyond usefulness +and the wherry was damaged and leaking badly, but was of considerable +use in getting men to the rafts. The whale boat was launched but +capsized soon afterwards, having been damaged by the explosion of the +depth charges. The motor sailor did not float clear, but went down with +the ship. + +"About fifteen or twenty minutes after the ship sank, the submarine +appeared on the surface about two or three miles to the westward of the +raft, and gradually approached until about eight hundred or one thousand +yards from the ship, where it stopped and was seen to pick up one +unidentified man from the water. The submarine then submerged and was +not seen again. + + +BY MOTOR DORY TO THE SCILLY ISLANDS. + +"I was picked up by the motor dory and at once began to make +arrangements to reach the Scillys in that boat in order to get +assistance to those on the rafts. All the survivors then in sight were +collected and I gave orders to one of the officers to keep them +together. The navigating officer had fixed the position a few minutes +before the explosion and both he and I knew accurately the course to be +steered. I kept one of the officers with me and four men who were in +good condition to man the oars, the engine being out of commission. With +the exception of some emergency rations and a half bucket of water, all +provisions, including medical kit, were taken from the dory and left on +the rafts. There was no apparatus of any kind which could be used for +night signalling. + +"After a very trying trip, during which it was necessary to steer by +stars and by direction of the wind, the dory was picked up about 1 P.M. +by a small patrol vessel about six miles south of St. Mary's. The +commander informing me that the rest of the survivors had been picked +up. I deeply regret to state that out of a total of several officers and +one hundred and six enlisted men on board at the time of the torpedoing, +two officers and sixty-four enlisted men were killed in the performance +of duty. The behavior of the men under the most exceptional and trying +conditions is worthy of praise, and the following cases are a sample of +the spirit of the men under these conditions. + + +INSTANCE OF RARE SELF-DENIAL. + +"One man removed parts of his clothing (when all realized that their +lives depended upon keeping warm), to try to keep alive men who were +more thinly clad than himself. Another man at the risk of almost certain +death, remained in the motor sailor and endeavored to get it clear for +floating from the ship. While he did not succeed in accomplishing this +act (which would have undoubtedly saved twenty or thirty lives) he stuck +to his duty until the very last. He was drawn under the water with the +boat, but later came to the surface and was rescued." + +Wallace Simpson, a young Negro, was a petty officer aboard this vessel. +Young Simpson was a graduate of the high school, Denver, Colorado, and +at the call of his country, when but in the prime of his life, made the +supreme sacrifice in order that the world might be made safe for +democracy. + + +NEGRO FIREMEN AND COAL PASSERS. + +It seems that fate always throws the Negro in a line of service wherein +he can by some method, peculiarly his own, have an opportunity to +display his ability, loyalty and usefulness, in spite of prejudice and +opposition. I particularly refer here to the positions of firemen and +coal passers, because of the physical strength required for work of that +kind. The Negro can serve better in the American navy in this capacity +than in any other, with the possible exception of the messman branch of +service; but, nevertheless, in the former positions he has a decidedly +better opportunity to bring into play originality and foresight, for the +fire-room is the life of the ship and especially so when attacked. + +When one of the vessels of our navy had been hit with one torpedo from +an enemy submarine and was about to be hit with a second, the commanding +officer had the following statement to make: "I realized that the +immediate problem was to escape a second torpedo. To do so, two things +were necessary, to attack the enemy, and to make more speed than he +could submerged. The depth charge crew jumped to their stations and +immediately started dropping depth bombs. A barrage of depth charges +was dropped, exploding at regular intervals far below the surface of the +water. This work was beautifully done. The explosions must have shaken +the enemy up, at any rate he never came to the surface again to get a +look at us. + +"The other factor in the problem was to make as much speed as possible, +not only in order to escape an immediate attack, but also to prevent the +submarine from tracking us and attacking us after nightfall. + +"The men in the fire rooms knew that the safety of the ship and our +lives depended on their bravery and steadfastness to duty. It is +difficult to conceive a more trying ordeal to one's courage than was +presented to every man in the fire room that escaped destruction. The +profound shock of the explosion, followed by instant darkness, falling +soot and particles, the knowledge that they were far below the water +level, practically enclosed in a trap, the imminent danger of the ship +sinking, the added threat of exploding boilers--all these dangers and +more must have been apparent to every man below, and yet not one man +wavered in standing by his post of duty. + + +WONDERFUL DEVOTION TO DUTY. + +"No better example can possibly be given of the wonderful fact that with +a brave and disciplined body of American men, white or black, all things +are possible. However strong may be their momentary impulses for +self-preservation in extreme danger, their controlling impulses are to +stand by their stations and duty at all hazards. + +"In at least two instances in this crisis below, men who were actually +in the face of death did actually forget or ignored their impulse of +self-preservation and endeavored to do what appeared to them to be their +duty. One man was in one of the flooded fire rooms. He was thrown to +the floor and instantly enveloped in flames from the burning gases +driven from the furnaces, but instead of rushing to escape, he turned +and endeavored to shut a water-tight door leading into a large bunker +abaft the fire room. But the hydraulic lever that operated the door had +been injured by the shock and failed to function. Three men at work at +this bunker were drowned. If this man had succeeded in shutting the +door, the lives of these men would have been saved as well as +considerable buoyancy saved to the ship. The fact that he, though +profoundly stunned by the shock and almost fatally burned by the furnace +gases, should have had presence of mind and the courage to endeavor to +shut the door is a great example of heroic devotion to duty as is +possible for one to imagine. Immediately after attempting to close the +door he was caught in the swirl of inrushing water and thrust up a +ventilator leading to the upper deck. + + +STRANGE EFFECT OF THE EXPLOSIONS. + +"The torpedo exploded on a bulkhead separating two fire rooms, the +explosive effect being apparently equal in both fire rooms, yet, in one +fire room not a man was saved, while in the other fire room two of the +men escaped. The explosion blasted through the outer and inner skin of +the ship and through an intervening coal bunker and bulkhead, hurling +overboard seven hundred and fifty tons of coal. The two men saved were +working the fires within thirty feet of the explosion and just below the +level where the torpedo struck. + +"It is difficult to see how it was possible for these men to have +escaped the shower of debris, coal and water that must instantly have +followed the explosion. However, the two men were not only saved but +seemed to have retained full possession of their faculties. Both of them +were knocked down and blown across the fire room. Their sensations were +at first a shower of flying coal, followed by an overwhelming inrush of +water that swirled them round and round and finally thrust them up +against the gratings of the top of the fire rooms." + + +THE ATTACK UPON THE TORPEDO BOAT CASSIN. + +Another instance of self-sacrifice and unparalleled heroism is contained +in the account of the attack upon the torpedo boat _Cassin_ by a German +submarine, while on patrol duty off the coast of Ireland. The following +is the story briefly related in the official report of her commanding +officer: + +"When about twenty miles south of Minehead, at 1:30 P.M., a German +submarine was sighted by the lookout aloft four or five miles away, +about two points on the port bow. The submarine at this time was awash +and was made out by officers of the watch and the quartermaster of the +watch, but three minutes later submerged. The _Cassin_ which was making +fifteen knots continued on its course until near the position where the +submarine had disappeared. When last seen the submarine was heading in a +southeasterly direction, and when the destroyer reached the point of +disappearance the course was changed, as it was thought the vessel would +make a decided change of course after submerging. At this time the +commanding officer, the executive officer, engineer officer, officer of +the watch, and the junior watch officers were all on the bridge +searching for the submarine. + + +THE ATTACK. + +"About 1:57 P.M., the commanding officer sighted a torpedo apparently +shortly after it had been fired, running near the surface and in a +direction that was estimated would make a hit either in the engine or +fire room. When first seen the torpedo was between three or four hundred +yards from the ship, and the wake could be followed on the other side +for about four hundred yards. The torpedo was running at high speed, at +least thirty-five knots. The _Cassin_ was maneuvering to dodge the +torpedo, double emergency full speed ahead having been signalled from +the engine room and the rudder put hard left as soon as the torpedo was +sighted. It looked for the moment as though the torpedo would pass +astern. When about fifteen or twenty feet away the torpedo porpoised, +completely leaving the water and sheering to the left. Before again +taking the water the torpedo hit the ship well aft on the port side +about frame one hundred sixty-three and above the water line. Almost +immediately after the explosion of the torpedo the depth charges, +located on the stern and ready for firing, exploded. There were two +distinct explosions in quick succession after the torpedo hit. + +"But one life was lost. Osman K. Ingram, gunner's mate, first class, was +cleaning the muzzle of number 4 gun, target practice being just over +when the attack occurred. With rare presence of mind, realizing that the +torpedo was about to strike the part of the ship where the depth charges +were stored and that the setting off of these explosions might sink the +ship, Ingram, immediately seeing the danger, ran aft to strip these +charges and throw them overboard. He was blown to pieces when the +torpedo struck. Thus, Ingram sacrificed his life in the performance of a +duty which he believed would save his ship and the lives of the officers +and men on board." + + +TORPEDOING THE PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +One of the most spectacular and thrilling incidents of our naval warfare +in which more than a score of colored men bravely and heroically +participated, was the attack and sinking of the _U.S.S. President +Lincoln_, the commanding officer of which reports as follows: + +"On May 31, 1918, the _President Lincoln_ was returning to America from +a voyage to France, and was in line formation with the _U.S.S. +Susquehanna_, _Antigone_, and _Ryndam_, the latter being on the left +flank of the formation and about eight hundred yards from the _President +Lincoln_. The ships were about five hundred miles from the coast of +France and had passed through what was considered to be the most +dangerous part of the war zone. At about 9 A.M. a terrific explosion +occurred on the port side of the ship about one hundred and twenty feet +from the bow and immediately afterwards another explosion occurred on +the port side of the ship about one hundred and twenty feet from the +stern, these explosions being immediately identified as coming from +torpedoes fired by a German submarine. + +"It was found that the ship had been struck by three torpedoes, which +were fired as one salvo from the submarine, two of the torpedoes +striking practically together near the bow of the ship and the third +striking near the stern. The wake of the torpedo had been sighted by the +officers and lookouts on watch, but the torpedoes were so close to the +ship as to make it impossible to avoid them; and it was also found that +the submarine at the time of firing was only about eight hundred yards +from the _President Lincoln_. There were at the time seven hundred and +fifteen persons on board, some of these were sick and two men were +totally paralyzed. + + +COOLNESS AND DISCIPLINE. + +"The alarm was immediately sounded and everyone went to his proper +station which had been designated at previous drills. There was not the +slightest confusion and the crew and passengers waited for and acted on +orders from the commanding officer with a coolness which was truly +inspiring. Inspections were made below decks and it was found that the +ship was rapidly filling with water, both forward and aft, and that +there was little likelihood that she would remain afloat. The boats were +lowered and the life rafts were placed in the water and about fifteen +minutes after the ship was struck all hands except guns' crews were +ordered to abandon the ship. + +"It had been previously planned that in order to avoid the losses which +have occurred in such instances by filling the boats at the davits +before lowering them, that only one officer and five men would get into +the boats before lowering and that everyone else would get into the +water and get on the life rafts and then be picked up by the boats, this +being entirely feasible, as everyone was provided with an efficient +life-saving jacket. One exception was made to the plan, however, in that +one boat was filled with the sick before being lowered and it was in +this boat that the paralyzed men were saved without difficulty. + + +THE SHIP ABANDONED. + +"The guns' crews were held at their stations hoping for an opportunity +to fire on the submarine should it appear before the ship sank, and +orders were given to the guns' crews to begin firing, hoping that this +might prevent further attack. All the ship's company except the guns' +crews and the necessary officers were at that time in the boats and on +the rafts near the ship, and when the guns' crews began firing, the +people in the boats set up a cheer to show that they were not +downhearted. The guns' crews only left their guns when ordered by the +commanding officer just before the ship sank. The guns in the bow kept +up firing until after the water was entirely over the main deck of the +after half of the ship. + +"The state of discipline which existed and the coolness of the men is +well illustrated by what occurred when the boats were being lowered and +were about half way from their davits to the water. At this particular +time, there appeared some possibility of the ship not sinking +immediately, and the commanding officer gave the order to stop lowering +the boats. This order could not be understood, however, owing to the +noise caused by escaping steam from the safety valves of the boilers +which had been lifted to prevent explosion, but by motion of the hand +from the commanding officer the crews stopped lowering the boats and +held them in mid air for a few minutes until at a further motion of the +hand the boats were dropped into the water. + + +INSPECTED BY THE SUBMARINE. + +"Immediately after the ship sank the boats pulled among the rafts and +were loaded with men to their full capacity and the work of collecting +the rafts and tying them together to prevent drifting apart and being +lost was begun. While this work was under way and about half an hour +after the ship sank, a large German submarine emerged and came among the +boats and rafts, searching for the commanding officer and some of the +senior officers whom they desired to take prisoners. The submarine +commander was able to identify only one officer, Lieut. E.V.M. Isaacs, +whom he took on board. The submarine remained in the vicinity of the +boats for about two hours and returned again in the afternoon, hoping +apparently for an opportunity of attacking some of the other ships which +had been in company with the _President Lincoln_, but which had, in +accordance with standard instructions, steamed as rapidly as possible +from the scene of attack. + +"By dark the boats and rafts had been collected and secured together, +there being about five hundred men in the boats and about two hundred on +the rafts. Lighted lanterns were hoisted in the boats and flare-up +lights and signal lights were burned every few minutes, the necessary +detail of men being made to carry out this work during the night. The +boats had been provided with water and food, but none was used during +the day, as the quantity was necessarily limited, and it might be a +period of several days before a rescue could be effected. + + +THE RESCUE. + +"The ship's wireless plant had been put out of commission by the force +of the explosion, and although the ship's operator had sent the radio +distress signal, yet it was known that the nearest destroyers were two +hundred and fifty miles away, protecting another convoy, and it was +possible that military necessity might prevent their being detached to +come to our rescue. At about 11 P.M. a white light flashing in the +blackness of the night,--it was very dark--was sighted, and very shortly +it was found that the destroyer _Warrington_ had arrived to our rescue +and about an hour afterwards the destroyer _Smith_ also arrived. The +transfer of the men from the boats and rafts to the destroyers was +effected as quickly as possible and the destroyers remained in the +vicinity until after daylight the following morning, when a further +search was made for survivors who might have drifted in a boat or on a +raft, but none were found, and at about 6 A.M., the return trip to +France was begun. + +"Of the seven hundred and fifteen men present all told on board, it was +found after the muster that three officers and twenty-three men were +lost with the ship, and that one officer had been taken prisoner. + + +CONDUCT OF THE SUBMARINE COMMANDER. + +"Although the German submarine commander made no offers of assistance of +any kind, yet otherwise his conduct for the ship's company in the boat +was all that could be expected. We naturally had some apprehension as to +whether or not he would open fire on the boats and rafts. I thought he +might probably do this, as an attempt to make me and other officers +disclose their identity. This possibility was evidently in the minds of +the men of the crew also, because at one time I noticed some one on the +submarine walk to the muzzle of one of the guns, apparently with the +intention of preparing it for action. This was evidently observed by +some of the men in my boat, and I heard the remark, 'Good night, here +comes the fireworks.' The spirit which actuated remarks of this kind, +under such circumstances, could be none other than that of cool courage +and bravery." + + +CAPTURED BY SUBMARINE, NAVAL OFFICER ESCAPES. + +(Condensed from report by Lieutenant Edouard Victor M. Isaacs on his +capture and escape from a German prison camp.) + +"The _President Lincoln_ went down about 9:30 in the morning, thirty +minutes after being struck by three torpedoes. In obedience to orders I +abandoned ship after seeing all hands aft safely off the vessel. The +boats had pulled away, but I stepped on a raft floating alongside, the +quarter deck being then awash. A few minutes later one of the boats +picked me up. The submarine U-90 returned and the commanding officer, +while searching for Captain Foote of the _President Lincoln_, took me +out of the boat. I told him my captain had gone down with the ship, +whereupon he steamed away, taking me prisoner to Germany. We passed to +the north of the Shetlands into the North Sea, the Skaggerak, the +Cattegat, and the Sound into the Baltic. Proceeding to Kiel, we passed +down the canal through Heligoland Bight to Wilhelmshaven. + +"On the way to the Shetlands, we fell in with two American destroyers, +the _Smith_ and the _Warrington_, who dropped twenty-two depth bombs on +us. We were submerged to a depth of sixty meters and weathered the +storm, although five bombs were very close and shook us up considerably. +The information I had been able to collect was, I considered, of enough +importance to warrant my trying to escape. Accordingly in Danish waters +I attempted to jump from the deck of the submarine but was caught and +ordered below. + + +MADE A PRISONER OF WAR. + +"The German navy authorities took me from Wilhelmshaven to Karlsruhe, +where I was turned over to the army. Here I met officers of all the +Allied armies, and with them I attempted several escapes, all of which +were unsuccessful. After three weeks at Karlsruhe I was sent to the +American and Russian officers' camp at Villinen. On the way I attempted +to escape from the train by jumping out of the window. With the train +making about forty miles an hour, I landed on the opposite railroad +track and was so severely wounded by the fall that I could not get away +from my guard. They followed me, firing continuously. When they +recaptured me they struck me on the head and body with their guns until +one broke his rifle. It snapped in two at the small of the stock as he +struck me with the butt on the back of the head. + + +PLACED IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. + +"I was given two weeks' solitary confinement for this attempt to escape, +but continued trying, for I was determined to get my information back to +the navy. Finally, on the night of October 6th, assisted by several army +officers, I was able to effect an escape by short-circuiting all +lighting circuits in the prison camps and cutting through barbed wire +fences surrounding the camp. This had to be done in the face of a heavy +rifle fire from the guards. But it was difficult for them to see in the +darkness, so I escaped unscathed. In company with an American officer in +the French army, I made my way for seven days and nights over mountains +to the Rhine, which to the south of Baden forms the boundary between +Germany and Switzerland. After a four-hour crawl on hands and knees I +was able to elude the sentries along the Rhine. Plunging in, I made for +the Swiss shore. After being carried several miles down the stream, +being frequently submerged by the rapid currents, I finally reached the +opposite shore and gave myself up to the Swiss gendarmes, who turned me +over to the American legation at Berne. From there I made my way to +Paris and then London and finally Washington, where I arrived four weeks +after my escape from Germany." + +The accounts and incidents heretofore mentioned are but a few of the +exceptionally meritorious cases, of the many, in which the devotion to +duty and the unquestioned heroism characterized the conduct of the Negro +under the galling fire of danger and death. + + +CAN NOT SPECIFY THE WORK OF THE NEGRO SEAMEN. + +Primarily due to the difference in organization between the army and +navy of the United States, it is well nigh impossible to point out and +record with any degree of accuracy the signal and patriotic sacrifices +of any great body of Negroes as a unit in the naval service. While in +the army, where segregation and discrimination of the rankest type force +the Negro into distinct Negro units; the navy, on the other hand, has +its quota of black men on every vessel carrying the starry emblem of +freedom on the high seas and in every shore station. The operations of +the navy of the United States during the World War has covered the +widest scope in its history without a doubt. It carried the Negro in +European waters from the Mediterranean to the White Sea. At Corfu, +Gibraltar, along the French Bay of Biscay, in the English Channel, on +the Irish coast, in the North Sea, at Murmansk and Archangel, he was +ever present to experience whatever of hardships were necessary and to +make whatever sacrifices demanded, that the proud and glorious record of +the navy of the United States should remain untarnished. + + +WORK OF COLORED SEAMEN. + +He formed a part of the crew of nearly two thousand vessels that plied +the briny deep, on submarines that feared not the under sea peril, and +wherever a naval engagement was undertaken or the performance of a duty +by a naval vessel, the Negro, as a part of the crew of that vessel, +necessarily contributed to the successful prosecution of that duty; and, +whatever credit or glory is achieved for American valor, it was made +possible by the faithful execution of his duty, regardless of his +character. For, on a battleship where the strictest system of +co-ordination and co-operation among all who compose the crew is +absolutely necessary, each man is assigned a particular and a special +duty independent of the other men, and should he fail in its faithful +discharge the loss of the vessel and its enterprise might possibly +result. + + +TRAINING FOR SERVICE. + +Far be it from the intention of this article to condone the existing +policy of the navy of the United States as regards the Negro, where +unwritten law prescribes and precludes him from service above a +designated status. It is well known that no Negro has ever graduated +from the United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Maryland, which is +primarily essential to receive a commission as a line officer of the +navy. It is true that some three or four Negroes have attempted to +complete the course of instruction at this academy, but, their +treatment, as a result of race prejudice, made their efforts futile, as +well as their stay there more miserable than a decade of confinement in +a Hun penitentiary. Intimidation, humiliation, and actual physical +violence, notwithstanding their determination, finally resulted in the +conclusion to abandon the coveted goal of becoming officers in the great +navy of the United States. + +It is also known that notwithstanding the urgent pressure for +experienced men to officer the expanding navy as a result of the World +War, it became necessary to commission hundreds of men, who as a result +of their experience as enlisted men, are temporary officers. But none of +these commissions was given to a Negro, despite the fact that scores of +them had rendered honorable service of from ten to twenty years and were +exceptionally qualified as stated by their commanding officers for these +commissions. During the war there were approximately eleven thousand men +commissioned as officers. A great majority of this number were +commissioned as pay clerks, paymasters, medical officers, and other +ranks, wherein no technical naval knowledge or experience is required. +And it is strange to note that not a single Negro received one of these +commissions. + + +INSUFFICIENT NUMBER OF OFFICERS. + +In his annual report to the Congress of the United States, the secretary +of the navy department made the following statement: "The regular navy +personnel as it existed at the beginning of the war has been repeatedly +combed for warrant officers and enlisted men competent for advancement +to commissioned rank, and this source furnished experienced and capable +officers. But more were needed and they came from new recruits. It early +became evident that as the new men came into the service they should be +tried out for officer qualifications and that those having talent should +receive special instruction to prepare them for officer duty. Officer +material schools were hastily improvised in the various naval districts +at the outbreak of war to train the new men coming in, etc." + +In the face of the above admission of the serious shortage of qualified +men, it can not be understood why the awarding of commissions was made +to inexperienced white boys with no prior naval experience or +demonstrated ability in preference to the Negro, who has demonstrated +his fitness and ability by years of faithful service in every phase of +naval activity to which he has been given access. + + +GERMAN PROPAGANDA EFFORT. + +But, in spite of these outward and open acts of prejudice and +oppression, the Negro never wavered in the loyal performance of any +duty, however humble or arduous with which he was charged. And it might +be mentioned that these acts of oppression were brought to his attention +and emphasized by subtle German propagandists, who hoped to alienate his +affections and devotion from his native country. As an example of this +diabolical scheme, the following letter, which was dropped from German +balloons over a sector held by Negro troops, in September, 1918, is +quoted: + +"To the Colored Soldiers and Sailors of the United States: Hello, boys! +What are you doing over here? Fighting the Germans? Why? Have they ever +done you any harm? Of course, some white folks and the lying +English-American papers told you that the Germans ought to be wiped out +for the sake of humanity and democracy. What is democracy? Personal +freedom, all citizens enjoying the same rights socially and before the +law. Do you enjoy the same rights as the white people do in America, the +land of freedom and democracy? Or, are you not rather treated over there +as second-class citizens? Can you go into a restaurant where white +people dine? Can you get a seat in the theatre where white people sit? +Can you get a berth or a seat in the railroad car, or can you even ride +in the South in the same street car with white people? And how about the +law? Is lynching and the most horrible crimes connected therewith, a +lawful proceeding in a democratic country? + +"Now, all this is entirely different in Germany, where they do like +colored people, where they treat them as gentlemen and as white men, and +quite a number of colored people have fine positions in business in +Berlin and other German cities. Why, then, fight the Germans only for +the benefit of Wall Street robbers and to protect the millions they have +loaned to the English, French and Italians? You have been made the tool +of the egotistical and rapacious rich in England and America and there +is nothing in the whole game for you but broken bones, horrible wounds, +spoiled health, or death. No satisfaction whatever will you get out of +this unjust war. You have never seen Germany. So you are fools if you +allow people to make you hate us. Come over and see for yourself. Let +those do the fighting who make the profits out of the war. Don't allow +them to use you as cannon fodder. To carry a gun in this service is not +an honor, but a shame. Throw it away and come over to the German lines. +You will find friends who will help you along." + + +THE PROPAGANDA FAILS. + +Such a piece of infamous treachery scarcely deserves comment; for, if +the Negro had been the least inclined to be a traitor, he could not +forget the atrocious treatment accorded the black man in the African +colonies controlled by Germany. For the Negro well remembers the +treachery of von Trotha, who invited the Herero chiefs to come in and +make peace and promptly shot them in cold blood. And the words of his +cruel and inhuman "Extermination Order" directing that every Herero man, +woman, child or babe was to be killed and no prisoners taken. All of +which had the sanction of Berlin. + +But, aside from his intimate knowledge of German treachery and +duplicity, a still higher principle inspired the Negro; for to forget +the loyalty to his own native country in this hour of trial and darkness +would be scandalous and shameful and would blacken the Negro in the eyes +of the whole world. Of this class of treachery, the Negro is absolutely +incapable. They have endured some of the greatest sacrifices and +humiliations that could be demanded of a people, but, they always have +kept before them ideals, founded on loyalty and devotion to duty, and +never, in their darkest days, have they sought to gain their ends by +treasonable means. For the path of treason is still an unknown path to +the Negro. Their duty and their conscience alike bade them be faithful +and true to their government and their flag in this hour of darkness and +trouble. + + +NUMBER OF NEGROES ENGAGED. + +During the World War, there were approximately ten thousand Negroes who +voluntarily enlisted in the navy of the United States. They were +distributed throughout the various ratings of the enlisted status. Many +of them were chief petty officers who had rendered years of faithful +service and were regarded as experts in their profession, and, +consequently, played an important part in the organization and function +of the battle units. In the transport service, his powerful physical +endurance and strength made him a determining factor in the Herculean +efforts to supply men, munitions, and provisions for the battlefields of +France. In order to appreciate the magnitude of his service, let us +briefly note the following facts: + +Two million American fighting men were safely landed in France. To do +this the transport force of the Atlantic fleet of the United States had +to be utilized. At the outbreak of the war the transport force was +small, but it now comprises twenty-four cruisers, forty-two troop +transports, and scores of other vessels, manned by three thousand +officers and forty-one thousand enlisted men, two thousand of whom are +Negroes. + + +PERIL AND DANGER. + +To think of the peril and dangers of this service at best, even in peace +times, seamanship is a comfortless and cheerless calling. But in war, to +the ordinary perils of the sea are added unusual hardships which reach +their maximum in the dangers and perils of the war zone--the attack +without warning of the invisible foe whose presence is too frequently +known only by a terrific explosion, which casts the hapless crew adrift +on surging seas, leagues from a friendly shore. Think of the terrific +strain under which these men perform their perilous tasks. Gun crews on +continuous duty, ever ready with the shot that might save the ship; the +black men below in the fire room, expecting every moment to receive the +fatal blast which would entrap them in a hideous death; the watch, +ceaseless in its vigil by day and by night, peering through the darkness +and the mist, conscious that upon their alertness depended the lives of +all. Yet under these conditions of unprecedented hardships every black +man performed his duty with the highest degree of courage and +self-sacrifice. + +We will mention one of the many instance of the matchless intrepidity of +the men engaged in this hazardous service. In September, 1918, a +transport with several hundred sick and wounded soldiers on board, was +torpedoed when a short distance out from Brest. Thirty-six men of the +fire room met their death in the fire and steam and boiling water of the +stokehold. With two compartments flooded, their comrades dead and dying, +with a seeming certainty that the attack would continue, which would +mean that every man in the compartment where the torpedo struck would be +drowned or burned to death. Yet despite all, when volunteers were called +for to man the still undamaged furnaces to keep up steam for the run +back to port, every man in the force stepped forward and said he was +ready to go below. + + +HARD AND GRINDING WORK. + +There was nothing spectacular about this grinding duty. Winter and +summer, by day and by night, in the fog and in the rain and in the ice, +it demanded constant vigilance, unceasing toil, and extreme endurance. +The work of this dangerous service was endless and its hardships and +hazards are barely realized. During the winter storms of the north +Atlantic the maddened seas all but engulfed these tiny but staunch +transports, when for days they breasted the fury of the gale and defied +the very elements in their struggle for mastery. No sleep then for the +tired crew; no hot food; no dry clothes. Yet despite it all, with each +hour perhaps the last, with death stalking through the staggering hulls, +not a man--black or white--to the everlasting glory of the American +navy, not a man but felt himself especially favored in being assigned +that duty. + + +CEASELESS VIGILANCE. + +Since this country entered the war practically all the enemy's naval +forces, except the submarines, have been blockaded in his ports by the +naval forces of the Allies, and there has been no opportunity for naval +engagements of a major character. The enemy's submarines, however, +formed a continual menace to the safety of all our transports and +shipping, necessitating the use of every effective means and the utmost +vigilance for the protection of our vessels. Concentrated attacks were +made by enemy U-boats on the ships that carried the very first +contingent to Europe, and all that have gone since have faced this +liability to attack. Our destroyers and patrol vessels, upon all of +which Negroes served in addition to convoy duty, have waged an unceasing +offensive warfare against the submarine. In spite of all this, our naval +losses have been gratifyingly small. Not one American troop ship, as +previously stated, has been torpedoed on the way to France, and but +three, the _Antilles_, _President Lincoln_, and the _Covington_, were +sunk on the return voyage. + + +GRATIFYING RESULTS OF NAVAL ACTIVITY. + +Only three fighting ships were lost as a result of enemy action--the +patrol ship _Alcedo_, a converted yacht sunk off the coast of France, +November 5, 1917; the torpedo boat destroyer _Jacob Jones_, sunk off the +British coast, December 6, 1917, and the cruiser _San Diego_, sunk off +Fire Island, off the New York coast, July 18, 1918, striking a mine +supposedly set adrift by a German submarine. The transport _Finland_ and +the destroyer _Cassin_, which were torpedoed, reached port and were soon +repaired and placed back in service. The transport _Mount Vernon_ struck +by a torpedo on September 5th, proceeded to port under its own steam +and was repaired. + +The most serious loss of life due to enemy activity was the loss of the +coast guard cutter _Tampa_, with all on board, in Bristol Channel, +England, on the night of September 26, 1918. The _Tampa_, which was +doing escort duty, had gone ahead of the convoy. Vessels following heard +the explosion, but when they reached the vicinity there were only bits +of floating wreckage to show where the ship had gone down. Not one of +the one hundred and eleven officers and enlisted men of her crew were +rescued; and though it is believed she was sunk by a torpedo from an +enemy submarine, the exact manner in which the vessel met its fate may +never be known. Among the number of men lost on this vessel were at +least a score of black men. Taking into consideration all the dangers +and difficulties attending this service of the transport force, the +comparatively light casualty list is eloquent testimony of an efficient +personnel organized and trained under a wise administrative command. + + +THE NEGRO IN THE MERCHANT MARINE. + +Now let us briefly consider the contribution of the Negro to the +construction and development of the merchant marine, a force vitally +essential to the successful prosecution of the war. When America entered +the war, it is a well-known fact that her merchant marine was +insignificant; and, to respond to the urgent appeal of France and her +allies to hurry men, provisions and munitions, a gigantic task of +constructing the necessary ships stared her in the face. For the Germans +at this time were making a desperate effort to starve England, France +and the other Allies by destroying their commerce with America and the +world, by a resort, as was brazenly announced to the world, to a +heartless campaign of ruthless submarine warfare. Therefore, the very +first efforts of the United States were to use every power of the navy +to destroy and neutralize the effect of the lurking submarine and enter +upon a policy of ship construction, which in its gigantic magnitude and +comprehensiveness was unprecedented. + +The manner in which the Negro generously contributed to the +effectiveness of this policy is well known to all the world. For the +very first record breaking riveting feat was won by a Negro crew at +Sparrows Point, Maryland. His ability in this field of endeavor was ably +demonstrated in all of the great industrial plants in which his services +were so generously utilized. Heretofore, he had been debarred from +identification in the capacity as a laborer in these plants; but, now, +that war in all of its desperation was threatening the very existence of +the country, the barriers of prejudice gave way and he again proved the +falsity of the statement that the Negro could not handle machinery. The +managers of great shipbuilding plants along the Atlantic seaboard +testified before the Federal Shipbuilding Labor Adjustment Board that +Negroes had worked on machines, gauged to as fine a degree as one +one-thousandth of an inch with perfect satisfaction. + + +WONDERFUL ACHIEVEMENTS. + +To the achievements of the navy, in erecting great training camps, +destroyer and aviation bases, hospitals, in training thousands of men +for oversea duty, the army of merchant ships, the building of a vast +fleet of smaller vessels, the construction of great warehouses at home +and abroad, the manufacture of heavy guns and their mounts, the +production of powder and technical ordnance must be added the most +spectacular achievement of all--the repair of interned German ships, in +all of which the Negro participated with zeal and enthusiasm and in +many instances won the admiration and commendation of his superior +officers. + +When these vessels, many of them of the largest type of trans-Atlantic +liners, were taken over by our government, it was found that the +machinery of several had been seriously damaged by the maliciously +planned and carefully executed sabotage of the crews. The principal +injury was to the cylinders and other parts of the engines, and, as the +passenger ships were potent factors in the transportation of troops, +their immediate repair was of vital necessity. Nothing daunted by the +magnitude of the task, our navy undertook the repair of these broken +cylinders by employing the system of electric welding, and so successful +was this work, in which scores of black men were utilized, that during +all the months of service in which these vessels have been engaged, not +a single defect has developed. + + +HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE. + +All honor to the officers who risked their professional reputations and +carried forward to complete success and accomplishment, which expert +engine manufacturers considered impossible; and all honor to the +patience, zeal, industry and intelligence of the noble band of laborers +whose persistence and ceaseless endeavor made possible the +accomplishment of these world-renowned examples of constructive and +inventive American genius. + +Let us not forget the mighty and tireless work of those in the +department whose efforts were as assiduous as their success was +complete. From the humblest yeowoman upward to the secretary of the +navy, through the bureaus and their chiefs, all were animated by the +same spirit of energy, of foresight, and determination to place the +fleet on the highest basis of efficiency and strength. In this generous +and sacrificing spirit, black men and black women, working side by side, +shared in proportion and never wavered or faltered in the task of +measuring up to the expectations of those whose confidence and regard +are so highly esteemed. + + +GENEROUS RECOGNITION OF SERVICE. + +Another just and appreciated evidence of the generous recognition with +which the consistency and faithfulness of his service was awarded, may +be noted in the organization and development of the muster roll section +of the bureau of navigation of the navy department. Owing to a +widespread demand upon the part of the citizens of the country shortly +after we entered the war, for accurate and specific information +concerning the whereabouts of their kinsmen in the naval service, a +demand which it was practically impossible to comply with in view of the +ancient methods in vogue at the time in the file section of the bureau +of navigation, and in further view of the fact of the unprecedented +expansion of the enlisted personnel of the navy, the secretary of the +navy found it absolutely necessary to convene a conference of all the +officials who had any positive and direct knowledge as to the details +and operation of the file section. + +This was done in order to evolve out of the multiplicity of seasoned +counsel a competent and successful solution of the very important and +grave problem which so heavily weighed upon the mind of the civil +population of the country, when they were offering freely upon its altar +their most treasured blood, as a precious sacrifice. Indeed, so +important and so urgent became the necessity for an immediate and +satisfactory solution of this problem that there was no evasion in a +high browed manner of any creditable source of needed information. +Accordingly, the bureau of navigation, in obedience to the inevitable +expansion necessitated in all the bureaus of the navy by the exigencies +of war, determined to organize and operate a muster roll section, +charged primarily with the duty of apprehending the present whereabouts +of every man of the enlisted personnel in a systematic and scientific +manner. + + +ORGANIZATION OF THE MUSTER ROLL SECTION. + +The execution of the very essential duty of chief of the muster roll +section was entrusted to John T. Risher, a colored man, to whom was +given plenary power to engage and select his corps of assistants. Of +course, Mr. Risher determined immediately in the face of all opposing +precedents, to fully utilize the services, abilities and talents of the +colored youth of the country, upon whose educational development +millions of dollars had been spent in the past. In consequence, more +than a dozen young colored women have been engaged in the capacity of +yeowomen in this muster roll section. This is quite a novel experiment, +as it is the first time in the history of the navy of the United States +that colored women have been employed in any clerical capacity. And it +may be noted that while many young colored men have enlisted in the mess +branch of the service, it was reserved to young colored women to invade +successfully the yeoman branch, thereby establishing a precedent. They +are all cool, clear-headed and well-poised, evincing at all times, in +the language of a white chief yeowoman: "A tidiness and appropriate +demeanor both on and off duty which the girls of the white race might do +well to emulate." The work of this section has proven highly efficient +and satisfactory, as the plans in vogue there under its modern +management are both scientific and accurate. Many of the superior +officials have scrutinized the experiment very closely and are a unit in +the sincerity of their admiration of its success and effectiveness. + + +PERSONNEL OF THE MUSTER ROLL SECTION. + +The personnel of the muster roll section is divided in three classes, to +wit: + +(a) Civil service employes, who are Messrs. Albert D. Smith of Texas; +David C. Johnson of Texas; George W. Beasley of Massachusetts, and W.T. +Howard of Louisiana. All of the above have had years of valuable +experience and are considered expert in all matters pertaining to the +enlisted personnel of the navy of the United States. + +(b) Yeowomen, who are as follows: Misses Armelda H. Greene of +Mississippi; Pocahontas A. Jackson of Mississippi; Catherine E. Finch of +Mississippi; Fannie A. Foote of Texas; Ruth A. Wellborn of Washington, +D.C.; Olga F. Jones, Washington, D.C.; Sarah Davis of Maryland; Sarah E. +Howard of Mississippi; Marie E. Mitchell, Washington, D.C.; Anna G. +Smallwood, Washington, D.C.; Maud C. Williams of Texas; Carroll E. +Washington of Mississippi; Joseph B. Washington of Mississippi; Inez B. +McIntosh of Mississippi. + +(c) Young men of the naval reserve force, who are: Messrs. William R. +Minor of Virginia; L.D. Boyd, Brown Boyd of Virginia; Minter G. Edwards +of Mississippi; Fred Jolie of Louisiana; M.T. Malvan, Washington, D.C.; +U.S. Brooks; Thomas C. Bowler; Albert L. Gaskins, Washington, D.C.; +Daniel Vickers of Alabama, and Mr. Fuller. + + +SIGNING OF THE ARMISTICE. + +On November 11, 1918, there came that long expected and welcome message +announcing to an anxious and war-weary world that an armistice had been +concluded, by the terms of which actual hostilities were to cease. + +On November 21, 1918, five American dreadnaughts were in that far-flung +double line of Allied ships, through which passed in surrender the +dreadnaughts, cruisers and destroyers of the second most powerful navy +in the world. When Admiral Beatty sent his famous signal, "The German +flag is to be hauled down at 3:57 and is not to be hoisted again without +permission," the work of our navy as a battle unit in the war zone was +over. And the following tribute from Gen. John J. Pershing, +Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, was +sent to the commander of the United States naval forces: "Permit me to +send to the force commander, the officers, and men of the American navy, +in European waters, the most cordial greetings of the American +Expeditionary Force. The bond which joins together all men of American +blood has been mightily strengthened and deepened by the rough hand of +war. + +"Those of us who are privileged to serve in the army and navy are to one +another as brothers. Spaces of land and sea are nothing where a common +purpose binds. We are so dependent one upon another that the honor, the +fame, the exploits of the one are the honor, the fame, the exploits of +the other. If the enemy should dare to leave his safe harbor and set his +ships in battle array no cheers would be more ringing, as you and our +Allied fleets move to meet him, than those of the American Expeditionary +Forces in France. We have unshaken confidence in you and are assured +that when we stand on the threshold of peace your record will be one +worthy of your traditions." + +Eloquent and memorable, indeed, are these beautiful sentiments expressed +in behalf of every man, black and white who had the rare good fortune to +be a participant in the conflicts of these illustrious and ever +memorable times. They should be indelibly carved upon the heart and soul +of every loyal citizen, whose anxiety to serve his day and generation +easily outvies all other sentiments of which he is capable. + + +RETURN OF THE VICTORIOUS FLEET. + +Out of the mist and the snow of the morning of December 26, a great +battle fleet entered the harbor of New York and in the majesty of its +power steamed past the Statue of Liberty. It came as a messenger of a +conflict won, a silent victory, but a triumph as complete and +overwhelming as any ever won by the American navy. + +Too high a tribute can not be paid the black men of the American navy, +who faced the dangers of war and the perils of the sea with exalted +courage and unfaltering determination. Their loyalty and patriotism have +never been questioned, their valor and heroism never doubted. By their +deeds they have added new lustre to the glorious annals of the American +navy and have fully demonstrated that the color of the skin is but a +feeble indication of the depth of love and affection with which the +heart and soul of every loyal black man of America beats in sympathy +with the loftiness of her ideals. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +THE OLD ILLINOIS 8th REGIMENT + +THE TRAINING CAMP--THE BLACK DEVILS--THEY DIED THAT OUR REPUBLIC MAY +LIVE--THE LAST SOLDIERS TO CEASE FIGHTING--TAKING THE BIT BETWEEN THEIR +TEETH--THE HINDENBURG LINE COULD NOT STOP THEM--THEY CROSS THE AILETTE +CANAL--DESPERATE DEEDS OF DARING--ONE MAN ROUTS A MACHINE GUN CREW--THE +BAND PLAYED ON--SUMMARY OF DEEDS OF THE ILLINOIS EIGHTH. + + +At the beautiful city of Rockford, Illinois, was located Camp Grant +where thousands of Negro recruits gathered from cities and factories, +farms and plantations of our country, were given the needed intensive +training to fit them to sustain the glorious traditions of the American +soldiers. We take pride in all our soldiers--never once did they retreat +but carried Old Glory ever onward until the armistice of November 11, +1918. + + +"THE BLACK DEVILS" + +The old Illinois 8th Regiment was one of these colored units which +henceforth will be referred to whenever the heroic deeds of this war are +mentioned. The Prussian guards gave them a name which tells us of the +respect and fear they inspired. They were "The Black Devils." The guards +were seasoned veterans who had participated in the fiercest fighting of +the war, yet these Negro heroes of the West did not falter before them. +They were brigaded with the choicest troops of France and fought by +their side through the final stages of the war. By them they were given +a name indicative of the respect and confidence, their soldierly bearing +and actions inspired. To the French they were the "Partridges," the +proudest game bird of Europe, and when the decimated ranks of the +regiment paraded before cheering thousands on their return, there +marched in their ranks, twenty-two men wearing the American +Distinguished Service Cross while sixty-eight others were decorated with +the French "Croix de Guerre." + + +THEY DIED THAT OUR REPUBLIC MIGHT LIVE + +The regiment went to France with approximately 2,500 men from Chicago +and Illinois; they came back with 1,260. Those figures convey an +eloquent story of suffering and death. Nearly a hundred were killed in +battle. They were sleeping on the shell scarred fields of France. Many +others are enrolled in the great army of maimed heroes, who however, are +facing the future with calm courage, though many of them are deprived of +arms or limbs, or possess bodies cruelly disfigured by shot and shell, +with physical health wrecked as a result of hardship in trenches, or +deadly gas inhaled. + + +THE LAST SOLDIERS TO CEASE FIGHTING + +The old 8th probably made the last capture of the war. The morning of +November 11, they were with their French comrades in Belgium. The +objective given them to attain that day was not arduous and so, having +achieved the same, the boys simply kept on going. The French division +commander sent a messenger to the Colonel in command to cease firing at +11 A.M., but by the time the messenger caught up with the rushing troops +it was ten minutes after the Huns had ceased firing on the Western +front, and those colored boys were just putting the finishing touches on +one of the neatest captures of the war--a German army train of fifty +wagons. + + +TAKING THE BIT BETWEEN THEIR TEETH + +Their commander had one criticism to make which, however, will not be a +mark against the old 8th: "My greatest difficulty was in keeping my boys +from going on after they had obtained their objective," he complains. +The boys had formed the habit of "getting there" so strongly that +inertia kept them going. Discipline in this respect seems to have been +lacking among the American soldiers generally. We heard this same +complaint at Chateau Thierry, at St. Mihiel and in the Argonne. These +doughboys, like all genuine Americans, evidently believed it good policy +while getting, to get enough. + + +FIRST AS WELL AS LAST + +It will be noticed the 8th was among the last to quit doing things, but +they were among the first to start things going. Laon is an important +city of France about eighty miles northeast of Paris. For four long +years it remained in German hands. Allied troops recaptured the town +October 13, 1918. At the head of the column of troops entering the city +was a colored sergeant of this regiment carrying a French flag while, +not to be outdone in courtesy a French Sergeant walked beside him +carrying the Stars and Stripes. The French people of Laon knelt by the +roadside and kissed the hand of this colored sergeant of the 8th +regiment. The torture of four years was over and they saw in this proud +young soldier a representative of the Great Republic of the West +rescuing France from the rapacious soldiers of Germany. + + +THE HINDENBURG LINE COULD NOT STOP THEM + +The Hindenburg Line was the most celebrated battle line of history. It +passed through Laon, LaFere, St. Quentin, Cambrai and Lille, a total +distance of about ninety miles. Every foot of that distance was +fortified with such massive trenches, supporting lines of trenches, and +elaborate lines of wire entanglements that it was supposed to be +impregnable. Nothing known to warfare ever equalled such strong +defenses. Every avenue of approach was defended by machine guns and +heavy artillery, and in the trenches and at easy supporting distances to +the rear were massed the best soldiers of Germany, yet that line was +crossed by the Allies September 29 and 30 and the Illinois Negro +regiment was among those that accomplished that feat. + + +THEY CROSS THE AILETTE CANAL + +To accomplish this they traversed an open ground through a German +barrage fire. A barrage fire is such a focusing of shot and shell that +it forms a veritable descending curtain of projectiles. Then when they +crossed the open they came to the Ailette Canal, in which wire +entanglements had been placed. Pontoon bridges were thrown across and so +the Hindenburg Line was reached and crossed. The regiment had two +hundred casualties as a result of that frightful but victorious advance. +The smashing at that line was final notice to Germany that the end was +at hand. Colored soldiers of this great republic with but a few months +of training had forced their way up to and through the most strongly +fortified military line in all history, against the desperate defense of +veterans with years of experience, the supposed unconquerable soldiers +of Germany. + + +DESPERATE DEEDS OF DARING + +Where all with calm courage faced death it is almost out of place to +mention individual cases, but some deeds of daring better illustrate the +desperate chances taken when duty called. One regimental surgeon went +out in No Man's Land amid a hail of machine gun bullets--it seemed sure +death to face guns sending a spray of bullets searching the entire +area--and calmly attended wounded men where they lay knowing that +probably every minute would be his last. One D.S.C. was bestowed on a +private whose life had been sacrificed in the vain attempt to get a +message through the inferno of fire. He was off duty at the time, but +that did not matter. That message ought to go through. He was blown to +pieces in the attempt. But when he failed another volunteer stepped +forward. He was a Negro lad only eighteen years old. You would not have +noticed him among the workers of Chicago, but in his veins flowed the +blood of heroes. He got the message through but was killed trying to +return. + + +ONE MAN ROUTS A MACHINE GUN CREW + +The entire regiment was being held up because a machine gun was so +favorably located for defense that it could incapacitate all who +attempted to cross its line of fire. Then one lone lieutenant concluded +that gun had done enough mischief, anyway what would one more life +amount to? So he charged it single handed, and kindly fate as if in +admiration of his daring decreed his safety. The gun was put out of +action, the advance continued. Victory came. But let it be understood +these instances simply illustrate the spirit that enthused all. The +officers were in the very thick of the fight, leading--not +following--the men. In that battle twenty-seven officers were wounded +the first two hours. + + +THE BAND PLAYED ON + +The band of the "Black Devils" was justly celebrated. After the regiment +returned to the state--after their part in the great victory was +history--that band toured the United States, and delighted citizens bore +testimony to the inspiring nature of its music. But the music amid the +stern realities of war was no less helpful. The Colonel testified: "That +band was everywhere. In the final pursuit when we had the Germans +running back at the rate of thirty-five kilometers a day, that band with +all its pack and instruments would keep right up with the troops." But +if other duties seemed more pressing, the musicians were ready to do +what they could. "Time and time again," continued the Colonel, "I asked +its members to serve as stretcher bearers and every time they went right +out where the fighting was the hottest and brought the wounded in." +After all the true criterion of service is to do what ever seems +necessary and right to do, at the moment, not counting self. It is not +so much great occasions that prove men but faithfulness in duty. + + +BORROWING HIS ORDERLY'S EYES + +One captain found that while trenches were real life saving inventions, +it required a good deal of time to traverse their windings when it was +necessary to inspect his command. So he got a bicycle and raced up and +down in front of his trenches taking short cuts across No Man's Land. Of +course, the Germans in the opposite line all went gunning for this +daring rider. Ordinarily it was death to expose oneself on No Man's +Land, but fate made another exception in his case and they "never +touched him," though they did ruin his fine bicycle by shooting out the +spokes of its wheels. However, a mustard gas shell "got him" one day. He +was temporarily blinded in addition to suffering excruciating pains. Did +he temporarily retire? No, on the contrary, he borrowed his orderly's +eyes, in other words had him lead him around, report on what he saw +while the disabled captain issued necessary orders. No wonder this +regiment acquired appreciative names from friend and foe. + + +WHERE THE FATE OF CIVILIZATION WAS DECIDED + +That part of France where the great battles of the World War were fought +has been the scene of battles in the past that profoundly influenced +civilization. In the valley of the Somme nearly fifteen centuries ago, +Clovis laid the foundation of French history by defeating the Romans in +a world deciding battle at Soissons, and ten years later near the same +place the German forces were utterly defeated by the same king. More +than five centuries ago the great Battle of Crecy, between the English +and French was fought, ending in a great victory for the Black Prince. +But none of the ancient battles equalled in importance the series of +great victories won by the Allied force over those of Germany in 1918. +Modern civilization and medieval conceptions of government then met in +conflict. The point we wish all to notice is, that Negro soldiers from +America had a part in these great battles and so are entitled to +recognition as among those that saved the modern world when threatened +with an eclipse akin to the Dark Ages that supervened on the culture of +early centuries. + + +FIELDS OF GLORY + +It is well to bear in mind some of the crucial fields of glory where our +Negro soldiers upheld the best traditions of our armies, such as Chateau +Thierry, Belleau Woods, St. Mihiel and the Argonne. The Illinois 8th was +conspicuous in many of these battles. In the Argonne against superior +forces, amid a baptism of shell fire from hidden machine gunners, they +advanced to victory. They can tell us of scenes where their comrades +fell, torn by shrapnel, cruelly wounded, dying, yet with their last +breath singing a snatch of the "Hymn of Freedom." They can tell of +instances in which these dying heroes urged the survivors on. "Go, get +them" was their parting words. + + +RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES + +Following the armistice the regiment went to Brest, France, whence it +sailed for the United States, February 2, 1919. Most of our cities had +become accustomed to the enthusiastic greetings of returned soldiers. +None were given a more enthusiastic welcome than the old 8th Illinois. +Even New York, where most of returning soldiers land, grown so +accustomed to marching soldiers just from Europe, stopped to pay signal +respect to these Negro lads. On their arms were service stripes and in +the passing ranks were many whom France had delighted to honor. In +Chicago the entire city paused in its business to shout words of welcome +to those who had earlier served them in many forms--but had dropped all +and faced death that Chicago, New York and our galaxy of states might be +among the great democracies which "made the world safe for democracy." + + +THIS REGIMENT A REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL + +We have mentioned the 8th Illinois especially because this regiment was +gathered principally from Chicago and the West. Let it be understood, +however, that it is simply a representative regiment of Negro soldiers. +They deserve well of our country. They too crossed the seas and faced +death with a smile. Why? Because their country called them. In the +peaceful days of progress ahead we are sure they will ever remember the +experiences of war and by acts and words continue to labor for the good +of our country. + + +SUMMARY OF DEEDS OF THE ILLINOIS 8th + +Let us sum up in an easily remembered form the work of this regiment in +France: + +Suffered 50 per cent casualties; lost ninety-five men and one officer +killed outright. + +Lost only one prisoner to the Germans in all the months they fought. + +Captured many German cannon and many German machine guns. + +Participated in the final drive against the Germans on the French +sector, advancing in the final stages of the war as far as thirty-five +kilometers in one day. + +Were the first Allied troops to enter the French fortress of Laon when +it was wrested from the Germans after four years of war. + +Won twenty-two American Distinguished Service Crosses and sixty-eight +French War Crosses. + +Fought the last battle of the war, capturing a German wagon train of +fifty wagons and crews, a half hour after the armistice went into +effect. + +Refused to fraternize with the Germans even after the armistice was +signed. + + + + +THE TERMS IMPOSED ON GERMANY + + +With the signing of the armistice terms, November 11, 1918, the actual +fighting in the world war came to an end but the statesmen of the allied +nations were faced by a task of extraordinary difficulty. We must +remember that not until after the armistice was signed was any of German +soil exposed to invasion. Her cities and villages were intact, her land +had not been churned by exploding shells. Not only were her factories in +good working condition, but they were packed with costly machinery +stolen from French and Belgian factories. Her very churches were adorned +with masterpieces of art from plundered cathedrals of Western Europe and +innumerable private homes possessed articles of furniture and +bric-a-brac stolen from wrecked homes in France and Belgium, before they +were totally destroyed. War on the part of Germany in the invaded +territories of the allies had degenerated into brigandage. + +The task before the allied statesmen was to frame conditions of peace +that would make it impossible for Germany to devote her energies to +preparations for another war of conquest. That in itself was a most +difficult thing to arrange. In addition, among the allied nations were +many cross currents of national interests that had to be taken into +consideration and compromises effected. Probably no gathering of +statesmen ever had more momentous questions to consider. The allied +nations sent their premiers and most influential statesmen to the +congress in Paris. The president of the United States broke the customs +that had prevailed from the time of Washington to the present and was +one of the delegates from this country to the most important peace +council that the world had ever seen. + + +THE PEACE CONGRESS + +The peace congress began its formal sessions January 12, 1919. Mr. +Clemenceau, premier of France, was elected chairman. The difficulties in +the way of an agreement among themselves as to the terms to be imposed +on Germany were so great that it was almost exactly four months before +the terms of peace were laid before the delegates from Germany. A +singular coincidence is to be noticed. It was almost four years to a day +from the sinking of the Lusitania. That act of piracy was one of the +acts that roused America and led to our intervention. The sinking of the +ship was made the occasion for a school holiday in Germany. The fourth +anniversary of the sinking was a day of gloom and despair for the +fallen nation. That country stood arraigned before the highest tribunal +in the world as the aggressor in the mightiest war of history and read +the stern decrees of the allies that stripped her of lands and powers. +History knows of no more startling changes in wealth and power than that +experienced by Germany as a result of the worlds war. + +The treaty is the most voluminous one ever drawn. It contains about +90,000 words, or sufficient to make a volume half as large as this one. +That gives us an idea of the immense number of points that had to be +considered. For our purpose it is only necessary to present an analysis +of its principal provisions. No one except delegates of the nations +expressly concerned care for the entire text, but all desire a general +understanding of what the treaty sets forth. It re-draws the map of +Central Europe, and contains stipulations that will profoundly affect +the future of the nations composing the Teutonic Alliance. + + +WHY TERMS ARE SO SEVERE + +Before considering the terms themselves, let us make a general +observation. The terms are undoubtedly severe, perhaps the most drastic +ever imposed on a conquered people. We do well to reflect that many +wrongs in the past committed by Germany had to be righted. Not to +mention her colonial empire Germany loses nearly one-third of her +territory in Europe. The part restored to France is simply a return of +territory wrongly taken from France in 1871. The larger part of her lost +territory goes to Poland from whom it was taken two hundred years ago in +the utterly unjust partition in the days of Frederick the Great. But +what the treaty seeks to safeguard is the safety of the world. Germany's +record since the days of Bismark is that of one continuous grasping +after territory at the expense of surrounding nations. It was absolutely +necessary to impose such terms as would render her powerless in this +matter. It will be noticed that the terms imposed spell the end of +German militarism. That menace to the peace and safety of the world is +removed. + + +THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS + +An attempt is made in this treaty to constitute a League of Nations that +will hence forth put an end to war. The curious student is reminded of +these difficulties that confronted the Constitutional Convention of 1787 +when it met to form our National Constitution. In that case, however, +the separate nations that united to form the United States were one in +blood and history and had been drawn together by common dangers. Those +who would form a League of Nations seek to draw into one compact, of +course with very loose restraining bonds, nations utterly adverse in +blood and history. The mere effort to form such a league is a wonderful +step in advance. It remains for the future to determine the success of +the movement. + + +THE COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE + +The covenant of the League of Nations constitutes Section 1 of the peace +treaty, which places upon the league many specific, in addition to its +general duties. It may question Germany at any time for a violation of +the neutralized zone east of the Rhine as a threat against the world's +peace. It will appoint three of the five members of the Saar commission, +oversee its regime, and carry out the plebiscite. It will appoint the +high commissioner of Danzig, guarantee the independence of the free +city, and arrange for treaties between Danzig and Germany and Poland. It +will work out the mandatory system to be applied to the former German +colonies, and act as a final court in part of the plebiscites of the +Belgian-German frontier, and in dispute as to the Kiel Canal, and decide +certain of the economic and financial problems. An international +conference on labor is to be held in October under its direction, and +another on the international control of ports, waterways, and railways +is foreshadowed. + + +MEMBERSHIP OF THE LEAGUE + +The membership of the league will be the signatories of the covenant and +other natures invited to accede, who must lodge a declaration of +accession without reservation within two months. A new state, dominion, +or colony may be admitted, provided its admission is agreed by +two-thirds of the assembly. A nation may withdraw upon giving two years' +notice, if it has fulfilled all its international obligations. + + +HOW THE LEAGUE WILL ADMINISTER ITS TRUST + +A permanent secretariat will be established at the seat of the league +which will be at Geneva. The assembly will consist of representatives of +the members of the league and will meet at stated intervals. Voting will +be by states. Each member will have one vote and not more than three +representatives. This assembly may be considered as the House of +Representatives of the league. The council may be considered as the +senate. It will consist of representatives of the five great allied +powers, together with representatives of four members selected by the +assembly from time to time; it may co-operate with additional states and +will meet at least once a year. Members not represented will be invited +to send a representative when questions affecting their interests are +discussed. Voting will be by nation. Each nation will have one vote and +not more than one representative. Decision taken by the assembly and +council must be unanimous except in regard to procedure, and in certain +cases specified in the covenant and in the treaty, where decisions will +be by a majority. + + +REDUCTION OF ARMAMENT + +The council will formulate plans for a reduction of armaments for +consideration and adoption. These plans will be revised every 10 years. +Once they are adopted, no member must exceed the armament's text without +the concurrence of the council. All members will exchange full +information as to armaments and programs, and a permanent commission +will advise the council on military and naval questions. + + +STEPS TAKEN TO PREVENT WAR + +Upon any war, or threat of war, the council will meet to consider what +common action shall be taken. Members are pledged to submit matters of +dispute to arbitration or inquiry and not to resort to war until three +months after the award. Members agree to carry out an arbitral award, +and not go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with it; +if a member fails to carry out the award the council will propose the +necessary measures. The council will formulate plans for the +establishment of a permanent court of international justice to determine +international disputes or to give advisory opinions. Members who do not +submit their case to arbitration must accept the jurisdiction of the +assembly. If the council, less the parties to the dispute, is +unanimously agreed upon the rights of it, the members agree that they +will not go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with its +recommendations. + + +INTERNATIONAL PROVISIONS FOR LABOR + +Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of international +convention existing or hereafter to be agreed upon, the members of the +league will in general endeavor through the international organization +established by the labor convention to secure and maintain fair +conditions of labor for men, women, and children in their own countries +and other countries, and undertake to secure just treatment of the +native inhabitants of territories under their control; they will intrust +the league with the general supervision over the execution of agreements +for the suppression of traffic in women and children, etcetera, and in +the control of the trade in arms and ammunition with countries in which +control is necessary. + + +LABOR CONFERENCE + +In order to accomplish these ends, "Members of the league of nations +agree to establish a permanent organization to promote international +adjustment of labor conditions, to consist of an annual international +labor conference and an international labor office." + +"The former is composed of four representatives of each state, two from +the government and one each from the employers and the employed; each of +them may vote individually. It will be a deliberative, legislative body, +its measures taking the form of draft conventions or recommendations for +legislation, which, if passed by two-thirds vote, must be submitted to +the lawmaking authority in every state participating." + + +THE FIRST MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE + +The first meeting of the conference will take place in October, 1919, at +Washington, to discuss the eight-hour day or 48-hour week; prevention of +unemployment; extension and application of the international conventions +adopted at Berne in 1906, prohibiting night work for women and use of +white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches; employment of women and +children at night or in unhealthy work, employment of women before and +after child birth; maternity benefits and employment of children as +regards to minimum age. + + +PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE THE CONFERENCE + +Nine principles of labor conditions are recognized on the ground that +"the well-being, physical and moral of the industrial wage-earners is of +supreme international importance." Exceptions are necessitated by +differences of climate, habits, and economic development. They include +the guiding principle that labor should not be regarded merely as a +commodity or article of commerce; right of association of employers and +employees; a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life; +the eight-hour day or 48-hour week; a weekly rest of at least 24 hours, +which should include Sunday wherever practicable; abolition of child +labor, and assurance of the continuation of the education and proper +physical development of children; equal pay for equal work as between +men and women; equal treatment of all workers lawfully resident therein, +including foreigners; and a system of inspection in which women should +take part. + + +NO MORE SECRET TREATIES + +All treaties of international engagements concluded after the +institution of the league will be registered with the secretariat and +published. The assembly may from time to time advise members to +reconsider treaties which have become inapplicable or involve danger of +peace. The covenant abrogates all obligations between members +inconsistent with its terms, but nothing in it shall affect the validity +of international engagement such as treaties of arbitration or regional +understandings like the Monroe Doctrine for securing the maintenance of +peace. This last clause is of special interest to the United States. + + +NEW BOUNDARIES OF GERMANY + +After thus providing for the League of Nations, the treaty takes up the +provisions of special importance to the various belligerent nations. It +is well to notice the new boundaries of Germany. That nation cedes to +France, Alsace-Lorraine, 5600 square miles, and to Belgium two small +districts between Luxembourg and Holland and totaling 382 square miles. +She also cedes to Poland the southeastern tip of Silesia beyond and +including Oppeln, most of Posen and West Prussia, 27,680 square miles. +She loses sovereignty over the northeasternmost tip of East Prussia, 40 +square miles north of the River Memel, and the internationalized areas +about Danzig, 729 square miles, and the basin of the Saar, 738 square +miles, between the western border of the Rhenish Palatinate of Bavaria +and the southeast corner of Luxembourg. + +The southeastern third of East Prussia and the area between East Prussia +and the Vistula north of latitude 53 degrees 3 minutes is to have its +nationality determined by popular vote, 5,785 square miles, as is to be +the case in part of Schleswig, 2,787 square miles. + + +BETWEEN BELGIUM AND GERMANY + +Germany is to consent to the abrogation of the treaties of 1839, by +which Belgium was established as a neutral state, and to agree in +advance to any convention with which the allied and associated powers +may determine to replace them. + +Germany is to recognize the full sovereignty of Belgium over the +contested territory of Morenet and over part of Prussian Morenet, and to +renounce in favor of Belgium all rights of the circles of Eupen and +Malmedy, the inhabitants of which are to be entitled, within six months, +to protest against this change of sovereignty, either in whole or in +part, the final decision to be reserved to the league of nations. + +A commission is to settle the details of the frontier, and various +regulations for change of nationality are laid down. + + +LUXEMBOURG SET FREE + +Germany renounces her various treaties and conventions with the Grand +Duchy of Luxembourg, recognizes that it ceased to be a part of the +German zollverein from Jan. 1, last, renounces all right of exploitation +of the railroads, adheres to the abrogation of its neutrality, and +accepts in advance any international agreement as to it, reached by the +allied and associated powers. + + +THE EAST BANK OF THE RHINE + +Germany will not maintain any fortifications or armed forces less than +50 kilometers to the east of the Rhine, hold any maneuvers, nor maintain +any works to facilitate mobilization. In case of violation, "she shall +be regarded as committing a hostile act against the powers who sign the +present treaty and as intending to disturb the peace of the world." "By +virtue of the present treaty Germany shall be bound to respond to any +request for an explanation which the council of the League of Nations +may think it is necessary to address to her." + + +ALSACE-LORRAINE + +After recognition of the moral obligation to repair the wrong done in +1871 by Germany to France and the people of Alsace-Lorraine, the +territories ceded to Germany by the treaty of Frankfort are restored to +France with their frontiers as before 1871 to date from the signing of +the armistice, and to be free of all public debts. + +Citizenship is regulated by detailed provisions distinguishing those who +are immediately resorted to full French citizenship, those who have to +make formal applications therefor, and those for whom naturalization is +open after three years. The last named class includes German residents +in Alsace-Lorraine, as distinguished from those who acquire the position +of Alsace-Lorrainers as defined in the treaty. All public property and +all private property of German ex-sovereigns passes to the French +without payment or credit. France is substituted for Germany as regards +ownership of the railroads and rights over concessions of tramways; the +Rhine bridges pass to France with the obligation for their upkeep. + +Several clauses now follow providing for trade between Alsace-Lorraine +and Germany; the sanctity of existing contracts etc. French law replaces +German law. A convention to be made between France and Germany is to +settle many details. + + +THE VALLEY OF THE SAAR + +In compensation for the destruction of coal mines in northern France and +as payment on account of reparation, Germany cedes to France full +ownership of the coal mines of the Saar Basin with their subsidiaries, +accessories, and facilities. Their value will be estimated by the +reparation commission and credited against that account. The French +rights will be governed by German law in force at the armistice +excepting war legislation, France replacing the present owners whom +Germany undertakes to indemnify. France will continue to furnish the +present proportion of coal for local needs and contribute in just +proportion to local taxes. The basin extends from the frontier of +Lorraine as reannexed to France north as far as St. Wendel, including on +the west the valley of the Saar as far as Saarholzbach and on the east +the town of Homburg. + + +A MIXED GOVERNMENT PROVIDED + +In order to secure the rights and welfare of the population and +guarantee to France entire freedom in working the mines, the territory +will be governed by a commission appointed by the League of Nations and +consisting of five members, one French, one a native inhabitant of the +Saar, and three representing three different countries other than France +and Germany. The league will appoint a member of the commission as +chairman to act as executive of the commission. The commission will +have all powers of government formerly belonging to the German Empire, +Prussia, and Bavaria, will administer the railroads and other public +services and have full power to interpret the treaty clauses. The local +courts will continue, but subject to the commission. Existing German +legislation will remain the basis of the law, but the commission may +make modification after consulting a local representative assembly which +it will organize. + + +THE PEOPLE'S RIGHTS SECURED + +The people will preserve their local assemblies, religious liberties, +schools, and languages, but may vote only for local assemblies. They +will keep their present nationality except so far as individuals may +change it. Those wishing to leave will have every facility with respect +to their property. The territory will form part of the French customs +system with no export tax on coal and metallurgical products going to +Germany nor on German products entering the basin, and for five years no +import duties on products of the basin going to Germany or German +products coming into the basin for local consumption. French money may +circulate without restriction. + + +POSSIBLE RETURN TO GERMANY + +After 15 years a plebiscite will be held by communes to ascertain the +desires of the population as to the continuance of the existing regime +under the League of Nations, union with France or union with Germany. +The right to vote will belong to all inhabitants over 20 resident +therein at the signature of the treaty. Taking into account the opinions +thus expressed, the league will decide the ultimate sovereignty in any +portion restored to Germany. The German Government must buy out the +French mines at an appraised valuation, if the price is not paid within +six months thereafter this portion passes finally to France. If Germany +buys back the mines the league will determine how much of the coal shall +be annually sold to France. + + +GERMAN RELATIONS WITH FORMER AUSTRIAN STATES + +"Germany recognizes the total independence of German Austria in the +boundaries traced." Germany recognizes the entire independence of the +Czecho-Slovak State including the autonomous territory of the Ruthenians +south of the Carpathians, and accepts the frontiers of this State as to +be determined, which in the case of the German frontier shall follow the +frontier of Bohemia in 1914. The usual stipulations as to acquisition +and change of nationality follow. + + +GERMAN RELATIONS WITH NEW POLAND + +Germany cedes to Poland the greater part of upper Silesia, Posen, and +the Province of West Prussia on the left bank of the Vistula. A field +boundary commission of seven, five representing the allied and +associated powers, and one each representing Poland and Germany, shall +be constituted within 15 days of the signing of peace to delimit this +boundary. Such special provisions as are necessary to protect racial, +linguistic, or religious minorities, and to protect freedom of transit +and equitable treatment of commerce of other nations shall be laid down +in a subsequent treaty between the five allied and associated powers and +Poland. + + +EAST PRUSSIA + +East Prussia presents a peculiar problem since it is cut off from +Germany proper. The boundaries between East Prussia and Poland are to be +determined by a plebiscites or a referendum vote of the people, +specifying what sections are affected, the treaty sets forth that in +each case German troops and authorities will move out within 15 days of +the peace and the territories will be placed under an international +commission of five members appointed by the five allied and associated +powers, with the particular duty of arranging for a free, fair and +secret vote. The commission will report the results of the plebiscites +to the five powers with a recommendation for the boundary and will +terminate its work as soon as the boundary has been laid down and the +new authorities set up. + + +THE RIGHTS OF EAST PRUSSIA GUARDED + +The five allied and associated powers will draw up regulations assuring +East Prussia full and equitable access to and use of the Vistula. A +subsequent convention, of which the terms will be fixed by the five +allied and associated powers will be entered into between Poland, +Germany and Danzig to assure suitable railroad communication across +German territory on the right bank of the Vistula between Poland and +Danzig, while Poland shall grant free passage from East Prussia to +Germany. + +The northeastern corner of East Prussia about Memel is to be ceded by +Germany to the associated powers, the former agreeing to accept the +settlement made, especially as regards the nationality of the +inhabitants. + + +DANZIG MADE A FREE CITY + +Danzig and the district immediately about it are to be constituted into +the "free City of Danzig" under the guarantee of the League of Nations. +A high commissioner appointed by the league and resident at Danzig shall +draw up a constitution in agreement with the duly appointed +representatives of the city and shall deal in the first instance with +all differences arising between the city and Poland. The actual +boundaries of the city shall be delimited by a commission appointed +within six months from the signing of peace, and to include three +representatives chosen by the allied and associated powers, and one each +by Germany and Poland. + + +RELATIONS BETWEEN DANZIG AND POLAND + +A convention, the terms of which shall be fixed by the five allied and +associated powers, shall be concluded between Poland and Danzig, which +shall include Danzig within the Polish customs frontiers though a free +area in the port; insure to Poland the free use of all the city's +waterways, docks, and other port facilities, the control and +administration of the Vistula and the whole through railway system +within the city, and postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communication +between Poland and Danzig; provide against discrimination against Poles +within the city and place its foreign relations and the diplomatic +protection of its citizens abroad in charge of Poland. + + +GERMAN RELATIONS WITH DENMARK + +The war with Denmark in the days of Bismark resulted in the loss of +Schleswig and Holstein to Germany. This treaty provides for a +conditional return to these provinces to Denmark, the country is divided +into zones in each of which the people are to vote on the question of +being returned to Denmark. The international commission will then draw a +new frontier on the basis of these plebiscites and with due regard of +geographical economic conditions. Germany will renounce all sovereignty +over territories north of this line in favor of the associated +governments, who will hand them over to Denmark. + + +HELIGOLAND TO BE DISMANTLED + +Heligoland was a very strongly fortified island guarding the approaches +to the Kiel Canal. The treaty sets forth that the fortifications, +military establishment and harbors of the islands of Heligoland and Dune +are to be destroyed under the supervision of the Allies by German labor +and at Germany's expense. They may not be reconstructed for any similar +fortifications built in the future. + + +STRIPPED OF HER COLONIAL EMPIRE + +Germany's vast colonial empire--totaling more than 1,000,000 square +miles in area--is now a thing of the past. Outside of Europe Germany +renounces all rights, titles, and privileges as to her own or her +allies' territories to all the allied and associated powers, and +undertakes to accept whatever measures are taken by the five allied +powers in relation thereto. In addition Germany surrenders all +concessions she had wrung from other countries,--as China, Siam, +Liberia, Morocco and Egypt. + + +GERMANY LOSES HER ARMY + +The demobilization of the German Army must take place within two months +of the peace. Its strength may not exceed 100,000, including 4,000 +officers, with not over seven divisions of infantry and three of +cavalry, and it is to be devoted exclusively to maintenance of internal +order and control of frontiers. Divisions may not be grouped under more +than two army corps headquarters staffs. The great German General Staff +is abolished. The army administrative service, consisting of civilian +personnel not included in the number of effectives, is reduced to +one-tenth the total in the 1913 budget. Employees of the German states +such as customs officers, first guards may not exceed the number in +1913. Gendarmes and local police may be increased only in accordance +with the growth of population. None of these may be assembled for +military training. + + +STRIPPED OF HER NAVY + +The German Navy must be demobilized within a period of two months after +the peace. She will be allowed six small battleships, six light +cruisers, 12 destroyers, 12 torpedo boats, and no submarines, either +military or commercial, with a personnel of 15,000 men, including +officers, and no reserve force of any character. Conscription is +abolished, only volunteer service being permitted, with a minimum +period of 25 years' service for officers and 12 for men. No member of +the German mercantile marine will be permitted any naval training. + +Germany must surrender 42 modern destroyers, 50 modern torpedo boats, +and all submarines with their salvage vessels. All war vessels under +construction, including submarines, must be broken up. War vessels not +otherwise provided for are to be placed in reserve or used for +commercial purposes. Replacement of ships, except those lost, can take +place only at the end of 20 years for battleships and 15 years for +destroyers. The largest armored ship Germany will be permitted will be +10,000 tons. + + +CANNOT HAVE FIGHTING AIR CRAFT + +For temporary purposes Germany may retain a small force of airplanes and +a small force to operate them, but otherwise the entire air force is to +be demobilized within two months. No aviation grounds or dirigible sheds +are to be allowed within 150 kilometers of the Rhine or the eastern or +southern frontiers, existing installations within these limits to be +destroyed. The manufacture of aircraft and parts of aircraft is +forbidden for six months. All military and naval aeronautical material +under a most exhaustive definition must be surrendered within three +months except for the 100 seaplanes already specified. + + +COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE ABANDONED + +Conscription is abolished in Germany. The enlisted personnel must be +maintained by voluntary enlistments for terms of 12 consecutive years, +the number of discharges before the expiration of that term not in any +year to exceed 5 per cent of the total effectives. Officers remaining in +the service must agree to serve to the age of 45 years, and newly +appointed officers must agree to serve actively for 25 years. + +No military schools except those absolutely indispensable for the units +allowed shall exist in Germany two months after the peace. No +associations such as societies of discharged soldiers, shooting or +touring clubs, educational establishments, or universities may occupy +themselves with military matters. All measures of mobilization are +forbidden. + + +MANUFACTURE OF GUNS AND AMMUNITION FORBIDDEN + +All establishments for the manufacturing, preparation, storage, or +design of arms and munitions of war, except those specifically +excepted, must be closed within three months of the peace and their +personnel dismissed. The exact amount of armament and munitions allowed +Germany is laid down in detail by tables, all in excess to be +surrendered or rendered useless. The manufacture or importation of +asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and all analogous liquids is +forbidden, as well as the importation of arms, munitions and war +material. Germany may not manufacture such material for foreign +governments. + + +WILLIAM II INDICTED AND HIS TRIAL SOUGHT + +"The allied and associated powers publicly arraign William II of +Hohenzollern, formerly German Emperor, not for an offense against +criminal law, but for a supreme offense against international morality +and the sanctity of treaties." + +The former Emperor's surrender is to be requested of Holland, and a +special tribunal set up, composed of one judge from each of the five +great powers, with full guarantees of the right of defense. It is to be +guided "by the highest motives of international policy with a view of +vindicating the solemn obligations of international undertakings and the +validity of international morality," and will fix the punishment it +feels should be imposed. + + +OFFICERS RESPONSIBLE FOR CRUELTIES TO BE TRIED + +Persons accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws and +customs of war are to be tried and punished by military tribunals of +only one state. They will be tried before a tribunal of that state; if +they affect nationals of several states they will be tried before joint +tribunals of the states concerned. Germany shall hand over to the +associated governments either jointly or severally all persons so +accused, and all documents and information necessary to insure full +knowledge of the incriminating acts, the discovery of the offenders and +the just appreciation of the responsibility. The accused will be +entitled to name his own counsel. + + +GERMANY MUST PAY ALL THE DAMAGES SHE CAN + +While the allied and associated governments recognize that the resources +of Germany are not adequate after taking into account permanent +diminutions of such resources which will result from other treaty +claims, to make complete reparation for all such loss and damage, they +require her to make compensation for all damages caused to civilians +under seven main categories: + +These are now defined and the total obligation Germany is to pay is to +be determined and notified to her after a fair hearing and not later +than May 1, 1921, by an inter-allied reparation commission. At the same +time a schedule of payments to discharge the obligation within 30 years +shall be presented. These payments are subject to postponement in +certain contingencies. Germany irrevocably recognizes the full authority +of this commission, agrees to supply it with all the necessary +information, and to pass legislation to effectuate its findings. She +further agrees to restore to the Allies cash and certain articles which +can be identified. + + +A PRESENT PAYMENT DEMANDED + +As an immediate step forward restoration, Germany shall pay within two +years 20,000,000,000 marks in either gold, goods, ships, or other +specific forms of payment, with the understanding that certain expenses +such as those of the armies of occupation and payments for food and raw +materials may be deducted at the discretion of the Allies. + +It is now provided that a commission shall have charge of future +payments and the amounts of such payment is left to be decided by the +commission. + + +MUST REPLACE SHIPS SUNK BY SUBMARINES + +The German Government recognizes the right of the Allies to the +replacement, ton for ton and class for class, of all merchant ships and +fishing boats lost or damaged owing to the war, and agrees to cede to +the Allies all German merchant ships of 1,600 tons gross and upward, +one-half of her ships between 1,600 and 1,000 tons gross, and +one-quarter of her steam trawlers and other fishing boats. These ships +are to be delivered within two months to the reparation committee, +together with documents of title evidencing the transfer of the ships +free from incumbrance. + +"As an additional part of reparation," the German Government further +agrees to build merchant ships for the account of the Allies to the +amount of not exceeding 200,000 tons gross annually during the next five +years. + + +MUST RESTORE DEVASTATED AREAS + +"Germany undertakes to devote her economic resources directly to the +physical restoration of the invaded areas. The reparation commission is +authorized to require Germany to replace the destroyed articles and to +manufacture materials required for reconstruction purposes, all with due +consideration for Germany's essential domestic requirements. + +"The German Government is also to restore to the French Government +certain papers taken by the German authorities in 1870 belonging then to +M. Reuther, and to restore the French flags taken during the war of 1870 +and 1871. As reparation for the destruction of the library of Louvain, +Germany is to hand over manuscripts, early printed books, prints, etc., +to be equivalent to those destroyed. + +"In addition to the above Germany is to hand over to Belgium wings now +at Berlin belonging to the altar piece of the 'Adoration of the Lamb,' +by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, the center of which is now in the church of +St. Bavo at Ghent, and the wings now at Berlin and Munich, of the altar +piece of 'Last Supper,' by Dirk Bouts, the center of which belongs to +the church of St. Peter at Louvain. + + +MUST PAY COST OF ARMY OF OCCUPATION + +"Germany is required to pay the total cost of the armies of occupation +from the date of the armistice as long as they are maintained in German +territory, this cost to be a first charge after making such provisions +for payments for imports as the Allies may deem necessary. Germany is to +deliver to the allied and associated powers all sums deposited in +Germany by Turkey and Austria-Hungary in connection with the financial +support extended by her to them during the war, and to transfer to the +Allies all claims against Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, or Turkey in +connection with agreements made during the war. Germany confirms the +renunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk. + + +TRADE AND COMMERCE REGULATED + +"Customs--For a period of six months Germany shall impose no tariff +duties higher than the lowest in force in 1914, and for certain +agricultural products, wines, vegetables, oils, artificial silk, and +washed or scoured wool this restriction obtains for two and a half +years, or for five years unless further extended by the league of +nations. + +"Germany must give most favored nation treatment to the allied and +associated powers. She shall impose no customs tariff for five years on +goods originating in Alsace-Loraine and for three years on goods +originating in former German territory ceded to Poland with the right of +observation of a similar exception for Luxemburg. + +"Ships of the allied and associated powers shall for five years, and +thereafter under condition of reciprocity, unless the league of nations +otherwise decides, enjoy the same rights in German ports as German +vessels and have most favored nation treatment in fishing, coasting +trade, and towage, even in territorial waters. Ships of a country having +no sea coast may be registered at some one place within its territory. + + +FREEDOM OF TRANSIT + +"Germany must grant freedom of transit through her territories by mail +or water to persons, goods, ships, carriages and mails from or to any of +the allied or associated powers without customs or transit duties, undue +delays, restrictions or discriminations based on nationality, means of +transport or place of entry or departure. Goods in transit shall be +assured all possible speed of journey, especially perishable goods. +Germany may not divert traffic from its normal course in favor of her +own transport routes or maintain "control stations" in connection with +transmigration traffic. She may not establish any tax discrimination +against the ports of allied or associated powers, must grant the +latter's seaports all factors and reduced tariffs granted her own or +other nationals, and afford the allied and associated powers equal +rights with those of her own nationals in her ports and waterways, save +that she is free to open or close her maritime coasting trade. + + +GERMAN RIVERS INTERNATIONALIZED + +"The Elbe from the junction of the Vltava, the Vitava from Prague, the +Oder from Oppa, the Niemen from Grodno, and the Danube from Ulm are +declared international, together with their connections. The riparian +states must ensure good conditions of navigation within their +territories unless a special organization exists therefor. Otherwise +appeal may be had to a special tribunal of the league of nations, which +also may arrange for a general international waterways convention. + +"The Elbe and the Oder are to be placed under international commissions +to meet within three months, that for the Elbe composed of four +representatives of Germany, two from Czecho-Slovakia, and one each from +Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium, and that for the Oder +composed of one each from Poland, Russia, Czecho-Slovakia, Great +Britain, France, Denmark, and Sweden. + +"If any riparian state on the Niemen should so request of the league of +nations a similar commission shall be established there. These +commissions shall, upon request of any riparian state, meet within three +months to revise existing international agreement. + + +CONTROL OF THE DANUBE + +"The European Danube commission reassumes its pre-war powers, for the +time being, with representatives of only Great Britain, Italy, and +Roumania. The upper Danube is to be administered by a new international +commission until a definitive state be drawn up at a conference of the +powers nominated by the allied and associated governments within one +year after the peace. + +"The enemy governments shall make full reparations for all war damages +caused to the European commission; shall cede their river facilities in +surrendered territory, and give Czecho-Slovakia, Serbia, and Roumania +any rights necessary on their shores for carrying out improvements in +navigation. + + +FRANCE, BELGIUM AND THE RHINE + +"The Rhine is placed under the central commission to meet at Strasbourg +within six months after the peace and to be composed of four +representatives of France, which shall in addition select the president; +four of Germany, and two each of Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, +Switzerland, and the Netherlands. + +"Belgium is to be permitted to build a deep draft Rhine-Meuse canal if +she so desires within twenty-five years, in which case Germany must +construct the part within her territory on plans drawn by Belgium; +similarly, the interested allied governments may construct a Rhine-Meuse +canal, both, if constructed, to come under the competent international +commission. + +"Germany must give France on the course of the Rhine included between +the two extreme points of her frontiers all rights to take water to feed +canals, while herself agreeing not to make canals on the right bank +opposite France. She must also hand over to France all her drafts and +designs for this part of the river. + + +THE KIEL CANAL INTERNATIONALIZED + +"The Kiel canal is to remain free and open to war and merchant ships of +all nations at peace with Germany. Goods and ships of all states are to +be treated on terms of absolute equality, and no taxes to be imposed +beyond those necessary for upkeep and improvement for which Germany is +responsible. + +"In case of violation of or disagreement as to these provisions, any +state may appeal to the league of nations, and may demand the +appointment of an international commission. For preliminary hearing of +complaints Germany shall establish a local authority at Kiel. + + +THE TERMS NOT TO BE MODIFIED + +"Germany agrees to recognize the full validity of the treaties of peace +and additional conventions to be concluded by the allied and associated +powers with the powers allied with Germany; to agree to the decisions to +be taken as to the territories of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, +and to recognize the new states in the frontiers to be fixed for them. + +"Germany agrees not to put forward any pecuniary claims against any +allied or associated power signing the present treaty based on events +previous to the coming into force of the treaty. + +"Germany accepts all decrees as to German ships and goods made by any +allied or associated prize court. The allies reserve the right to +examine all decisions of German prize courts. The present treaty, of +which the French and British texts are both authentic, shall be ratified +and the depositions of ratifications made in Paris as soon as possible. +The treaty is to become effective in all respects for each power on the +date of deposition of its ratification. + + +THE ALLIES TAKE NO RISKS + +"As a guarantee for the execution of the treaty German territory to the +west of the Rhine, together with the bridgeheads, will be occupied by +allied and associated troops for 15 years. If the conditions are +faithfully carried out by Germany, certain districts, including the +bridgehead of Cologne, will be evacuated at the expiration of five +years. Certain other districts, including the bridgehead of Coblenz and +the territories nearest the Belgian frontier will be evacuated after ten +years, and the remainder, including the bridgehead of Mainz, will be +evacuated after 15 years. In case the inter-allied reparation commission +finds that Germany has failed to observe the whole or part of her +obligations, either during the occupation or after the 15 years have +expired, the whole or part of the areas specified will be reoccupied +immediately. If before the expiration of the 15 years Germany complies +with all the treaty understandings, the occupying forces will be +withdrawn immediately." + +These are the essential features of the voluminous peace treaty +presented to the German delegates at Versailles May 7, 1919. There was +of course a storm of protest from all classes of German citizens at what +they considered the excessive severity of the terms. Had the fortunes of +war been different we would have seen far more stringent terms imposed +on Great Britain and France and our own country would sooner or later +have met equally hard terms. President Wilson justly summed up the +treaty as "Severe but just." + +After weeks of delay, the exchange of notes between the Allied statesmen +and the German delegates, in a vain endeavor on the part of Germany to +secure modification of the terms--efforts resulting in only trifling +changes--the treaty was signed by delegates from all the Allied powers +(except China) and Germany, June 28, 1919, five years to a day after the +assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand at Serajevo. The five +years that had intervened constitute the most memorable period of time +in history. Probably no equal term of years had been attended with such +an appalling loss of life, had been more heavily freighted with woe, had +witnessed such a tremendous outpouring of blood and treasure as the five +years ended with the signing of the treaty. + +The treaty was signed in the celebrated Hall of Mirrors in the wonderful +palace of Versailles, France. This hall is intimately connected with +great events in the history of France, of Germany, and now of the world. +Here was signed the treaty putting an end to the Franco-German war, here +the German empire was inaugurated and William I crowned emperor, here by +this treaty was the work of Bismarck completely undone and the +constitution of a proposed League of Nations set forth, one of the +greatest events in the history of the world. + + + + +CONDENSED CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR + + +1914. + +June 28--Murder at Serajevo of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. + +July 23--Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia. + +July 28--Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. + +July 31--General mobilization in Russia. "State of war" declared in +Germany. + +Aug. 1--Germany declared war on Russia and invaded Luxemburg. + +Aug. 2--German ultimatum to Belgium, demanding free passage across +Belgium. + +Aug. 3--Germany declares war on France. + +Aug. 4--War declared by Great Britain on Germany. + +Aug. 4--President Wilson proclaimed neutrality of United States. + +Aug. 4-26--Belgium overrun: Liege occupied (Aug. 9); Brussels (Aug. 20); +Namur (Aug. 24). + +Aug. 6--Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia. + +Aug. 10--France declares war on Austria-Hungary. + +Aug. 12--Great Britain declares war on Austria-Hungary. + +Aug. 16--British expeditionary force landed in France. + +Aug. 18--Russia completes mobilization and invades East Prussia. + +Aug. 21-23--Battle of Mons-Charleroi. Dogged retreat of French and +British in the face of the German invasion. + +Aug. 23--Tsingtau bombarded by Japanese. + +Aug. 25-Dec. 15--Russians overrun Galicia. Lemberg taken (Sept. 2); +Przemysl first attacked (Sept. 16); siege broken (Oct. 12-Nov. 12). Fall +of Przemysl (Mar. 17, 1915). Dec. 4, Russians 3-1/2 miles from Cracow. + +Aug. 26--Germans destroy Louvain. + +Aug. 26--Allies conquer Togoland, in Africa. + +Aug. 26--Russians severely defeated at Battle of Tannenberg in East +Prussia. + +Aug. 28--British naval victory in Helgoland Bight. + +Aug. 31--Allies' line along the Seine, Marne and Meuse rivers. + +Aug. 31--Name St. Petersburg changed to Petrograd by Russian decree. + +Sept. 3--French Government removed (temporarily) from Paris to Bordeaux. + +Sept. 5--Great Britain, France and Russia sign a treaty not to make +peace separately. + +Sept. 6-10--First Battle of the Marne. Germans reach the extreme point +of their advance; driven back by the French from the Marne to the River +Aisne. + +Sept. 7--Germans take Maubeuge. + +Sept. 11--An Australian expedition captures New Guinea and the Bismark +Archipelago Protectorate. + +Sept. 16--Russians under Gen. Rennenkampf driven from East Prussia. + +Sept. 22--Three British armored cruisers sunk by a submarine. + +Sept. 27--Successful invasion of German Southwest Africa by Gen. Botha. + +Oct. 9--Germans occupy Antwerp. + +Oct. 13--Belgian Government withdraws to Le Havre, in France. Germans +occupy Ghent. + +Oct. 16-28--Battle of the Yser, in Flanders. Belgians and French halt +German advance. + +Oct. 17-Nov. 17--French, Belgians and British repulse German drive in +first battle of Ypres, saving Channel ports (decisive day of battle, +Oct. 31). + +Oct. 21-28--German armies driven back in Poland. + +Oct. 28--De Wet's Rebellion in South Africa. + +Nov. 1--German naval victory in the Pacific off the coast of Chile. + +Nov. 3--German naval raid into English waters. + +Nov. 5--Great Britain declared war on Turkey; Cyprus annexed. + +Nov. 7--Fall of Tsingtau to the Japanese. + +Nov. 10-Dec. 14--Austrian invasion of Serbia (Belgrade taken Dec. 2, +recaptured by Serbians Dec. 14). + +Nov. 10--German cruiser "Emden" caught and destroyed at Cocos Island. + +Nov. 21--Basra, on Persian Gulf, occupied by British. + +Dec. 8--British naval victory off the Falkland Islands. + +Dec. 8--South African rebellion collapses. + +Dec. 9--French Government returned to Paris. + +Dec. 16--German warships bombarded West Hartlepool, Scarborough and +Whitby. + +Dec. 17--Egypt proclaimed a British Protectorate, and a new ruler +appointed with title of sultan. + +Dec. 24--First German air raid on England. + + +1915. + +Jan. 1-Feb. 15--Russians attempt to cross the Carpathians. + +Jan. 24--British naval victory in North Sea off Dogger Bank. + +Jan. 25--Second Russian invasion of East Prussia. + +Jan. 28--American merchantman "William P. Frye" sunk by German cruiser +"Prinz Eitel Friedrich." + +Feb. 4--Germany's proclamation of "war zone" around the British Isles +after February 18. + +Feb. 10--United States note holding German Government to a "strict +accountability" if any merchant vessel of the United States is destroyed +or any American citizens lose their lives. + +Feb. 16--Germany's reply stating "war zone" act is an act of +self-defense against illegal methods employed by Great Britain in +preventing commerce between Germany and neutral countries. + +Feb. 18--German official "blockade" of Great Britain commenced. German +submarines begin campaign of "piracy and pillage." + +Feb. 19--Anglo-French squadron bombards Dardanelles. + +Feb. 20--United States sends identic note to Great Britain and Germany +suggesting an agreement between these two powers respecting the conduct +of naval warfare. + +Feb. 28--Germany's reply to identic note. + +Mar. 1--Announcement of British "blockade": "Orders in Council" issued +to prevent commodities of any kind from reaching or leaving Germany. + +Mar. 10--British capture Neuve Chapelle. + +Mar. 17--Russians captured Przemysl and strengthened their hold on the +greater part of Galicia. + +Mar. 28--British steamship "Falaba" attacked by submarine and sunk (111 +lives lost; 1 American). + +Apr. 2--Russians fighting in the Carpathians. + +Apr. 8--Steamer "Harpalyce," in service of American commission for aid +of Belgium, torpedoed; 15 lives lost. + +Apr. 17-May 17--Second Battle of Ypres. British captured Hill 60 (April +19); (April 23); Germans advanced toward Yser Canal. Asphyxiating gas +employed by the Germans. Failure of Germany to break through the British +lines. + +Apr. 22--German embassy sends out a warning against embarkation on +vessels belonging to Great Britain. + +Apr. 26--Allied troops land on the Gallipoli Peninsula. + +Apr. 28--American vessel "Cushing" attacked by German aeroplane. + +Apr. 30--Germans invade the Baltic Provinces of Russia. + +May 1--American steamship "Gulflight" sunk by German submarine; two +Americans lost. Warning of German embassy published in daily papers. + +May 2--Russians forced by the combined Germans and Austrians to retire +from their positions in the Carpathians (Battle of the Dunajec). + +May 7--Cunard line steamship "Lusitania" sunk by German submarine (1,154 +lives lost, 114 being Americans). + +May 8--Germans occupy Libau, Russian port on the Baltic. + +May 9-June--Battle of Artois, or Festubert (near La Bassee). + +May 10--Message of sympathy from Germany on loss of American lives by +sinking of "Lusitania." + +May 12--South African troops under Gen. Botha occupy capital of German +Southwest Africa. + +May 13--American note protests against submarine policy culminating in +the sinking of the "Lusitania." + +May 23--Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. + +May 25--Coalition cabinet formed in Great Britain; Asquith continues to +be Prime Minister. + +May 25--American steamship "Nebraskan" attacked by submarine. + +May 28--Germany's answer to American note of May 13. + +June 1--Supplementary note from Germany in regard to the "Gulflight" and +"Cushing." + +June 3--Przemysl retaken by Germans and Austrians. + +June 8--Resignation of William J. Bryan, Secretary of State. + +June 9--Monfalcone occupied by Italians, severing one of two railway +lines to Trieste. + +June 9--United States sends second note on "Lusitania" case. + +June 22--The Austro-Germans recapture Lemberg. + +July 2--Naval action between Russian and German warships in the Baltic. + +July 8--Germany sends reply to note of June 9 and pledges safety to +United States vessels in war zone under specified conditions. + +July 15--Germany sends memorandum acknowledging submarine attack on +"Nebraskan" and expresses regret. + +July 15--Conquest of German Southwest Africa completed. + +July 21--Third American note on "Lusitania" case declares Germany's +communication of July 8 "very unsatisfactory." + +July 12-Sept. 18--German conquest of Russian Poland. Germans capture +Lublin (July 31), Warsaw (Aug. 4), Ivangorod (Aug. 5), Kovno (Aug. 17), +Novo-georgievsk (Aug. 19), Brest-Litovsk (Aug. 25), Vilna (Sept. 18). + +July 25--American steamship "Leelanaw" sunk by submarines; carrying +contraband; no lives lost. + +Aug. 4--Capture of Warsaw by Germans. + +Aug. 19--White Star liner "Arabic" sunk by submarine; 16 victims, 2 +Americans. + +Aug. 20--Italy declared war on Turkey. + +Aug. 24--German ambassador sends note in regard to "Arabic." Loss of +American lives contrary to intention of the German Government and is +deeply regretted. + +Sept. 1--Letter from Ambassador von Bernstorff to Secretary Lansing +giving assurance that German submarines will sink no more liners without +warning. Endorsed by the German Foreign Office (Sept. 14). + +Sept. 4--Allan liner "Hesperian" sunk by German submarine; 26 lives +lost, 1 American. + +Sept. 7--German Government sends report on the sinking of the "Arabic." + +Sept. 8--United States demands recall of Austro-Hungarian ambassador, +Dr. Dumba. + +Sept. 14--United States sends summary of evidence in regard to "Arabic." + +Sept. 18--Fall of Vilna; end of Russian retreat. + +Sept. 25-Oct.--French offensive in Champagne fails to break through +German lines. + +Sept. 27--British progress in the neighborhood of Loos. + +Oct. 4--Russian ultimatum to Bulgaria. + +Oct. 5--Allied forces land at Saloniki, at the invitation of the Greek +Government. + +Oct. 5--German Government regrets and disavows sinking of "Arabic" and +is prepared to pay indemnities. + +Oct. 6-Dec. 2--Austro-German-Bulgarian conquest of Serbia. Fall of Nish +(Nov. 5), of Prizrend (Nov. 30), of Monastir (Dec. 2). + +Oct. 14--Great Britain declared war against Bulgaria. + +Nov. 10--Russian forces advance on Teheran as a result of pro-German +activities in Persia. + +Dec. 1--British under Gen. Townshend forced to retreat from Ctesiphon to +Kut-el-Amara. + +Dec. 4--United States Government demands recall of Capt. Karl Boy-Ed, +German naval attache, and Capt. Franz von Papen, military attache. + +Dec. 6--Germans captured Ipek (Montenegro). + +Dec. 13--British defeat Arabs on western frontier of Egypt. + +Dec. 15--Sir John French retired from command of the army in France and +Flanders, and is succeeded by Sir Douglas Haig. + +Dec. 17--Russians occupied Hamadan (Persia). + +Dec. 19--The British forces withdrawn from Anzac and Sulva Bay +(Gallipoli Peninsula). + +Dec. 26--Russian forces in Persia occupied Kashan. + +Dec. 30--British passenger steamer "Persia" sunk in Mediterranean, +presumably by submarine. + + +1916. + +Jan. 8--Complete evacuation of Gallipoli. + +Jan. 13--Fall of Cettinje, capital of Montenegro. + +Jan. 18--United States Government sets forth a declaration of principles +regarding submarine attacks and asks whether the governments of the +Allies would subscribe to such an agreement. + +Jan. 28--Austrians occupy San Giovanni de Medici (Albania). + +Feb. 10--Germany sends memorandum to neutral powers that armed merchant +ships will be treated as warships and will be sunk without warning. + +Feb. 15--Secretary Lansing makes statement that by international law +commercial vessels have right to carry arms in self-defense. + +Feb. 16--Germany sends note acknowledging her liability in the +"Lusitania" affair. + +Feb. 16--Kamerun (Africa) conquered. + +Feb. 21-July--Battle of Verdun. Germans take Ft. Douaumont (Feb. 25). +Great losses of Germans with little results. Practically all the ground +lost was slowly regained by the French in the autumn. + +Feb. 24--President Wilson in letter to Senator Stone refuses to advise +American citizens not to travel on armed merchant ships. + +Feb. 27--Russians captured Kerman-shah (Persia). + +Mar. 8--German ambassador communicates memorandum regarding U-boat +question, stating it is a new weapon not yet regulated by international +law. + +Mar. 8--Germany declares war on Portugal. + +Mar. 19--Russians entered Ispahan (Persia). + +Mar. 24--French steamer "Sussex" is torpedoed without warning; about 80 +passengers, including American citizens, are killed or wounded. + +Mar. 25--Department of State issues memorandum in regard to armed +merchant vessels in neutral ports and on the high seas. + +Mar. 27-29--United States Government instructs American ambassador in +Berlin to inquire into sinking of "Sussex" and other vessels. + +Apr. 10--German Government replies to United States notes of March 27, +28, 29, on the sinking of "Sussex" and other vessels. + +Apr. 17--Russians capture Trebizond. + +Apr. 18--United States delivers what is considered an ultimatum that +unless Germany abandons present methods of submarine warfare United +States will sever diplomatic relations. + +Apr. 19--President addressed Congress on relations with Germany. + +Apr. 24-May 1--Insurrection in Ireland. + +Apr. 29--Gen. Townshend surrendered to the Turks before Kut-el-Amara. + +May 4--Reply of Germany acknowledges sinking of the "Sussex" and in the +main meets demands of the United States. + +May 8--United States Government accepts German position as outlined in +note of May 4, but makes it clear that the fulfillment of these +conditions can not depend upon the negotiations between the United +States and any other belligerent Government. + +May 16--June 3--Great Austrian attack on the Italians through the +Trentino. + +May 19--Russians join British on the Tigris. + +May 27--President in address before League to Enforce Peace says United +States is ready to join any practical league for preserving peace and +guaranteeing political and territorial integrity of nations. + +May 31--Naval battle off Jutland. + +June 4-30--Russian offensive in Volhynia and Bukovina. Czernovitz taken +(June 17); all Bukovina overrun. + +June 5--Lord Kitchener drowned. + +June 21--United States demands apology and reparation from +Austria-Hungary for sinking by Austrian submarine of "Petrolite," an +American vessel. + +July 1-Nov.--Battle of the Somme. Combles taken (Sept. 26). Failure of +the Allies to break the German lines. + +Aug. 6-Sept.--New Italian offensive drives out Austrians and wins +Gorizia (Aug. 9). + +Aug. 27--Italy declares war on Germany. + +Aug. 27-Jan. 15, 1917--Roumania enters war on the side of the Allies and +is crushed. (Fall of Bucharest, Dec. 6; Dobrudja conquered, Jan. 2; +Focsani captured, Jan. 8). + +Oct. 8--German submarine appears off American coast and sinks British +passenger steamer "Stephano." + +Oct. 28--British steamer "Marina" sunk without warning (6 Americans +lost). + +Nov. 6--British liner "Arabia" torpedoed and sunk without warning in +Mediterranean. + +Nov. 29--United States protests against Belgian deportations. + +Dec. 12--German peace offer. Refused (Dec. 30) by Allies as "empty and +insincere." + +Dec. 14--British horse-transport ship "Russian" sunk in Mediterranean by +submarine (17 Americans lost). + +Dec. 20--President Wilson's peace note (dated Dec. 18). Germany replies +(Dec. 26). Entente Allies' reply (Jan. 10) demands "restorations, +reparation, indemnities." + + +1917. + +Jan. 10--The Allied Governments state their terms of peace; a separate +note from Belgium included. + +Jan. 11--Supplemental German note on views as to settlement of war. + +Jan. 13--Great Britain amplifies reply to President's note of Dec. 18. +Favors co-operation to preserve peace. + +Jan. 22--President Wilson addresses the Senate, giving his ideas of +steps necessary for world peace. + +Jan. 31--Germany announced unrestricted submarine warfare in specified +zones. + +Feb. 3--United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany; +Bernstorff dismissed. + +Feb. 12--United States replies to Swiss Minister that it will not +negotiate with Germany until submarine order is withdrawn. + +Feb. 18--Italians and French join in Albania, cutting off Greece from +the Central Powers. + +Feb. 24--Kut-el-Amara taken by British under Gen. Maude (campaign begun +Dec. 13). + +Feb. 26--President Wilson asks authority to arm merchant ships. + +Feb. 28--"Zimmerman note" revealed. + +Mar. 4--Announced that the British had taken over from the French the +entire Somme front; British held on west front 100 miles, French 175 +miles, Belgians 25 miles. + +Mar. 11--Bagdad captured by British under Gen. Maude. + +Mar. 11-15--Revolution in Russia, leading to abdication of Czar Nicholas +II (Mar. 15). Provisional Government formed by Constitutional Democrats +under Prince Lvov and M. Milyukov. + +Mar. 12--United States announced that an armed guard would be placed on +all American merchant vessels sailing through the war zone. + +Mar. 17-19--Retirement of Germans to "Hindenburg line." Evacuation of +1,300 square miles of French territory, on front of 100 miles, from +Arras to Soissons. + +Mar. 22--United States formally recognized the new government of Russia +set up as a result of the revolution. + +Mar. 26--The United States refused the proposal of Germany to interpret +and supplement the Prussian Treaty of 1799. + +Mar. 27--Minister Brand Whitlock and American Relief Commission +withdrawn from Belgium. + +Apr. 2--President Wilson asks Congress to declare the existence of a +state of war with Germany. + +Apr. 6--United States declares war on Germany. + +Apr. 8--Austria-Hungary severs diplomatic relations with the United +States. + +Apr. 9-May 14--British successes in Battle of Arras; (Vimy Ridge taken +Apr. 9). + +Apr. 16-May 6--French successes in Battle of the Aisne between Soissons +and Rheims. + +Apr. 20--Turkey severs relations with United States. + +May 4--American destroyers begin co-operation with British navy in war +zone. + +May 15-Sept. 15--Great Italian offensive on Isonzo front (Carso +Plateau). Capture of Gorizia, Aug. 9. Monte Santo taken Aug. 24. Monte +San Gabrielle, Sept. 14. + +May 15--Gen. Petain succeeds Gen. Nivelle as commander in chief of the +French armies. + +May 17--Russian Provisional Government reconstructed. Kerensky (formerly +minister of justice) becomes minister of war. + +May 18--President Wilson signs selective service act. + +June 3--American mission to Russia lands at Vladivostok ("Root +Mission"). Returns to America Aug. 3. + +June 7--British blow up Messines Ridge, south of Ypres, and capture +7,500 German prisoners. + +June 10--Italian offensive on Trentino. + +June 12--King Constantino of Greece forced to abdicate. + +June 15--Subscriptions close for first Liberty Loan ($2,000,000,000 +offered; $3,035,226,850 subscribed). + +June 26--First American troops reach France. + +June 29--Greece enters war with Germany and her allies. + +July 1--Russian army led in person by Kerensky begins a short-line +offensive in Galicia, ending in disastrous retreat (July 19-Aug. 3). + +July 4--Resignation of Bethmann Hollweg as German chancellor. Dr. George +Michaelis, chancellor (July 14). + +July 20--Drawing at Washington of names for first army under selective +service. + +July 20--Kerensky becomes premier on resignation of Prince Lvov. + +July 30--Mutiny in German fleet at Wilhelmshaven and Kiel. Second mutiny +Sept. 2. + +July 31-Nov.--Battle of Flanders (Passchendaele Ridge); British +successes. + +Aug. 10--Food and fuel control bill passed. + +Aug. 15--Peace proposals of Pope Benedict revealed (dated Aug. 1). +United States replies Aug. 27; Germany and Austria, Sept. 21; +supplementary German reply, Sept. 26. + +Aug. 15--Canadians capture Hill 70, dominating Lens. + +Aug. 19--New Italian drive on the Isonz front (Carso Plateau). Monte +Santo captured (Aug. 24). + +Aug. 20-24--French attacks at Verdun recapture high ground lost in 1916. + +Sept. 3--Riga captured by Germans. + +Sept. 8--Luxburg dispatches ("Spurlos versenkt") revealed by United +States. + +Sept. 10-13--Attempted coup d'etat of Gen. Kornilov. + +Sept. 15--Russia proclaimed a republic. + +Oct. 12--Germans occupy Oesel and Dago Islands (Gulf of Riga). + +Oct. 17--Russians defeated in a naval engagement in the Gulf of Riga. + +Oct. 24-Dec.--Great German-Austrian counterdrive into Italy. Italian +line shifted to Piave River, Asiago Plateau and Brenta River. + +Oct. 23-26--French drive north of the Aisne wins important positions +including Malmaison Fort. + +Oct. 26--Brazil declares war on Germany. + +Oct. 27--Second Liberty loan closed ($3,000,000,000 offered; +$4,617,532,300 subscribed). + +Oct. 30--Count von Hertling succeeds Michaelis as German chancellor. + +Nov. 2--Germans retreat from the Chemin des Dames, north of the Aisne. + +Nov. 3--First clash of American with German soldiers. + +Nov. 7--Overthrow of Kerensky and Provisional Government of Russia by +the Bolsheviki. + +Nov. 13--Clemenceau succeeds Ribot as French premier. + +Nov. 18--British forces in Palestine take Jaffa. + +Nov. 22-Dec. 13--Battle of Cambrai. Successful surprise attack near +Cambrai by British under Gen. Byng on Nov. 22 (employs "tanks" to break +down wire entanglements in place of the usual artillery preparations). +Bourlon Wood, dominating Cambrai, taken Nov. 26. Surprise counter-attack +by Germans, Dec. 2, compels British to give up fourth of ground gained. +German attacks on Dec. 13 partly successful. + +Nov. 29--First plenary session of the Inter-allied Conference in Paris. +Sixteen nations represented. Col. E.M. House, chairman of American +delegation. + +Dec. 5--President Wilson, in message to Congress, advises war on +Austria. + +Dec. 6--United States destroyer "Jacob Jones" sunk by submarine, with +loss of over 40 American men. + +Dec. 6--Explosion of munitions vessel wrecks Halifax. + +Dec. 6-9--Armed revolt overthrows pro-Ally administration in Portugal. + +Dec. 7--United States declares war on Austria-Hungary. + +Dec. 9--Jerusalem captured by British force advancing from Egypt. + +Dec. 10--Gens. Kaledines and Kornilov declared by the Bolsheviki +Government to be leading a Cossack revolt. + +Dec. 15--Armistice signed between Germany and the Bolsheviki Government +at Brest-Litovsk. + +Dec. 23--Peace negotiations opened at Brest-Litovsk between Bolsheviki +Government and Central Powers, under Presidency of the German foreign +minister. + +Dec. 26--President Wilson issues proclamation taking over railroads and +appointing W.G. McAdoo, director-general. Proclamation takes effect at +noon, December 28. + +Dec. 29--British national labor conference approves continuation of war +for aims similar to those defined by President Wilson. + +1918. + +Jan. 19--American troops take over sector northwest of Toul. + +Feb. 6--"Tuscania," American transport, torpedoed off coast of Ireland; +101 lost. + +Feb. 22--American troops in Chemin des Dames sector. + +Mar. 3--Peace treaty between Bolshevik Government of Russia and the +Central Powers signed at Brest-Litovsk. + +Mar. 4--Treaty signed between Germany and Finland. + +Mar. 5--Rumania signs preliminary treaty of peace with Central Powers. + +Mar. 20--President Wilson orders all Holland ships in American ports +taken over. + +Mar. 21--Germans begin great drive on 50-mile front from Arras to La +Fere. Bombardment of Paris by German long-range gun from a distance of +76 miles. + +Mar. 29--General Foch chosen commander-in-chief of all Allied forces. + +Apr. 9--Second German drive begun in Flanders. + +Apr. 10--First German drive halted before Amiens after maximum advance +of 35 miles. + +Apr. 15--Second German drive halted before Ypres, after maximum advance +of 10 miles. + +Apr. 23--British naval forces raid Zeebrugge in Belgium, German +submarine base, and block channel. + +May 27--Third German drive begins on Aisne-Marne front of 30 miles +between Soissons and Rheims. + +May 28--Germans sweep on beyond the Chemin des Dames and cross the Vesle +at Fismes. + +May 28--Cantigny taken by Americans in local attack. + +May 29--Soissons evacuated by French. + +May 31--Maine River crossed by Germans, who reach Chateau Thierry, 40 +miles from Paris. + +May 31--"President Lincoln," American transport, sunk. + +June 2--Schooner "Edward H. Cole" torpedoed by submarine off American +coast. + +June 3-6--American marines and regulars check advance of Germans at +Chateau Thierry and Neuilly after maximum advance of Germans of 32 +miles. Beginning of American co-operation on major scale. + +June 9-14--German drive on Noyon-Montdidier front. Maximum advance, 5 +miles. + +June 15-24--Austrian drive on Italian front ends in complete failure. + +July 12--Berat, Austrian base in Albania, captured by Italians. + +July 15--Stonewall defense of Chateau Thierry blocks new German drive on +Paris. + +July 16--Nicholas Romanoff, ex-Czar of Russia, executed at +Yekaterinburg. + +July 18--French and Americans begin counter offensive on Marne-Aisne +front. + +July 19--"San Diego," United States cruiser, sunk off Fire Island. + +July 21--German submarine sinks three barges off Cape Cod. + +Aug. 3--Allies sweep on between Soissons and Rheims, driving the enemy +from his base at Fismes and capturing the entire Aisne-Vesle front. + +Aug. 7--Franco-American troops cross the Vesle. + +Aug. 8--New Allied drive begun by Field-Marshal Haig in Picardy, +penetrating enemy front 14 miles. + +Aug. 10--Montdidier recaptured. + +Aug. 29--Noyon and Bapaume fall in new Allied advance. + +Sept. 1--Australians take Peronne. + +Sept. 1--Americans fight for the first time on Belgian soil and capture +Voormezeele. + +Sept. 11--Germans are driven back to the Hindenburg line which they held +in November, 1917. + +Sept. 14--St. Mihiel recaptured from Germans. General Pershing announces +entire St. Mihiel salient erased, liberating more than 150 square miles +of French territory which had been in German hands since 1914. + +Sept. 20--Nazareth occupied by British forces in Palestine under Gen. +Allenby. + +Sept. 23--Bulgarian armies flee before combined attacks of British, +Greek, Serbian, Italian and French. + +Sept. 26--Strumnitza, Bulgaria, occupied by Allies. + +Sept. 27--Franco-Americans in drive from Rheims to Verdun take 30,000 +prisoners. + +Sept. 28--Belgians attack enemy from Ypres to North Sea, gaining four +miles. + +Sept. 29--Bulgaria surrenders to Gen. d'Esperey, the Allied commander. + +Oct. 1--St. Quentin, cornerstone of Hindenburg line, captured. + +Oct. 1--Damascus occupied by British in Palestine campaign. + +Oct. 3--Albania cleared of Austrians by Italians. + +Oct. 4--Ferdinand, king of Bulgaria, abdicates; Boris succeeds. + +Oct. 5--Prince Maximilian, new German Chancellor, pleads with President +Wilson to ask Allies for armistice. + +Oct. 9--Cambrai in Allied hands. + +Oct. 10--"Leinster," passenger steamer, sunk in Irish Channel by +submarine; 480 lives lost; final German atrocity at sea. + +Oct. 11--- Americans advance through Argonne forest. + +Oct. 12--German foreign secretary, Solf, says plea for armistice is made +in name of German people; agrees to evacuate all foreign soil. + +Oct. 13--Laon and La Fere abandoned by Germans. + +Oct. 13--Grandpre captured by Americans after four days' battle. + +Oct. 14--President Wilson refers Germans to General Foch for armistice +terms. + +Oct. 17--Ostend, German submarine base, taken by land and sea forces. + +Oct. 19--Bruges and Zeebrugge taken by Belgians and British. + +Oct. 25--Beginning of terrific Italian drive which nets 50,000 prisoners +in five days. + +Oct. 31--Turkey surrenders; armistice takes effect at noon; conditions +include free passage of Dardanelles. + +Nov. 3--Austria surrenders, signing armistice with Italy at 3 P.M. after +500,000 prisoners had been taken. + +Nov. 11--Germany surrenders; armistice takes effect at 11 A.M. American +flag hoisted on Sedan front. + +Nov. 21--The German high seas fleet, 74 vessels in all, surrendered to +the Allied fleet to be interned at Scapa Flow. + +Dec. 4--President Wilson sailed from New York for Europe, to attend +conference on the larger phases of the treaty of peace. + +Dec. 15--The Allied force complete the occupation of the left bank of +the Rhine. + + +1919. + +Jan. 10--A republic is proclaimed in Luxemburg. + +Jan. 18--The peace congress (without delegates from the defeated powers +and Russia) met at Paris. Premier Clemenceau made permanent chairman. + +Jan. 21--Germany by the terms of its new constitution divided into eight +federated republics. + +Jan. 25--Discussion of the covenants of the League of Nations begun in +the peace congress. + +Feb. 11--Friedrick Ebert elected first president of the German State. + +Feb. 14--The draft of a constitution for a League of Nations adopted by +the peace congress. + +Feb. 19--Attempted assassination of Premier Clemenceau. + +April 23--Montenegro becomes a part of Jugo-Slavia. + +May 7--The treaty of peace framed by representatives of the twenty-seven +allied and associated powers, handed to the German delegates at +Versailles. + +June 21--The German high sea fleet interned at Scapa Flow sunk at its +anchorage by the officers and men left in charge. + +June 28--The treaty of peace signed in the Hall of Mirrors, palace of +Versailles, by all the representatives of the Allied powers (except +China) and the German delegates, officially closing the World War. Just +five years after the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand at +Serajevo. + +June 29--President Wilson left Europe for the United States. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Kelly Miller's History of the World +War for Human Rights, by Kelly Miller + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KELLY MILLER'S HISTORY OF WORLD WAR *** + +***** This file should be named 19179.txt or 19179.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/1/7/19179/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Graeme Mackreth, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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